Peter J. Rappa, MD1
From the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Baylor Medical Center at Irving, Irving, Texas.
Corresponding author: Peter J. Rappa, MD, 2001 North MacArthur Boulevard, Suite 205, Irving, Texas 75061 (e-mail:PeterRa@BaylorHealth.edu).
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1200705
Peter J. Rappa, MD
In my work to rehabilitate patients with life-changing injuries—often the result of a traumatic event—I have found that it is necessary to engage the whole patient. My treatment objective is to facilitate an active, internal journey to improved health (not necessarily to a curative state).
In my clinical experience, five parameters effect change; all effectively alter the vibration or calibration that is the human energy system. These are pharmacologic energy—the power of medications; psychological energy—the power of thought; behavioral energy—one's state of being or level of consciousness; emotional energy—grief, anger, envy, fear, and love, which take and give power; and physical energy—the power of strength, flexibility, and endurance. Although injury, disease, and genetic conditions express themselves differently, these five “intentions” of healing can always be applied. I've seen results nothing short of miraculous when the health care team works with the rehabilitation patient in all of these areas.
The molecular structure of cells, tissues, and organs is pulsating with energy. Energy flows around us, into us, within us, and back into the universe according to the physical laws of relativity, and tissue states can be physically manipulated through varied techniques. While the concept of energy flow is the basis of ancient medicine, including traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, it may sound foreign to practitioners of Western medicine. Nevertheless, Western medicine has always recognized the mind-body connection—the effect that thoughts and emotions have on health. The US government has reported that 62% of Americans used some sort of complementary and alternative medicine in the past 12 months (when prayer for one's health was included in that definition), with most focused on mind-body therapies
This article discusses each of the five energies available for use in physical and functional rehabilitation and closes with a discussion of what I call the seven actions of healing.
PHARMACOLOGICAL ENERGY
The concept of energy can be applied to pharmacotherapy: medications work by transforming energy chemically and bioelectrically. Pharmacological manipulation of the neuroendocrine system is a powerful way to change the vibrational pattern of the human energy system. Patients can benefit from antidepressants, narcotics, and glucocorticoids. Traditional physicians are quite familiar with medications. Often, using medications off label can combine physiology with effect.
PSYCHOLOGICAL ENERGY
The psyche is the personification of spirit, soul, or mind. Psychological energy arises from thoughts. How and what we think are critical. Thinking is a process—a process both simple and subtle. Using the processes of the human energy system, thought becomes form, as explained below.
All thoughts carry a creative force. Our thoughts often change or create a distinct emotional state. We create our internal experiences of each external event by what we think and how intensely we think about it. Most often we create our state of being unconsciously, by reacting to the people and events around us, rather than consciously. Conscious creation allows us to be the cause of our experience rather than a recipient of circumstance. Being a cause is much more powerful and energizing than being an effect. The latter is disempowering, as it is easier to adopt negative energy states when we create unconsciously: e.g., I become angry because of criticism.
Emotions are really energy in motion, or e-motion. After thought becomes emotion, emotion is transduced or expressed in a physical form to be experienced. The effects of our thought-forms and emotional states occur in distinct physiological terms: i.e., illness or disease. A high state of stress can lead to the expression of endorphins and cortisol; the cascade is easy to follow. Chronic stress and anxiety, grief, and anger are even more powerful, acting through the neuroendocrine system to produce physical states like hypertension, ulcers, and even cancers.
Eventually, we experience all that we have created. We experience the illness, and our conception of ourselves evolves. As our experience of ourselves evolves, we have a new thought about who and what we are. With this new thought in place, the cycle begins anew. A new thought is generated based on all that we have experienced. When used constructively with awareness, the more we are, the more we can become and the bigger and better our experiences of ourselves can be. We resonate powerfully. When creation occurs unconsciously, disease and illness can easily result—the calibration of energy less strong. This vibration of the human energy system is distinct to each of us and corresponds to a level of energy that is quantifiable.
EMOTIONAL ENERGY
We can become aware of what is true for us by examining our feelings. Go within. Introspective awareness is the key. I advocate examining the important personal relationships in your life. Examine your beliefs and attitudes about yourself and others and “see” what emotions are evoked. The result will be your truth.
The next step in healing requires what I call the universal code. Become aware of the existence of unresolved emotional conflict. Take responsibility for it, since at some level you had a role in creating it, and take corrective action—which usually means forgiving yourself of mistakes and then forgiving anyone else enmeshed in the drama. As many disease states result from intense emotional discord, healing requires the release of negative emotions and negative energy when they are present.
Dr. Carolyn Myss has pioneered research into the organization of emotional energy within the human energy system. She has identified seven major specialized energy centers (or “chakras”)—tribal power or group forces, the power of individual relationships, the power of personal honor, the power of heart, the power of will, the power of the mind, and our spiritual connector—each resonating according to emotional experience (3). The energy of each of the seven centers correlates to specific organs and physical structures, which are calibrated to absorb and process specific emotional and psychological energies. Neural networks, glands, and hormones link each body system. Deep consuming stressors, disempowering attitudes, and maladaptive patterns of behaviors often precede illness. Our cells and organs reflect the quality of our energy; physically, we reflect our disease. Energy doesn't lie. Our truths are often hidden in our feelings; our feelings are often expressed through our emotions.
BEHAVIORAL ENERGY
Higher “states of being” are incompatible with certain physical conditions and disease processes. Our state of being is the ultimate tool of health and wellness. In Power Vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, psychiatrist David Hawkins, MD, PhD, studied the nature of pure consciousness (2). He quantified the power of a positive thought and a negative thought and developed a logarithmic scale of levels of consciousness (Table). Dr. Hawkins came to his conclusions through research and kinesiology testing.
Beingness is instantaneous—it is not a process. Therefore, adopting a higher state of being produces instantaneous results. This paradigm is particularly important when disease has developed due to power loss after intense negative emotions have changed our calibration or vibration. We can increase our level of consciousness by filling our lives with people, thoughts, and events that calibrate higher than where we are. Using Dr. Hawkins' work to our advantage requires awareness to raise our level of consciousness, adopt new behaviors, and add healing power to our body system, which then resonates at a different level.
PHYSICAL ENERGY
Using physical energy means becoming a warrior—strong, flexible, and energized. I recommend the following to my patients:
1.Apply discipline to train your body and your mind. Train with a coach or therapist. Get your heart rate up and sweat. Combine this with a program to de-stress: meditate, get quiet, relax, and just breathe.
2.Gain knowledge and use wisdom. Study and learn—about yourself, your profession, your interests, your loved ones.
3.Love what you do and do what you love. Regain passion in your life. Sing, play, write, read, garden: be creative!
4.Surrender; accept and even prefer what shows up in your life. You cannot change the past, the future never comes as expected, and right here, right now is where healing happens.
THE SEVEN ACTIONS OF HEALING
Some of these ideas can be summed up in the seven actions of healing:
1.Take responsibly for your physicality. Move from a passive to an active health model. Train yourself with regard to endorphin release, flexibility, and the “power-up” of psychological and emotional energy.
2.Act with integrity and honor in your relationships. Use your words to honor yourself and others. Give your best effort but realize that your best changes depending on circumstances.
3.Actively build self-respect. Protect yourself when needed but help others when you are able.
4.Actively forgive. Release ill will. This involves becoming aware, taking full responsibility for your role in any conflicts, and taking corrective action.
5.Make it right where it is wrong. Acknowledge and then release nontruthful energy, purging and thereby cleansing the spirit.
6.Support those who support you. Observe in others that with which you disagree but avoid condemnation and judgment.
I encourage my patients to release the past and to live now, since healing occurs in the present.
Acknowledgments
Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross (1926–2004) was a pioneer in the American hospice movement. Through her work on death, incredible illuminations about life have resulted. She has concisely stated that illness and disease are the result of genetic expression, trauma, or psychoemotional states of being that produce dis-ease, or disease. Other great medical thinkers echo her conclusions, including some classically trained physicians, therapists, and medical intuitives. Most recently, numerous authors and lecturers have been validating the integrative medicine model of illness and disease creation. Brian Weiss, MD, Caroline Myss, PhD, Norm Shealy, MD, Wayne Dyer, PhD, Miguel Ruiz, MD, Neal Donald Walsh, and David Hawkins, MD, PhD, have all contributed to the content of this article.
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References
1.
Barnes P, Powell-Griner E, McFann K, Nahin R. CDC Advance Data Report #343. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Adults: United States, 2002. Hyattsville, MD: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics; May 27, 2004. Available at http://www.nccam.nih.gov/news/camsurvey.htm; accessed October 4, 2004.
2.
Hawkins DR. Power Vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House; 2002.
3.
Myss C. Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing. New York: Three Rivers Press; 1996.
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