A QUESTION OF ENERGY
I have trained deeply in the energy sciences over the past 50 years.
I have been a Reiki practitioner for 25 years,
becoming Master in 2005.
I have been a Reiki practitioner for 25 years,
becoming Master in 2005.
Biofield medicine: The study of energy healing modalities.
It all began for me in 1975: I had just graduated from a year long concentrated training with Anna Halprin, my introduction to dance at the age of 32, when I met the person who would change my life. That person would give me the foundation for my dance as well as my own personal well being. Doris Breyer was a German refugee and professional dancer who trained intensely with Mary Wigman, one of the founders of the modern dance movement, someone who pioneered expressionist movement and dance therapy.
Doris Breyer: Doris continued this dance tradition while adding an amazing insight into how elemental energy flow is transformative. She continued that work until her death in San Francisco in 1981 at the age of 73. For 2 years, I took her professional practitioner training and have continued biofield studies ever since. Doris had a way of looking at a person and instantly understanding the karmic life of that person. She would say in a sentence or 2, things that would beneficially change that person's life forever.
An early advocate of the biofield therapy movement, Doris was instrumental in the training of people like Stanley Keleman, who explored the connection between physical form and emotional life, proposing that our bodies embody our psychological and emotional history through posture, shape, and movement. All of this is part of the somatic health movement, popular in the 1970s, which focused on the mind-body connection. Yoga, Tai Chi and Qigong are deeply rooted in this approach.
I have since met one other person who was also stunningly perceptive: Mary Elizabeth R. was an older student in my classes who had a breathtaking ability to look at a person and see where in their body their energy was blocked. It turns out that for 3 years in her youth, she trained comprehensively in the energy sciences. I mention this because her study was serious and effective. The energy sciences have been treated more consequentially in times past than today. Today it is thought by many as being a parlor game. In reality, it is instead a robust technical approach to health and well being.
Reiki: Reiki is another manifestation of a similar perspective. Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D. endorses Reiki and other forms of "energy medicine" as safe, complementary biofield therapies that can effectively relieve pain and promote relaxation. Of Far Eastern origination, Reiki practice involves improving the health of the energy centers of the body, traditionally known as the chakras. Life tends to throw these centers out of balance. Reiki practice has the ability to restore balance.
Doris Breyer: Doris continued this dance tradition while adding an amazing insight into how elemental energy flow is transformative. She continued that work until her death in San Francisco in 1981 at the age of 73. For 2 years, I took her professional practitioner training and have continued biofield studies ever since. Doris had a way of looking at a person and instantly understanding the karmic life of that person. She would say in a sentence or 2, things that would beneficially change that person's life forever.
An early advocate of the biofield therapy movement, Doris was instrumental in the training of people like Stanley Keleman, who explored the connection between physical form and emotional life, proposing that our bodies embody our psychological and emotional history through posture, shape, and movement. All of this is part of the somatic health movement, popular in the 1970s, which focused on the mind-body connection. Yoga, Tai Chi and Qigong are deeply rooted in this approach.
I have since met one other person who was also stunningly perceptive: Mary Elizabeth R. was an older student in my classes who had a breathtaking ability to look at a person and see where in their body their energy was blocked. It turns out that for 3 years in her youth, she trained comprehensively in the energy sciences. I mention this because her study was serious and effective. The energy sciences have been treated more consequentially in times past than today. Today it is thought by many as being a parlor game. In reality, it is instead a robust technical approach to health and well being.
Reiki: Reiki is another manifestation of a similar perspective. Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D. endorses Reiki and other forms of "energy medicine" as safe, complementary biofield therapies that can effectively relieve pain and promote relaxation. Of Far Eastern origination, Reiki practice involves improving the health of the energy centers of the body, traditionally known as the chakras. Life tends to throw these centers out of balance. Reiki practice has the ability to restore balance.
My own approach:
I use a combination of Reiki and Breyer technique, concentrating on passing energy through areas of the body blocked. For example, when I had a foot injury several years ago, I used biofield technique to restore a positive flow of energy through the ankle and foot. After every 10 minutes or so of dance practice, I would sit on the sidelines and do energy work on that foot to restore a natural balance in its energy flow. My foot healed far more quickly than it would have otherwise. I use a similar technique frequently when practicing and performing to dissolve stress and maintain my physical well being.
I am a strong believer in dissolving barriers in the body to restore health. Those barriers develop from many sources: injury, chronic tension, fear and anxiety or past traumatic experience. When barriers to the flow of energy melt away, we are left with a clear natural energetic path, free of problems and stress.
I am a strong believer in dissolving barriers in the body to restore health. Those barriers develop from many sources: injury, chronic tension, fear and anxiety or past traumatic experience. When barriers to the flow of energy melt away, we are left with a clear natural energetic path, free of problems and stress.
The biofield sciences and the nervous system:
The nervous system is the freeway that the biofield sciences utilize to restore a natural energy path. As mentioned in "GRACE and the Nervous System", detours are created to circumvent whatever blockages have been created by our life experience. For instance, when injured, the nervous system finds new pathways around the area traumatized. Those detours often remain, even after full recuperation of the original injury. The detours over our lifetime create a maze of less direct pathways. The biofield sciences help to dissolve those detours, creating nervous system pathways which are more efficient and direct.
In addition, we can think of healing as being a "substance" that is much more effectively utilized along flushed out direct pathways.
In addition, we can think of healing as being a "substance" that is much more effectively utilized along flushed out direct pathways.
What connects GRACE to the biofield sciences:
The image of the upside down tree is analogous to the spinal cord plus the peripheral nervous system. That tree is defined through our visualization of being suspended from the nape of the neck. It is my experience that the nape energy is powerfully clear of life trauma and current stress and can therefore define a streamlined natural energetic pathway. The more we practice these principles, the clearer and stronger that path is.
Other GRACE articles of interest:
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Thorough description of GRACE.
How it can impact how we dance. Suspending from the neck nape. Such a dynamic process. |
Published June 15, 2026.