Energy Healing in Spas

Energy healing is a fundamental aspect of self-care that aids in elevating our Wellbeing by connecting to the life force of our quintessence. Everything in the universe is made of molecules vibrating at various frequencies. Or as Einstein said, “Everything is energy.” And so are we...

The molecules vibrating in our bodies surround our physical, spiritual and mental aspects with a unique bioenergy that keeps them in harmony, balanced and connected. This may sound unbelievable, but our vital energy is made up of a multitude of electromagnetic, thermal, photonic and subtle energies that resonate with universal energy, creating a biofield that radiates from the inside out. We cannot see it with the naked eye, but we certainly can feel it. Put simply, the “electric shock” we feel when touching another or the highlighted silhouettes visible by thermal night goggles we see in adventure movies are the work of our biofield. Likewise, the fact we intuitively sense someone’s watching us or know our “frequencies match” perfectly with a person we’ve just met stem from our energy field.

However, sometimes, the dynamics of our inner cycle affect our energy frequencies which then can become unbalanced, out of tune, blocked, or challenged. This in turn might cause pain and discomforts in our body, emotional turmoil in our soul, and clouded and intensified thoughts in our mind. Energy healing, on the other hand, contributes to our holistic wellbeing and awareness by aligning our frequencies with awareness in a way that suits our essence, and bringing them back to their ‘sui generis’ potential.

So what are the energy healing therapies we experience, that we love to experience in Spas and what benefits can they offer us? We’ve compiled for you...

What is Energy Healing?

Energy healing is based on the understanding that our unique molecular rhythms create a circular flow of life force that unites and functions our physical, emotional and conscious beings. This energy flow, referred to as ‘Qi’ in Traditional Chinese Medicine or ‘Prana’ in Ayurveda, is the key to our natural self-healing power that enables us to maintain our holistic health. So when this flow is for whatever reason disrupted, our healing power, which ensures our body-mind-spirit balance, becomes compromised. 

From this point, energy healing can be defined as a holistic healing practice that aims to remove the blockages preventing the free flow of our life energy throughout our being, thus improving our unique body-mind-spirit balance. In these practices, as you'll see below, different forms of energy like the therapist’s hands, natural stones and crystals, universal vibrations, specific techniques and movement flows are used to help us regain the balanced and harmonious state of our life force.

What are the Types of Energy Healing?

Today, there are many schools of energy healing that exist under different names. Examples include Reiki, Qi Gong, therapeutic touch, Pranic healing, spiritual healing, distant healing, biofield energy healing, Acupuncture, Reflexology, polarity therapy, Thai massage, craniosacral therapy and many other types of therapies.

However, there is no clear distinction and classification between these therapies. Reiki, for example, is sometimes referred to as biofield healing, sometimes as spiritual healing, sometimes as a separate class. Similarly, many relatively modern energy healings, such as polarity therapy and Deepak Chopra’s quantum therapy, draw their inspiration from older practices. 

Moreover, as holistic approaches to our Wellbeing evolve, more and more modalities of energy healing are emerging, blended with each other or various contemporary and traditional therapies. For example, sound and light therapies are combined with yoga and Reiki healing to sail us on deeper, ritualistic selfcare journeys.

Here are some of the most popular examples of energy healing therapies practiced in Spas: 

Chakra Balancing/Attunement

Chakras, which means “wheel” or “cycle” in Sanskrit, refer to the seven main energy centers that run from the top of our head along our spine. Our chakras, each with a different color of rainbow, spin like a vortex with their unique frequencies, energizing our body parts, emotions and consciousness to which they are linked. Chakra balancing healing, believed to have originated in India around 600 BC, is an intuitive therapy practiced for keeping our chakras in harmony, open and at high frequency. Although their contents may vary from Spa to Spa, this healing therapy usually involves a guided meditation experience with chanting mantras and natural stones and crystals and can last from 30 to 90 minutes, depending on the concept.

Today, we have access to balancing chakra healing therapies that can restore our aura, led by healer Pak Dewa at the mystically spiritual Fivelements Spa in Bali. We can also experience the therapy as a deeper and holistic journey together with other therapeutic treatments such as head, back or full body massages using crystals and high frequency essential oils specific to our chakra/dosha, accompanying sound therapies such as Tibetan singing bowls and gongs. Just as offered at Sakoon The Spa in the United States with the ancient indigenous Kanza wand and Ayurvedic Abhyanga massage.

Reiki

Born in Japan in the early 1900s under the leadership of Mikao Usui, Reiki originates from the words “rei” which means “supreme power” and “ki” corresponding to “life energy”; hence referring to as “spiritually guided life force energy”. Considered the most popular practice of biofield therapy, Reiki is based on the transmission of healing energy through the hands of the therapist to our Self. But the healing power comes not from our therapist, but from the attunement of the universal energy into our own vital energy ‘channeled’ by our therapist. During a Spa session, which also often lasts between 30 and 90 minutes and may be experienced in different concepts, our therapist uses around 13 spiritual healing symbols to apply gentle pressure with the palms of his/her hands on our clothed body along our energy pathways. The experience can be accompanied by aromatherapy, sound therapy, gemstones and crystals to draw negative energy out of our biofield, revitalize our emotional and mental aspects and increase our ‘Ki’ flow. For instance, Kamalaya Spa’s signature Three Treasures ritual in Thailand includes in addition to Reiki healing, a Tui Na massage, crystal healing and aromatherapy with oil blends that address our Three Dantians.

Qi Gong

This age-old Chinese medical practice, which dates back nearly 4,000 years and means “to activate the life energy”, is practiced as a bespoke blend of guided meditation, breathwork and movement in hundreds of different styles and techniques to restore or maintain the free flow of our Qi in Spas. During our session, our therapist guides us to take meditative breaths accompanied by movement that follows our meridians and encourages our energy to move unhindered. The synchronized breath-movement combinations allow us to stay at the present moment, awaken our natural healing powers and restore a calm state of mind. 

By experiencing Qi Gong healing at the Black Tortoise station in the unparalleled Energy and Therapy Garden of Lefay Resort & Spa Lago Di Garda, accompanied by a mindful walking session and a Black Tortoise massage with juniper and cypress essential oils and a focus-inducing color therapy, we can connect more deeply with nature and our higher Self.

Crystal Healing

Our energy vibrations are quite prone to turn imbalanced by virtue of our inner and environmental experiences. Gemstones and crystals, on the other hand, which have been absorbing the power of mother nature for millions of years, are extremely stable and surrounded by high energy thanks to their perfect geometric molecules. That’s why they are considered as our precious supporters in strengthening our chakra frequencies. For example, rose quartz, with a frequency of 350 Hz, is a very popular crystal for our heart chakra, which nurtures our feelings of love and compassion. Another good  news is that natural stones and crystals have infinite variations available to us that can respond to whatever we need.

In Spas, crystals are often used in many traditional therapies, including chakra balancing and Reiki, in massage treatments that uniquely relax us, such as crystal stone massage, or even in refreshing and purifying bath therapies. The Tibetan Ku Nye Massage at Ananda Spa, performed with essential oils selected to balance our five elements and warm Himalayan Crystal salt piles and stones blessed by Tibetan monks, is a beloved example of the comprehensive application of this method...

Marma Therapy

According to marma therapy, an Ayurvedic healing modality, we have a total of 108 marma points, one in our mind and 107 in our body at the intersections of tendons, bones, muscles, joints, vessels, nerves and other tissues. The main marma points correspond to our seven chakras, similar to chakra balancing and Reiki. As the “gateways” where our consciousness and body merge, our marma points allow our Prana to flow freely through our physical and subtle energy pathways. A blockage in any of our marma points though may reduce our life power and therefore our self-healing ability. Marma therapy in return aims to regulate our Prana flow and rebalance our chakra frequencies by stimulating our blocked marma points. Usually lasting between 60 and 90 minutes, it mostly involves a relaxing massage like Srota or Abhyanga, followed by circular and very light touch techniques with plant-infused oils on our marma points, and may include accompanying therapies such as crystal and light therapies.

Bvlgari Hotel Spa in London combines the power of nature with quality in its Prana Mineral Rich Marma Therapy, part of the Mauli Rituals, which offers a marma point massage with nourishing botanicals, as well as head, back and foot massages and a tri-mineral non-invasive facelift, to add a touch of glamorous beauty to this healing treatment.

Aura Healing

Have you ever been in a situation where all heads involuntarily and admiringly turned towards you once you entered the place? Sure you have! This of course has something to do with the value you place on your self-care, but that's not the only reason. The other undeniable reason is, although we cannot see it ourselves, our aura, which extends about 8 feet from our body... Our aura (biofield), which shines like a holy light as a balanced and harmonious life energy flows throughout our being, might dim when we are exposed to negative impacts like a depressing burnout. This is where aura healing may step in, using soothing music, divine mantras, universal vibrations, light and heat therapies, and aromatherapy massage to cleanse our entire self of negative influences and encourage our biofield to again rise and shine, so that we can better guard against these influences in our following life flow. Today, at leading Spas like The Spa at The Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville, we get to experience this therapy blended with modern technology and with a heightened sense of confidence by having our aura photographed by sensitive machines at the beginning and end of our treatment.

Temazcal

Temazcal, which represents the womb of Mother Earth in transcendental Mayan culture, is something much more holistic and spiritual than a relaxing bath ritual... In the ritual, which takes place by inviting the sacred Quetzalcoatl, Hutzilipxtli, Chipitotec, Mictlanteculti spirits of nature to our healing with traditional mantras, we also experience meditative exercises in the bath heated with hot stones and infused with herbs. Accompanied by our therapist, this ceremonial ritual, where we are enlightened with a high sense of gratitude and bid farewell to all that has harmed us in our lives, can be ideal for us to experience an inner reflection and transformation by reuniting with the supreme being nestled in our deepest core. Just as offered in the Temazcal Ceremony of Yäan Healing Sanctuary which allows us to take on ethereal self-care journeys with the ancient healings of Mexico...

What are the Common Benefits of Energy Healing Therapies?

• Restores our physical flexibility by awakening our body's “Rest and digest.” response, a.k.a. our parasympathetic nervous system, with the sense of calm it invites into our being, thus helping to alleviate muscle and joint pain. 
• Recharges our natural self-healing power by encouraging the removal of blockages in both our physical and subtle energy paths. This increases our cells’ ability to regenerate, protecting us from physical, mental and emotional illness.
• Frees us from negative emotions including stress and anxiety, helping us refocus our minds on the present moment and see things as they are. Thus, step by step, we become more able to untangle the knotted thoughts in our minds as if they were basic math problems.
• Through energy healing, our “happy hormones” are also stimulated and our feelings of self-love and compassion come to the fore. With our invigorated life force, we are equipped with a radiant aura that protects us from the negative emotions around us and we create a magnificent synergy by integrating with the tender power of the universe.
• Supports the strength of our biofield and our inner power to harmonize our energy centers, hence helping us to become aware of the traumas we have accumulated in our subconscious minds throughout our lives and acquired by genetic inheritance, and to get rid of their harmful effects.
• Guides us in reconnecting with the wise sage in our soul by bonding with the great universal energy, facilitating it to see our purpose of existence and our true potential more clearly.

Any Side Effects of Energy Healing Therapies?

Energy healing is a non-invasive and truly gentle therapy. And has no physical side effects! Besides, we don't need to be super spiritual or fully understand its works (just like we don't need to understand the law of gravity) to benefit from energy healing, but we need to approach the therapy with an open and sensible mind to get the optimum benefit. It also helps to have a harmonious frequency with our therapist, so finding the right therapist and having a good pre-interview is just as important as the therapy itself. 

While there are no physical side effects of healing, we may experience intense emotional dissolutions. Do not shy away if you feel like crying during a session. As such emotions are most probably the ‘positive’ manifestations of releasing your accumulated traumas and letting a vibrant life energy into your being...

We can all benefit from energy healing, whatever our needs may be. And if we so wish, we may experience them in combination with both East’s traditional therapies and West’s modern treatments. It may actually even be more useful to do so, as they can lead us to a deeper sense of comfort, awareness and wellbeing. Such that nowadays, energy healing practices are highly recommended and prescribed by doctors to accompany medical treatments, even intensive cancer treatments.

Our energy has a very valuable and essential role in our holistic wellbeing journey. With the awareness of this value, we’ve compiled a list of Spas’ energy healing therapies you can experience without any side effects. May you brace your connection with the life energy force of your beautiful essence...