You are a giving a massage treatment to one of your clients, and while working a particularly tight area, you feel a heavy energy flow up from the client's body and out through your head. What is this energy? And how does it make you feel? You've felt this energy before and have noticed that you respond to this experience by becoming fatigued. You decide to ask some friends about it, and they suggest you have a session with an energyworker.

You begin your session and feel completely relaxed. Suddenly, the feeling in the room changes, and you feel a strong sense of love and peace. You look up and see that your energywork therapist is passing her hands around your body, and you feel her touch even though she isn't touching you. You blink - still, her hands are not touching you, but something is happening. You feel emotion rise up in you like a tide, and then you feel a heaviness wash away. You feel lighter than you have in years.

What is energywork? This is a general term for a collection of healing modalities that use positive energy to promote healing in your body, heart, mind and spirit. The energywork therapist recognizes that there is electromagnetic energy flowing around and through the body in very specific currents (called meridians in China and nadis - pronounced "na-dees" - in India) and through the energy field around the body (the aura). When those currents are interrupted, they create an imbalance or blockage in the flow, and if allowed to persist for long enough periods, can create pain and even disease.

When you address the energetic balance and when the root of the problem is fully addressed, blockages release and health returns. People who provide energywork recognize that the body, heart, mind and spirit are connected and that each aspect of us influences the others. If there are imbalances on one level, they may appear also on another level. A physical problem in the body may lead to emotional problems and vice versa.

In energywork, we don't use the word "cure" because we recognize that the recipient is the person doing the healing. Energyworkers pass through healing energy to assist in raising their frequencies, but recipients receive the energy and use it to heal themselves. Energyworkers who are properly trained do not allow themselves to become tired by trying to send their own life force energy to help their clients; rather, they send Universal life force energy.

In a typical energywork session, the energywork therapist learns about the client and events in their life that could possibly affect the energy flow. After assessing the client, the energyworker prepares to send healing energy by centering and grounding him/herself. This allows access to high-vibrational frequencies that he/she will send to the client.

The client's energy system and physical body respond to these frequencies through what is called "energetic field resonance;" it increases in vibration to match the frequencies being transmitted by the practitioner. The client's cells have access to more energy, and this energy gives the cells the ability to expunge toxins from the body, whether physical or emotional. The client experiences what is called a "release," which can come in the form of laughter, perspiration, coughing or deep relaxation. The therapist then sends energy to help the client adjust to the changes after the release occurs, charge the client with life force energy (also called chi or prana), and to harmonize their system. Clients usually feel full of energy, relaxed, happy and peaceful after the energywork session.

Often energywork can address pain that never seems to go away, or hurt feelings that seem to linger in ways that physically oriented therapies cannot. Many therapists combine energywork with massage sessions to balance out the treatment. Some clients who have been in psychotherapy have reported that energywork sessions helped them resolve issues that had never been resolved after years of therapy because the root of the problem was addressed by accessing parts of them that were nonphysical.

Energywork has some marvelous applications, there are some amazing areas where we have seen energywork successfully handle issues like overcoming fear, speeding recovery from surgery, healing pain over lost loved ones, healing during radiation or chemo treatments, releasing intense negative emotions, and helping clients reinstate their trust. This cutting-edge modality will be used more and more in combination with more conventional medical treatments in the years ahead. One modality, Reiki, is currently used in or referred by 50 major hospitals across the U.S.*

Massage therapists can really benefit from using energywork in addition to their massage techniques. Clients release energy, often continuously, throughout the massage. People store their emotions, memories, beliefs and thoughts in their energy system, and massage allows them to come up to be released. That is why many massage therapists feel fatigue when working with clients - it is not because of the physical exertion; rather, it is because they are unconsciously trying to process the energetic release of their clients. When energywork is used in conjunction with massage, this processing can be done consciously, and the massage therapist does not expend personal life force energy. That is key because massage is a demanding profession. This combination of modalities also creates a powerful healing session for the client. Using energywork also boosts the massage therapist's energy level and has the ability to extend a therapist's career.

There are many types of energywork and they all have a different approach, including Reiki, HighSelf Resonance therapy, jin shin, pranic healing, crystal healing, color healing, shamanic healing, homeopathy and network chiropractic. Many of these traditions are new, but some are very old. Energywork has been used all over the world for many years and is currently experiencing growth in the United States. Energywork has been featured on 60 Minutes, ABC News and the Los Angeles Times.

When seeking out an energyworker, it is good to work with someone experienced. Many energyworkers are self-taught and rely on their divine connection as guidance in their sessions; however, it is important to work with an energyworker who is centered and connected with positive energy or a higher power so that the focus is positive. It is also important that the energyworker is grounded (connected with the earth, present and fully aware) so that he/she can pass through energy in a balanced way. Some energyworkers have been trained at school, and it is always a good idea to ask someone about his/her education and experience.

If you choose to get an education in energywork as an additional tool in your massage practice, there are energywork schools available. Energywork is becoming more well-known as a modality, and clients often actively seek energywork as a treatment in addition to massage. If you want to distinguish yourself as a massage therapist, extend your professional longevity, "lighten the load" when you are working, and empower your clients in their healing processes, add energywork to your toolkit!

*Per Ellen DiNucci's research.