Subtle energy has many different forms, from its most subtle forms, such as those experienced in states of deep meditation, through to the emotional forms such as bliss, love, joy, happiness, anger, fear or shame and to the mental forms of thought, belief, ambition and drive.

Subtle energy is also the energy we absorb from other people, such as our family members, friends, lovers or employers; the energies we experience during specific times in our lives, such as our childhood and from certain key events that happen to us in life, such as a trauma, shock or fright.

Although there are many different types of subtle energy, each one has a specific property or characteristic, such as hot or cold, heavy or light, energizing or tiring. Additionally, each one is of a certain element, such as earth, fire, air or water, and most importantly, each one causes a specific physical manifestation when present in the body.

⇒ For example, the emotional energy of anger (air element) causes the body to dry out and harden certain muscles, in this case the trapezius and mandible muscles. whereas the energy of love creates warmth, softness and openness.

For our physical bodies to be healthy and happy, there needs to be a state of balance in the subtle energies within our energy system. A little bit of everything, as it were. A little bit of hard, a little bit of soft. A little bit of hot, a little bit of cold. A little bit of structure, a little bit of freedom. An imbalance in subtle energy, for example in having too little of one type of energy and too much of another, causes a parallel imbalance in the physical condition of the body.

⇒ For example, an insufficient level of love and too much fear create a physical body in which there is not enough warmth and softness, but there is a lot of cold, heaviness, fatigue and cramps. Whereas a person brought up in a tight, controlling, restrictive family environment will similarly have a tight, hard, restrictive body.

By understanding this process, and the connection between subtle energy and the physical body, the student learns that in massage, for instance, when trying to treat a client with an imbalance in subtle energy, such as in the manifestation of stiffness or hardness in the muscles, it is much more effective to treat the imbalance of energy in the client than it is to treat them with a school-taught basic massage routine, which does not normally address the client’s imbalance in their subtle energy.

PROGRAM

The workshop examines in full the origins and effects of seven different types of subtle energy: emotional energy, mental energy, sexual energy, spiritual energy, environmental energy, energy from other people, ancestral/inherited energy.

Module I. Subtle Energy – introduction

The workshop covers work with the following topics:

• • What is subtle energy?
  • What does it feel like?
  • How does it affect the body?
  • The roles of the chakras and the meridians.
  • Learning how to tune-into and to feel subtle energy in your body and the body of your massage client.
  • The energy of colour: how do different colours make you feel.

Module II. Emotional energy

The workshop covers work with the following topics:

• • The effect of the emotions on your body: love, fear, anger, sadness.
  • The stages of emotional release (beginning, middle, end).
  • How to deal with a client beginning an emotional release.
  • What type of a healer are you? How to determine the type of healing energy you naturally use in your touch
  • Learning how to feel energy with your intuition.

Module III. Reading the Symptoms

We will look at a set of twenty specific physical conditions in the body that are caused by an imbalance in the flow of subtle energy, such as:

• • Tight ankles.
  • Weak knees.
  • Closed hips.
  • Stiff hamstrings.
  • Weak lower back.
  • Stiffness in the thoracic spine.
  • Stiffness in the shoulder area.
  • Arm pain and weakness.
  • Inflammation and pain in the neck.
  • Headache.

And then we will learn how to release each condition by using specific types of energy in your touch.

Robert Henderson has been teaching and practicing Thai massage since 2000. He specializes in working with energy and spiritual healing.

He works one-to-one with people to help process and release past traumas and hurts. He also gives workshops around Europe on the themes of energy work and on the effects your upbringing and environment have on your physical body.

Author of books: Healing in the Energy Body and It’s All My Parents’ Fault and many articles in Yoga Aktuell (Germany) and Massage World (UK).

He was born in Dublin and currently lives in Vienna.