October 2006 | Whole Brain Adviser

In the Realm of the Energy Paradigm

By Nancy Ging, LCSW

Dear WB Adviser: My co-workers and extended family members think I’m weird when I speak of energy healing or vibrations. How can I best handle this? — Wanting to Respond Wisely

Dear Wise Responder: Those of whom you speak are members of the predominant culture. But you, like many Conscious Choice readers, help populate a culture of consciousness where sensitivity, awareness and wisdom is heightened. Our consciousness is expanding with regard to the interconnectedness of all things, our profound relatedness to the Earth, responsibility to the collective consciousness of the family of humanity as well as to our own personal liberation from emotionally limiting “baggage.” Sensitivities to toxic foods, toxic emotions and behaviors are more pronounced, making many of us “yellow canaries” who react physically to unhealthy, unkind, and unconscious behaviors. Being awake isn’t altogether easy. And one can feel quite different from those who are yet asleep on many levels.

As opportunities present themselves, choose to be a gentle teacher to those more dense. Simply suggest this perspective to folks who will listen: We all live in two qualitatively different realities. The one in which we’ve been schooled in the Western world is a reality that the “left brain” or male mode may interpret the best. It is a world known as parts or particles and molecules, a reality of separate, individuated objects, yet it tells us nothing of the whole. Another reality—call it the energy paradigm—is a realm interpreted by “right brain” ways of knowing or the feminine principle. It is a reality of flowing energy, like ripples, intersecting; in this spacious realm all are connecting waves of energy. But be sure to mention this lest you get into a tug of war with the more mentally dense, concrete thinkers you encounter: both realities are real and valid. There need not be a contest between your culture and theirs, for the two are meant to be partners, like yin and yang. The two realities, conventional Western science (particle physics) or the energy paradigm (wave/spacious) seem to me to be complementary opposites, polarities on a spectrum. Reality surfing of that spectrum is a fun new sport to explore. Good luck with your dialogue and report back on your progress!

Note: I wrote a book (2001) which might be helpful to you in speaking to those reality challenged people you mention who have not yet begun to integrate the realm of the energy paradigm. Or the more dense paradigm bigots who don’t even want to consider an expanded version of their world view.

Dear WBA: How do I know what type of therapy to partake of? There used to be just “therapy.” Now there are a bewildering array of modes from which to choose. — Bewildered by the Choices

Dear Bewildered: In finding the best therapy or therapist for you right now (and these choices are not life-time commitment) use both your intuition as well as a more concrete research mode such as asking friends and helpers you admire for their input. If you’re a terribly mental type and friends tell you you’re “in your head,” choose a therapy that will help you begin the descent into your body. Body therapies and body centered psychotherapies are deeply integrative and liberating. If you’re inordinately inclined to rationality and analysis (which can be paralysis) and out of touch with your unconscious mind, pick an expressive therapy that will call forth your latent dimensions. Something in a nice art therapy, or movement/dance therapy. If you’re in crisis and feel you’re coming apart at the seams, therapy with plenty of structure, support and direction can get you heading toward balance.

Be sure to tune in to this option.....and tap on: Whether selected as the primary mode of therapy or as an adjunct to another kind, the various forms of energy psychology can be helpful for anyone. This work speeds our healing along exponentially and is, along with energy medicine, the wave of the future. It’s fascinating and fun and gets us in the flow. If at first it seems “far out,” try, try again.

Nancy Ging, L.C.S.W., is a Chicago-area holistic psychotherapist, healer, consultant and author of Simplifying The Road to Wholeness.