I was sitting in a teacher training for Healing Touch, an energy-based form of bodywork, when the head instructor said something like, "and as we have all been taught, follow the energy." I decided to ask a dumb question: "What does that mean...follow the energy?" I mentioned that I had been hearing this for years but didn't have a clear handle on it.
This phrase had been coined by Healing Touch founder Janet Mentgen, R.N., CHTP. It was one of her favorite sayings and one of her most quoted. Although I had been involved with Healing Touch as a practitioner since 1996, I was asking this question in 2009, after 13 years of experience in the field.
This was one of those beginner's mind moments for me, when I was assuming I knew nothing, and was returning to basic concepts of Healing Touch with a fresh mind. What did I really know about this teaching: "follow the energy."
My last interaction with Janet Mentgen before she died included a very brief verbal interchange in which she stated "maybe spirit is trying to take you somewhere you weren't thinking you were going." At the time, I was having trouble with my feet. In Healing Touch, physical symptoms can be symbolic of other life issues. I felt a spark of energy within me at Janet's suggestion or interpretation of my symptoms. A sense of spark or energy is a signal saying--this way, this way... grasshopper. Life is trying to leave us clues and teach us. In a Healing Touch session, the practitioner is called upon to follow the flow of the "energy" to know how to proceed in the bodywork session. It is said that the Energy itself is our teacher. In the absence of some voice coming down from the sky or an authority figure to answer our questions, perhaps we can just tune into our energy and follow it to find the path of fulfillment we seek.
In our lives, there are numerous times when our head is saying one thing but our heart or our energy is urging us on in another way. As I began to think about following the energy more deeply, I decided to give it a try in my life. Which way was the energy headed? Could I follow it. Interestingly, I did end up going in directions I didn't necessarily believe in my mind that I was headed, but my kinesthetic sense of spark and energy nonetheless seemed to know better. The body doesn't lie, as they say, and neither does my energy.
This phrase had been coined by Healing Touch founder Janet Mentgen, R.N., CHTP. It was one of her favorite sayings and one of her most quoted. Although I had been involved with Healing Touch as a practitioner since 1996, I was asking this question in 2009, after 13 years of experience in the field.
This was one of those beginner's mind moments for me, when I was assuming I knew nothing, and was returning to basic concepts of Healing Touch with a fresh mind. What did I really know about this teaching: "follow the energy."
My last interaction with Janet Mentgen before she died included a very brief verbal interchange in which she stated "maybe spirit is trying to take you somewhere you weren't thinking you were going." At the time, I was having trouble with my feet. In Healing Touch, physical symptoms can be symbolic of other life issues. I felt a spark of energy within me at Janet's suggestion or interpretation of my symptoms. A sense of spark or energy is a signal saying--this way, this way... grasshopper. Life is trying to leave us clues and teach us. In a Healing Touch session, the practitioner is called upon to follow the flow of the "energy" to know how to proceed in the bodywork session. It is said that the Energy itself is our teacher. In the absence of some voice coming down from the sky or an authority figure to answer our questions, perhaps we can just tune into our energy and follow it to find the path of fulfillment we seek.
In our lives, there are numerous times when our head is saying one thing but our heart or our energy is urging us on in another way. As I began to think about following the energy more deeply, I decided to give it a try in my life. Which way was the energy headed? Could I follow it. Interestingly, I did end up going in directions I didn't necessarily believe in my mind that I was headed, but my kinesthetic sense of spark and energy nonetheless seemed to know better. The body doesn't lie, as they say, and neither does my energy.
