Chronic illness from an energy perspective
Chronic illnesses can be extremely complex and have a myriad of causes. However it’s important to remember the body is naturally self-healing and will always seek to maintain equilibrium, so an explorative approach to see what may be blocking this process can help to reveal answers and rebalance, so that healing can take place.
It’s been my experience that the root cause of chronic illness can be elusive because of the subtlety of it - and where the energy system is concerned - the literal invisibility! This is especially true of ‘invisible’ conditions such as ME or CFS. Happily though, new science is increasingly able to explain just what’s going on behind illnesses that aren't easily visible, and previously haven’t been able to be measured. Dr Joe Dispenza is one of the incredible scientists exploring how stress and its effect on our invisible energy field can result in very real physical problems throughout the body, as well as the onset of illness or disease.
Dr Dispenza’s research explains how when we become tired and overwhelmed for a prolonged period of time or frequently, we start to become stressed and move into ‘survival mode’. Speaking at a recent health summit, he said “This causes us to become hyper-aware and start shifting our attention very quickly from one person, problem or situation to another. And every person, problem or situation we encounter has a neurological network in our brain - so as we’re continually shifting our attention very quickly, we’re activating different circuits and firing off different neurons for each one. In this over-active state, we’re analysing, over-thinking and defensive. The brain then begins to become segregated, compartmentalised and highly activated, as if there’s a lot of danger. This is high beta brainwave.
The incoherent firing of those neurological networks in our brain, like a lightning storm, causes the brain to begin to fire very incoherently. It’s that incoherent signal that travels down our central nervous system that begins to cause the different energy centres (also known as chakras) to begin to function very incoherently. This means the energy centres in turn send an incoherent message to the respective cells and tissues and organs they’re responsible for in the corresponding area of the body.” For example, the heart centre or chakra, located in the chest, governs the heart and lungs.
We have seven main energy centres or chakras in our body, and they’re of vital importance. They are under the control of the autonomic nervous system (autonomic meaning automatic), and according to Dr. Dispenza, “each has its own energetic signature, its own frequency, carries its own message, has its own intent, and possesses its own consciousness. Essentially, each energy centre is like a mini, individual brain.” Because they are under the control of the autonomic nervous system, each energy centre has its own glands too he says, which secrete chemicals and hormones, the role of which is to harmonise the body.
“When you’re under the gun of the fight or flight nervous system and the brain is highly activated, you’re also drawing from the invisible field of energy around your body and turning it into chemistry. If you keep doing this over and over again then the field around your body begins to shrink. You’re becoming more matter and less energy - more particle and less wave.”
The first three energy centres, located at the base of your torso, just below and just above your belly button, are energy consumers. They’re responsible for processes such as digestion and the fight or flight response, and this takes an enormous amount of energy from the field and turns it into chemistry, tapping into our body’s vital resources. When we over utilise these energy centres (from exposure to stress for prolonged periods for example), our body doesn’t have the time to regenerate and keep up with the demand. Dr Dispenza concludes “if the field is shrinking, then you don’t have enough energy to activate any one of the energy centres, and you have no field around your body. With no available energy to activate the energy centres, they begin to fire very incoherently, just like the brain does.”
This leads to problems in the related organs, and disruption to their corresponding processes, and it can explain why the myriad of symptoms appear all around the body in illnesses such as ME and chronic fatigue. It’s different for each individual because problems tend to appear first or more seriously where there is a natural weakness or susceptibility, or predisposition due to genetics, for example.
Why meditation is a super healer.
Dr Dispenza advocates meditation as a vital tool, revealing the new science shows meditation and the resulting theta brainwave syncs the brain, meaning it links the different compartments of the brain so that they unify and function more holistically - the front part of the brain starts to communicate with the back, the left with the right, and it becomes more integrated and whole. He explains; “You then start feeling more whole, trusting more and being able to become more spontaneous, as opposed to needing to control everything from fear. Resting your attention on each of the energy centres in this state begins to create more coherence within them, allowing them to draw from a new field of energy and information. This means more coherence, which sends more coherent messages to the cells, tissues and organs, and the part of the body each is associated with.
Your body is not ‘you’, your energy field is. The more you tune into it, the more you pay attention to it, the more you experience it, and stay present with it, the more it expands, and then you’re building a new field of coherent light and information. Cells emit light and information, so the better the orderly field of light and information, the better the communication between cells and within cells, essential for healthy regeneration and processes. Incoherent communication leads to dis-ease. This teaching is one of the best ways to create order, harmony, health, and balance in your life, both within and without.”
How energy healing can help.
Energy healing and Reiki can be an incredible tool in these circumstances. Energy healing taps into the field of available energy - the force that creates all life - all around us, and channels it to help restore and replenish our own energy field, increasing the amount available to us quickly and easily. In addition, this channeled energy innately flows to where it is needed most and begins to deal with the most serious deficit first, thereby addressing the most pressing health issues as a priority. It can help move us from a fight-or-flight (stress state) into the rest-and-digest state needed for healing and regeneration to occur (dedicated energy healing sessions designed to soothe and reset a stressed and over-activated nervous system are available at Wildflower Healing).
Energy medicine helps to create shifts in all levels of our energy field, including at the mental and emotional levels, releasing blocks and distortions so that you can begin to have a healthier, more balanced perspective that will aid in maintaining health and wellbeing in the long term.
Maintaining health and wellness.
Cultivating emotional resilience and maintaining balance and inner peace as much as possible is a key component to long-term health and wellness. Emotions are an important, healthy feedback process and, as part of our communication system, are designed to tell us what action to take, but most of us haven’t been taught how to process them in a healthy way.
The resonance of our thoughts and unresolved emotions can become ‘stuck’ within our body, even at a cellular level, as well as adding to mental stress that we can carry around with us indefinitely. Trauma can also affect the lens through which we see the world so that we start to run stressful negative programming that the world in general is a threat and we're not safe. It’s important to become aware of your programming and address any unhelpful beliefs, as well as process emotions as they arise with non-judgmental observation, awareness and compassion.
Other tools to help you come back into regulation from the stress state and re-set your energy system include Tapping (EFT), mindfulness, grounding and earthing in nature and gentle body movement such as yoga or Qi Gong. Anything that lifts your spirit will also raise your vibration, which increases your available life force energy, so it’s well worth exploring to find things you love doing - your health will thank you for it!
