Energy medicine and intuitive diagnosis have come to the forefront of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) - meridians and chakras have gone mainstream. Many medical and psychological intuitives work from a model that says disruption in the balance of the energy system due to trauma is the root cause of many physical and emotional problems, and that releasing that trauma restores balance and brings healing. A medical and/or psychological intuitive may perceive and translate the energetic code of buried emotional and physical trauma in the body, mind and spirit.

Living with intuition

It recently occurred to me that some of the frustration that I've felt much of my life is the result of a gift that I've seen as a curse for years. I am a visionary. Visionaries think (and live) "outside the box." Being highly intuitive as well as visionary doesn't mean that I'm smarter than anyone else, or that I'm privy to the ancient secrets of the universe. It means that my brain takes a freeze frame of the big picture, on levels seen and unseen, instantly analyzes it and computes the bottom line. One would think this ability to be a great asset, but it's taken me years to realize why people are not amused when I brightly announce how well things would turn out if only they'd do "X."

Most visionaries that I know possess a finely tuned intuitive sense that allows them to perceive the underlying "blueprint" - a pattern of cause and effect, hidden motivations and personal agendas - in a relationship, a corporate structure, virtually any situation where people are involved. When I worked in a corporate setting, I always knew what my co-workers and bosses were up to. This came in handy during my 11-year career in retail security, when I always had the highest stats for arrests of shoplifters and dishonest employees. I didn't know it then, but I was reading energy, or "scanning." I'd stroll into the dress department, pick up a "vibe" and look the customers over, thinking, "Somebody in here is stealing or thinking about it¡­ which one?" Any cop who has been out of the academy longer than a week knows what intuition is. They call it "street sense."

In my work as an intuitive healer, in a similar manner, I "scan" for the energetic signature of trauma in a person's psyche, chakras, or in their body.

 

I use the following definition of trauma, first put forth by Francine Shapiro, developer of EMDR and taught to me by Asha Nahoma Clinton, Ph.D., LCSW, founder of Seemorg Matrixwork, a chakra-based energy psychology method. "Trauma is any occurrence in the past, which, when we think of it now, brings up difficult emotions" (Clinton, 2001). Taking that definition one step further, I would add, (after "brings up difficult emotions,") "or pain, discomfort, pressure or any other sensation that feels like blocked or stuck energy in the body."

The energetic signature of trauma can be defined as any negative, repetitive thought or behavior pattern that is rooted in unhealed emotional pain. The original pattern ("this always happens to me!") is encoded with triggers that, when activated by a person or circumstance, causes the pattern to re-run. When we have an unhealed issue that is still simmering deep inside us, and someone or something triggers it, we hurt ourselves all over again.

How do you recognize when a hidden pattern is running? First, acknowledge the pattern ("this always happens to me"), then detach from the immediate circumstance. The "players" are not important at this point. What IS important is to trace the origin and analyze the energetic signature of the circumstances, by asking yourself some questions like these:

1)WHICH people or situations am I reactive to? (e.g. controlling people; group dynamics; wealthy, powerful people)

2)WHY am I feeling SO (anxious, angry, hurt, frustrated, intimidated, ashamed, blocked, judged, self-doubting) with this person/situation?

3)WHO in my past does this feeling remind me of? Who else does or did treat me this way?

4) WHAT situation does this remind me of - (school, the dinner table, church, first job, first love)? What feels familiar about this (pain, fear, aggravation)?

The answers to these questions will create a healing map of the beliefs and traumas that trace the roots of your pattern. You'll see the triggers.

For example, "Jane," a client of mine, had a history of abusive relationships, money problems, as well as addictions to food and cigarettes. Jane desperately wanted to be happy, but no matter what therapist or workshop she went to, she always returned to the same old patterns. She struggled with depression and wondered if God was punishing her. She didn't know that a "sabotage virus" had infected her system.

When Jane turned in an important project to her boss, and he asked her to make a few adjustments to it, she burst into tears. She is extremely reactive to not being heard and validated by others. Even an obnoxious waiter could set her off. We needed to explore why she was so reactive to this sort of trigger, to which others might have no sensitivity at all?

Jane was raised by a critical, perfectionist, narcissistic, stern taskmaster of a father. As a decorated military officer, he held himself, his troops and his only daughter to impossibly high standards. His constant demands and wilting criticisms undermined her best efforts and eventually produced the following internalized series of programs: "I'm not good enough; Nothing I do is ever good enough; I can't compete; Nothing ever goes my way; I don't deserve to be loved; I'm bad." When her poor boss merely asked for a minor revision, the energy of rejection ricocheted through Jane's mind and body. Her inner reactions and behaviors sabotaged her chance for promotion. I was able to pick up the tendrils of this pattern through chakra readings, and we cleared it from the roots. The roots of the pattern are the beliefs that I listed, that were on her "hard drive," courtesy of her abusive father (e.g. nothing I ever do is good enough, etc.) The pattern itself is her behavior with the waiter and her boss.

When I first started my practice of medical intuition, it seemed like a first year internship. I found that most people had relatively simple issues, fears and phobias, anger or grief. For instance, "Gladys," a prolific artist in her mid-70's, came because she was unable to find the focus and joy she used to have for her art. At first I thought she might be depressed, but as we talked, that didn't seem to be the case. I hadn't started doing detailed readings yet, but I was able to get to the root of her problem in another way.

I had her get on the massage table, fully clothed, and covered with a blanket. With her permission, I scanned her energy field with my right hand, feeling for blocks or areas that felt disturbed or unbalanced. I felt heavy, stagnant energy in her heart chakra, and her navel chakra appeared to be hollow and closed. I couldn't feel energy movement there at all. I gently placed one hand on her heart chakra and the other on her navel chakra, and suddenly I knew why her navel chakra, the center of creativity, was closed. I asked about the grief and sorrow in her heart. Gladys calmly told me that all 3 of her adult children had died in their 30's and 40's. Her son was shot while riding his bike, one daughter died of breast cancer and the other of a brain aneurysm. I said, "I think the unresolved grief over losing your children is at the root of this problem with your art." She said, "No, it's not, I think I've just lost interest. Maybe I'm just too old." I said, as gently as I could, "Gladys, your body is telling me. Why would you want to create anything else when your most precious creations were destroyed?" She began to cry, and we did some thought-field therapy, (meridian acupressure point tapping) to release the grief and sorrow from her heart. We had 2 sessions, and later that month I heard from the client who referred her that she was happily painting again.

Decoding the energetic signature of trauma and then tracing and healing the root cause, whether repressed or conscious, is one of the keys to resolving many emotional, spiritual, psychological and physical patterns and diseases. On the emotional level, we need to learn how to interpret and translate the symbolism (read the energy) underlying traumas and/or fears. Then, the painful event can be brought into true healing, into feeling neutral or unimportant when we recall it,

For example, in one of my workshops, "George" was afraid of bridges and of looking down in a glass elevator or from windows in a skyscraper. I scanned his energy field, then said to him, "What happens if I say, 'Nobody supported me?'" George got a little choked up, and an incident immediately came to his mind. The root cause was not fear of heights, but an old episode when he felt embarrassed, criticized, humiliated, and emotionally unsupported in a meeting. We cleared the traumatic emotional remnants of that experience, and his fear of bridges vanished.

In another case, "Sheila" came for help with fear of flying. She did not like anything about the flying experience; being belted into the seat, not being able to leave or get up easily, not having any control. She had no history of claustrophobia. The energetic signature that I picked up in her field told me that sexual abuse was the root of the problem. Who would ever think those 2 events were connected? I was sure I must be wrong, and kept scanning for another more "suitable" answer, but the impression was so insistent I finally gave up and asked Sheila directly, "Who held you down?" She was momentarily stunned, then told me that when she was 7, her grandfather had molested her and held her down on a couch. She had never told anyone. We applied some tapping to that memory, and the fear of flying cleared shortly.

 

Tracing the energetic signature of trauma

I've learned that it's necessary to trace the threads of trauma in our lives to learn how it has impacted not only the choices we make but the lens through which we see ourselves and the world. Healing means more than just re-framing what happened to us and gaining coping skills for our pain. It means wholeness - love and acceptance of self, peace and balance. It means forgiveness for others as well as ourselves; seamlessly re-weaving the rips and tears in our being - mind, body, soul, and spirit.

I've seen dozens of clients who have had months or years (in one case, 30 years) of conventional psychological or psychiatric treatment, including years of anti-depressants, and still these people have not healed. Why? Outwardly they seem stable and able to cope effectively. But many still have toxic emotional waste smoldering in their chakras, meridians, and organs. The by-products of that emotional fallout silently fuels negative core belief patterns that sabotage and re-route, or even derail their lives. Traumas give birth to addictions, destructive beliefs, obsessional thinking and behaviors that effectively block healing, until resolved completely, on all levels.

Here are a few hits from the toxic top-40 (taken from various readings on my clients):