Spirituality and Energy Medicine

The spiritual teachings of the great teachers and sages across the millennia
are based upon some core principles which can be extremely helpful to individuals
with major medical illness and physical disability to promote health, happiness,
and improved physical function. These principles provide guidance for accessing
expanded awareness and higher levels of consciousness. However, at the
physical level these principals can serve as a means to understand the
results achieved within the burgeoning field of energy medicine, representative
techniques including but not limited to acupuncture, therapeutic touch,
reiki, qi gong, tai chi. Rehabilitation professionals, as well as all health
care professionals, have avoided introducing the topic of spirituality
with patients and clients for fear of intruding into a person's religious
beliefs. However, the distinction between religion and spirituality is
provided herein in order to provide a rationale for the topic of spirituality
to be introduced and utilized to enhance health and healing. Some specific
applications of spiritual principals during the counseling process are
provided.