For many, energy healing is an alternative to going to a shrink. And for me, it’s a lot more relaxing just lying in a room, covered with crystals while being gently gonged with a Tibetan singing bowl, rather than having to endlessly talk about myself. Who wouldn’t feel better after a session like that even if it has just cost you $150 for an hour?
I was introduced to this practice when I interviewed an Australian businesswoman—the founder of her own cosmetic brand, who has a permanent booking for a weekly kinesiology session before work. She believes it helps her to deal with any difficult people around her and builds on her success.
It’s a lot more relaxing just lying in a room, covered with crystals while being gently gonged with a Tibetan singing bowl, rather than having to endlessly talk about myself.
A natural system of health care, kinesiology combines muscle monitoring with the principles of Chinese medicine to assess energy and body function, while applying a range healing techniques to improve health, well-being and vitality.
At the time when I interviewed the cosmetics boss, I was working as a gossip columnist for a Sydney newspaper and constantly attending social gatherings to find my stories. I was swamped with so many bad vibes that it felt as though it might have taken a Ghostbusters’ Proton Pack (unlicensed nuclear accelerator backpack) to shift some of those heavy black clouds threatening to engulf me.
‘Why not try, kinesiology?’ I thought, so I booked in with a former entertainment lawyer turned therapist, Tikki Merrillees, who describes herself as “an intuitive healer who has always had an ability to see, sense, feel and channel energy”.
I was swamped with so many bad vibes that it felt as though it might have taken a Ghostbusters’ Proton Pack to shift some of those heavy black clouds threatening to engulf me.
Of course, I was intrigued by her radical career shift, while reassuring myself that surely there must be something in this therapy for a lawyer to give up their day job? Why else would she make such a radical sea change?
“I have always been drawn to helping people,” Merrillees told SBS. “Although I started out as a lawyer, I quickly changed course and studied kinesiology and other energy healing modalities. I chose these modalities because they helped me personally to feel better. I have always been a strong empath and have been able to see, feel and sense energy from an early age so this intuitive ability tied in well with these practices.
A natural system of health care, kinesiology combines muscle monitoring with the principles of Chinese medicine to assess energy and body function, while applying a range healing techniques to improve health, well-being and vitality.
“The focus for my work is to help clients access, heal and change old patterns of behaviour that no longer serves them and to empower them to express themselves in a truthful and authentic way,” she added.
During our first session, Merrillees and I discussed how I wanted to change my life. Suddenly I found myself telling her that I wanted to work from home instead of in an office, which always left me feeling tired and listless after just a few hours. I also needed to deliver on a publishing deadline for a novel. True to form, I was already wasting time thinking up excuses about why I couldn’t finish this book.
Merrillees informed me that my need to self-sabotage had probably been going on all the way back to my childhood. (‘That old chestnut’, I thought). Actually I’d enjoyed a pretty good childhood, deeply entrenched in the suburbs with a level of freedom not experienced by many kids today. Still on a subconscious level, maybe there was a lot going on...?
While energy healing honestly remains something of a mystery to me, there’s little doubt that my life has changed in positive ways.
When the treatment began, it was hard to know whether my muscles were moving involuntarily at her suggestions or whether she was pushing them. I didn’t care either way as long as I could change for the better. Meanwhile, I enjoyed the novelty of being covered in a crystal energy grid (crystal therapy has its ancient roots in the Hopi Indian practices from Arizona). During subsequent visits, the Tibetan singing bowl would come out if I’d had any bruising encounters, which were still playing on my mind.
It’s now been several years since I started visiting Merrillees and I’m now down to monthly appointments. While energy healing honestly remains something of a mystery to me, there’s little doubt that my life has changed in positive ways: I’ve now had two novels published and the third is awaiting publication. Meanwhile, I no longer work as a gossip columnist but as a freelance writer from home, writing features and doing interviews with every day people and not necessarily celebrities for publications. I’ve noticed that my subjects are much more open to me.
So does energy healing work?
It’s still a stretch of the imagination for me to believe that the laying of crystals and the testing of muscles can be life changing. However just the act of taking some time out for introspection and having a practitioner listen to your concerns can be healing. The problem with society today is that even our leisure time can be stressful and regimented that many of us do not get the chance to check in with ourselves.
Whether you go to a shrink, an energy healer or perhaps a yoga practitioner, you’ll already doing something positive with the potential to change your life.
The problem with society today is that even our leisure time can be stressful and regimented that many of us do not get the chance to check in with ourselves.
Of course I still experience dark moods laced with crippling moments of insecurity but I’m now aware of these coming on and I can shift them more easily. Energy healing has helped me be more at ease with myself.
“I believe that within us are all the answers,” Merrillees explained. “This includes the ability to heal ourselves. I love helping my clients tap into their own healing ability, communicate with their higher selves through spiritual guidance and ultimately empower themselves and create the lives their heart desires.”
Note: SBS does not advocate energy healing and this article does not suggest it has an evidence-base to support the wellbeing claims of the practice. This is a comment piece and one individual’s experience/opinion. If you are sick or not feeling well, please consult a qualified medical professional.
