Polarity Therapy: Going with the energy flow

By Lisa Barr

      Traffic jams are a bummer: you're speeding merrily down the highway when the cars in front of you grind to a halt. Half an hour later, a quarter of a mile away, you pass the culprit: a car stalled on the left shoulder. According to polarity therapy, the body has its own version of a five-lane freeway, and when jams happen, it's a bummer in the body, leading to illness and disease.

      Randolph Stone, DC, DO, ND, founder of polarity therapy, theorized that we have five streams of positive and negative electromagnetic waves moving in, out and through our bodies in a specific pattern. When blockages occur in this energy field, Stone said, the result is illness or disease. The key to health, then, is to avoid jams and keep the "traffic" (energy) flowing. That's the primary goal of polarity therapy.

      Austrian-born Stone immigrated to America in 1903. He trained as an osteopath, chiropractor and naturopath, but had a hunch there was more to health than the Western view had to offer. He traveled all over the world, studying mysticism and collecting ancient and modern healing methods. "Stone believed this wisdom was not trivial," says John Chitty, founder of the Colorado School of Energy Studies in Boulder and co-author of Energy Exercises (Polarity Press, 1990). "Just because these ideas did not fit the surgery-and-drug model of western medicine was not a reason to discard them, if they worked."

      Stone incorporated aspects of Ayurveda, yoga, acupuncture and reflexology into his successful practice as an osteopath in Chicago . During the 1940s, he synthesized his research into an expansive energy-based healing modality called polarity therapy, which uses gentle therapeutic touch, along with dietary and exercise counseling.

      According to Chitty, the term "polarity" refers to energetic relationships of opposite poles, called yin and yang in ancient Chinese philosophy. Yin is associated with a negative electrical charge in the body, and with contracting and receptive (female) energy; yang has a positive charge associated with expansive, outgoing (male) energy. When these two forces are in perfect balance-the neutral position-health is achieved, according to Stone. Polarity therapy can be thought of as a balancing act: applying opposing forces to neutralize or balance electromagnetic energy in the physical body.

       In addition to the five streams of positive and negative electromagnetic waves mentioned earlier, polarity therapists also use the Ayurvedic theory of five elements. The five elements-ether, air, fire, water and earth-are used to describe the quality or density of energy, ether being the lightest and earth the densest. Each element is linked with body parts, functions, organs, emotions, colors and foods. The five elements also refer to the first five chakras, energy centers located along the spine.

      In polarity therapy, sometimes there's too much (a yang condition) of a certain quality, or too little (a yin condition). For example, anger and digestive problems are considered excess fire. An overabundance of fire can be balanced by applying the opposite: water. (Imagine a forest fire raging in your intestines; it's only logical to use water to put the fire out). Water is associated with emotions, so a polarity therapist might encourage you to take brisk walks to get blocked feelings flowing again, and then write down in a journal whatever comes to mind. The therapist may also demonstrate a polarity yoga pose for you to practice: a squatting posture designed to balance digestive problems.

      He or she would also use a light, gentle touch to help balance your body. In polarity therapy, the right hand has a positive electrical charge, the left a negative. The five fingers have either a positive or negative charge, and each corresponds to one of the five elements. By applying positive to negative, or vice versa, energy can be neutralized or balanced by the practitioner's touch.

      Polarity therapy's gentle touch has a reputation for physically calming clients. For this reason, polarity therapy is especially helpful in treating problems associated with the nervous system such as hypertension, Parkinson's disease, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It can also be used to treat a wide range of other conditions, from cancer to headaches to pregnancy woes.

      Maruti Seidman, nationwide lecturer, teacher and author of A Guide to Polarity Therapy (Elan Press,1986) believes that polarity's non-invasive nature contributes to its relaxing effect. "Spontaneous healing occurs as a client completely relaxes," says Seidman. "The body begins to heal itself when the self-healing mechanism kicks in. Once this kicks in, then the client does their own internal process that allows them to relax their cells, bones, mind and muscles. As the energy shifts, the pain and disease from imbalance dissolves."

      One example: Sara (not her real name) suffered from depression and insomnia associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. When she arrived at her polarity therapist's office, she discussed her medical history, her current problem and what she hoped to gain. She was scared, spaced out and overstressed.

      Sara lay on a massage table, fully clothed with her shoes off, where the therapist began to calm her nervous system by holding the back of her neck, her head, then her feet. Next, he focused on holding "earth element" points to help Sara get grounded in her body, working up the right side of her body, then down the left. Holding these points helped to balance the flow of energy in Sara's body.

      As the therapist held each hand position for several minutes, Sara entered deep relaxation for the first time in months. At times, the therapist would gently rock Sara's body back and forth to relieve more tension. Throughout the session, the therapist asked Sara how the treatment felt and what sensations, if any, arose.

      During the last 10 minutes of the session, they discussed Sara's "homework," to support and sustain a balance of the earth element. She was encouraged to do earthy activities such as gardening or going for a walk, and to add foods to her diet that grow deep in the earth, like beets or potatoes.

      Immediately after the first session, Sara's sleep improved dramatically. Over the course of her treatment, her demeanor changed, as she became more relaxed, confident and comfortable with herself. Sara went from being afraid to leave her home, to moving across the country to attend school. She had also learned new ways to take care of herself.

      "Autonomy is an important aspect of polarity therapy," says Chitty. He says that taking responsibility for one's life is encouraged, when appropriate. It all depends on the individual: some clients merely want symptoms relieved, while others take what they learn as an invitation for personal growth.

      Some people have results after one session; others go a few times or periodically for maintenance. The personal choices clients make will determine how long the energy shifts will last, Seidman says. The average cost per session is $70, generally in hour to hour and a half segments. Treatment length varies. To find a practitioner, visit the American Polarity Therapy Association's website at: www.polaritytherapy.org, and click on the "find a practitioner" section. And check out some of the following resources to learn more:

. Health Building by Randolph Stone (CRCS, 1985)

. A Guide to Polarity Therapy by Maruti Seidman (Elan Press, 1986)

. Energy Exercises by John Chitty and Mary Louise Muller (Polarity Press, 1990)

. The Polarity Process by Franklyn Sills ( North Atlantic , 2002)

. Colorado School of Energy Studies, www.energyschool.com/polarity

. American Polarity Therapy Association, www.polaritytherapy.org

Resources, local and beyond

Julie Bershenyi, 303-277-9355, Golden

John Chitty, 303-443-9847, Boulder

Leslie Locklear, 970-642-0940, Crested Butte

Rachel Mastroianni, 303-949-5715, Evergreen

Maruti Seidman, 800-334-4097, Boulder