Energy is too important a subject to be, on the one hand, defined only by its devotees – some of whose ideas or practices have been shown to be false or dangerous or with claims made for scientific validity where there is insufficient scientific evidence or disproof.
On the other hand, energy work has been negatively defined by its detractors, as if anything that is not scientifically proven or evidence-based is false and/or offensive to the rational mind.
Energy and energy work, to some extent, must be defended from both its devotees and its detractors!
There is so much polarization these days in politics and in healthcare. It tragically prevents people from working together for mutually satisfying solutions. But health means whole. If we make the whole bigger, all sides benefit.
Let us use science to support the art of bodywork practice, and use artful practice to bring up useful questions for science to explore. Rather than either-or thinking, may we cultivate an era of “both-and” thinking, integrating both structure and energy, art and science. It’s just healthy!