Reference Cards ENERGY HEALING The Essentials of Self-Care
Welcome to the reference cards for ENERGY HEALING The Essentials of Self-Care T hese reference cards highlight some of the most important teaching points and energy practices included in this home study course. Energy healing is learned with practice. Use these cards as reminders to reinforce energy medicine fundamentals. If you plan to do an energy practice on any specific day, you may use the correlating cards to aid your practice.
Teaching Point The Chakras
The Chakras The chakras, which are based on East Indian philosophy, are seven wheels or vortices of energy that are housed along the centerline of the body. When the chakras are aligned, open, and healthy, the physical body will also be healthy. The seven chakras are located in the perineum, the lower abdomen, the solar plexus, the midchest, the throat, the forehead, and the top of the head. The Chakras
Teaching Point The Dan Tiens
The Dan Tiens The dan tiens are the three basic energy centers in the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) model. The health and balance of these dan tiens determine the health of the body. The dan tiens are located in the lower abdomen, the midchest, and the head. The Dan Tiens
Energy Practice Heart-Centered Meditation
Heart-Centered Meditation Place your hands in the heart center mudra over your heart chakra. Use the four attributes to meditate on the heart center: silently repeat each attribute with each breath. Attributes of the Heart Center Compassion Innate Harmony Healing Presence Unconditional Love Meditate on the heart center for five to twenty minutes daily. Hands over the Heart Chakra
Energy Practice Sacred Touch
Sacred Touch Rest your hands in a comfortable position on your body. Touch your body with compassion, awe, wonder, and gratitude. Place reverence into your hands as they touch your body. Touch your body as if it were the most sacred thing you ve ever touched. This is the art of Sacred Touch. Notice the quality of this Sacred Touch. Notice how your hands feel and how your body responds to this touch. Touch everything in your life today with Sacred Touch. Sacred Touch: Hands on Thighs
Energy Practice Toe Tapping
Toe Tapping Lie flat on your back and relax. Allow your legs to rotate out and in, with the movement originating from your hips. Tap your toes together quickly. The faster you tap, the easier the exercise is. Do this for at least five minutes; you may continue for up to twenty minutes. Play music with a fast beat to facilitate the movement of Toe Tapping. Do not practice Toe Tapping if you are pregnant or have had recent knee or hip surgery. If you have back problems, you may try this lying on your back in bed. Toe Tapping
Teaching Point We Must Gather Our Energy Every Day
We Must Gather Our Energy Every Day Emotion is energy in motion, and experiences are to be felt. Energy must be moved all the way through the body, whether it is in the form of energy, emotion, breath, movement, or experience. Energy that is not fully processed can cause energy tags, stored vibrations, imbalances, or energy blocks. We have to clear our body of energy blocks every day. We can do this with movement, breath, and meditation.
Teaching Point Our Vital Energy
Our Vital Energy The energy in our bodies does not belong to us, it belongs to a larger field that we are connected to the energy field of the earth and everything around us. We are born with a yolk sac of energy that sustains us for the first half of life, until around the age of forty. In the second half of life, we must gather our energy every day. This will allow us to have a good, balanced energy flow and increased vitality. Gathering this energy depends on opening the lower half of your body: the legs, hips, and pelvis. We can gather energy with exercise, focused movements, and breath exercises.
Teaching Point How to Move Energy
How to Move Energy Energy in the body may be moved with all of the same forces that move energy in our environment electricity, hands, light, sound, vibration, breath, and even weather. Energy moves with two points of focus attention and awareness. Awareness is the presence of a greater consciousness; it is the energy field itself. Breath is an easy way to work with awareness. Attention is our ability to focus on an area of the body or mind. Focus can be held by the mind, the senses, touch, and even the emotions.
Energy Practice Shaking the Bones
Shaking the Bones Imagine a cord attached to the crown of your head, reaching up to the sky. Allow your body to relax like a rag doll hanging from this cord. Let your neck relax and fall to one side. Bounce gently up and down from your knees, and allow the rest of your body to shake. Shake your shoulders and your arms; let your neck gently roll from side to side. Use your breath with each movement to shake out old experiences, feelings, or tensions that come into your awareness during this exercise. If you have knee problems, sway from side to side while you shake. If you experience a moderate to severe amount of pain at an old injury site, stop the practice and come back to it the next day. Shaking the Bones
Energy Practice Abdominal Breath
Abdominal Breath Place your hands over your lower abdomen at your lower dan tien (above the pubic bone and below the umbilicus). Breathe into your lower abdomen, allowing it to inflate with the inhalation and deflate with the exhalation. Moving energy requires attention and awareness; focus on your hand placement for attention and on your breath for awareness. Continue this meditation for two to three minutes, five to ten times a day. Abdominal Breath
Energy Practice Root Chakra Breath
Root Chakra Breath Place your hands over your root chakra (the area over your perineum, between your legs). Breathe into your root chakra area. On each inhale, imagine breathing into your hands between your legs. On the exhale, envision your breath coming up from the root chakra, up the front of your body, and out your mouth. Use your breath to focus your awareness, and use your hands to focus your attention. Use this breath for one to two minutes, at least five to ten times a day. Root Chakra Breath
Energy Practice Circular Breath
Circular Breath The Circular Breath is an important energy practice that promotes a deep state of relaxation and healthy circulation of energy in the body. This breath also repairs energy leaks or blocks at the main energy gates in the body. These gates are located at the second chakra, the sacrum, the back of the skull, and the third-eye chakra. Use your inhale to envision the breath starting at the second chakra and traveling down between the legs and up the back. The inhalation continues up the back and over the head and finishes at the forehead or third eye. As you exhale, envision your breath traveling from the third eye down the front of the body to the second chakra. Work with the Circular Breath for at least three minutes every time you practice it. Exhale Inhale Circular Breath
Energy Practice Back of the Heart Chakra
Back of the Heart Chakra The back of the heart chakra, also known as the assemblage point, is an important place for clearing the lungs, chest, and heart chakra. It stimulates a quick release of energy that can be stored or stagnant in the back of the heart chakra. It feels good to clear this energy point. In our culture we instinctually clear this area by tapping babies on the back to soothe them and greeting friends with a slap on the back. Tapping this spot is good for a quick pick-me-up or attitude adjustment. Have someone tap on this spot on your back for thirty seconds to two minutes. Back of the Heart Chakra
Energy Practice Foot Tapping
Foot Tapping This is an excellent exercise for grounding your body. To prepare for this exercise, sit in a chair or on the floor with bare feet or only socks. Tap all over one foot with both hands for at least one minute. Then do the same tapping on the other foot, also for one minute or more. This is a wonderful exercise for restless leg syndrome, insomnia, and for those who have repeated foot or ankle injuries. It is also helpful for daily vitality because it opens your body up to the energies coming through the legs and feet. Foot Tapping
Energy Practice Sacrum Tapping
Sacrum Tapping While standing, use both fists to tap on the back of your sacrum (the base of your spine) and around the surrounding area. While you tap, move your legs up and down at the knees, in a bouncing fashion, to increase your energy. Use this exercise if you suffer from lower back pain, pelvic pain, or hip and leg problems. Also use this if you frequently feel defensive or if you feel you can t adequately protect yourself. Use this daily or weekly for at least two minutes, although you can extend the practice if you want even better results. Sacrum Tapping
Energy Practice High-Heart Tapping
High-Heart Tapping Tap on the area below your neck and above your midchest using your fingertips, fist, or open hand. This is an important energy center for clearing up asthma, allergies, nausea, gastroesophageal reflux, heart disease, and generalized fearfulness. It is also the energy-flow point for transforming fear into action or service. Do this tapping for thirty seconds to two minutes. High-Heart Tapping
Energy Practice Second Chakra to Occiput and Third Eye
Second Chakra to Occiput and Third Eye This practice will stimulate the circular flow of energy in your body and bring your body and mind into their inherently balanced state. You can also use this weekly for fatigue, anxiety, back pain, and endocrine disorders. Begin tapping on your lower abdomen at the second chakra for thirty seconds. Next, tap on your sacrum (the base of your spine) for thirty seconds. Next, gently tap the occipital area at the base of your skull. Finally, tap on your forehead, which is also known as the third eye. Finish this exercise by placing one hand at the occiput and one hand on the third eye. Hold your hands here until you feel a connection between the hands through your head. Position 1: Second Chakra Position 2: Sacrum (Back) Position 3: Occiput Position 4: Third Eye
Energy Practice Giving Back
Giving Back Begin this practice sitting cross-legged or seated in a chair. Inhale as you lean backward with your back arched. Hold your full inhalation and tap on your chest. Do this as long as you can comfortably hold your breath. When ready, place your hands on your lower abdomen and press inward toward your back. As you bend forward, exhale with your hands in this position on your lower abdomen, and bring your forehead toward the ground. Repeat this breath four times. You may work up to eight breaths at a sitting over time. Use this practice daily or weekly whenever you feel full, overwhelmed, or need to clear your recent experiences. It is also a wonderful way to practice gratitude. Hold Inhale: Back Arched, Tapping Chest with Fists Exhale: Fists on Abdomen, Head Lowered toward Floor
Energy Practice Eye Work
Eye Work The right and left eyes are connected to different energy flows in the body. These flows affect our vision and our heart energy. Begin this practice by lying flat on your back. Place two fingers of your left hand on your left eye, and two fingers of your right hand over your right nipple area. Using your breath, place your awareness on your right and left hands. After a few moments, reverse the flow and place your fingers on the right eye and on the left nipple area. Do this energy practice daily to weekly for two to five minutes. Use it to work with fear and to improve your compassion, vision, and creativity. Eye Work
Teaching Point Pain Calls Our Attention
Pain Calls Our Attention P ain is calling your attention to an area in your body that has an energy block. Create a relationship or energy dialogue with the areas of the body that have pain by using movement, breath, and Sacred Touch. Begin to focus on how the area of pain responds to different practices, activities, and movements throughout your day. Try to begin to experience the actual pain as energy, not only as an unpleasant sensation. If you have chronic pain, begin this energy dialogue with your body both when there is pain and more importantly when the pain is absent or less severe. Remember to dialogue with the areas of your body near the pain site as well as at the specific site of the pain.
Energy Practice Connecting to the Earth
Connecting to the Earth Begin this practice by lying flat on the ground or sitting in a chair. Relax and allow your body s energy field to merge with the energy field of the earth. Feel the interface of these energy fields as they come together. After you feel this connection, if you are lying on the ground, place one ear on the earth and listen. If you are seated in a chair, focus on one ear and listen to the energy field. Rest in this position for a few minutes, and then switch sides and listen with the other ear. Continue to rest and listen for a few more minutes. Practice this exercise weekly if you need to get grounded or if you feel fatigued. You can also use this exercise when you feel the onset of any illness. Connecting to the Earth
Energy Practice Full-Body Sensing
Full-Body Sensing This exercise allows you to practice using your entire body to sense energy and receive vibration or information stored in different energy fields. This exercise requires two people. Stand facing your partner about thirty feet apart. Partner one begins to walk slowly toward partner two, sensing and reading the energy field between them. Try to notice the different layers of the energy field, and notice whatever physical sensations or emotions that come up between the two of you while you are walking toward partner two. Partner two can relax and soften to allow his or her energy field to be read by partner one. When partner one reaches partner two, share your experiences. Then switch roles and repeat this exercise. Full-Body Sensing
Energy Practice Metta Meditation: Lovingkindness
Metta Meditation: Lovingkindness Repeat the following meditation out loud. Repeat all four stanzas, four times. Once you have memorized the meditation, do this with your eyes closed: May I be at peace, may my heart remain open, may I awaken to the light of my own true nature, may I be healed, may I be a source of healing for all beings. Bring up someone you love May you be at peace, may your heart remain open, may you awaken to the light of your own true nature, may you be healed, may you be a source of healing for all beings. Bring up someone you have difficulty with May you be at peace, may your heart remain open, may you awaken to the light of your own true nature, may you be healed, may you be a source of healing for all beings. Choose a group, family, or all living things May we be at peace, may our hearts remain open, may we awaken to the light of our own true nature, may we be healed, may we be a source of healing for all beings.
Energy Practice Position before Sleep
Position before Sleep This position restores the naturally balanced, circulating energy flow in the body before sleep. Lie flat on your back and place your hands over your hips where your thighs join your torso. Do this nightly for a few minutes prior to falling asleep. Position before Sleep