Advice for Potential Energy Workers or Healer Trainees

• What is energy work or energy healing?

• How is it done?

• Which energy or healing systems do we recommend?

• Who to go to for healer training?

• What qualifications are important for a healer?

• What about Anatomy and Physiology are they necessary?

• Is it right to take money for healing work?

• Why is healing effective?

• Energy Work and Spiritual Paths

You could say that it is about affecting changes beyond what is physically perceived. For me as a scientist by training it is an acknowledgement that certain causes of challenges, conditions and health problems have nothing at all to do with either this physical body or this particular reality. As this work is by its very nature intuitive, personal and feeling then effectiveness very much depends on the ability of the individual energy worker, the focus of the energies and beings that they work with as well as their depth of inner perception. In other words, there are as many approaches and levels of ability as there are energy workers. You could also say that we call it energy work because we do not work with physically perceivable phenomenon or tools. We also call it energy work because many practitioners feel / see / sense the flow of the energies through themselves and their clients as they channel. This energy then, is not the same as that which scientists talk about or what your utility services company brings to your house. They have no relationship to joules or watts or kcal they are a description of a perception of a presence or flow movement that is non-physical. In the same way you can feel the temperature increase in a room but do not see or hear or taste this change. Energy workers and healers work then with an energy presence or flow that is only perceivable on an inner level. Some do this very consciously and others not at all.

For a healing or practitioner session, energies are consciously activated / invoked and channeled from one person (the practitioner or healer) to another (the client) or yourself to effect change. Depending on the energy combinations that you are connected to, then this will bring about changes on the physical, emotional, mental and or the various spiritual levels. Exactly what happens as a result will be a combination of what the practitioner is currently capable of, as well as various factors to do with the client. If the client is very negative and disbelieving of what is being done then this can sometimes affect the outcome. Mission directives - that is what the client is here in this existence to accomplish will also be a major factor. Some healers work by rote (that is they follow a pre-defined approach) others are more intuitive and creative in what they understand is necessary for their client and work differently in each session. Some have very strong inner perceptions and are able to pass these insights on to their client while others have no insights and simply follow a formula approach. There is nothing wrong with following a formula approach and working blind (as it were). Reiki is an example of a system where most practitioners are working in this way. It takes time and practice to move beyond this and to start to be aware and to accept your own inner perceptions and intuitions. It takes some even more time to follow them, particularly when it conflicts with what you have accepted from your training.

We recommend none and all. We would say that different systems offer (by and large) different approaches and very different focuses. These give them more success with regards certain challenges and less with others. A better question would be ''Which would be best for me to work with?''. The best advise I can give you is to sit down and really find within yourself why you want to do it. Is it to help yourself? Someone else? People in general? Are you just intrigued? Do you want to help the planet? Make an honest list, so, include things like wanting to make money from doing this (if you do?). Then invite in your spirit support team or GOD or the creative potential of the universe (or whatever you feel comfortable with) and ask them to support you in getting this. Then you go looking. Explore what is offered by different systems: Shen, Tamaki, Vortex healing, a Spiritualist Church, Reiki and so on. Then ring people up and see / feel / intuit which appeals to you - see which you are drawn to (Do not assume that what they offer is the same). If none appeal on the first attempt then wait a while and then look again. Some approaches are orientated to resolving physical problems, others emotional and so on. Some are very heavy on the philosophy and origins side which is great if that is what you want.

So, our advice is that you should go for some training that you are interested in or that appeals to you.  Some energy workers start doing it naturally (as happened to me) and others start by going for training.  Although I started naturally I then went for training, this was both because I was guided to and because it was good to have support with others who have some appreciation of your experiences (however limited). Whoever you train with keep the following in mind. It is a two edged sword. On the one hand it is good to have support and encouragement and to associate with someone who can at the very least guide you with respect to their understandings. On the other hand, the draw back of training is that people will guide you with respect to their understandings, which from my experience usual means a very limited perspective. Natural healers are generally freer of philosophies and have the possibility to be more creative in what they are doing. Without support you can have a very difficult time coming to terms with your new perceptions and resulting uncommon perspectives and understandings. What I would say is that for those of you who are really interested in really exploring themselves and the beyond then I would advise you to consider training with someone who either started naturally or who has left behind everything that they learnt from training and who is also more open to possibilities and change. Also keep the following in mind: 

• Your own assumptions, beliefs, preconceptions and understandings will always warp your choices.

• Understand that when you work with someone you are agreeing to flow with their view of reality, their understandings and limited truths.

• The truth changes are you change. So, understand that your truths should always change if you do. So, people who are working to a high level will not try and tell you what the truth is, they will only facilitate you to find more of your own.

Qualifications are important if they will support you to do what you want to do in the way that you want to do it.  My own experience comes from me healing me. For example, having consciously faced and dealt with literally thousands of my own entity attachments (many on an individual one to one basis) then my own understandings are first hand and my solutions are neither theoretical nor fear based (at least not NOW). It does not matter what your training covers, it does not matter how many books you have read or how many expert healers you have worked with. When it is happening to you and you solve it then no other experience or understanding comes close. Since I started working with energies the training time I have had while resolving my own issues and challenges is somewhat more than that put in by a Junior Doctor. Who can award me a qualification for all that I have done on me? And who would be qualified to do so? Having said that its good to get some training in different approaches. For some of you it will give you new ideas and for others it will make you aware of their limitations and spur you to move beyond them. It must also be said that bits of paper are often important for you to be acknowledged by various authorities. Although I am sure that certificates are a good measure of the experience and qualifications for nuclear reactor designers or electronic engineers or medical doctors, from my own experience bits of paper are no measure of the experience, integrity, understanding or awareness of an energy worker or healing practitioner.

YES absolutely and NO not at all. Energy or healing work is supported and empowered with confidence and experience. As energy work has no basis from the perspective of science at large and has a mixed reception amongst health professionals and the general public, then many within it require a badge of confidence and or respectability either from a personal point of view or from the point of view of getting a particular energy system recognized and accepted within conventional circles. We are living within societies that are becoming increasingly over-regulated and controlled. So, for some people having Anatomy and Physiology as part of their training although completely unnecessary from an energy channeling and potential outcome point of view will from a personal standing give them confidence and others confidence in them that will help them be effective energy workers and healers where they would otherwise not feel able. I am not putting anything down here, all I am saying is that energy channeling will fit into and work with whatever approach you want to present. Whether this is anatomy, physiology, acupuncture, hypnotherapy, psychology, massage, reflexology and so on only makes a difference in that it will be accepted and available to those who can accept and be comfortable with that particular presentation.

You charge if you want to and you don't charge if you don't want to. It is your choice? My own energy work has self responsibility at the core. People who come want core issues resolved. It is an observable truth that those who don't make a fair payment generally do not respond to the work as well as those who do. This is because whether we like it or not money is a very strong measure of value and worth and those not making a commitment of value and worth are not making a commitment to themselves. The same generally happens if I go to a client rather than have them come to me. This is usually because either they are not making a commitment to their own movement or they are (on some level) making me responsible for making them better. Despite what some think there is no degradation in the quality of outcome whether you charge or not. There will be a degradation of quality if you have issues in this area and for example are not charging but feel that you should or you are charging but feel that you should not. Having beliefs that are in alignment with what you are doing is a very important factor in energy work. From where I stand, people will continue to argue until they reach and embrace more of all that they are and step closer to UNITY. The closer you get to this place the less you can partake of these issues simply because they are now not issues for you.

Although those who work consistently with energies are aware in no uncertain terms of their effectiveness the scientific and more materialistic members of the public generally explain success in terms of the belief of the recipient. From my own experience the reverse is entirely true. That is the effectiveness of the practitioner by and large relates to how much they have discarded beliefs, conditioning and models that contradict what they do. Put simply, your deep understandings, beliefs, models, philosophies, attitudes and so on all contribute to creating your existence and hence reinforce themselves. With energy work, you are tapping into these more creative levels that manifest this and other realities. So, although there are defined systems within which you can have training such as Shen, Reiki, Magnified Healing, Tamaki, Vortex Healing to name but a few. If you stick to and accept what you were told in a particular system and accept it as the truth (make it a belief) then this will limit your effectiveness as a healer. To a certain extent when you train with someone, then you are tapping into and accepting on some level the belief systems and approaches held by the trainer. You are joining and following their river of knowledge and understanding, this then will allow you to do things that perhaps contradict your own belief systems and views of reality, this then allows you to accept these new ideas (because you now know that they work) and make them yours. The only limits in energy work then are those that the practitioner holds themselves to. Those practitioners who perform miracles can do this because on some level they know that miracles are possible and this gives them permission to perform them. This is also why science (and those that operate within a scientific model) cannot get a handle on these areas. As often investigations are done by the most skeptical, then their beliefs, attachments to certain models and ways of thinking and so on will help create a reality that re-enforces what they already hold as true this then almost always ensures dubious and unsupportive results. When scientists can lay aside their models, beliefs and training and be truly open then these areas will be properly substantiated, but not before. 

There are some energy systems that are pertaining to be spiritual paths. Fine, now what is a spiritual path? A Spiritual path is about changing, it is about moving into new possibilities, it is about letting go of beliefs, ideas, understandings and knowings to move into the unknown. At least, that is what a spiritual path is to me? The problem is that many people glibly say spiritual but what is spiritual to one person can be something quite different to another, so for example watching a sunset is for some people very spiritual. The only thing that YOU need to be sure of is WHAT DO YOU WANT? What is it that you want from what you are doing? If you want an energy system or approach to take you somewhere then you have to see if the people who are already using it are achieving this? This is the only criteria? Do they truly represent what they present? Do they live (not just say) what they offer. You should also keep in mind that your current understandings, beliefs, knowings, truths and so on will always be keeping your choices, shall we say constrained. So, always be prepared to LET GO of your current choice when your understandings, truth, knowings and beliefs change. OH! and if they are not changing then this is a sign that what you are doing in not very spiritual. Contrary to popular belief the fact that your best friend may recommend a healer or energy practitioner to train with is no indication of whether what they do is what you want or need? Having 'GOOD' results with one person does not mean that they will with you, or that what they are doing is right for you?

Copyright © Clive Shane Hetherington & TrueSpirit Jan 2001 and on. All rights reserved.