Sekhem: Energy Work, Healing Ethics and Respect for Autonomy

Let the Body Move Its Energy

The body has its own knowledge and ability. When you move out of the way, the body can move in the way it needs to move. Spontaneous shaking and movement can shift blockages and move through areas where energy is not flowing well. When the movement is complete, you may feel light. This is the body's own intelligence at work.

You are capable of more than you may have imagined. As a facilitator, the role is to guide attention and help the person notice where energy is not moving. If awareness has remained high in the body, guidance can help bring attention downward. When awareness is brought to a place, the energy goes there. This is a key principle: wherever you bring your attention, the energy goes.

Guide Awareness Through the Body

The feet are especially useful because they ground attention. Much of the time, awareness remains caught in the head. Bringing attention down into the feet helps bring awareness into the body.

This principle appears in Shavasana meditation. Lie down, bring attention to the feet, and feel them. Then move up to the knees and continue bringing attention upward through the body until you reach the point where you come out of the practice.

The movement can also be reversed. To bring the soul body in, begin at the upper part of the body and move downward, then integrate. Moving downward in this way can help you become more grounded.

A participant described the experience of being down in the body as entering the flow, as though grounding helped bring awareness where it was supposed to be. The same downward movement can be understood in relation to Kundalini. In the beginning stages of one Kundalini approach, the crown is opened and energy is brought down, connecting it to Earth. Kundalini is also described as beginning at the base chakra, activating a dense energy and bringing it upward. In this downward practice, a fine vibration is brought into the body. This vibration may be felt as buzzing, and it may also be heard as an inner sound.

Notice the Senses of Energy

The vibration may be felt and heard, and it may also be tasted if attention is focused on taste. The physical body has five senses, and the astral body also has five senses. They correspond with one another, so the experience can be approached in several different ways. Some people notice a particular taste in the mouth or a particular smell.

Sharing: During the breathing exercise, a participant noticed a disgusting taste that was very sour and perhaps metallic. The taste felt so strong that the participant wondered whether someone had been wearing a great deal of perfume, describing the sensation as being like swallowing a whole container of perfume.

Response: Especially during the first few experiences of this breathing, toxins stored in the body may be released and can be tasted. Leonard Orr, when teaching what he called rebirthing, attributed such experiences to the anesthesia given to the participant's mother. That places a great deal of emphasis on the birth experience. Here, the emphasis is placed more broadly on connecting with source energy, because the body may be carrying much more than one event.

A participant who works with Reiki and supports people through transitions shared that the process begins at the feet to break the tie. Working upward from the feet is the Shavasana movement described above.