Author: Rachel Rice

This winter while I was making red lentil curry for a group of forty at our ski co-op, some of the curry splattered onto the back of my hand. Before I could get to the sink, the area was white and the pain was intensifying. Luckily, I have a deep arsenal of energy-related pain management techniques which, along with ice and a couple of Advil, relieved me of significant discomfort. By morning, the area was pain free, there was no blister, and the size of wound was significantly smaller.  It felt like nothing short of a miracle.  The secret?

• I tapped on my wrist and the back of my hand, communicating to my body to release excess energy, redirect the energy toward healing and stop the pain signals.
• I tapped on the “gamut point”, giving my fight/flight energy the message to chill out a bit.
• I pain siphoned, pulling excess heat up into my left palm and letting it drain out of my right finger tips.
• I chakra cleared, gathering excess energy up and off the top of the area.
• I visualized figure 8s mending the edges of the burn. This helped to speed healing and integration with healthy skin. (And, without telling me they were going to do it, my daughter and husband also did this same visualization!)

Real Life Pain Relief Examples

Sometimes managing pain with energy medicine can make all the difference. Consider the following use cases:

• A client with tennis elbow had been through two rounds of physical therapy over two years and still had elbow pain. By clearing the emotions that were related to the emergence of the injury and balancing irregular energy at the site of the injury, in just one session the client’s pain disappeared.
• A lifelong runner had pulled his calf muscle. Physical therapy helped a bit but when he went out to run, his other calf hurt too. In a single energy medicine session, we identified that his calf muscles had irregular polarity. We unblocked it and within a couple of weeks he was back to running.
• A client complained of pain in the lower left area of his left breast and near his sternum. His doctor said that there wasn’t a medical issue with the heart or breast. During the energy medicine session, we identified that his heart valve energy points were not in sync.  Once we balanced the points, the pain cleared.
• A client had been concussed multiple times over several years and experienced daily headaches. In a single session we cleared an energetic vortex that had been established over the head injuries. We also balanced several meridians on the head and got energies moving in a cross over pattern. Pain diminished significantly during the session and continued to diminish with home care.

Try this:

Sometimes all it takes to release discomfort is alternately placing the palm of your hand and back of your hand on the spot that is tender as this can get stagnate energies moving.  Try it and let me know how it goes.

I recently worked with an athlete who we’ll call Zach. He wanted to improve his already stellar running performance.  Zach frequently won or placed well in races but he felt that something was holding him back. He had a feeling that if he could just clear some mental blocks,  he would feel lighter, be less stressed about races and run even faster than he already did.  His coach had also noticed that Zach’s gait was a bit stiff and had encouraged him to find ways to de-stress.  Zach agreed that his stress about running was starting to impact the rest of his well-being and he wanted to reverse this trend too.  He shared with me that leading up to a race day, he would feel a bit nervous, lose some sleep and not feel like eating on the day of the race.  Read on for Zach’s remarkable results.

When we started our session, Zach rated his level of stress about racing as a 9 on a 10 point scale (with 10 being the highest level of stress and 1 being the lowest) and a feeling of tightness in his chest that was making it tough to breath as a 7 out of 10.

During our session we used the following methodical process:

1. Identified beliefs that might inhibit his mental, emotional and physical strength
2. Used muscle testing to identify which beliefs were actually impacting his strength
3. Used a process called “tapping” to clear these unconscious beliefs from his body
4. Rechecked muscle strength to ensure that the counter-productive beliefs were no longer impactful
5. Tracked and balanced his basic energies to create additional strength and focus, while reducing unnecessary stressors,
6. Gave him techniques that he could use at home to reinforce the positive shifts that we had seen during the session.

One of the biggest surprises in the session was the discovery that unconscious beliefs were inhibiting Zach’s success. Even though he wasn’t aware of it, he had low confidence in his ability to beat his toughest competitor in upcoming races. Initially he didn’t think winning was possible, he didn’t think he could do it, he didn’t think on some level that he deserved to win and he didn’t think that he would be the same person if he won.  Once we finished tapping, his belief in his own ability became strong, his muscle test confirmed the belief, and he rated his stress now as a 1 out 10.  Even the tightness in his chest went from a 7 to a 0 out of 10.

Once his level of stress dropped, we were able to focus not just on winning, but winning with grace, speed, ease and fun.  For speed, he had a specific time goal in mind for his race.  So, we tapped on that being a) a possibility, b) a strong possibility and then even c) the possibility of breaking that threshold.  He laughed when we did that because it really seemed out of the realm of what was possible.

Finally, during energy tracking, we discovered that reinforcing the central meridian flow would help him to increase his confidence, holding his neurovascular points on his temples and forehead helped to reduce his heightened state of alertness and stress while allowing for feelings of joy, and reinforced the flow of the stomach meridian energy so that he would feel grounded, calm and have an appetite.

Results were remarkable.  That weekend, Zach reported that he slept well, ate well, won his three races and achieved his time goal.

What beliefs are holding you back from achieving your goals?

It was 4pm on a Friday afternoon and I was sitting in a “report of findings” from one of our research vendors.  There were at least 25 of us packed into a conference room meant for 12. We really wanted to know the results of his research but due to his heavy travel schedule this was the only time he could come.  So we waited with bated breath. When he started to speak I found myself trying very hard to pay attention. This was really unusual because even though his subject is a bit dry,  I had previously experienced him as a dynamic and interesting speaker, able to weave a story of the findings.  This time though, he sounded like a Charlie Brown parent character. You know, the one that says “Mwah, mwah, mwah mwah mwah.”  I looked around the room and everyone’s eyes had glazed over. They looked as confused and stunned as I felt. After the meeting we talked about how he must have been having an off day.

Looking back, this has all the markings of what I would energetically call “brain scramble.” It happens when there is disorganization between the back and front parts of the brain.  When I teach communication classes, it is one of my favorite energetic states to demonstrate because it clearly shows how easily we can scramble other people and also how easy it is to resolve. If we’re scrambled, they become scrambled.  If we’re organized, they get our message. A simple exercise called the Wayne Cook Posture done prior to presenting could have been enough to enable our vendor to communicate effectively and be understood.

Here are some examples of how brain scramble shows up:

• It’s 3 o’clock in the afternoon and you’ve been trying to write the same email sentence for 10 minutes.
• It’s 11 o’clock at night and you’ve read the same paragraph in your book at least three times and can’t remember what you just read.
• It taken you 3 hours to finish a test and other people finished an hour ago.
• A stutter.
• Dyslexia.
• Inability to focus.
• You have a hard time formulating and organizing your ideas.
• Or, you’re sitting in a meeting and the speaker sounds like a Charlie Brown parent

The next time you are having a hard time communicating, try this technique, called the Wayne Cook Posture. Better yet, try it out now and see how it feels.

1. Place your left ankle on top of your right knee.
2. Place your right hand on top of your left ankle.
3. Place your left hand so that it is holding the bottom of your left foot at the ball of the left foot. (see the picture below)
4. Gently pull up on your foot while breathing in deeply. Exhale.
5. Do steps 1-4 four times on each side.
6. Next, “steeple” your fingertips, resting your thumbs between your eye brows.
7. Breath slowly in through your nose and out through your mouth three or four times.

This has become one of my favorite techniques of all time because it works so quickly to help people say and do what’s important to them. It helps to lift the fog. For a video of this and other techniques to improve communication, check out this 5-minute energy routine video.

Energetically speaking, reactivity (whether physical reactivity or emotional reactivity) typically involves an energy called Triple Warmer. Triple Warmer is one of the nine energy systems defined by Donna Eden in her book, “Energy Medicine: Balancing your Energies for Optimal Health, Vitality and Joy“.  She says that when we feel emotionally or physically threatened, Triple Warmer’s role is to step in to promote a fight, flight or freeze response, an immune response and survival habits.  In these cases, Triple Warmer has the ability to pull from your other energies to fight off perceived threats to your system.

The trouble comes when there are too many stressors (e.g. traffic, news, arguments, electromagnetic waves, environmental pollutants, accidents, traumas, etc) or the stressors come too often and we don’t have time to come back to homeostasis.  Then, Triple Warmer can lose its ability to discern which stressors matter.

Can you imagine what might happen to the rest of your energies if you are constantly fighting off perceived threats?

If we don’t effectively clear out the impact of the stressors from our system, our energies can get thrown out of balance and over time lose resilience. Sometimes Triple Warmer can get reactive. No longer just our warrior, our commander-in-chief, the leader of our internal army, it becomes a hyper-vigilant, crazy energy that sees things as threats that really aren’t, because it’s lost its ability to see what really matters.  This can wreak havoc on our physical and emotional systems.

As a clinical practitioner, I’ve seen Triple Warmer reactivity show up in different ways for people including, but not limited to:

• weight gain, or inability to lose weight
• thyroid issues
• blood sugar issues
• auto-immune issues (e.g. M.S., Fibromyalgia, Lupus)
• allergic responses including asthma, itching (e.g. hives, rashes) and anaphylaxis
• temperature fluctuations (e.g. too hot, too cold, poor circulation)
• emotional reactivity (e.g. flying off the handle)
• cancer

The good news is that when our energies are balanced and working together in harmony, Triple Warmer can effectively keep us safe by giving us the shot of adrenaline we need to meet the periodic stressors in our life.  We can befriend our Triple Warmer and have it work with us, not against us.  Here’s one exercise to try that can help to sooth Triple Warmer’s anxious side.

Triple Warmer Calming Exercise

• Place your right hand on your left temple (at the star in the image below), trace along the pathway highlighted and off of the fourth finger. Trace the other side too.
• Check in. Do you feel any calmer? Did you breath any easier?

Learning about Triple Warmer significantly changed my world view,  how I approach my own health and emotional challenges and how I perceive the challenges of others.  If it doesn’t do the same for you, I would be very surprised.

Seems like these days we’re all walking around afraid… afraid of what our President will do next… afraid of terrorism in our back yard… afraid of the impact that natural catastrophes are having on us… afraid of whether the market is at its peak and of what our company will do when the market crashes… afraid of cancer and chemicals and radiation and the cost of health care.

Could you be 25%, 50% or even 75% more effective in work and life with less fear?

Fear is not always a bad thing. It can tell us that we’re in danger and than we need to take action to be safer.  It can motivate us to create plans to mitigate risk and to change direction.

But, with all of the mind share that we give to our fears these days, what is left for positive thoughts? And since fear creates body stiffness, what is left for forward motion? What would happen to our productivity if we didn’t have to share our brains and bodies with so much fear.

You may have tried a handful of these coping mechanisms:

• exercising until you’ve achieved body and brain fatigue
• taking anti-anxiety meds
• meditating to become aware that the fear is just a thought and shifting your attention to a more positive focal point
• Facing your fears head on
• applying the Jedi mind trick of allowing the fear to pass through us (I’ve always wanted to meet Jedi!)

Personally I’ve found the most success in managing and permanently clearing  my fears by holding neurovascular points (see below).  With very little invested time and no cost or side effects, this technique has helped me have difficult conversations, put more energy into growing my business, and enabled me to be more present in challenging situations.

What works best for you to manage your fears?

Why does tapping work so quickly?

This past Friday, my colleagues Deb Elbaum, MD, CPCC, and Amy Rebecca Gay, PhD, and I facilitated a workshop at Bryant University Women’s Summit for a packed room of more than 70 women about how to be more effective at setting and maintaining strong boundaries.

We led the group to 1) discover the values that were underlying their unclear boundaries, 2) learn how to communicate their “No” in a way that would help rather than hinder their relationships and 3) clear emotions and limiting beliefs that might get in their way.

I was delighted to see how many hands went up at the end of the session indicating that their fears, worries, anxieties and limiting beliefs had markedly diminished.  But how could it possibly work so quickly?

Workshop participants had said that when they thought about having the important conversations about their boundaries they started to feel worried, anxious, fearful, stressed and had thoughts like “the other person might not like me after I say what I need” and “I might not be effective (so maybe I shouldn’t try).”

I led them through a process to clear the emotions and beliefs that might inhibit productive conversations. It involved tapping on points along the meridian system of the body while thinking or speaking aloud about the concerns.

Tapping anywhere on the body sends a calming message to the brain.  It basically communicates “I’m safe” and simultaneously releases pent up energy from the body. Essentially the brain understands that we aren’t in a life threatening situation because we wouldn’t be sitting there tapping on the body if we were being chased by a tiger.  The calming message is received in the brain at the same time the worry or concern is being processed and actually interrupts the processing of the worry with a new message that “there is nothing here that is life threatening.” This allows for a new interpretation of the situation to be understood and the conflicting emotion to be integrated. We tapped and talked aloud together about our concerns for about 5 minutes.

Before we started the tapping process, I asked the participants to rate their distress about their concern on a scale of 0-10 with 0 meaning no concern at all and 10 meaning the most concern.  When we were done tapping, I asked the group to again rate their distress on the 10 point scale. When I asked people to raise their hand if their score had gone down, almost every single hand went into the air.  Remarkable.

For more information on Tapping (a.k.a. Emotional Freedom Technique) and the Research supporting its efficacy check this out. 

• In 2000, William F. Bengston conducted and published research into the effectiveness of hands-on healing.  His healing research produced the first successful full cures of transplanted mammary cancer in mice by a hands-on technique as published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp353-364, 2000.  In the experiment, they obtained five experimental mice with mammary cancer which had a predicted 100% fatality between 14 and 27 days subsequent to injection. Bengston treated these mice for 1 hour per day for 1 month and the mice lived their normal life spans while control mice sent to another city died within the predicted time frame. Three replications using skeptical volunteers and other laboratories produced an overall cure rate of 87.9% in 33 experimental mice.
• In addition, in 2006, Ann Baldwin and Gary Schwartz showed that personal interaction with a reiki practitioner significantly decreased noise-induced microvascular damage in an animal model.  Conclusions of their study are that reiki can be administered to animals and results in a reduction in stress-related physiological response (significantly more than when offered by someone who is pretending to give reiki).  Their research was published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (12(1): 15-22).

Only recently have we been able to measure subtle energies, measure shifts in subtle energies in the body, and measure the impact of energy medicine on well-being. Even though people experience positive results from these modalities, they may doubt the efficacy of the modality, perhaps attributing their success to the placebo effect or something they just can’t put their finger on.  The good news is that there is more and more scientific evidence that supports the notion that energy medicine and energy psychology are effective.

Specifically, according to the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology, there have been over 100 research studies, review articles and meta-analyses that have been published in professional, peer-reviewed journals.  This includes:

• 43 randomized controlled trials
• 39 outcome studies
  • 98% of the above 82 studies show positive results
• 4 meta-analyses
• 4 systemic reviews
• Hundreds of case studies
• 1 more meta-analysis in press and will be published in 2016, which analyzes a series of studies documenting the efficacy of EFT.

A few years ago I would have fallen into the skeptical bunch, but I have seen too many people benefit from the work now to doubt it at all.  I recently worked with a client who wanted help feeling less stuck.  He was skeptical about energy medicine and energy psychology but decided to give it a try.

He had already achieved a tremendous amount in his life and had been the driving force behind his previous employer’s growth by inventing numerous, patented solutions for his employer.  He had also started two companies but something was holding him back from moving forward. He was internally creating but not externally engaging.  He wasn’t making the phone calls he needed to make and overall he didn’t feel like he had value to add. He felt tightness in his chest every time he thought about it.

During the first two sessions we focused on identifying the limiting beliefs that were getting in his way of moving forward. We also talked about various events that had happened in his life that could be related in some way to how he was feeling. Once we mapped it out, he could more easily pinpoint the areas where he felt most limited. We used a technique called ‘tapping’ to clear the emotions and beliefs from his system so that he had a clear slate on which to create new neural pathways.  Then we talked about who he is at his core, what makes his heart sing and cause him to be joyful at the start of a day. We identified his life’s purpose and used tapping to enable him to access the feelings of inspiration, joy and creativity that he felt when he thought about his life’s purpose.   After two sessions he felt energized and excited about the possibilities ahead. He was now waking up feeling vibrant each day.

But it wasn’t only his feeling about things that changed. His businesses started to take a turn for the better.  When we touched based between the second and third sessions, he reported that one of his products was now close to being production ready. (It is now produced.)  In addition, a new client for his other product had requested a volume order and a third customer had commissioned a new design.  Not only that, he had made phone calls and reached out to people who had been on his ‘to do’ list for a while. He was unstuck.  Over the past few months, things have continued to evolve and another of his products is under contract to be mass produced!

Over the next few months I plan to share summaries of the studies that have been published which provide scientific evidence in support of these modalities.  I hope that you will reach out to talk with me about them.  In the meantime, if you’re curious, you can learn more here.