Energy Medicine
A zoom talk by Donna Eden
to the Thames Valley, Devon, Tamar,
Trencrom and Somerset Dowsing Groups
Infectious enthusiasm is the stock-in-trade of US healer, speaker and author, Donna Eden.
Her father was a water diviner, which no doubt gave her an introduction to the subject in hand. But the real driving force that brought her into the inter-related fields of medical science, self-healing and acupuncture was her own serious ill-health as a young woman. Suffering from both MS and persistent allergies, her then personal practitioners gave her little chance of recovery, let alone leading what the rest of us might call a normal way of life. However, by embracing some of the concepts that she has come to term Energy Medicine, she was able to turn her situation around to such an extent that not only did she improve radically, but she was able to show others how to do it, too. Now 79, but with the energy and appearance of a person decades younger, she is her own living manifestation of how her portfolio of procedures can be shown to work in practice.
In essence, the tips and tricks of her approach are simple and straightforward. However, they are rooted in a holistic worldview, where everything is considered to be composed of ‘energy’. Regardless of the terminology, this strikes a chord with any experienced dowser, and goes straight to the heart of why we become ill - and what we can do about it.
Her homespun little procedures seem almost too easy to be useful, too good to be true. Yet a huge back-catalogue of successful ‘treatments’ and satisfied clients is testimony in itself that not only do these practices work in the real world - but that they work across generations and genders, and across social and cultural divides.
The underlying concept in her work is that we are all composed of energy - that we are energy beings. Indeed, the whole world is composed of energy, and we are just an integral part of it. It is only a small step from there to appreciating that applying thought to that energy field at its most basic level is akin to self-healing. While this is not an entirely unique approach in both dowsing and healing circles, Donna puts it over with such clarity and in such a down-to-earth manner that you are left wondering why you hadn’t followed it up yourself already!
It will not have been a revelation to most of the viewers in this catchment that the human body heals itself, or at least that it has the ability to do so if given sufficient rest and a modicum of assistance. However, the methodology for applying a physical dimension to the barely tangible energy matrix is what she terms ‘weaving your own energy field’. The hand and body movements help the practitioner to visualise and to embody the corresponding changes in the energy field. Again, there are correlations with other techniques that promote well-being, but here the sheer simplicity and immediacy of her presentation requires little explanation - and leaves little room for mystique.
The Eden Method suite of ideas draws explicitly from both eastern and western medicine, with a mind-body-spirit makeover for the potential audience. There are standard acupressure techniques, tapping interventions, more spiritual inputs and a range of postures that might not seem out of place in some yogic environments.
One of Donna’s prime tenets is that, while we have a wonderful range of treatments available to us in both the conventional and the alternative systems, these are mainly aimed at dealing with and managing demonstrable symptoms, rather than addressing the underlying causes.
She is particularly concerned about the level of stress in the modern human environment. Stress may not, in itself, be a terminal miasm, but it can engender and aggravate other more serious disorders and imbalances - which, in turn, express themselves in deteriorating mental and/or physical health conditions. Ergo, dealing with, or at least coping with, stress is a root pathway to improved wellbeing and grater longevity.
Donna clearly uses aspects of dowsing as part of her portfolio, and demonstrated using her whole body as a pendulum to determine the efficacy of a supplement. While asking the dowsing question she swayed back and forward - being pushed back for ‘no’ and drawn forward for ‘yes’. It may have seemed a little theatrical, but it was also perfectly effective and very appropriate for situations where the overt use of standard dowsing tools might give rise to consternation.
Although there is a book - Energy Medicine - that explains the various procedures and techniques, there was little evidence of the hard sell. Donna is clearly enthusiastic, almost to the point of being evangelical, about the fact that the portfolio of tips that she has drawn together have regenerated her own poor health, and rewarded her with a long and happy later adulthood. She is the living proof of her own practice - and it is difficult to argue with that.
Together with her husband, David (who is clearly quite used to being wheeled out as the immediately available victim and model for demonstration purposes), Donna has produced a vast range of cameo videos on YouTube. Apparently, at one point, they were churning them out at about one a week. Donna was very proud to tell us all that they are all free. Brownie point awarded from this quarter.
As she says on her own website:
What if you had the tools to direct and encourage your life force energy to naturally bring about greater health, joy, and longevity? Your body is orchestrated by energies that are designed to have your mind and body function at their best. But over the course of your life - whether due to the environment, emotional challenges, or simply the stresses of everyday life, that energy can become stagnant, blocked, or out of harmony. While our energies are remarkably resilient, after enough time, these blocks and disharmonies may manifest as illness, fatigue, depression, allergies, or other difficulties.
So, with next to nothing to lose and potentially rather a lot to gain, many of those watching will, I am sure, be seeking to incorporate the experience of Donna Eden into their own lives.
When this session was first set up by Sue Scott Powell, Chair of the Thames Valley Dowsers some months ago, I had no idea that Donna was so well known or so highly regarded. So, many thanks to Donna for taking the time and trouble to speak to us from her home in the US - and probably at some inappropriate time of the day for her - and also to SSP for signing her up in the first place.
Nigel Twinn
Tamar Dowsers
April 2022
Energy Medicine by Donna Eden is available from all good bookshops (or online, if you must).
The series of YouTube videos can be accessed via edenmethod.com