< previous page page_238 next page >

Page 238
precede and cause physical symptoms of illness. Invigorating, balancing, and unblocking the flow of this life energy becomes the goal of energy healing. The authors believe that an essential aspect of both energy and psychic healing is actually the transfer or access of healing information through mind-to-mind connections.
Energy healers generally share a system of beliefs that includes the existence within the body of energy centers, called "chakras," which transduce "universal life energy" into human energy. The seven main chakras situated along the spinal cord are said to rotate and generate a field or aura of light that surrounds and interpenetrates the body. The word "chakras" comes from the Sanskrit word meaning "wheels of light," and although the concept of chakras came from the Upanishads and other Indian texts, many other energy healing systems adopted the concept.
Many schools of energy healing base their principles on occult or "hidden" esoteric teachings from ancient societies. Therapeutic Touch derives from the pranic healing of India, Kahuna healing from ancient Polynesia and Egypt, Reiki and Joh-Rei healing from Japan, and Chi Gong from traditional Chinese medicine. Some schools of energy healing freely admit that their techniques are derived from the healing methods of other cultures, while others maintain that their methods are unique.
Rosalyn Bruyere is a well-known energy healer and teacher in Southern California, as well as the author of a book entitled Wheels of Light: Chakras, Auras, and the Healing Energy of the Body. 10 As a child, Bruyere was encouraged by her great-grandmother to pay attention to the light (or aura) that she saw surrounding plants. The elderly lady maintained that plant cuttings imbued with vivid light were far more likely to regenerate into vigorous new plants than were the dimly lit plant parts. Bruyere found that her great-grandmother's assertions were true. However, when the older woman began to have conversations with her dead husband, Bruyere's family had the grandmother hospitalized, where she was subjected to electroshock therapy. So Bruyere learned at a young age that visions of auras and other psychic abilities were best not discussed. Years later, after Bruyere had been trained as an engineer, she began to redevelop her clairvoyant abilities, influenced by

 
< previous page page_238 next page >