Midwinter Newsletter Jan 2007
Transforming the Heart: Energy Psychotherapy and Spiritual Practice
When the film "What the "Bleep"
Do We Know?" came out in the summer of 2004, it sparked a
conversation about the nature of reality, the power of thought,
and the meaning of spiritual practice. Among the collage of narratives,
interviews and images that made up this movie, I find myself most
frequently returning to the image of the changing shape of water
molecules in response to words - a stunning demonstration of the
power of thought.
The movie brought into clear focus
one of the primary conditions of the human predicament: that we
are profoundly affected, on every level from our beliefs to our
physiology, by our conditioned thoughts and our defining life
experiences. The question is, how do we change?
It would be fabulous if all we had
to do was to wake up one day and decide to think differently.
Anyone who has tried to do this, though, has found that it's not
so easy. Our thinking is fed by deep rivers of experience and
belief that are not under our conscious, rational control. In
order to change, we have to transform our relationship with the
flow of those rivers, clear out the mud and debris that prevent
them from flowing freely, and consciously work with their power.
This is the process of purifying and transforming the heart.
Spiritual practice has been used for
thousands of years to help people do this, although the forms
and their context vary widely across the globe: meditation and
concentration to quiet the mind and develop awareness; prayer,
song, music and movement to stir and to express deep feeling;
community ritual to share in a safe, sacred place, and to listen
to others; and care that our behavior upholds our ideals. In my
clinical experience it seems that these elements are present,
in some form, in many types of psychotherapy, movement and body
work, and other types of healing.
Just as in "What the Bleep…",
when the woman wrote her care for herself all over her body, prayer
and mantra, singing, music and movement, are ways of writing our
caring and respect for all things (including ourselves) all over
ourselves. If water molecules change shape based on words taped
to a jar, the effect of concentrated spiritual practice on our
overall biochemistry is profound - our bodies are approximately
50% water.
The new developments in energy psychology make use of the power
of words by combining the careful use of self-awareness and language
with energy work. Energy psychology offers a wonderful complement
to body work, spiritual practice, and conventional psychotherapy.
By making direct use of the meridian and chakra systems, energy
psychotherapy quickly and gently releases of specific traumas
and limiting beliefs, in turn making everything else more effective.
There are many varieties of energy
psychotherapy. Thought Field Therapy (TFT); Emotional Freedom
Technique (EFT); Be Set Free Fast (BSFF); Donna Eden's work; and
Seemorg Matrix Work are some of them.
I am trained in Seemorg Matrix Work,
which I use in conjunction with a wholistic approach to psychotherapy.
I would like to share an example from my clinical practice to
show how healing and awakening can be facilitated by this work.
A woman in her thirties, an experienced
Buddhist meditator with two children, expressed a desire to reduce
the anxiety she felt in the face of conflict. Seemorg Matrix Work
was used to clear some specific events in her life that had contributed
to this anxiety. First we explored the life experiences that she
felt were most linked to her anxiety, and confirmed it through
muscle testing. Then the clearing was done in the following way:
she placed one hand on what is known as the "stationary chakra"
(usually where the client feels the most energy in their body
about what is being cleared), and then moved the other hand to
each chakra in turn, starting at the crown of the head, while
stating a phrase that captured the most important aspect of the
experience she was clearing.
This woman stated that she began to
feel less defensive during disagreements after one session. Within
about a month she was much more assertive in her primary relationships
and was beginning to frame the conflicts in a different way. This
occurred without direct coaching about communication. She also
felt more able to recommit to her daily meditation practice, which
further reduced her anxiety.
Energy psychotherapy is surprisingly
gentle. People may experience strong emotions during the process,
but intense catharsis and/or a strong "backlash" are
uncommon. Like any form of treatment, this work is not an instant
fix, but people usually begin to see changes very quickly. Think
of the relief of finally laying to rest, of transforming, that
snarling, ugly beast which threatens your every step forward -
this work creates real inner space that permits new choices.
Energy psychotherapy uses the subtle
energies of the body/mind. It can work with what is not quite
conscious because it uses muscle testing - asking the body/mind
directly - to determine the best approach. It is helpful in addressing
subtle patterns handed down through our family lineage or past
lives, and in clearing the emotional and spiritual wounds resulting
from highly traumatic experiences. It especially helps to lay
bare the belief structure that has been formed out of our life
experience, and to loosen its hold over us.
In my experience there is no one "right"
or "best" tool to help change patterns of thinking and
being. Healing is a natural process that unfolds uniquely for
each person. What is most helpful varies as we grow. For loosening
up the knots and blockages caused by trauma, loss, and confusion,
in a way that is gentle and very well integrated, energy psychotherapy
offers simplicity, effectiveness, clarity and freedom. It creates
space in the heart for planting and nourishing new ways of thinking
and living.
Please contact me if you would like
to know more, or if you would like to experience this work.
Emily Farrell
January 2007
