The Field Leads the Dance

The Field Leads the Dance

By Barbara Janelle M.A.

First Published In Touch, Vol. X, no. 4, November 1998

In the early years of my training in and use of Therapeutic Touch, I learned how to affect the field through centering, visualising, unruffling and energising procedures. At that time, I believed that I was doing the work and that the field was essentially a secondary partner in the treatment. I have come to a different understanding now: that the field is the leading partner in the Therapeutic Touch dance.

Discovery

In TT, we assess the field and work on the basis of our assessment. Reassessment continues throughout the treatment and thus demands the practitioner’s ongoing awareness of the field’s condition. It was in checking to see how the field was responding to my work that I discovered that each field took what I did and adjusted it to its own needs.

A primary example of this is that we cannot predict how the field will respond to unruffling, grounding, or even assessment except to say that there will be a positive response on some level. Many times, I have visualised grounding to support energetic flow through the field and found that this helped problem areas that I was not addressing directly.

Another example is with the visualisation of colour. Many times, I have visualised royal blue light washing through the field, only to watch with the inner eye and see the light turning to gold, green, or other colours. I have invited light in through the crown chakra down through the field and “watched” the light change colour many times as it moved through the field. I directed specifically coloured energy into the field at a pace that I thought was appropriate, only to have the field change the colour and speed up or slow down the intake.

For a long time, I recognised that the field would indicate when the treatment was finished: response to work slowed or stopped, the connection with the field decreased or ended. Slowly, I began to put together everything that I saw happening and recognised that I was not determining the effect of my work, but rather the field was doing it.

Application

Instead of treating the field as a subservient partner, I began asking, “What do you need?” I began paying more attention to and then following the “intuitive guidance.”

Instead of directing energy into the field, I offered it and watched where it went. Rather than choose a colour for the field, I offered clear light and watched the field change it to the colour(s) suited its needs.

Another big understanding came when I started to acknowledge the field. By recognising persistent areas of congestion or turbulence with, “I feel you there and recognise there is a reason for your being there,” a change in the field would come. The congestion might not disappear but it would brighten and calm a bit.

Acknowledging the field, accepting its guidance, offering work and trusting the field to take and use it in the best possible way lead to powerful shifts in Therapeutic Touch skills.

Exercises

The following exercises offer some experience with these understandings.

For those with Level 1 training or higher:

a) Unruffle a partner’s field, bringing gentle, bright light in through the crown and down through the field. As you do this, notice whether you sense the light moving through as a colour. If so, did you choose the colour?

b) The next time you find congestion in a field, instead of doing something immediately, ask what it needs. Pay attention to any thoughts that come into your mind and follow their direction.

The next two exercises are for readers with Level 2 or higher training:

c) Place your hands over the adrenals of a partner and offer (do not direct) energy. Monitor the speed and volume with which energy is taken. Did you determine this? Now with the “inner eye,” notice the colour of the energy entering the field. Did you choose the colour? Is it consistently one colour or does it change?

d) With one hand, direct energy into your partner’s hand. Set the intent that it go no further up than the wrist. How quickly did this happen? When and how did you sense that no more was needed? Did you determine the finish or did the field?

e) Offer energy into your partner’s hand with the intention that it go to any place in the field where it is needed. Watch where it goes with your “inner eye.” Talk to the receiver afterwards and compare awarenesses.

Note: Exercises d) and e) usually take less than 30 seconds to do.

Conclusion

The understandings described in this article came with many years of using Therapeutic Touch. I hope that my writing and speaking about these experiences will offer additional confirmation to what many others are discovering as well.