Is Energy Healing the Cure for Burnout?

When you pull a muscle, you know the drill: rest, ice and maybe a visit to the physio’s office. Energy healing isn’t so obliging. Ask a practitioner for a diagnosis, and you may well be told your energy is blocked, you have an imbalanced field, or you have a stagnant flow. None of which shows up on a scan or test.

That said, with burnout rates as high as they are – it’s estimated that 91 per cent of Britons report levels of extreme stress and almost 2 in 5 people aged 18-24 have taken time off work due to poor mental health caused by high pressure – something has to give. People are growing weary of conventional solutions and, as a result, are turning to alternative therapies. One such person was Sushma Sagar, who in the wake of a traumatic heartbreak looked to energy healing for respite.

“I come from a family of medics – scientific, traditional Western medicine – but my suffering was emotional. I knew a pill wasn’t going to work,” Sushma tells me in the white waiting room of Harley Street clinic. During her time of crisis, she was introduced to a Reiki practitioner and acupuncturist. After just one session, Sushma says she felt transformed: “I’d go in feeling really devastated and within an hour I’d be smiling and feeling happy again. It was such an incredible turnaround.” The results were so impressive, Sushma went on to train herself and subsequently opened her clinic, The Calmery.

What is Energy Healing?

Energy healing is an umbrella term for alternative therapies which subscribe to the belief that a life force of energy flows through the body. When the energy becomes blocked, either through illness, trauma, or a general discomfort with life, practitioners will work to resolve this by working with the energy through light touch or no touch at all. In essence, following some form of consultation, you’ll be asked to lie on a table with your eyes closed. At the same time, the practitioner hovers their hands over different parts of your body, gently resting them over areas where they feel your energy is blocked or depleted to help restore flow or balance.

Who is Energy Healing For?

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The abstract answer is for anyone who feels they need it. According to the Cleveland Clinic, energy healing can help improve your quality of life and sleep, provide a sense of deep relaxation, and reduce symptoms of certain mental health conditions. Ultimately, if you’re remotely curious about energy healing or repeatedly feel a calling to explore it, that alone may be worth paying attention to. People seek treatments like this during periods of stress or emotional overwhelm, and for that, it can be helpful. Sushma sees clients of all sorts, including corporate leaders, singers, presenters, people in the public eye, who “surprisingly you think they’re so confident, but actually they often have some really deep anxieties and insecurities,” she tells me. “My schtick has always been to make it really normal and accessible as a wellness and self-help tool”– i.e., anyone can receive the treatment so long as they’re open minded.

What Does Energy Healing Feel Like?

As someone who doesn’t proclaim to be “woo woo” by any stretch – you won’t catch me talking about the universe, horoscopes or manifesting under a full moon – you can imagine that I have many questions for Sushma. After patiently answering them all, Sushma lies me down on a raised massage table, fortunately right in the airstream of a whirring fan on this sweltering London afternoon.

The room is quiet, save for the occasional muffled sounds of Sushma moving around. From our earlier consultation, I know that she’s placing her hands above parts of my body, but as my eyes are shut, I only have my senses to rely on in trying to place where she is and what she’s doing.

At the start of the treatment, I find myself interrogating my mind and body. Is anything happening? Can I feel anything? Did I imagine that? Am I relaxed enough? But somewhere in all the overanalysis, I find my mind goes surprisingly quiet. Shortly thereafter, I notice a warmth spreading through different parts of my body, particularly around my chest before it spreads down my arms to my fingertips, where the tingling remains for the rest of the session. I find this intriguing because these are the places I tend to hold anxiety – often I’ll notice that I can’t keep my hands still or that there’s a heaviness in my chest before even registering that I’m feeling anxious.

Time seems to blur from then on. There are moments where a wooziness comes over me and I drift to the edge of sleep. By the time Sushma gently brings me around at the close of the session, I feel more relaxed than any massage I’ve ever had and noticeably less frazzled than when I arrived.

Does Energy Healing Work?

To my surprise, I can affirm that energy healing works – dependent on what “works” means, of course. Did I experience a spiritual awakening? No. Am I aware of an energy field haloing my body? Not just yet. But I did experience a profound sense of relaxation and certainly left less anxious than when I initially walked through the door. And anything that can quiet an overactive mind for an hour in central London deserves recognition.

Whether the explanation lies in unblocking energy or the power of touch and carving out uninterrupted time to reconnect with your body, the result is difficult to contest. Frankly, either way, I care less about why I felt it worked than the fact that it seemed to work at all. So, is energy healing a miracle cure for burnout? On its own, probably not. Such a complex issue rarely has a single solution. But as a tool for stress relief, emotional regulation and deep relaxation, it may offer something that modern life sorely lacks: stillness.