5 Effective Energy Healing Techniques to Nurture Your Mind, Body and Soul
Are you curious about what types of energy healing techniques there are? These are some of the most popular ones that you may want to experience for yourself.
There are countless energy healing techniques across different cultures and traditions. But some have become more accessible and popular than others in the United States. Here are 5 types of energy healing techniques that I have tried and can personally speak to. They are sure to support your body, mind and soul!
Here are the basics of meditation, reiki, acupuncture, shamanic healing, and sound healing. Each offers a unique flavor, and you may find that you definitely prefer one form over another. I know I do.
As you embark on the journey of finding the right energy healing technique for yourself and/or your loved one, having this knowledge will help you save time and money AND stay focused.
This post is all about 5 popular types of energy healing techniques to support your healing journey.
5 Types of Energy Healing Techniques
1. Meditation
According to the Cambridge dictionary, meditation is “the act of giving your attention to only one thing, either as a religious activity or as a way of becoming calm and relaxed.” While some may not count meditation as a healing technique, it is the most basic and easiest form of self-healing in my tool box.
Why? Because you can simply close your eyes and focus, and immediately access its benefits. Meditation helps you relax and train your mind. If you practice enough, it also helps you let go of the negative programming that constantly sabotages your mind, body and life. Clinical research has supported this fact for some time now, so it’s definitely worth a try!
If you’ve never tried meditating, I recommend:
- The Insight Timer meditation app: it has a ton of free guided meditations, classes and a convenient timer to build your unique practice.
- Dr. Wayne Dyer’s Getting in the Gap book and guided meditation: It will help you get a taste of how “nothing” can set you free!
- Dr. Joe Dispenza’s teachings. I swear by his meditations as a powerful technique to move energy.
2. Reiki
Reiki is Japanese for “universal life force.” This technique is based on the idea that there is a benevolent life force flowing through all of us. When accessed, reiki helps you relax and promotes your body’s ability to heal itself. In order to try reiki you’d have to find a practitioner. It may involve touch or non-touch depending on the practitioner. I’m mostly non-touch. As with other energy healing modalities, reiki can be transferred remotely, although some may prefer an in-person treatment over a remote one.
You can also access the healing power of reiki by taking a class and getting attuned for its symbols. This is how you become a practitioner. Attunements are energy activations, and once you get it, you always have it (and the more you use it, stronger).
There are three levels of Usui reiki. The classes are pretty short, at a few hours at most, especially for the first two levels. Level one enables you to give reiki to yourself, and level two enables you to give reiki to another. Level three enables you to teach reiki to others and give attunements, which you may or may not be interested in.
You can find more information on reiki from these sources:
- The International Center for Reiki Training
- The Reiki Manual: A Training Guide for Reiki Students, Practitioners, and Masters
3. Acupuncture
This technique comes from the ancient Chinese practice of placing needles on certain meridian points of the body to help facilitate the vita flow of qi, or your life force. Acupuncture can be easily found across most parts of the United States. It is used to treat all kinds of conditions, including infertility, digestive issues, depression and physical pains. Once you find a licensed practitioner who is right for you, you usually lay down and relax while very thin needles are placed on your skin at various points.
The needles generally do not hurt and can promote relaxation in the recipient that they even fall asleep. I’ve tried acupuncture a couple of times in my life, with varying success. A friend swears by it for helping her sinus issues. Many insurance plans provide some coverage for it, which shows institutional trust and goes a LONG way when you’re on your healing journey.
Find more information on acupuncture here:
- Acupressure’s Potent Points: A Guide to Self-Care for Common Ailments provides information on how you can facilitate the flow of qi without the needles.
4. Shamanic Healing
Shamanic healing refers to energy healing practices that originate from various ancient cultures, including Native American, South American and even certain Asian cultures. I grew up in South Korea until I was about 10 years old, and Korean shamans take care of some business that no one else can.
But the word “shaman” is Russian origin and should not be used as a catch-all label for all practitioners of shamanism. In the United States, we mostly come across shamanic practitioners that come from the lineage of Native American and/or South American traditions. Key components of shamanic healing include connection to nature, journeying, soul-retrieval, psychopomp and extractions.
Journeying may be the most fundamental of all these tools. It involves venturing to the other, energetic world for guidance and support. Shamanic practices place emphasis on direct revelation, meaning we all have the power to connect with that other side to access wisdom and direction.
You may also ask, what about plant medicine? My teacher at Muktinath Holistic Center, who is an excellent practitioner and always heart-based, generally advises against using substances for healing. The experience may have unintended consequences, she says. Medicine or no medicine, shamanic healing can be intense and powerful. It may require extra research to find the right practitioner.
Here are some excellent resources for shamanic healing if you’re curious:
- The Foundation for Shamanic Studies was founded by Michael Harner, an anthropologist and shamanic practitioner responsible for igniting a renewed interest in shamanism in the West. In addition to some useful backgrond information, you can find a shamanic practitioner through the website.
- The Four Winds Society is a newer organization in the United States that is making shamanic practices more accessible.
- Any book by Sandra Ingerman, including Awakening to the Spirit World: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation.
Also see my post on shamanism, What Does a Shaman Do? Answers May Surprise You, for more information.
5. Sound healing
Sound healing is also ancient, as evidenced by the use of Tibetan singing bowls in Buddhism or Gregorian chanting in Catholicism. While you can get sound healing from a practitioner in the form of singing bowls or tuning forks, its benefits are much more accessible than you think. Research shows that music has a profound impact on the brain and the body, able to alter our emotional states and even reduce the frequency of epilepsies.
Sound healing goes right to the idea that we are all energetic beings that can be influenced by frequencies. Exposure to certain frequencies helps entrain our own frequencies to help balance or improve states. Shamanic drumming uses different beats (frequencies) to guide listeners into certain brainwave states. I own a couple of Tibetan singing bowls because I simply like the sound of them, and am itching to get some crystal bowls.
These days, I am so excited and moved by the music of Mei-lan. Mei-lan is an intuitive singer whose music can really connect me to the frequencies of love and wholeness. I was introduced to her voice through Dr. Joe Dispenza’s meditation music, and it had a profound effect on me from the very first time.
If you want to treat specific conditions, tuning fork therapy may be worth trying. I once received a treatment for general health and woke up next morning feeling amazingly clean and refreshed.
If you’re interested in learning more, check out:
- Mei-Lan’s website and Youtube channel. Listen to her voice and prepare to be moved.
- Biofield Tuning. I once met a woman who swore by this technique and there are free recorded samples you can download.
These are just a few of the energy healing techniques that I have tried. There are so many more, including emotional freedom technique (EFT), Access Bars, Quantum Touch and even frequency devices like Healy. Next on my list of learning is Pranic Healing, which gets into the knitty-gritty of energy healing.
But no matter what you try, make sure that the technique AND the practitioner are centered in light and heart-based. I’ve studied modalities where, while the technique may have been powerful and sound, something about the message/deliverer wasn’t based on love and it just didn’t sit right with me to pursue any further. Listen to your heart to do only what feels right to you.