What are some of THE CONCEPTS of ENERGY MEDICINE AND BIOFIELD THERAPIES?

1) The energies within us also extend beyond the surface of our skin and form our human biofields. Aspects of our biofields can be measured. Electrocardiograms (EKG's) and electroencephalograms (EEG's) are common tools that measure a person's biofield. More recently used in clinical medicine, modern superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) measure the biomagnetic fields of the heart (magnetocardiography) and brain (magnetoencephalo-graphy)1. Biofields are also understood to receive and hold information which can used to support healing.

2) We function as “open systems”. As living beings, we are composed of multiple and interconnected centers and layers of energy and information that are in constant, dynamic interaction with self, others, and the environment. Within this holistic view, the energies in and around our bodies dynamically shape our feelings, thoughts, and physical bodies and vice versa.

3) Good health requires a balanced flow of energy. The energies within our biofields shape our personalities, health, and relationships. When the flow of energy is disturbed, blocked, or misaligned, your child can experience symptoms of stress, pain, anxiety, or illness. She or he may need help to clear, reactivate, or strengthen aspects of the biofield to re-establish healthful equilibrium.

4) All healing is self-healing. Bioenergy Therapy supports a person's natural self-healing capacities. The human biofield is considered foundational to our physical being and its innate healing capacities.

5) Energy follows thought. With conscious intention, Katherine Paras focuses her awareness on your child and guides processes of energy exchange within the biofield. This may occur with or without physical contact. Supporting your child's innate healing capacities, she may use her hands as sensitive detectors to assess disturbances in the biofield. Her hands also serve to send healing energies to soothe and balance the biofield. This can comfort a frightened child, calm a sensitive and over-stimulated child, and help to relieve physical symptoms.

6) As complementary non-verbal and non-vocal modes of communication, both energy (biofield therapies) and image (art as therapy) can guide healing in an integrated fashion. For example, with therapeutic support children can naturally and unselfconsciously express and explore the subtle bioenergies within them as they create life-size drawings of their bodies. Building emotional strength and flexibility, children can experience mastery, become more self aware, and feel better about themselves.

7) Energy Medicine modalities are NOT a substitute for medical treatment. Katherine Paras works within the principles of Integrative Medicine and Health, through which a spectrum of treatment approaches are used in holistic service to all of the needs of the person – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.

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WHAT CAN I EXPECT IN A SESSION?

•  Physical Set-up: The parent or caregiver is present throughout the session. Depending upon the individual’s needs, the child sits in a chair, lies (fully clothed) on the massage table, or stands during treatment.

•  Centered Presence: To start, you and the child take a few moments of quiet to settle into yourselves and let go of the distractions of the day. Katherine Paras uses various meditative techniques to enter into a deepened state of presence and perception.

•  Assessment: Exploring the subtleties of your child's biofield, Katherine either gently moves her hands several inches above and around the individual or lightly touches the body. In doing so, she receives signals that indicate blockages, energy drains, or imbalances that are interfering with the body’s natural state of healthful flow. She may describe the impressions of energy received, as cool, warm, static, or tingling sensations, occurring where there is congestion, disturbance, or depletion, for example.

•  Intervention: Working with the areas of disturbance, Katherine will use gentle motions of her hands to release and move disruptive energies out of your child's field. The movements may be repeated until she feels energetic clearing of the area, or your child experiences relief of symptoms. Through her hands she also infuses healing energies into areas in need, to help your child shift into a more balanced state. Your child may experience this as warmth or relaxing ease.

•  Evaluation and Closure: Your child is given a few minutes to relax and integrate the energetic shifts that are occurring. The child will be asked how she or he feels. Katherine may re-assess the energy field for any remaining areas possibly needing attention.

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Bioenergy Healing, also called subtle energy healing, is a treatment apporach used to support an individual's own mechanisms of healing. It is considered a Biofield Therapy, focusing on fields of activity that exist within and around the physical body. Every living being has a biofield. The very subtle dynamics and many dimensions of these complex biofields are invisible to the physical eye. Generally speaking, good health reflects their balance and integrity. Illness indicates imbalance.

WHAT CAN I EXPECT AFTER SESSION?

•  Post Session Responses: Your child may be very sleepy after the session and need to rest. Sometimes light-headedness is experienced for fifteen minutes or so. Your child may be thirsty or need to urinate. Alternatively the child may feel energized after the session. It can be helpful to have extra unscheduled time after session so that your child can comfortably re-integrate.

•  General Outcomes: When the energetic foundations of the physical body are addressed and inner biofield currents flow in a more balanced way, self-healing capacities are empowered (See references below):

* When a sick child receives bioenergy healing, sleep can improve, symptoms of pain can reduce, strength and energy can build. New energies can become available for growth that illness may otherwise hinder.

* Reduction of pain, associated with burns and surgery, have been reported.

* Cancer patients have reported lessening of anxiety and reduction of symptoms and side effects of treatments.

* Some studies have shown symptoms of anxiety and distress to ease, post surgical healing to accelerate, and bone healing promoted.

* When a child is terminally ill and can no longer draw or paint, subtle energy healing sessions can bring greater ease to the challenges of a life ending. A parent can learn biofield techniques to use at home for the care of the child.

* Individualized, daily self-care practices taught by Katherine can support and strengthen self healing outside of session.

•  Individual Outcomes: How a specific individual will respond to sessions of bioenergy healing cannot be predicted. Scientific investigation of Energy Medicine modalities is in its early stages. What we know is that for thousands of years human beings have practiced different versions of biofield therapies under diverse names, for example, laying on of hands or qigong healing. Similarly for millenia, both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Indian Ayurvedic Medicine have been based on the treatment of energetic systems within the body. Contemporary Western science includes the practice of “biofield treatment” modalities as subject for research in the field of Energy Medicine.

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WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED ABOUT BIOFIELD THERAPIES THROUGH SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH?

Starting in 1989, the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energy and Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM) encouraged research and collaboration between clinicians using biofield therapies and scientists doing research. Katherine Paras, M.S. has presented and taught her work at several of the annual ISSSEEM conferences, as well as within other settings such as New York University and Southwestern College. Research in the Energy Medicine field has been published in the peer reviewed, scholarly Journal of ISSSEEM (SEEMJ).

For free access to archives of the Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine Journal (SEEMJ) click here.

For PubMed listings of more recent scientific research on biofield treatments, Click here and here.

For full text PDFs of research studies that used biofield treatment modalities that Katherine Paras uses, click here (influence of Bioenergy treatment on calcium and reduction of stress at the cellular level) and here (Therapeutic Touch: bone healing and growth).

(1) For a full text pdf of a roundtable discussion of the challenges facing scientists of biofield research, published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, click here.

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