The Energy of Weight – Managing Obesity, Part II

Understanding How It Works
It would require an entire manual to catalog all the possible ways to work on weight, so let’s use a case study to act as a template of understanding for a step-by-step energetic approach.

The Facts
Suzy is a busy, 45-year-old executive. She has recently been gaining weight and seems unable to trim the pounds, even though she has always been successful in maintaining a healthy weight in the past. Suzy exercises regularly, but not as much as she used to. There was a time when she worked out six times per week, with a fairly rigorous cross-training schedule. Now, married with two teenage children, Suzy only has time to exercise three times per week. She was promoted a year ago and has just received another surprise promotion. She has come for massage to help recover from a whiplash injury sustained in a car accident 18 months ago.

The Assessment
According to our list of factors, Suzy is probably subject to a gamut of physical factors affecting weight, namely metabolic changes due to age and gender, hormonal changes from entering perimenopause, and the possibility of thyroid and constitutional metabolic changes in a 45-year-old.

With regard to lifestyle, we already know that Suzy has reduced the amount of exercise she is getting by half. Stressful change, due to job promotion and teenage children, is evident. The likelihood of maintaining a healthy eating regimen during such changes is poor and worth asking some questions about. Caffeine consumption and other forms of self-medication are usually employed during times of change and stress. It appears that Suzy’s energy has been disrupted, leading to a loss of her previous self-control and self-discipline.

With regard to psychology, Suzy is undergoing changes in her self-image — a rising star as an executive, together with a change in her body image as she becomes a middle-aged woman. Such changes probably stimulate conflicting feelings with regard to self-acceptance. The ability to process this conflict will depend on Suzy’s personality. Finally, the car accident was clearly a traumatic event, evidenced by the fact that the whiplash injury has not yet healed after 18 months.

The Procedure
Establish intention — Both the practitioner and the client need to consciously share the same intention for the session, including weight loss goals.

Assess the weight spot — The weight spot is in the seventh layer of the aura, above the pancreas (third chakra) at a point where the second chakra (emotions), third chakra (will, pancreas, spleen) and fifth chakra (self-expression and self-acceptance) intersect. Form the intention to “find” the weight spot. Using your finger, or a fine crystal, start above the skin at the physical location of the pancreas. Move slowly upward into the seventh layer of the aura. When you find the weight spot, both you and the client should be able to register the moment. (Of course, this may require some practice at first to build confidence.)

Sense the properties of the weight spot. Is it firm and stable, indicating a routine and systematic diet and exercise regimen? Is it spongy, showing irregular diet and exercise efforts (yo-yo dieting, blood sugar levels)? Does a lack of routine make the weight spot loose and wavy? Or is it brittle, indicating rigid discipline?

Clear and calm the energy field — Using your fingers like a rake, or using a feather or crystal, “comb” and “brush” the energy field about two feet away from the physical body. Start above the head and with smooth, flowing action comb through the energy field to below the feet. This will calm the nervous system by brushing away outside stimuli that interfere with the client’s energy. Watch for changes in breathing, showing that what you’re doing is having an effect — the breathing should slow and deepen, and there could be one or two sigh-like breathing releases. Repeat 3-5 times.

Balance chakras — Using your hand, a wand, or a crystal, open the chakras. (Please note that the terms “open” chakra and “closed” chakra denote a receptive mind or a closed, unreceptive mind.) To open the chakras, start at what you deem to be the center of the chakra and move your hand (or implement) clockwise in an ever-widening spiral, starting about two inches above the physical body and ending about 18 inches to two feet above the body. If you have learned a different method for opening the chakras, and it works for you, that will do equally well. Energy follows intention and as long as you hold the clear intention to open the chakras, your technique should work. Start at the root chakra and proceed slowly from chakra to chakra, ending at the crown. This technique will regulate the chakras by getting them all spinning harmoniously with each other, bringing about alignment and centeredness, thereby reducing stress and anxiety and increasing energy flow.

Detect the trouble spots in the energy field via the grid — Suzy’s information provides a springboard for detecting the likely trouble spots in her aura. We know the whiplash injury will be detectable in the throat chakra. At this point, you need a fine tool, so a finger or slender crystal with a fine point is ideal. Starting just above the physical body, close to the skin, test the consistency of the throat chakra, layer by layer. When you sense the trouble spot, massage and palpate its place in the energy field to stimulate healing in the physical body. In this instance, the intention is to free stuck energy and get Suzy’s system moving out of the shock experience of the car accident so that regular metabolic function can resume. Adjusting the throat chakra will also balance issues of self-acceptance and self-expression.

In Suzy’s case, the same procedure should then be used to detect energy disturbances in the second chakra (perimenopause: ovaries, uterus), the third chakra (self-control, self-discipline), and the sixth chakra (pituitary: hormone balance).

It is not necessary to check every chakra at every level. This would be too time-consuming and very tiring. “Intentionalize” to be guided to the key energy blocks, for that day, that will create a flow to help the entire system realign. It is also helpful to remember that “all roads lead to Rome,” so whichever one or two pathways you find, they will feed into the bigger picture, giving you the desired effect.

Infuse energy into the chakras and through the feet — Using your hands, or crystals, infuse energy into the soles of the feet and into either all, or selected, chakras. Think of this like watering a plant: You’re adding energy to the system and the system will take it up and use it where it’s needed, just as the plant takes in water at the roots and then distributes it into each of the cells, as needed.

Adjust the weight spot — Return to the weight spot for the purposes of adjustment. Using your implement of choice, “pick up” the weight spot and direct it to flow and stabilize, by describing an infinity sign above the physical body that extends through the seventh layer of the aura, two feet beyond the right side of the body and one foot beyond the left side of the body, with the intersection point of the infinity sign two feet above the pancreas. (Distances are approximate. Be guided by your own sense.) Repeat about 4 to 5 times, and then test the texture of the weight spot. If it feels firm, mission accomplished. If it is still loose, brittle, or spongy, seek a trouble spot closer to the body in the same trajectory above the pancreas. There may be a spot closer to the physical body that requires prior adjustment before the weight spot will realign.

Ground the Energy — Complete the energy session by grounding the energy. Hold the feet, with your thumbs in the insteps and fingers on the top of the foot for 1 to 2 minutes.

The Aftermath
Suzy will feel calm and refreshed. Stress levels will be reduced and she should feel centered and grounded. Desire for sugar and self-medication should be greatly reduced. A sense of regaining control, the ability to maintain self-discipline, and the drive to exercise should reassert themselves. The energy field will be prepped for the following to become probable: As Suzy drives home, and during the next couple of weeks, it is very likely that the realignment of the energy field will stimulate insight and positive thought process. Suzy will think of and follow through on finding the right supplements and procedures for maintaining metabolic and hormonal levels to keep her balanced. She will also make constructive decisions about how to handle her new demands at work and balance her family life.

After an effective energy healing session, clients usually look around, surprised, and say: “I feel much better. I feel like me again.”

Additional Vibrational Techniques
Vibrational tools, such as aromatherapy, flower essences, and crystals, are great aids for reprogramming energy and can be used effectively to support energy healing both during and after a session. As already discussed, weight is a symptom of underlying issues, so insight into the problem is required in determining which specific oil, essence, or crystal will be of assistance. Begin your detective work by consulting the list of physical, lifestyle, and psychological reasons for weight gain and then create a match from the keynote energy of the substance. If conditions such as insulin resistance and hormone deficiencies are suspected, direct your client to a suitable practitioner, such as a naturopath, who can provide the necessary support.

Vibrational techniques such as feng shui, DNA reprogramming, acupuncture, and reflexology can also be used to affect health, mood, and weight. By uncluttering the home and realigning the furniture, one can reduce stress and restore energy flow, leading to all manner of positive changes. DNA reprogramming can directly address metabolic function, hormonal levels, and thinking patterns, including deeply held beliefs about the self. In opening the flow of energy along the meridians, both acupuncture and reflexology restore balance and function to the system.

***
With national obesity on the rise, weight is becoming a serious health and economic issue. Morbidly obese people do not generally self-select to come to massage therapists and bodyworkers. However, since more and more people are struggling to maintain a healthy weight, and since weight is so integral to our health and well-being, the more techniques we have to manage weight and avert weight gain, the better. Good diet and exercise habits are not easy to establish. Because of the complex series of changes required, it has become the task of the helping professions to assist clients in the whys and wherefores underlying their diet and exercise patterns.

By Vivien Schapera who has been in private practice for more than 22 years as an Alexander teacher and an energy healer. She is the founder and chair of FourWinds Academy for the Healing Arts and Sciences, a school for training healers, and director of Alexander Technique of Cincinnati, a school for training Alexander teachers. This article is based on information adapted from How to Lose Weight and Gain Money: A Program for Putting Your Life in Order by Schapera and Drew Logan, FourWinds Press, 2004. You can reach Schapera online at http://www.4windsacademy.org or http://www.loseweightgainmoney.com.

Originally published in Massage & Bodywork magazine, August/September 2005.
Copyright 2005. Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals. All rights reserved.

References
1 Medical News Today. April 6, 2005.
2 Available at http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-03-16-obesity-lifespan_x.htm. Accessed May 2005.
3 Ibid.
4 Available at http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/topics/Diabetes_Statistics. Accessed May 2005.

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• The Energy of Weight – Managing Obesity, Part 1 (hofholistichealingcenters.com)
• Chakra Three; solar plexus or belly chakra; help empower eachother (yellowstaressentials.wordpress.com)