RETURN to Article Directory Your Energy Fields and Health              by Vicki Matthews, ND Download the Article Here This discussion will focus on the different fields of subtle energy which surround and permeate the human form, and how this subtle energy effects health and wellness.   Most of us have taken a physics course in school, and most of us heard of a guy named Einstein.  Most of us even remember what he was famous for.  That’s right,  E=MC2.  Said another way, energy is matter, matter is energy.  Or even, if we want to be bold, energy is all there is and can be described in terms of matter.   The paradigm that I want to share with you today is just that, energy is all there is.  And because energy is all there is, it affects all that we do, feel, think, and are. Most of us just don’t realize it.  For example, a fish swimming in the ocean may not know what water is.  After all, being completely surrounded by water is all that this little fish knows. Just like this fish, we may not understand that what we live in is, really, all just energy.  And more importantly for the topic at hand, WE are made up of nothing but energy.  Energy is all there is.   How might that be?  What might that look like?  Well, I don’t know about you, but I was not a physics whiz, so we aren’t going to go into the whole unified field theory or even discuss the molecule or atomic structure.  What I would like us to ponder, however, is that different things might have different vibrational rates, and that this is one way we might differential them.   For example, and I promise that this is as technical as we will get, the molecular structure of water is H2O: two hydrogen atoms for every oxygen atom.  And this is the same whether we see the water as ice, liquid or steam.  It is always water, whether it is in a frozen state, a liquid state, or a gaseous state.  What is different, and I am really over-simplifying this, is the vibratory rate of the water molecule.  The slower it vibrates, the denser the substance it makes is.  The faster it vibrates, the less dense is the substance.  Slow vibration leads to ice.  Fast vibration leads to steam.  And we can say the same thing about us.   What is the most dense part of ourselves (no, not our brains after a few beers)?  Well, in my paradigm, it is the physical body.  Even though it appears very dense and solid, if we believe Einstein, it is not solid; it is just energy, but energy vibrating at such a slow rate that it appears solid, just like an ice cube appears.  And, just like water, there are parts of our being that vibrate slightly faster and are less dense.   And here is where the analogy breaks down, or rather takes a jump into hyper space.  Yes, we can have solid, liquid and gaseous states of our body, but there are other aspects of our being that are even less dense than steam, and that is where I want to turn next.   In my paradigm, just out of reach of our five senses (at least for most of us), is a vast array of energy patterns that make up what can be called the etheric body.  Now this is not a new idea.  For thousands of years, the Chinese based their system of medicine on a network of energy fields that flowed in and around the body.  These energy pathways are how many of our more subtle (or we can say “less dense” than physical) forms of energy move around and through your being.  Called “meridians” in Traditional Chinese Medicine, they are usually named after, and related to, specific organs in the physical body.  Acupuncture works using this system of meridians.    Other than the fact that the Chinese have successfully used this system for thousands of years, is there any proof that it exists?  Yes, recently several scientific studies have been done that have shown a measurable difference in the electromagnetic conductivity of the body’s skin over where a meridian flows versus other areas of the body.  And as scientific instrumentation becomes more able to detect finer vibratory levels, we will see more and more evidence fort he existence of these subtle fileds.   Through the meridian system flows, among other things, an energy force that supports and shapes the physical form (remember, the physical is simply energy in a more dense form).  And, because it supports and shapes the physical form, this energy can have a profound effect on the health of the physical form.  What is the energy that flows through the meridian system called?  Many cultures describe an energy that supports and shapes the physical form.  In Chinese medicine it is called chi.  In the healing traditions of India and Tibet it is called prana.  In the cabalistic traditions of Judaism it is called yesod, and ki in Japan, baraka by the Sufis, wakan by the Lakota Indians, orenda by the Iroqouis Indians, megbe by the Ituri Pygmies, and sometimes, the “Holy Spirit” in Christian traditions.    In addition to the subtle energy which flows through the meridian system of the body, there are several other fields of energy that make up who and what we are, and also have a profound effect on the health of the physical form.  Specifically, I want to point out two which are very important, and which will be more common to us, as we are usually very aware of them.  I am referring to our thoughts and our feelings.    If we are willing to believe that everything is energy, than we can say that emotions and thoughts are also energy.  And I believe that they are not just energy, but specific fields of energy which are actually part of who we are.  Just like we have a physical body, and matrix of meridian and energy systems that flow chi throughout our being, I think that we also have an autonomous field of emotional energy that surrounds us, and a field of thought energy that surrounds us, as well.  And yes, these absolutely affect the health of the physical form!   Is there scientific proof of this, you might ask?  I can honestly say “Sort of”.  Regarding the possibility that there might be a field of though activity, we know that the EEG machine (electroencephalograph) can measure brain wave activity (an energy we can’t see) and catalogue it into alpha (relaxed), beta (awake), theta and delta (unconscious) wave frequencies.   Scientists suspect that eventually we will have instruments which can detect further subtleties in the beta activity and separate the electromagnetic frequencies of the beta wave into different kinds of thoughts: angry, happy, fearful, etc.   There are studies which show that people who have been prayed for, or had positive thoughts directed their way, have healed faster than those who have not.  And finally, a scientist at Stanford University was able to prove that thought intent does effect physical substance.  Briefly, this man built a sensitive electronic capacitor out of physical matter that could be triggered to discharge by very subtle electrical charges.  Then, he took ordinary people with no special and asked them to focus their thoughts on the intention that the machine discharge.  When these people focused their thoughts on the capacitor in this way, it discharged thousands of times per minute.  When they focused their thoughts elsewhere, the machine did not discharge at all.   Makes you want to send more loving thoughts to your form, doesn’t it?   What about emotions?  Are these real?  Try telling a man whose wife has PMS that emotions aren’t real.  In my paradigm, emotions are just as real as thoughts; there is a field of emotional energy that is just as much a part of who and what we are as our physical form, and it absolutely affects the physical, too.  We have all experienced this.  When we are so worried that we get an upset stomach, it can be said that we “worry ourselves sick”.  Scientific studies show that high levels of emotional stress severely suppress the physical body’s immune system.  I think you get the picture.  But what is the big picture?  How do all of these fields of energy work together to make us one big coordinated whole?   Well, it is easy to imagine that out thoughts affect our emotions, which affect the meridians, which affect the physical form, and that is true, as far as it goes.  However, that makes it sound like everything that happens in us is a result of thought, and while thought is very powerful, it is not the whole picture.  A great deal more goes on at subtle levels out of the reach of our thoughts, and to understand this, it is necessary to look at one more energy system before we start playing with all of this, and that is the something called the chakra system.   From ancient Ayurvedic teachings we are told that there are seven chakras which run up and down the midline of the body.  These chakras are spinning wheels that move energy in and out of the body, much like tiny tornados.  In addition to moving energy, they actually generate energy and store energy.  For our total energy system, they function like energy communication specialists.  It is as if we have seven major energy transforming centers in our forms, centers that can help the different energies that make up who and what we are communicate and interact.   All of this may seem very complex at first, but once we really wrap our minds around the fact that energy is all there is, it becomes easier to imagine how our energy fields affect not just our physical health, but also everything else about us.    To review, it is possible to say that we have a dense physical form which is made up of energy vibrating at a slow enough rate that it seems solid.  Then, we have a matrix of energy networks (often called the meridian system) which is also energy, but energy vibrating at a rate slightly faster than our physical form.  This faster vibtational rate makes it less dense.  So much less dense, in fact, that most of us can’t see it, while we can easily see our physical form.  Then, vibrating at an even faster rate is our emotional field, obviously not visible, but certainly perceptible.  And finally, even less dense than our emotions are our thoughts.  Obviously perceptible, and very potent.  A problem in any of these energy fields can and will impact the others, ultimately working its way down to the physical and dis-ease.   Finally, although we won’t get into it here more than to mention it, there is one more vibrating energy field in the human being.  It is the fastest vibrating field we have, and it is called many things in many cultures.  In our western world we might call it our soul, our spirit, our core.  Whatever you call it, this amazing field has a very powerful affect on all of the other fields vibrating “below” it.   Within this paradigm, then, illness of the physical form may come from a problem in one of the fields “above” it; fields which vibrate at a higher rate.  Or more importantly, illness may show up in the subtle energy systems before it makes its way down to the physical.  Caught and corrected here, physical illness can be stopped.  One way to assess the subtle energy fields is called muscle testing, which was developed by Dr. George Goodheart (a chiropractor) back in the mid-1970s.  He called it Applied Kinesiology, and it is an almost magical way to tune into the inner wisdom of the body and the subtle energy fields.  This form of testing or interacting with these energy fields is also called “energy testing” by Donna Eden (author of the ground-breaking book, Energy Medicine), who believes that what is really being testing is the energy flow through a muscle, not the strength of the muscle, itself.   The basic premise is that the subtle levels of our form, including our highly sensitive nervous system, can pick-up on the subtle energy vibrations coming from our own energy fields, those of other people, and even other substances.  If the vibration is good for us, it has a positive effect.  If not, it has a negative effect.  The way to test this is by using the muscles of the physical form as an indicator.  A positive effect will keep the muscle strong, a negative effect will weaken the muscle.  In this manner, it is possible to energy test every muscle, every meridian, every feeling, and every thought to see if it makes your physical form strong and healthy, or weak and vulnerable to illness.  It is even possible to test everything you eat, drink, and smoke to see if it has a positive or negative effect on your physical form.   I hope this quick review has intrigued you enough to consider that possibility that energy really is all there is.  If you find yourself agreeing with this possibility, it is a short hop to the belief that, because we are all made of nothing but energy, and live, move, and have our being in nothing but energy, it is equally possible to address anything we need to change by using nothing but energy.