Off White Living

Hi all,

this next post is a bit of a deviation from the norm here at Offwhiteliving.  Recently a writer, Melanie Bowen, contacted me about writing a blog post.  Her focus is on energy healing and cancer, but I think the concepts she discusses could really apply to healing any part of your life or any disease.  Something I don’t discuss much here is that I used to work quite a bit in the realm of energy work including mindfulness techniques, yoga, Reiki, EFT, etc.  I have found them profoundly useful in dealing with food issues, I just haven’t focused on that yet here at Off White Living…perhaps this is time to turn a new leaf and incorporate more of that!

Anyway, enjoy the post below from Melanie and you can email her at: melanielbowen@gmail.com

Energy Healing: Integrative Cancer Care For The Whole Person

Integrative cancer care is care for the whole person — body, mind, emotions, and spirit. Blending holistic medicine with standard medicine, integrative care is sometimes known as alternative medicine, complementary medicine, holistic healing, or adjunctive care.

Realizing the importance of treating the whole person, many modern cancer treatment centers provide integrative care programs for cancer patients and their families and caregivers. Integrative care teams consist of oncologists, other health professionals, and licensed holistic practitioners. Not only are they trained in safe, effective complementary care practices, but they are also experienced and knowledgeable about conventional medical treatments.

Integrative care centers, therapists, and practitioners provide a number of healing therapies during and after cancer treatment. In addition to promoting biologic therapies and natural medicine, they offer patients a range of other therapy choices, including the energy therapies.

Energy therapies focus on internal and external energy fields – bio-fields originating within the body, and outside sources like electromagnetic fields. Modern energy therapies often blend Eastern and Western concepts of energy to promote balance and healing but are used all over the world. EFT can become widely recognized as one of the leading alternative in the UK and Europe as well as having the ability to be substantially recognition in the USA. Helping patients activate the body’s own natural healing powers is the ultimate goal of energy therapy.

Yoga and acupuncture are probably the most popular energy therapies. But more and more cancer patients are turning to healing touch, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), and intuitive bodywork for their cancer care plans. While these therapies are not meant to replace conventional medicine, they are good complements to standard medical practices.

Clinical research has shown EFT, intuitive bodywork, healing touch, and other energy therapies to be beneficial for cancer patients. They improve post-surgery healing and recovery, while reducing the need for pain medication. Symptoms resulting from aggressive cancer therapy, like chemotherapy and radiation treatments, generally reduce with energy therapies.

Energy healing is known to decrease stress and promote relaxation, which boosts the body’s own healing power. Therapeutic touch and EFT tapping may even improve clinical outcomes and cancer survival rates. One study, for example, showed that energy therapies like yoga improved the quality of life for breast cancer patients and increased their survival rates. But even patients whose prognoses are slim (such as those with rare aggressive disease mesothelioma) can reap the quality-of-life benefits of energy therapy.

Contemporary energy healing stems from ancient energy and spiritual concepts — concepts that go beyond the scope of clinical research and modern healing practices. Holistic treatment centers directories like the Federation of Holistic Therapies understand that cancer treatment involves more than just physical healing. As a result, they provide a useful tool to search practitioners that use integrative programs to represent a wide spectrum of contemporary traditions and well-rounded beliefs. They recognize that, for some people touched by cancer, energy healing can enhance patient health and quality of life through therapies that heal the body, mind, and spirit.

Energy therapy, and other integrative care, is primarily an outpatient program. However, it is sometimes used in inpatient cancer care. A physician or nurse referral is preferred, but typically not required, by holistic practitioners. Many practitioners provide home-based palliative care for patients struggling with end-of-life challenges, such as those facing a bleak prognosis for pancreatic cancer or a short mesothelioma life expectancy. Complementary care therapies are also helpful for family members and caregivers — people who experience cancer treatment in a unique way alongside their loved-ones. Check out the Institute for Complimentary and Natural Medicine for more information on the regulations and recognitions of holistic therapies.