Sharon Wendt, PhD           

The beginning of the path of liberation is the end of life unlived.
                           --  Stephen Levine
 
I have a doctorate in clinical psychology and certification as a MariEl healer (a variant of Reiki healing).  I use subtle energy to facilitate transformational processes.  For a time I had an identity crisis and felt that I must choose one system or the other.  Gradually I was able to integrate the two into a beautiful blend.  I now identify myself as a psychotherapist, a healer and a specialist in psychoneuroimmunology for helping people with cancer.

  I began doing individual and group psychotherapy twenty years ago using a combination of Transactional Analysis (TA) and Gestalt Therapy.  Over the years I have integrated biofeedback, bio-energetics, Neurolinguistic Programming, hypnotherapy, imagery/visualization, rebirthing, metaphors and music therapy into my work.  My practice is spiritual psychology and my clients usually work with me for two to four years in an outpatient setting.

  Five years ago I began to explore subtle energies, healing and the concepts of vibrational medicine, following my own profound experiences as a client with these methods.  With subtle energy I can more quickly and easily facilitate changes at a deeper level.

  My clients rarely enter therapy asking for healing or energy work.  They request help for anxiety, depression, stress, marital problems, career issues or addictions.  In the first months we focus on the problems they have identified.  I use cognitive therapy, teaching them the TA concepts of life scripts and how early childhood decisions are now the underlying problems that must be sorted out.
 
  Clients move into group therapy after six to eight weeks of one hour weekly individual sessions.  The ongoing psychotherapy groups meet weekly for three hours.  They include 8-10 clients who usually stay in treatment about two years.  As a client terminates therapy I bring a new one into the group.  New clients very quickly are brought to a higher level of awareness and functioning by observing and following the more experienced clients.

  Each group session begins with 20-30 minutes of group energy work.  Structured exercises teach the clients an awareness of their own life force energy and that this energy can be purposefully manipulated to achieve a higher level of functioning in all four parts of their being: body, mind, heart and spirit.

  Many clients have transformational experiences while participating in these exercises, which evolved intuitively as I worked out this blend of approaches.

  The energy exercises are done standing in a circle with a facilitator directing the process.  They involve imagery, sound (toning) and the transference of energy to raise the vibrational level of each person.  The main steps include:

  1.  Grounding and pulling earth energy into the body

  2.  Opening the crown chakra and pulling in universal energy

  3.  Bringing both earth energy and universal energy to the heart chakra

  4.  Opening the heart chakra

  5.  Sending the energies through the heart chakra, down the arms and into the hands

  6.  Sensing energy between the hands

  7.  Exchanging energy with individual group members in pairs

  8.  Connecting the whole group energetically

  These exercises open the heart chakra and develop an open radiant heart in each client.  Then clients can open to the healing power of love from self, from other human beings and from God.  They can heal the disconnectedness that is the underlying cause of psychological and physical illnesses.  I call this part of my work 'radiant heart therapy'.

  I have come to believe that as children most people closed off their heart chakra to avoid the pain of feeling unloved, unwanted, not good enough, criticized or rejected.  Consequently, as
adults they feel disconnected from God, unable to love thier own inner child, and unable to form healthy love relationships.  The vital life force energy no longer flows through the heart chakra.  This causes spiritual disconnection, numerous physical illnesses related to the heart chakra, and all of the emotional and relational problems which bring my clients for therapy.

  The group exercises heal these problems and facilitate a very profound transformational process, as illustrated by the story of 'Joan'.

  Joan entered therapy for depression and grief counselling when she was 35 years old.  Her alcoholic husband had died two years earlier and she felt no purpose to life and no joy.  She was disconnected from her feelings and unable to establish close loving relationships.
  One evening Joan began crying softly as she participated in the group execises.  Her face showed much emotion and tears flowed down her face throughout the energy work.  At the end she felt a dramatic increase in heat in her heart center, with a clear physical sense of opening in her chest.  She declared in amazement:  "I feel so loved.  I've never felt like this before.  I feel so close to God.  I actually felt his presence right here in the room."
  She was almost overcome with joy, laughter, excitement, love and later peace.  Her whole vibration changed.  Her face lit up, her eyes sparkeld and she became radiantly alive.
  Six months later she would often recall that experience and affirm that she has been different ever since.  These energy shifts alleviated much of her depression, loneliness and inability to love herself.

  When emotions are repressed, the energy is stored in the cells of the body.  This energy is released as the client lets go of the repressed emotion.  As I do the feeling release work in the groups I can sense with my hands the energy coming out of the body.  I also feel the releases in my own body.  Other gifted group members have been able to see the energy leaving the body.

  'Saul' was doing a Gestalt exercise.  As he imagined his ex-girl friend on the empty pillow, Saul expressed both anger and sadness which he had been unable to express five years earlier when they parted.  I encouraged him, saying:  "Give every cell in your heart center permission to release whatever energy is stored there from this relationship."  I held my left hand three to four inches in front of his heart chakra and directed him to send the energy out into my hand.  As he verbalized his feelings to the empty pillow the energy came out in a cylinder like a blast from a hair dryer from both the front and back of his heart chakra.  I could feel both the heat and the force of it.  He reported sensations of movement, heat and energy leaving his body.

 Other group members confirmed by touch the intensity of this release, which continued for about ten minutes.  No one present had the gift of sight so we could only imagine what changes were happening in his aura.

  I was fascinated to learn that energy work may be explored from great distances.  The work with Saul was done in my office in Northwest Indiana.  A week later I talked with a healer in Washington State who does phone consultations concerning difficult cases.  I gave her only Saul's name and date of birth.  I asked about his energy field.  She reported that he had just lately dissolved an astral cord from an old relationship.  She said the cord had been attached at the heart chakra in both front and back.

  My goal in therapy is to clear energy blocks presented through each symptom and problem so that clients open to the natural full flow of the vital life force energy.  We are able to accomplish this most of the time.

  As I work with clients I begin to feel their body pains and energy blocks in my own body.  I discovered this by accident when I was facilitating a release of feeling and a sensitive client reported
 
  A sensitive client reported a release of energy from the root chakra, moving up her body and getting stuck in the heart chakra..  I had just noticed these exact sensations in my own body a few seconds earlier.

  I have come to use my body as a diagnostic instrument and bio-feedback device.  If I feel a restriction in my chest I ask the client, "Do you feel a restriction in your chest?"  The answer is 'Yes' about 75-80 percent of the time.  I also feel the clients' energy releases in my body with about the same accuracy.

  Imagery can be a help in releasing repressed feelings.  If I feel an energy block I might say to the client, "The energy is stuck in your solar plexus. Imagine a tube going from your abdomen to your mouth.  Now make a sound (Aaaah!) and move the feeling from your gut up through your torso and out of your mouth."  I make the sound with them and together we release the blocked energy and the remains of repressed feelings.  After releases of fear, sadness or anger there is a natural shift into laughter, joy and peace.  The inner child is freed to be spontaneous and alive with a free flow of vital life force energy.

  Engaging in subtle energy work has transformed my therapy practice.  As a psychologist I used to focus on just the mental and emotional layers.  Energy work allowed an easy transition into working with the spiritual aspect of each client.  I now often help my clients heal their disconnectedness from God as well as from their follow man.

  More important, energy work has transformed me profoundly as a person.  I feel more attuned, more alive, more energized and more connected to God and all mankind.  My own heart continues to open more and more to universal love.  I have raised my own vibrations in all parts of my being.  Each week I continue to grow in my own evolutionary process as I facilitate the evolutionary process of my clients.
 

You may quote from or reproduce these editorial clips if you include the following credits and email contact:
Copyright © Daniel J. Benor, M.D. 1992 Reprinted with permission of the author P.O. Box 76 Bellmawr, NJ 08099
www.WholisticHealingResearch.com   DB@WholisticHealingResearch.com 

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