What Is Energy Medicine? Talking with Donna Eden

Donna Eden, a pioneer in the field of holistic healing, is among the world's most sought-after, joyous, and authoritative spokespeople for energy medicine. Her invigorating presentations are rich with stunning demonstrations and audience participation. She has taught more than 50,000 people worldwide how to methodically and precisely direct energy for health and happiness, using methods akin to acupressure, therapeutic touch, and qigong.

1440: Let's start with the basics. What is energy medicine?

Donna: Energy runs through everyone, like electricity in a building. It keeps us moving, animating our muscles and bones and heart—everything. But unlike electricity, this life force has incredible intelligence. It is the foundation of all the body's physical systems—the immune system, the respiratory system, the reproductive system, all of them—directing them in the amazing ways they keep us alive and thriving. The energy is far more intelligent than our brains. Energy medicine is the practice of tapping into this brilliant energy and mobilizing it for your health and well-being.

1440: What types of things can we use energy medicine for?

Donna: Everything, really! It can be used for any kind of illness. If it can't overcome the illness, it can at least make the person more comfortable. It will also help anyone who is healthy stay healthy. We didn't evolve to live in the world we're living in. Every day we encounter so many unnatural things, from the electromagnetic energies and toxins that surround us to the additives in our foods. All of these can sap our vitality or even make us sick. Energy medicine can help us teach our bodies to tolerate what we find in our environment. One of the most rewarding places I've brought energy medicine is into schools. I used to work with kids who were labeled as not-so-smart, and I found that so often it had nothing to do with their smarts—it was that their energies weren't supporting their natural intelligence. I would work with them to get the energy flowing better through their brain and body so their synapses could fire as they should. It was so rewarding to see them learn and discover how smart they are. I was very dyslexic when I was growing up, and so were my two daughters. With energy medicine, my dyslexia is gone. The same for my girls. In Western medicine we're told we're stuck with it. That's just not true. You can shift your energy and align it differently and things can change. It can still come back for me when I get really stressed and my energies scramble, but I do my practices and it disappears.

1440: What practices do you use to unscramble your energy when you're stressed?

Donna: When I get stressed, I feel overwhelmed. I get into this fog where I do things like not remembering why I walked into a room or what I was just thinking. I get scrambled, and I just can't sort it out. The classic gesture for this kind of stress is to throw our hand to our forehead. It turns out that instinct is right! Just put your hand on your forehead and take three deep breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth. Hold your hand on your forehead the whole time. The energy and blood will come back into the front of the brain. We get pulled into stress many times a day in our modern world, far more than our ancestors probably did back when they only occasionally encountered danger. Today our body encounters stress everywhere, so do this exercise a few times a day or whenever you need it. Energy medicine is a great way to work with stress because it's effective and quick.

1440: How can we learn to sense energy in ourselves and work with it? Can anyone do it?

Donna: I've been teaching this since 1977, and I've seen so many people who said they didn't believe in energy start working with it—over time almost everyone learned to feel it. My own husband, David Feinstein, didn't feel it for a long time. And then one day he was doing a chakra meditation and he said, "Oh, my God! I'm feeling it!" Now he teaches with me. That happens to almost everybody. But to get there you have to do the practice. Energy is the language your body uses. It speaks through it. If you've had 40, 50, or more years not listening to it, you've got to turn those mechanisms back on and that can take time.

1440: How did you first discover energy medicine techniques?

Donna: I was very sick when I was young. I had multiple sclerosis, really bad asthma, allergies, and at 27 I had a heart attack because my organs were breaking down. I often couldn't even walk, sometimes needing a wheelchair. You know that feeling when your foot or your hand falls asleep? That was the feeling over my whole body, and it didn't pass quickly like when your foot falls asleep. At one point my mouth wouldn't even work anymore. I went to five different specialists, and they all said I wasn't going to live. The last doctor told me to go home and get my affairs in order and find another mother for my kids. As my mom was wheeling my wheelchair out of the office, I thought, "I don't want someone else raising my daughters!" I knew then that I was going to go home and heal myself. It was sobering to realize that Western medicine had given up on me. But it was the best thing that ever happened because of the way it was a catalyst. I started working with my own energies by just putting my hands on myself and feeling the energy. And I started to get better. I eventually took a training in Touch for Health. I started learning about the Chinese meridian systems and then the Indian chakra systems. I absorbed it all. I suddenly had names for all the energies I'd been working with on my own to heal myself. I searched out many of the masters of the time and learned as much as I could. It became a passion of mine, and once I healed myself I wanted to shake everybody and say, "Wake up! You can heal yourself, too!" I'm now 76, and I'm as healthy and vital as I've ever been.

1440: Is energy medicine meant to replace conventional medicine?

Donna: There is definitely a place for Western medicine, but I think we rely on it too much for things we could be handling ourselves. We are meant to partner with our energies because we evolved that way. We've been living with ourselves much longer than we've had pharmaceuticals. Many drugs just mask symptoms. With energy medicine, your body learns new habits and gets stronger and healthier because of them.

1440: How can we start to introduce energy medicine practices into our life? Do they take a lot of time?

Donna: Energy medicine practices don't take much time at all. My daughters and I do a weekly "energy minute" video every Wednesday, so you can find those one-minute practices on our YouTube channel. You'll also find a daily five-minute energy medicine routine that includes some of my favorite practices, ones that provide the most value for your time. Those are great places to start. This interview was conducted on behalf of 1440 Multiversity by Jenn Brown—a freelance writer, editor, producer, and educator.