What is Energy Balancing?

The term “energy balancing” is often used when talking about energy healing. So, what exactly is being balanced by a healer?

Energy healing uses the chakras and other structured energy systems to effect a positive shift in the physical, emotional, or spiritual health of a client. The chakra system is a map of the development of human consciousness as it proceeds from one stage of growth into the next. Each of the chakras builds on the the stage of consciousness development beneath it, as well as expanding upon the utility of any lower chakra and its functioning. Humans beings are made of multiple energy centers each representing many different consciousness states. In other words, each chakra holds the “wiring” of any particular state of human consciousness… but it needs to be activated before we gain access to it.

If we focus our attention upon the overall evolutionary flow rather than just upon a specific chakra (e.g., Chakra One representing embodiment, Chakra Two carrying the energetic wiring of attachment to others, and so on) we can speculate upon useful ways that human beings can bring an imbalanced life back into balance. And when we do his we can also participate in assisting the client in the evolution of their consciousness.

There are two main systems to balance within the human energy field. The first is the balancing of vital elements within the physical world, and the second is the balancing of our relational energetics between self and others. An example of the balancing of vital elements in the physical world would be the electrical polarities within the nervous system, or the digestion of proteins in the digestive system, or the absorption of minerals and vitamins from a healthy diet. Human health is achieved and maintained by balancing our various physical needs: yin and yang, positive and negative, healthy diet and efficient elimination and so on. Once we correct any such material imbalance in the physical body, health can exist.

The second systemic polarity is the functioning of our relational energies: chakras and their cord connections, the generation of thought forms, and the influence of the spirit (or Astral) world upon us . Human beings are connected energetically with each other; we develop our consciousness only through our psychological and emotional connections with others, and then we come to internalize those outer energies within our own energy system. The chakras can be viewed as the invisible processors of consciousness. Chakras provide the energetic interface that allows a flow out (towards others) and then back into the chakra system. We can break this down as a process between the outer-referenced self (“I experience something that is not me in the outer world”) and the inner-referenced self (“I am the experience that is me, and you (the other) are separate and different from me.”). These energetic flow patterns appear to develop as we traverse first from early infant states, and then slowly move into individuation and mutuality with others. While there are other factors at play (heritage patterns from our family of origin, personality traits, and so on) a vital key to understanding this development lies our relationships with others, beginning early in our infancy.

As an illustration, here are samples of what we experience at some of these stages:

1. Our journey into consciousness begins in utero, with our unconscious merger with our mother, such that we are unknowingly held within states of fusion with her, and (later) with others.
2. In infancy there is an impulsive desire for contact, and to express an unmet need (such as hunger, or the physical desire for human contact so as to relieve our emotional anxiety. So, we explore reaching out, and taking in, from others.
3. In our early years there is a buffering of contradictory emotional forces within, as our needs and the outer maternal holder’s needs painfully awaken my individuation ( my “I”) via frustration and conflict (“I don’t get what I want when I demand or need it”) or through healthy mirroring (“The maternal holder meets my need – within reason – and yet puts healthy limits on my demands for more.”).
4. Slowly we move from an unconscious identification with the maternal holding (by another), and begin the journey towards inner referencing of the self. We replace our earlier narcissistic demands with a negotiation with the other based on the growing awareness that “I am not the only person with needs (or desires) in the universe”.
5. Over time, my inner-referencing system (through the alternation of gain and loss, pleasure and pain) gains more “wiring” of consciousness, including more intellectual and emotional algorithms of strategies that leading me to function as an independent being: separate, different, but yet still vitally connected to others.
6. As we move into this intermediate stage of human consciousness the “I” now becomes aware of healthy mutuality (i.e. the differences between “I”, “You”, and “We”): in that “I” am separate from you, and you (the other) have your own set of needs that differ from mine. Sometimes we agree, and sometimes with come into conflict, but we can learn to negotiate compromises that bring balance into our relationship.
7. With our evolving human consciousness now aware of self (inner-reference) and of the other (outer-reference) I can now perceive another balance flow that needs my attention: the inner and the outer, my experience and your experience, my human needs and your human needs. The spiraling development of human consciousness development is such that the individuated self learns to balance relational energies. The individuated self can interpret the life experience data it receives from the inner-referenced world (and its feeling experience), and simultaneously sample the life experience data experienced by others: those who are separate from us, and who have developed in ways different to us.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the relational dynamics involved, but is a starting place to examine the energetics of the inner-referenced self (i.e., our growing awareness of the “I”, or inner self) and knowledge of the functioning of our outer-referenced self (i.e. how we consciously or unconsciously deal with interactions with other people). It follows that if my outer-referenced polarities are out of balance with respect to my inner-referenced experience (e.g., ”I am excessively self-involved, ignoring the state of the world around me”) I will experience life only from a solipsistic standpoint, and where the outer world has to conform with my inner needs, or demands. If my inner-referenced self is out of balance with my outer -referenced self (e.g. “Others are more important than myself”), I will exist by living through – or for – other people. When any polarity is out of balance – physical or relational – it will keep us from being fully healthy. A healthy balance is where both inner-referenced and outer-referenced self-states function well, or are moving towards a state of even higher functioning.

Spiritual traditions have long recognized the importance of relational dynamics for personal or spiritual development. One of the Three Jewels (or Pillars) of Buddhism is the Sangha: a Sanskrit word that means association, and being a part of a greater community of spiritual seekers. The other two Jewels of the Buddhist path are the Buddha (representing the actual achievement of Awakening) and the Dharma (The teachings of the Awakened Ones) can can only function if work via the Sangha – our associations with others – is included. Similarly, the Catholic Church teaches that salvation can only come about through doing good works: that spiritual faith alone is not enough. Kind actions towards others generates spiritual power in the world. In essence, spiritual growth has always been dependent upon relationships; it is an error to focus on self-development and exclude others, and the events of the outer world, as not having significance.

So, how do we achieve optimal balance between the inner-referenced self and the outer-referenced self? We can start by engaging in acts of giving and receiving, by sharing ourselves in ways that either define who we are, or which explore where we are in deficit. Relational energetics – the quality of our relationships with others – needs to both stimulates personal growth as well as sustain that growth into the future. Our bodies need the right balance of nutrition and exercise, just as our relational energy bodies are in need of the correct balance of contact with our inner world, and an exploration and sharing of ourselves with the outer world.

Practical Application, and Energy Healers

This first way of energy balancing (in the physical world) requires a lot of study leading you towards an understanding of those organic elements that you wish to balance in others. So, you know that if you are a physician or medical professional, healing begins when you assist your patient’s body in coming back into balance which results in their return to health, or when you remove any impediment to the natural healing process, such as a tumor or repair of a physical wound. If you are a mental health professional, healing begins as the client works through inner-referenced emotional development issues (such as resolving early trauma from childhood), or learns new skills that help their outer-referenced self interact more efficiently with others.

Energy healers often find themselves adding energy healing balancing energies into one of these two domains (physical healing and emotional/mental healing), in order to enhance or clarify the balance the client is seeking. Our goal as energy healers, though, is not to simply pump pranic energies willy-nilly into the body, and to hope for the best. Rather, we need to actively participate in helping the body achieve a balanced state – both physical body and energy body – so that its natural healing ability is active. We need to know how human physical and emotional/mental systems come into balance, so we can apply the correct support in the right way.

Relational energy healers add an additional level of balancing when they address the second balancing model: the energetic wiring of the outer-referenced self and the inner-referenced self. Relational energetics look for a balance in the oscillation of energies found in our relationships, and seek opportunities to enhance the gains that come out of them (even when an important relationship is lost, or is absent.). Outer-referenced energies flow along the relational chakra cords, while inner-referenced energies are anchored in the chakra self-cords. And so, once the foundations of an energy body are balanced, the next level of work to be done is with the chakra cords and the self-cords, as well exploring the astral (or spirit world) interactions that influences them.

We know we are balanced when our lives are working, our health is good, our relationships are satisfying to us, and we give birth to our inner creativity. In a state of balance, we will always thrive. And, happiness will follow.

© 2013 by Dean Ramsden. All rights reserved.

Energy Psychology, Personal Development, Relational Healing