Energy Body Work & Massage:  Pampering Or Healing?
By Katherine Van Hatten, LMT

I am frequently asked by prospective clients, what exactly a massage session can or will do for them.  After 24 years of practice, I was still not able to give them a short, simple answer.  However, in the last couple of years all that has changed.

As new discoveries in technology give us an ever deepening view into the function of the human body, I am overwhelmed at how a simple and basic finding referred to as “Earthing” (physically reconnecting with the earth), has been declared to be “the most profound health discovery of our time.”

Energy Body Work and Energy Medicine have slowly but progressively made inroads to the medical establishment.  Touch body workers and movement therapists have mounds of documented, scientific information to help explain what is taking place during a session for the client.  And thanks to the many articles coming from the scientific world, explaining how the immune system functions, we are comfortable with key words such as T-cells, Lymph System and Cortisol. 

Numerous buzz words like “grounding,” “anti-stress” and “burnout” used by body and energy workers, are now beginning to make more sense to the medical world.  For instance, when body workers refer to “armoring,” it is generally understood that areas of inflammation in the body, that go unattended, can trigger a diversity of chronic diseases, disturbances and problems elsewhere in the body.

The medical community now has an explanation of what happens when there is tissue damage and the resulting response of inflammation.  The body’s natural healing mechanism goes to work to wall off damaged tissues until the immune system removes foreign matter, damaged cells and/or bacteria. 

The problem arises when the inflammatory response does not completely wind down, and palpable “inflammatory pockets” can persist for many years.  These pockets can release toxins from necrotic tissue breakdown, slowly damaging organs anywhere in the body as they leak into the blood and lymphatic circulatory systems. Body workers refer to these pockets of inflammation as “lumps” or “tight, thickened tissue.”  They can be of varying sizes and various massage techniques can reduce or eliminate these pockets of inflammation.  Response to body work will vary with each patient/client.  This helps to explain the healing relief that energy body work and massage can bring, often in as little as one session.

One possible negative aspect of energy body work is dealing with clients and patients notoriously referred to as “ungrounded.”  This is a common term among practitioners to describe a client/patient who appears frazzled, frenzied or unconnected to the earth.  While energy bodywork and movement therapies can reach out to these people, the practitioner can be putting him or herself in jeopardy of becoming depleted of their own natural energy.  The only way we can take advantage of the earth’s healing free electrons is when we are physically connected to the earth’s surface.  Reconnecting to the earth’s surface is revitalizing and nurturing for the practitioner, however, it is usually impractical to walk barefooted on the grass or on the beach or water, immediately following a session with a client. 

While undergoing training, the practitioner is often encouraged to make it a practice to rinse their hands after a session in water.  Of course, we would do this for sanitation purposes; however, we now know that the healing electrons that are found on the surface of the earth are nature’s provision for healing.  Since the water system is in connection with the earth, it is understandable that electrons can be conducted to the practitioner through rinsing our hands in water.  Excessive free radicals have been identified as the promoter of persistent inflammation and these free electrons can reduce the excessive free radicals we produce in our bodies and replenish the free electrons we have donated to the client/patient.  

In my practice, I have discovered a revolutionary new technique to bring these free electrons into the treatment room.  Using a special sheet made of silver conducting fibers, I am able to give my client/patient a session that reduces free radicals (recognized as the cause of chronic inflammation).  The small sheet is placed at the foot of the massage table and the client/patient places his or her feet on the sheet while I do the treatment. 

Free electrons pass between me and the client, while using the “grounding” sheet that is “tapped” into the grounding mechanism of the building via the wall plug.  I can virtually bring the outdoors onto my massage table.  I am able to work much longer every day without experiencing fatigue.  By receiving a constant flow of healing electrons I am taking care of myself, and at the same time, giving my client/patient a treatment that truly contributes to healing. 

In the past 24 years that I have been practicing, CAM (Complementary Alternative Medicine) and the scientific establishment have been able to come to the same conclusion.  Energy body work and massage are truly more than simple pampering.  They provide relaxation, and if the practitioner is using the new technology of “Earthing,” they are experiencing true healing.

For more information got to www.earthfx.net