Healing Goes Mainstream

Why the ancient art of Energy Medicine is more popular than ever. Deborah King, a former real estate attorney and current practitioner of Energy Medicine, unblocks chakras for teachers, accountants, and other professionals. She offers six reasons why her ancient art is gaining new respectability.

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Once upon a time, the word "healing" was met with suspicion, skepticism, or outright scorn. People associated healers with ads in sensationalistic tabloids, or perhaps with exploitative tent revivals designed to part the faithful with their money. If one did consult a healer, the encounter was shrouded in secrecy. To openly discuss such matters was to risk being labeled a "flake." But for a growing number of ordinary Americans, that attitude is changing. Healing is going, well, mainstream.

If you doubt it, meet Deborah King. An intuitive healer based in Beverly Hills, California, she epitomizes the respectable new face of this profession. She's a former real estate attorney and hotel developer who--after experiencing a dramatic healing of her own--left Corporate America for the less tangible world of healers, sages, and shamans.

"I work with businessmen and women, professionals from various arenas, people from all backgrounds, cultures, and belief systems," says King, a quiet, serious woman who radiates intelligence and sensitivity. "My clients are sophisticated and successful, not gullible or 'flaky' by any stretch of the imagination. They are simply people who have come to realize that their body and spirit are crying out for help--and they've decided to answer that call."

King practices "Energy Medicine," a healing art that involves unblocking certain areas of the energy field that surrounds the body. She treats a variety of chronic and acute conditions, from depression to heart disease to cancer to reproductive disorders. While she admits that she can't always restore robust perfect health--"healing" and "curing" are not necessarily synonymous--almost every client reports some improvement. And some clients experience dramatic results, such as cancer going into remission.

Not only does King enjoy a fully booked practice, her healing workshops tend to fill up quickly. And she is a highly sought-after speaker who lectures on Energy Medicine as well as on such topics as female empowerment and sexual abuse. So what accounts for the surge of interest--open, unabashed interest--in the hard-to-quantify subject of healing? Why is the "H-word" coming out of the closet and into the light?

King believes there are various reasons:

Conventional medicine isn't working.

Most of us acknowledge that America's healthcare system is broken. And most of us are well aware that pills and surgeries aren't meeting our healing needs. Conventional treatments may relieve symptoms, but they seldom get to the root of an illness. By addressing blockages in a client's energy field, King's type of healing treats problems at their source. "I don't disparage Western medicine," she asserts. "In fact, as I tell my clients, I consider traditional doctors to be partners in healing. But what I do works at an empowering soul level. It helps clients learn to heal themselves."

We're desperately seeking relief from our stressful, fast-paced lives.

Although technology has made our lives "easier" in some ways, it is a double-edged sword. Cell phones and email mean that we are constantly connected to work and to other people. We live in crowded, noisy cities. We sit in traffic jams every day. The demands that our work places on us, not to mention the lack of quiet and solitude, take a toll. "It's hard to pay attention to your inner spirit when you're thinking about work and responsibilities and bills, twenty-four/seven," says King. "We know, intuitively, that we're neglecting something very important. Small wonder that we're drawn to healers."

We're out of sync with the healing rhythms of nature.

We don't work on farms anymore, so we've lost the benefits of physical labor, fresh air and sunshine, exposure to the changing seasons. We don't have the rejuvenating "down time" that comes from going to bed at sunset. We miss out on the pleasure of eating tomatoes and strawberries grown in soil worked with our own hands. We're disconnected from the natural cycles of life that our ancestors took for granted. All of this is at odds with what our bodies and spirits crave, King points out. Healing speaks to these needs that are going unmet.

Women are disconnected from their femininity.

Women have "made it" in the business and professional worlds, and that's a good thing. The problem, King says, is that we've become clones of men. "Women work hard all day and barely have time for our children in the evenings," she says. "We no longer prepare big nourishing meals, or relax with delicate needlework, or enjoy long, rambling conversations with our friends while we shell peas on the front porch. Our deep feminine needs to nurture, to create, to connect emotionally with our sisters are being neglected. Healing helps restore the balance we need to be powerful, secure, happy women."

Globalization makes us open to ideas from other cultures.

The advent of the Internet and the forces of globalization have resulted in some significant cultural crossover. It's not surprising that our Western attitudes are becoming more "Eastern-ized." "While my approach to Energy Medicine is quite Western in its origins, Americans are embracing many holistic practices that spring from ancient Asian and Indian cultures," says King. "It's not uncommon for residents of small rural towns to schedule regular Thai massage sessions or for stressed-out New Yorkers to pursue Ayurvedic harmony. All these healing techniques are right at our fingertips. I mean, just as a test I did a Web search on the word 'Qi' and got almost four million results in less than a second."

Science is beginning to recognize the connection between spirituality and health.

Studies have proven the effectiveness of prayer. Medical schools are beginning to offer courses on religious and spiritual issues. Physicians are finally acknowledging the powerful connections between body, mind, and spirit. Small wonder that "alternative" practices like meditation, yoga, acupuncture, and, of course, Energy Medicine have gained new credibility. "The irony is that these practices are far from new," King points out. "In fact, they are ancient. We've come full circle."

So, will the day come that people book appointments with a healer as matter-of-factly as they now see their hairstylist or their chiropractor? King says, "yes."

"I believe America is at a turning point," she says. "Our current attitudes toward physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being are unsustainable. I mean, there is clearly something wrong when so many of us pop antidepressants like they're breath mints and consider that normal. Something has to give. And from what I can see, the kind of healing I do is becoming more and more accepted. I really believe that, in the very near future, the word 'alternative' will be a misnomer. It will be the new 'normal.' And we, as individuals and as a society, will be all the better for it."

Deborah King, J.D., Ph.D.

is a woman who believes--and lives--the adage that "the truth will set you free." A successful real estate attorney and hotel developer, Deborah was plagued by longstanding health problems that worsened over the years. After she experienced a remarkable physical healing from a Practitioner of Energy Medicine, she was led to ultimately jump ship and leave the reality of the corporate workplace for the less tangible world of healers, sages, and shamans.

Ultimately, Deborah tracked her physical problems to disempowering experiences she had as a child and young adult. (Her life struggles and how she overcame them are chronicled in her upcoming memoir, Daddy's Girl). Today she shares the truths she has learned on her journey with a variety of clients, using her own struggle to demonstrate how women can regain their power and their health. She works with clients one-on-one and in groups in her private practice and teaches Energy Medicine at the Deborah King Inner Spirit Institute (deborahkinginnerspiritinstitute.com).

Deborah received a doctorate in law from the University of California and a Ph.D. in healing science from the New Mexico Theological Seminary. As a writer, workshop leader, teacher, and healer, she exhibits great courage in drawing upon her own childhood experiences to illuminate once forbidden topics.

In Prescription: Truth, Deborah's contribution to Heart of Healing (Elite Books, September 2004)--an anthology assembling some of the most well-known and respected names in healing, including Dean Ornish, M.D., Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., Andrew Weil, M.D., Bernie Siegel, M.D., and Deepak Chopra, M.D.--she illustrates the effect of shedding light in dark places. Through client profiles, she demonstrates how breakthroughs in their "dis-ease" are accomplished. In her upcoming book, Truth Heals: Seven Steps to Female Empowerment (projected to be released in mid-2006), she will explore the connection between women's loss of power and later decline in health.

Deborah lives with her husband and horses in Malibu, California.