Where Does Energy Work Belong?

Comment

Comment by Stephen Jeffrey on March 22, 2010 at 12:30pm

I formed exactly that attitude, having looked at certain discussions/EBP group/ EBPwebsite ....I became deeply disturbed and upset by the personel attitudes of certain characters .

It certainly held back my donation for a good while.:)

Can you do a link to the directions and dilemas doc?

Comment by Mike Hinkle on March 22, 2010 at 12:28pm

I agree with you. I think all therapists could and should donate. But is research, then not obligated to study all massage? How might different therapists feel about those deciding, what will be studied?

But never the less... do you donate funding to the alternate political party, than you would like to see win? Would you be upset if you made a donation for something and then found out it did not happen, the way you thought it would. Would you donate, to it, again?

When your beliefs are just dismissed and yet funding is expected, it will hurt funding. This is the danger posed as these statements of, "Research is not needed in the direction therapists want". Research must prove it is interested in massage as a whole, if it wishes to get funding from the whole.

Researchers would do themselves well to do energy research as well and to stop bashing what they consider psuedo modalities. Sure they have the right to do it, but as even you have seen Vlad, something sure is holding back donations. You have tried several ways, as have I. This negativity towards energy will only hurt the cause. Laura Allen even noticed the amount of CE Providers furnishing these classes to the profession. They won't donate to an organization calling the provider's work quackery or the researchers they have out front of their organization, doing the same. This is making a difference. If I am hearing it. It is out there.

Comment by Vlad on March 22, 2010 at 12:00pm

"I know several therapists that won't donate to the MTF because of some of their researcher's hardline against promoting energy research."

That's crazy. They're massage therapists first, right? Are they going to just say "to hell with all research that the MTF is involved in" because of some researchers personal attitudes? Have they read the directions and dilemmas document and seen the reference to subtle energy research?

The MTF is an organization of people from many different backgrounds and their only objective is to bring us forward. If therapists don't realize the importance of it, then it needs to be made clear. Giving to the MTF is a pretty big thing in my book. Saying "Some of their researchers think energy work is a crock therefore I'm not giving to it" is just nuts.

Is there anyone on this board that has that attitude? Gawd, I hope not.

Comment by Mike Hinkle on March 22, 2010 at 9:51am

Hi Emmanuel,

It wouldn't bother me as much, if these were not the same crew being looked to for research information. I think their approach toward massage research is skewed.

Therapists, as a whole, want more research. They are skeptical of those doing research when they expect therapists to be open to their ideas yet are immediate to cut off therapists and their ideas. I believe anything debunked at this point of early research should be re-examined, because as you said, "those with the power to direct funds can lead to exclusion...". I believe many factors could have been left out and all these modalities need to be further researched, by independent sources.

My fear here is, financially, MT research will suffer as energy therapists decline to contribute because all their funds are going to other forms of massage and not towards their interests, as well. When researchers out there, take research funds, no matter what the amount, and then attack other modalities they are hurting research funding potential. I know several therapists that won't donate to the MTF because of some of their researcher's hardline against promoting energy research.

Your right, the public is mostly clueless and I consider that our fault. Let's change that with thorough research, public education (TV commercials instead of the stock exchange) and fantastically trained massage therapists!

Comment by Emmanuel Bistas on March 22, 2010 at 9:01am

Mike,

I agree about how attitudes of those with the power to direct funds can lead to exclusion of energetic modalities from research. Ultimately consumers will choose with their money. Then the research will follow to prove why so many clients love energy work and eventually the language will develop to explain it better.

Yesterday, at the end of the session my client said “I really liked what you did, do you do Reiki too?” I smiled and said “oh, you haven’t read Yahoo News? Reiki was debunked in 2009”. We spent a good 15 minutes talking about the topic of energy work, I told her about EBP and about these discussions we have here. She thought ‘those people’ (meaning the non-believers) were crazy. Then she said “Do you know what else I like? Reflexology!” to which of course I replied “that was also debunked in 2009! Same article!”. It was funny, probably one of those things that you had to be there to appreciate.

We have nothing to fear.

Comment by Vlad on March 21, 2010 at 9:06pm

I'm with Darcy.

Comment by Mike Hinkle on March 21, 2010 at 6:47pm

Hi Emmauel.

I would agree if that was the direction this was headed, unfortuanately it is not. Christopher and others wish to pigeon hole certain modalitites and have no study what-so-ever. The only way to secure these will eventually get researched is to include them in the MTBOK now. Especially since they are already sanctioned and the services are currently available to the public.

What Christopher and his crew wish to do is in his own words, "excise" them. He is trying to influence others not to spend research dollars in this effort. He will fail there, as well. What he is doing is setting up a problem attaining funding, as this will split the funding in the future. We need to research our entire profession, as yet little has been done, even in their EBP vacuum.

Comment by Christopher A. Moyer on March 21, 2010 at 6:43pm

As annoying it may be, it is a blessing to have people like Christopher and the EBP crew

LOL. Thanks Emmanuel. That's something of a backhanded compliment, but I'll take it as a compliment just the same.

Comment by Darcy Neibaur on March 21, 2010 at 5:54pm

I find it all interesting.

Comment by Emmanuel Bistas on March 21, 2010 at 5:50pm

I agree that energy work should not be part of the MTBOK document. The term ‘energy’ has been used to mean too many things to too many people and putting it in such an important document it can only give ammunition to those who mistrust massage therapy and want to limit its scope.

Sometimes "energy" has been used as a filler for things that we do not know or we do not understand, other times has been used to describe an understanding of the human body beyond what our eyes or microscopes see, and sometimes specific things like the Qi or Kundalini. Which description would we use in the MTBOK document? Selecting one over the other runs the risk of being inaccurate and incomplete. We certainly cannot talk about ‘energy fields’ and we cannot talk about waves or fractals or particles, as many of those theories are now unfolding.

That is not to say that massage therapists should stop teaching energy work, learning it, or discussing it. It has been my experience that massage therapists who have a thorough knowledge of the sciences and who are also experienced in energy work have a "different" type of touch. It is subtle and difficult to describe, but those of you who have experienced it know what I am talking about.

I am sure at some point we will have a better word to describe those things that massage therapists refer to as energy, and at that point it will make its way into some future revision of the MTBOK document. Until then, it can stay off.

As annoying it may be, it is a blessing to have people like Christopher and the EBP crew, because it can only help us look deeper into our field and reach a better understanding of what we do. They just need to ask their questions in a nicer tone and not shoot down everything someone says just because they don't get it :)

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