Written and posted by Jackie Olmstead, March 22, 2023 – I’ve had a lot of continued conversations lately with people talking about how to pick a really good healer, a really good therapist, even finding groups to participate in that offer a safe environment for healing.
One thing that comes up is how new and accepted healing modalities are these days. I love that there’s a lot more discussion with people who might never have talked about having massages or even talking about what energy healing is… let alone going to see the chiropractor!
What’s Your Experience & Feelings Around Alternative Care?
Some people have had experiences that are frustrating, yes that is true. Experiences that might leave the person with a sense of non-completion or feeling vulnerable.
Or being invited by healers to work with them but not having a good feeling about the person, or feeling resistant to being around that person especially in a healing capacity. And so that makes the person be repulsed by alternative healthcare in general.
So, what does it mean to not feel completed when you leave a healing session? One thing for sure is a feeling that you are unprotected or vulnerable or that your emotions are all over the place.
What to Do When It’s Awkward
You might feel vulnerable and feel a little bit nervous about driving for example. Even in good balanced sessions you will need to get acclimated to your surroundings before doing things like driving. You might want to spend extra time in your car getting grounded again so that you can get back to the so-called reality that we live in every day.
Well, as a healer myself, I think that when you’re leaving a session and you’re feeling these things that’s telling me that the session that you just had or just experienced is not quite complete. I suggest talking to the group coordinator (if a group session) or the healer themselves on how you can integrate what you just processed.
What can your therapist do to help complete the work that you have just done?
I have many suggestions or things that I do myself in order to reintegrate back into the real world and also be sure that the client has received answers to all their concerns or questions. Some practitioners will even ask at the end of each session, “Is there anything else you might need today?” (**thumbs up**)
Make It Awesome! Don’t Just Leave.
You can simply discuss with them what is going on, you can ask them for an individual session (if you were just in a group session), or you can also do your own self-healing type of exercises afterwards:
- Breathwork
- Aromatherapy
- Epsom salt/baking soda baths
- Physical exercise.
I recommend these things anyway! Definitely ask your practitioner for HOMEWORK! This is a wonderful follow-up to what work you did together.
What Kind of Healers Will I Meet? Some Thoughts…
But what it really gets down to is: Are you picking practitioners who are taking care of your greatest and highest needs in the setting of healing work? I’m including ALL therapists too, by the way: Massage therapists, Reiki masters, Sound Healers, Breathworkers, anyone who will work with your energetic health. I think there are plenty of practitioners who do the right thing and who are taking care of their clients with their highest intentions in mind.
I also think that there are a lot of practitioners out there who are not grounded themselves. Remember that healers often come from trauma, have healed themselves and are often still working on their stuff. No one is perfectly divine, right? That’s ok as long as they can get neutral or put their own stuff aside when they meet with their clients.
I’m just going to say: Yes, there are practitioners who are more concerned about having higher volumes of people who can learn in group settings whether or not it is for the individuals greater needs or not. Some also end up crossing boundaries where YOU feel like you’re the one giving the session instead of the other way around (I think it’s human nature).
What About “Reiki Shares”, Sound Baths, Etc.?
There are a lot of group healing sessions, sound baths, “Reiki shares”, and events that host healing on a larger scale rather than just one-on-one. There are a lot of people who do well in these types of group healing sessions. This is great! I’ll talk about all the GREAT reasons to do energy work in a second, including group therapy sessions.
So, the only thing is that there are a lot of people who don’t realize that these group type of healing sessions might not be in their best interests OR that they are not aware that these sessions are not necessarily the most ideal environment for doing deep trauma work. It works for many though and I highly suggest trying them with things in mind that I have discussed today.
Get In Those Beautiful Healing Spaces!
Sound baths in particular are wonderfully neutral and may leave you wonderfully surprised about how relaxed you were able to be. Breathwork group sessions are really interesting, too.
How do you know unless you’ve tried, though? It took me a long time to honor what is in my best interests because until I try something I won’t know how to evaluate what’s important to me. My needs change throughout the year, of course, as well.
For me, group work energetically can feel like herding cats. I’ve felt that way about most group therapy sessions: Remember psychodrama in the 90s?
Energy Work: The Amazing Benefits
There have been a million books written about the benefits of energy work. What I personally get from energy work is:
- A better connection to my own self, my guides, my master teachers
- Grounding, peaceful, meditative time
- Time to rearrange or rethink my thoughts, my perceptions of my own life and choices
- Time to receive creative ideas about my life
- A physical relaxation that I don’t get from all other things I do
- Meet like-minded people who are working on themselves
Just a Few More Words about Groups
Understand that energetically when you get more than two people in a room, you end up with all different kinds of energies, all kinds of intent, all kinds of baggage that people have brought along for the ride.
Unless you have a very strong group leader who can anticipate what boundaries need to be set, it can potentially be uncomfortable. In any group therapy setup, I highly recommend pairing the group work with individual sessions.
Being an empath myself makes it challenging to be in these types of settings because not only do I need to focus on what my intent is for myself, but also if I am sharing healing like in a “Reiki share” gathering, then I need to protect my own space as I work.
I often don’t feel like I get a lot of personal inner work accomplished. But, I definitely accomplish socialization, friendly interactions, and usually some really delicious food, but it’s certainly not where I would take my own shadow or trauma type of work.
Please Just Get to the Tips!
So how can you integrate the beautiful healing available from energy workers and all these amazing workshops that are available and still feel like it’s a safe place to be vulnerable and connected to your highest good? How can you find a good practitioner that is a great match for YOU? Especially if you are new to receiving energy work?
- ✔️You must listen to your own inner voice. I know that each of you has one and at times have heard it. It’s simply the awareness of it and acknowledging it. Also, know that just because one person might not feel like a good fit, doesn’t mean that ALL the practitioners of that kind of energy healing are not good. That one person might not be the best fit for you.
- ✔️Review some information about the type of healing that you are going to experience. You can evaluate what you might encounter when you have a session. You’ll also have great questions for your practitioner. Ask them for resources if you don’t know where to start.
- ✔️Get a referral from someone you know or from ratings online (if you’re not able to intuit if they are a good fit.)
- ✔️Be really present and willing to give it a chance.
- ✔️Follow up with the practitioner afterwards to give them feedback about your personal experience.
- ✔️Schedule another one with the same or a different healer and evaluate for yourself what will be in your highest good and review what worked and what didn’t work.
I’m aware that there are many more tips that you might suggest. Please comment below! I would love your input in this exploding field of healthcare.
Keep This in Mind As I Close
We are ALL energy workers. Yes, you ARE!
We are all crystals giving energy to everything around us.
We all resonate to everything around us–Dr. John Beaulieu talks about how our skin hears even more than our ears do.
I LOVE energy work, it is the essence of how I have healed my asthma and other health issues along with my major diet changes (see my story here).
I continue to be the most positive and neutral for those around me and when I feel negative, I process my stuff with a teacher, therapist or other healer.
I heal myself as our bodies naturally heal themselves whether we are hindering them or helping them. Remember this.
Blessed souls out there, I send my love and wish you the best of energy healing journeys!
Love, Earth Momma (Jackie Olmstead)
