I am always looking for new tools for myself and others to aid in self-improvement, healing, and empowerment. I think having an understanding of subtle energies is one of those tools. So, in the library, I decided to type “energy body” in the keyword search.
This brings me to Robert Bruce’s book. I was immediately drawn in when I read the introduction of how the author discovered body awareness tactile imagery to better teach energy to blind students. Since energetics is most commonly taught through visualization, as a teacher he was fascinated with another approach. In teaching, being able to alter the way you present information to different students to maximize their understanding is a highly desirable skill. Since the vast majority of people have difficulty visualizing, I wanted to learn the technique myself.
Body awareness tactile imagery is about moving your sense of touch through your body. The first practice exercise she recommends trying is lightly rubbing or scratching a specific area to help focus your body awareness. For example, rub your knee to cause a slight tingling. Feel the tingle. Then feel more of your knee and move further away from it as a joint. Move your body awareness around the knee as if you were bandaging it. You can try this anywhere on your body. Touch helps you focus on the spot, but with practice you don’t need to rub or scratch the area you’re focusing on.
Most of the exercises involve creating some kind of physical stimulation in order to create a memory to draw. This is the same as visualization. The mind depends on memory to assist it in energetic work.
Bruce also had some other helpful tips. To calm the mind, he suggests journaling before a relaxation session or energy work. If the mind starts to chatter, he firmly says, “I choose not to think about it. I choose to relax and clear my mind.”
For Chapter 3, you will create energy balls and learn different energy work actions that will help you manipulate energy. Bruce guides you on how to use the inhalation and exhalation of the breath with each action; this is something I use and teach myself.
The book covers the work of the chakras, or as Bruce calls it, “primary energy center work,” as well as charging energy with intention, energy blockages, self-healing, and healing others with energy. There is a LOT of information contained in the book and it completely covers the topic of energy work. I haven’t digested it all yet.
Bruce swipes the screen with the tactile image (ie “make a green ball”). Also, at several points, Bruce’s energetic perspective didn’t quite match mine. However, he would still recommend this book to anyone looking to deepen their understanding of the energy body and its systems. He explains things in a simple and systematic way with a close and realistic style that I appreciated. I think it would be particularly useful for Reiki practitioners, as well as other healers who work or want to work with energy.