Lightnin' Bolt: Playing In Energy Fields

I've been reading about medical intuitives, people who claim to be able to instinctively diagnosis potential medical problems and diseases before they manifest themselves in the body or are picked up by medical machinery. Medical intuitives maintain that they can instinctively "read" a person's energy field to accurately predict ailments or they can read the events which led to a person's problems, without knowing anything about that person. Medical intuitives believe that "biography is biology," that all we do and experience from the moment of our conception affects us physically.  They base this on the fact that everything, including humans, is composed of energy, that we are all shifting particles, constantly exchanging those particles and their energy with one another.  If that is true, they say, then every interaction affects us on the cellular level, leaving its impression, which can be neutral, good or bad.  Intuitives possess or develop the ability to read and translate these cellular impressions.  Many claim that we all have this ability, but we remain unaware or indifferent or hostile to it.

While I'm not convinced of the truth of these claims, I am a healthy skeptic. After all, scientific research affirms that we are composed of measurable energy which, although it appears to be solid, is composed of constantly moving matter. History records stories of mystical healers with great, unexplained powers. I've met people who, although they do not have medical degrees, have remarkable abilities in assessing medical issues and helping people to heal.  I've experienced the benefits of such "alternative medicines" and their practitioners.

So, let's suppose, for just a moment, that some of these claims about energy transference are true.  What if everything we do and say has the potential to affect others, either in a positive or negative way, not only emotionally, but physically as well?  What practical applications might this have in our approach to life and our fellow travellers?

For example, many people knit for charity; for some knitters, making hats, mittens, socks, blankets, etc. is the practice they love most.  This is admirable work, something I seldom do. I appreciate the efforts that knitters put into this work and I support it.  Over the years, however, I've met some knitters who do this work grudgingly, who complain that no one appreciates their efforts.  They use poor quality materials because the recipients won't want to or aren't able to care for the items anyway or won't know the difference.  Some of these people are upset when their work is rejected; they label the intended recipient "ungrateful." While it's not my place to question these knitters' intentions, I've often wondered if part of the reason the items were rejected was because the "giftees" sensed somehow that the work was performed out of duty, rather than compassion and love.  If we allow the possibility that energy transfers to all we do, is it possible that the recipient sensed the negative energy in the item itself and rejected it instinctively on that basis?  (Ah, you say, they obviously sensed the negativity of the giver when she presented the articles.  In many cases, that's true; however, what they are sensing is negative energy emanating from the knitter. In some cases, the work was rejected and the recipients had no idea who the knitter was.)

True or not, at the very least, we should consider that doing our work grudgingly or with disdain may build negative energy in ourselves.  I've made things I'd rather not and I was never satisfied with them. Add up the hours I spent doing something I didn't like, the guilt I felt about not liking it, plus the dissatisfaction I felt when the work was finished-that's a lot of hours and negative energy poured into a project.  Whether or not that negativity will affect me or anyone else on a cellular level, was whatever I did worth the energy I put into it?

I've noticed the same habits creeping into my yoga practice now and again.  Teacher training requires a certain number of logged practice hours.  As the year progresses, I sometimes rush to a class so that I can get my attendance noted.  I watch the clock and gripe inwardly about every effort.  This means that I'm not only not present for the class, but, if the intuitive theory of energy transfer is correct,  I could be building negative energy, rather than positive, thus adding to any problems when I am hoping to alleviate them. Again, even if this is not true, what's the point of practice if your mind turns it into a burden?

So, as I always do with each new yoga session, I've set myself an intention to bring a more light-hearted, positive approach to my practice.  Rather than think of yoga as "doing the work I need to do to get where I'm going," I will pay less attention to how many hours it takes to make a yoga teacher and more to experiencing joy in those hours.  (I'd be lying if I said I'll pay no attention to building those hours.)  If the intuitives are right, I'll be bringing positive, healing energy to my body and mind.  If their theories don't fly, at least I'll be making practice more fun. Fun is good.

I'd end all this by saying, "May lightning strike me if . . . ," but I think not.  After all, you just never know. . . .

Namaste.

Public Domain Photo from Google Images