THE HEALING ENERGY OF LAHO-CHI

	THE HEALING ENERGY OF LAHO-CHI by Dan Watson, Ph.D. In the last 30 years, the ancient art of laying-on-of-hands healing has been gaining recognition as a powerful and effective, yet gentle and nurturing form of healing and energetic balancing. The resurgence of this timeless healing art through the work of modern-day pioneering healers and healthcare practitioners such as Dolores Kreiger, The Therapeutic Touch, and Barbara Brennan, Hands of Light, has helped bring needed attention to the numerous beneficial uses of spiritual hands-on energy healing as an effective form of integrative healthcare and self-care. The early medical texts of China, Egypt, India, and nearly every ancient civilization has described the human body as having an energy field or life-force that interacts and is affected by the influences of the external forces of our physical world and the internal energies of thoughts, feelings, and emotions. The modern term for the basis of these ancient models has been referred to as "energy medicine." The model of energy medicine states that everything within the universe has a particular energetic vibration that ranges from dense matter to pure light, and that all things are interconnected through the vast ocean of energy contained within the universe. The act of hands-on healing is probably humankind's oldest and most instinctive form of healing. The instinct to nurture through touch is most evident in a mother's maternal response to rescue and protect her baby from harm and to provide comfort. This instinct resides in everyone and will manifest to the degree to which it is nurtured and given validation within the familial, social, and occupational environments. In other words, all human beings have within them the ability to develop the nurturing and healing gift of their personal electromagnetic energy field through learning and using hands-on energy healing. Spiritual energy healing, such as LaHo-Chi, may be used to access and to significantly activate a holistic process of healing within the etheric "blueprint" (Gerber, 1988) of the human energy field (Brennan, 1987). The human energy field may be described as an individual's unique energetic totality represented as a "personal electromagnetic signature" (Leonard, 1997). Although the knowledge and practice of spiritual energy healing dates back to ancient cultures (Brennan, 1993; Bruyere, 1989), modern science has yet to develop instruments that are sensitive and complex enough to truly measure the subtle energy dynamics associated with spiritual energy healing. What can be measured are the outcome effects in terms of physical, behavioral, and psychological manifestations associated with spiritual energy treatments. As a complement to medical and psychological treatment, spiritual energy healing can be especially useful for healing emotional traumas held within the body, as the energies of emotional and psychological traumas often manifest or somaticize within the body. From this perspective, spiritual energy healing also appears to have a transformative effect on consciousness and may significantly reduce the amount of time needed to gain insight into emotional and psychological issues associated with illness (Benor, 1994). The method of healing presented in this article is known as LaHo-Chi. LaHo-Chi (pronounced lah hoe chee) is a spiritual energetic laying-on-of-hands healing method that is reported to have originated from ancient China and was brought forth by oral transmission on May 15, 1991, in Santa Monica, California, through a Western spiritual teacher named Satchamar, a long term disciple of the holy man Sathya Sai Baba of India. LaHo-Chi energy may be used in the form of hands-on, remote, and/or self-healing to facilitate a state of deep "full body meditation." Other forms of spiritual energy healing, such as Reiki, share many similarities in their approach and yet each has a unique frequency or vibrational energy. LaHo-Chi is a powerful, yet gentle, form of energy balancing and healing wherein the body's own natural healing abilities are activated and nurtured. LaHo-Chi facilitates gentle energetic release of cellular memory and deep healing of physical, emotional, and psychological issues, traumas, and accumulated stress from an individual's life experiences. These inevitable stresses accumulate over time and can significantly affect the health and well-being of the individual. In a typical LaHo-Chi healing session, the person is resting, fully clothed with a sheet and/or blanket on a massage table and pillows that provides full-body support and comfort. Ideally, the environment is peaceful and confidential with soothing music in the background. The practitioner uses five or six specific stationary hand positions, moving only to change positions and the full healing session may last up to 75 minutes. This ideal setting is sometimes difficult to achieve in institutional environments, such as hospitals, and must be tailored to fit the individual's circumstances. As with everyday life situations, the healing may be done lying down, sitting, standing, or by remote, depending upon the circumstances of the moment. The LaHo-Chi is an energy healing modality that can also be used as a method of self-healing for transforming everyday stressors and creating a balance between the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual energy levels within the human energy field of the individual. When used as an adjunctive and/or conjunctive treatment with other healing systems, LaHo-Chi facilitates deep states of rest and relaxation that are beneficial and supportive to the treatment being used. In addition, the integration of spiritual energy with other forms of treatment and healing modalities provides a synergistic effect that enhances the body's natural healing mechanisms. Over the past nine years, with more than 100 certified LaHo-Chi practitioners among 10 states in North America and in Germany and Austria, the LaHo-Chi energy healing system has been effectively integrated by various healthcare practitioners using modalities, for example, such as: Polarity, Reiki, Shen, Acupuncture, Massage, Physical Therapy, Chiropractic, and in the fields of Nursing, Pediatric Nursing, Chemical Dependency, Hospice, Social Work, and Psychological Counseling. The actual number of people using some form of spiritual energy healing in their everyday lives, either applied hands-on or remotely, such as distant healing or prayer, is much larger than most people may be aware of. The reason for this is perhaps due to an innate desire within everyone to connect more deeply with self and others. All that is required is some instruction and practice which has become more available and accessible to the public on an ever-expanding global scale. References Benor, D. (1994). Spiritual healing and psychotherapy. The Therapist, Winter, 4(1), 37-39. Brennan, B. (1987). Hands of light: A guide to healing through the human energy field. New York: Bantam Books. Brennan, B. (1993). Light emerging: The journey of personal healing. New York: Bantam Books. Bruyere, R. L. (1989). Wheels of light: Chakras, auras, and the healing energy of the body. New York: Simon & Schuster. Gerber, R. (1988). Vibrational medicine. Santa Fe: Bear & Company. Krieger, D. (1979). The therapeutic touch. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Leonard, G. (1997). Living energy: Subtle fields, subtle healing. Noetic Sciences Review, Autumn, 8-39. Satchamar (1991). Original transcript from the first laho-chi training, May 19, 1991.
	This article was first published in the Fall/Winter 2000-2001 issue of Art of WellBeing.