When a car’s battery runs down on a cold winter day and won’t start, it needs a charge from a stronger battery. Once the car is running again, the weak battery will recharge itself if it has any life left in it. In the same way, if you are suffering from a slow healing injury or illness, feeling run down or emotionally distraught, an energy healing session will give you a boost, allowing your body’s own healing capacity to increase.

The first time I ever experienced energy coming from someone else’s hands was when I traveled to Miami in the winter of 1979 to visit an Indian spiritual teacher. As I sat quietly with hundreds of others during a meditation session a little man with a red dot and white ashes on his forehead walked around the room with a bundle of peacock feathers swatting people gently as they sat quietly. When he reached me he placed the palm of one hand on my head. A wave of heat radiated across the top of my head and rushed down my back.

The thirty second transfer of energy from this man I had never met before, began a cleansing process in my body. I immediately felt more physical energy and knew something important had happened. When I returned home to Vermont I improved my diet, made time for daily exercise and got plenty of rest. My attitude and health improved.

Energy healing falls into two categories:

In the first method, energy is transferred from the healer’s body to the client’s. The healer places their hands on or near the client as the client lies fully clothed on a massage table or sits in a comfortable chair. At the end of the session or day, the healer renews their personal energy through meditation or some sort of cleansing exercise.

In the second method the healer acts as a direct conduit for the healing energy as the energy flows into the healer’s body, out the healer’s hands, and into the client. At the end of the session the healer is just as refreshed as when he started. As the healer is giving energy to the client, he also receives it. I prefer this type of healing work.

It is important to keep in mind that healing happens within each individual, not from the outside. A boost of healing energy may relieve or completely remove any disabling symptoms, but the real work is done by the client after the session: living a healthy lifestyle, pursuing meaningful work, and developing positive relationships.