My beef with energy workers

 

When going to Massage Therapy school there was a huge emphasis on respectful personal boundaries. Boundaries of the client and boundaries of the practitioner. I'd like to draw your attention to the importance of personal boundaries for the client. These boundaries make perfect sense to a lot of people as receiving a massage, laying naked (or mostly naked) under a sheet on a table, being touched by possibly someone we've never met...is a very personal experience! Therefore, things like draping so that the client feels comfortable and not exposed, always asking permission to work on an area, closely watching your clients reaction to pressure being applied, and being respectful that some clients have areas of their body that they do not want worked on. After all, helping people to heal and making your client feel comfortable is usually what draws people towards being in a "healer" role in the first place.

However, it's been my observation that some energy healing practitioners don't seem to have the same kind of parameters in place that come more naturally for those of us who also practice healing of the physical body. As an example, it's not uncommon for me to hear other energy workers say something like "yeah, I met this person who didn't believe in energy work so I just started reading their energy to prove to them that it's real". WHAT??!!

In no way would it be appropriate for a Massage Therapist to just walk up to someone that they just met, without asking, and start massaging their arm (or anywhere else) in order to prove to them how beneficial massage is. Why on earth do energy workers feel that it's appropriate to do this with peoples energy? Our physical body and our energy body should be respected in the same way. Permission, permission, permission! 

Invading someones physical space on purpose without permission is not only rude, it's bullying, it's NOT ok. The same goes for someones energy space. 

If you meet someone who invades your energy space, I hope that you can let them know it's not cool, just like if someone invaded your physical space. And if you are an energy worker, please check yourself if you have the habit of doing this to people...you may be causing harm without even being aware.

Rant over...