Ethical Considerations in Intending Wellness
by Karin Cremasco, PhD, ThD
“Thus, to me, ethics is nothing else than reverence for life.”
Albert Schweitzer
(Note: Please seek professional legal advice for your locality.)
Introduction
Kylea Taylor writes in her book, The Ethics of Caring: Honoring the Web
of Life in Our Professional Healing Relationships, “Ultimately, ethical
behaviour is reverence for life demonstrated by right relationships to
another,” This statement is an excellent synopsis of my understanding
of ethics in energy medicine and spiritual healing. Pope and Vasquez
write, “Ethics are an essential guide for the work of psychotherapy and
counseling. They are a process through which we awaken, enhance,
inform, expand, and improve our ability to respond effectively to those
who come to us for help.”
It is my opinion that it is
particularly important that we have these same standards in the fields
of energy medicine and spiritual healing, which includes intuitive and
integrative counseling, since they are not at this time regulated
fields with licensing procedures in Canada or United States. Whilst the
lack of regulation provides the degrees of freedom which are integral
in these fields, it means that there are as of yet, no standards which
all practitioners must adhere to for the protection of the client’s
best interest. The purpose of this paper is to discuss my own values
and motivations to determine a course of action for ethics in energy
medicine, spiritual healing, and intuitive and integrative counseling.
I mention all three because I feel that energy medicine and spiritual
healing differ from intuitive and integrative counseling because they
do not necessarily bring the issues to consciousness for the client.
The International Society of the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy
Medicine (ISSSEEM) defines energy medicine thus: “Energy Medicine
includes all energetic and informational interactions resulting from
self-regulation, or brought about through other energy linkages to mind
and body.” Spiritual healing embraces the mission of the ordination
into the International Science of Mind Church for Spiritual Healing,
which consists of belief in “a Divine Power that is the Creator of the
Universe and all sentient beings; belief in “a personal Soul which
survives physical death; and belief that “all healing has a significant
spiritual component, integrating body, mind, and spirit.” I think that
intuitive and integrative counseling incorporates the concepts of
energy medicine and spiritual healing and adds the component of
facilitation of the client’s connection to his or her own spirituality
thus receiving his or her own insights.
Nonordinary States of Consciousness
“Any good therapy involves a nonordinary state of consciousness at some
time and to some degree. Therapy is about change, and profound change
involves a radical shift in self-view, world-view, or spiritual
understanding. Nonordinary states allow ingrained habits of thought,
feeling, perception, and understanding to recede, diffuse, and break
down as necessary so that people can find new understanding and reclaim
disconnected parts of themselves.”
Techniques of energy medicine
and spiritual healing use therapeutic induction as a means for clients
to enter nonordinary states. Taylor lists other techniques for inducing
nonordinary states including “breathwork, massage and bodywork,
acupuncture, guided imagery, dreamwork, bioenergetic therapy, network
chiropractic, meditation and prayer, hypnosis, vision quest, drumming,
and energy psychology techniques.”
The aspects that I will
consider in this paper are congruent with the ethics within the
practice of psychotherapy and counseling, as well as some that are
unique to the field of energy medicine and spiritual healing.
Ethical Behaviour for Energy Practitioners
The syllabus for a course at Holos University Graduate Seminary where I was an associate professor stated, “ethical
behaviour is reverence for life demonstrated by right relationships to
another.” I think ethics can also be referred to as ‘honouring’ for we
are acknowledging the sacredness of our clients and their journeys.
Energy work, muscle testing, and dowsing with a pendulum are keys that
allow us to enter the client’s sacred space. It is an awesome honour to
be allowed to walk so closely with another being. Ethics are about
respect. Respect for others is an integral part of the “Buddhist
concept of right relationship” and Jesus’ injunction, Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you.” There is no situation where this is
more important than when a client is in the vulnerable nonordinary
state of consciousness. As practitioners, when doing any kind of energy
work, we become professionals. Even when we are working with our own
family members and think we are simply muscle testing, the same
principles are to be followed which constitute ethical behaviour.
Informed Consent, Release of Liability, and Permission
It is important we do energy work with our client’s informed consent
and permission. As outlined by Pope and Vasquez, “the process of
informed consent provides both the patient and therapist with an
opportunity to make sure that they adequately understand their shared
venture.” Energy practitioners and counsellors should include “informed
consent” prior to offering an energy balancing session. I believe it
should also include a release of liability such as the following,
Energy medicine is a vibrational system of healing, not a mechanical or
manipulative one. It does not diagnose or treat specific conditions. It
is not a substitute for medical, psychiatric, chiropractic, or
naturopathic care. Clients are urged to seek appropriate medical
attention as needed.
A concept that is unique to energy medicine
and spiritual healing, as well as intuitive and integrative counseling,
is permission to work given by the body’s ‘inner wisdom’ or the ‘High
Self’ of the client. This is obtained through muscle testing in
kinesiological modalities such as Steel’s Biocomputer Operating System
(BOS) , Cremasco’s Intending Wellness,
Levin’s Body Alignment Technique (BAT) ; or from the client’s High Self
in intuitive and integrative counseling techniques such as Nunley’s
Inner Counselor. I believe permission is needed for working with anyone
(even children, our animals, or ourselves) at anytime. I teach my
students to work with only what they have permission to work with, and
to work only when there is permission and consent between both the
client and the practitioner. In my practice, I go to my place of peace
in my conscious awareness, invite my high self; my guides; and invite
connection with the guides of the client to be present. Using muscle
testing of the brachial muscle in the arm of the subject, a strong
response gives permission to offer the balance. The concept of
‘permission’ is described by Levin,
“In tapping into the
body’s innate intelligence, we access the person’s higher or
super-consciousness (higher self); the aspect of self that knows
exactly what is required at that moment and that at the same time scans
the abilities and quality of the Facilitator. Before any balancing is
done on a person, it is important to ask for permission from their
higher consciousness, to ascertain whether it is appropriate to
balance.”
In Intending Wellness, I ask the following questions through muscle-testing.
Permission: “May I? May I work at this time?”
“Can I? Do I have the ability to help in some way, at this time?”
“Should I? Is it in best interest that I work at this time? Is it in best interest of all involved?”
If Permission is not given:
• Client may need water. Check for dehydration by flicking skin and testing an intact muscle.
• Practitioner may be out of balance.
• Client may be triggered by practitioner, i.e. reminds them of person in their past or visa versa.
• Client and Practitioner may be out of ‘sync.’ energetically.
It
is VERY important not to proceed unless permission is given! If
permission is not given by the body, the appointment is to be
rescheduled.
Concern for Other’s Welfare
As practitioners,
we act “as a midwives to the psychospiritual, developmental process
occurring in nonordinary states,” [to] permit, protect, and usher forth
that which wants to happen of its own accord.” It is crucial that the
client feel safe physically, and emotionally. The following are a few
aspects that must be taken into account.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality is important anytime we work as practitioner of energy
medicine, even our own children. I stress in my courses that no
personal information leaves the room in which it was shared. We are not
even to acknowledge that we have seen or see a particular client.
Moreover, we need to be mindful of name-dropping with other
professionals.
Emotional Safety
Our job as a professional is
to keep the client feeling safe and to watch out for his or her safety:
privacy, confidentiality, how we approach the body, touching the body
through the muscle testing. We are to stay in charge by not sharing our
own issues. If we work with acquaintances, it is important not to wear
the friend ‘hat’ but to maintain a professional demeanour. Remind
client when the client is a friend or relative that the session will
not come up in conversation unless client brings it up.
Emotional Reality vs. Historical Reality
“It is important that the paradigm in which we hold memory retrieval
work does not limit its recognition of truth to literal and provable
facts.” Clients often go in very deep places in their nonordinary state
of consciousness. Impressions, images, and scenes often surface. We
need to clarify that we are only working with “emotional reality, which
is not necessarily limited to or the same as historical reality. It is
imperative that we avoid indicating the issues which have arisen during
an energy balancing session are historical.
Work Without Judgement
We are there to witness, to facilitate, to coach, to attend, to serve
our clients. We need to consider what type of clientele that we would
not be able to stay out of judgement with. Have the courage to say no
and “make the appropriate referral,” when we feel we are not able to
come from a clear, non-judgemental place as a facilitator.
Honour the Client’s Belief System
Our beliefs do not enter into the client’s process. This is not about
the practitioner’s beliefs. However is important we honour our own
beliefs while honouring the client’s beliefs.
Another aspect of honouring is to work with our client where he or she is at because the client may not be ready for deep, profound work. Check permission frequently. This is not about how skilled we are. We work for the client and it is up to us to meet his or her needs. The client may just be learning to trust muscle testing. It is helpful to remember, “The rose has to open on its own time before we can see its beautiful centre. For us to force it to open destroys the rose.”
Competence
“When clients put their trust in us as professionals, one of their most
fundamental expectations is that we will be competent.” It is important
that we only use the techniques, which we are trained to do. If we are
not trained in psychology or professional counseling, it is important
that we refer our client to someone who is. The practitioner needs to stand aside asking questions which allow the client to seek and receive his or her own
answers. In Canada, it is against the law to “Diagnose” or “Treat” any
specific condition! We are offering balancing of the body’s energy
fields. We suggest the client see a Medical doctor, Chiropractor,
Counselor, Naturopath etc., unless we ourselves have these credentials.
I feel we should offer this work as another piece to the puzzle of
wellness. There are many pieces to each person’s healing puzzle.
Energy medicine and spiritual healing is about staying out of the way
or facilitating the process. We honour “the power that made the body is
the power that heals the body” as was stated by B.J. Palmer, D.C. in 1906. Whatever the client’s beliefs, my experience is sacredness occurs
during the healing process. It is not we alone, who are doing this
work. We just provide the hands. Our job is just to TRUST and ALLOW the
communication to occur so that the client’s body may do what it needs
to do. We are not to try to do anything. Ego has no place in this work.
We are providing the opportunity for healing. It is the client, with
divine assistance, who does the healing. The practitioner provides the
environment and the opportunity. The practitioner attends, witnesses,
and facilitates this process with genuine caring, by interpreting what
the body is communicating and offers techniques for energy balancing.
The body directs how the practitioner can best serve the client.
Detach From Outcome
In my experience, detaching from outcome by the practitioner allows for
the most effective work. We are not there to get results. The more we
can detach from outcome, the deeper and the more profound the work.
Healing is not always the same as cure. It may not be the client’s
journey to get well physically but he or she can still heal.
Differences between Curing and Healing
Curing
• Eliminates the signs and symptoms of disease and may occur without healing
• May or may not be possible
• Follows a predictable path
• Death is a failure to cure
• Is empirical; uses the five senses and their extension through technology
Healing
• May occur without curing
• Is always possible
• Is always creative and unpredictable in process and outcome
• Death is an opportunity for more healing and to find the true self
• Uses many ways of knowing, including intuition.
Emotional Competence
“A therapist often has the impression that his work is going splendidly,the deeper he falls into his own shadow.”
Adolf Guggenbuhl-Craig
“Emotional competence reflects therapists’ acknowledgement and respect
for themselves as unique, fallible human beings. It involves
self-knowledge, self-acceptance and self-monitoring.
Therapists must know their own emotional strengths and weaknesses,
their needs and resources, their abilities and limits for doing
clinical work.” Doing our own emotional work and receiving energy work
on a regular basis help us to stay grounded and to stay clear. This is
our professional responsibility. In energy medicine, there is a
temptation to clear away the emotional energy because it feels
uncomfortable. We need to work through the emotions instead of
balancing the emotions away because they are uncomfortable. Working
through the emotions is to look more deeply into the emotional issues
thus gaining the insights that are waiting to surface. Working through
the emotions allows us to come from integrity. It allows us to be fully
present with the client. The practitioner acts as a conduit for the
healing energy. Therefore, it is important that the practitioner be
grounded, clear, centred, and focused to attend the client’s process
from a place of caring.
Conclusion
We as practitioners of
energy medicine and spiritual healing need to create our own inner
ethical Code of Conduct. Taylor writes,
“Each of us as caregivers
must formulate his or her own sense of what is right relationship to a
client. Only our courageous soul searching can bring consciousness to
the fears, desires, and spiritual longings hidden in each of our
shadows.” Ethics is one aspect that will help to bring greater
credibility to the field of energy medicine and spiritual healing. This
is essential in order to bring this valuable field into the everyday
world to play its role in the healing of the 6.5 billion people.
“We all jointly hold a responsibility to create an environment of integrity.”
Jack Kornfield
References
Dickerson
Hall, Lou Ann. Good News for People Who Hurt: Reaching Optimum Health
Through Neuro Emotional Anti-sabotage Technique. Amarillo, Texas: Agape
Associates. 1999.
International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM) Website, http://www.issseem.org 2004.
In Touch Newsletter: The Therapeutic Touch Networks of Canada, 1997.
Levin, Jeff. Body Alignment Technique. Toronto: Natural Health Institute. 1994.
Pope,
Kenneth S., and Melba J. T. Vasquez. Ethics in Psychotherapy and
Counseling: A Practical Guide, Second Edition, San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass. 1998.
Taylor, Kylea. The Ethics of Caring: Honoring
the Web of Life in Our Professional Healing Relationships, Santa Cruz,
California: Sanford Mead Publishers. 1995.
Walker, Scott. Audio Tape Introduction to Neuro Emotional Technique TM, 1999.
