According the Wikipedia, energy fields can be divided into various forces such as electromagnetic, gravitational or magnetic.

Force field (physics), a vector field that describes a non-contact force acting on a particle at various positions in space

• Electromagnetic field, a physical field produced by electrically charged objects
  • Electric field, a vector field surrounding an electric charge that exerts force on other charges
  • Magnetic field, a vector field that describes the magnetic influence of electrical currents and magnetized materials
• Gravitational field, a model used to explain the influence that a massive body extends into the space around itself
• Quantum field, a mechanical models of subatomic particles and quasiparticles in condensed matter physics

When discussing bodywork, we often speak of energy as the animating force of biological systems.  While harder to quantify, these energies support every function required on a cellular level.  Researchers have determined specific frequencies for each tissue type and many of the therapies discussed in this class work on the cell to shift or restore optimum frequencies in dysfunctional tissue.  Adding energy is one way to accomplish this.  On occasion, the goal is to disperse energy that has accumulated in an area.

“Existence and composition of an energy system in the human body

The following description of the composition of the human body’s energy system is derived from modern science and the account of its existence drawn from TCM.

The human body’s energy system is related to its material system. The material system of the human body refers to the different levels of physical structure, including the material composition of genes, organs, and limbs at microscopic and macroscopic levels, as well as histology and embryology. The energy system is a dynamic system that maintains and influences human life activities, including energy operations from microscopic to macroscopic levels such as chemical energy released by mitochondria and enzymes, heat generated by food, and gravitational and electromagnetic energy generated by the moon’s waxing and waning and sunspot activity.

Studies of the human body by bio-medicine and modern science focus on the material system, which is characterized by interconnection between tangible entities. In contrast, the energy system is a system in which intangible forces interact with each other. Any living body simultaneously contains a material system and an energy system, just as shapes and their shadows are inextricably linked. As all material and structural components of the body have their corresponding energetic components, material components move owing to the action of energetic components and form functions: the life activities of the human body. ”  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtcms.2018.02.003

An excellent resource for research on energy fields is the Heart Math Institute (www.heartmath.com).  A number of field related abstracts as well as exercises for working with energy fields can be found at their site, including information regarding the growing field of energy modalities:   https://www.heartmath.org/research/research-library/energetics/biofield-physiology-framework-emerging-discipline

The tools discussed in this class are all energy delivery systems.  Each works in different ways to influence that force within the biofields: the body is a finely orchestrated blend of chemical/electrical/magnetic energies and part of the work we enjoy is assessing and determining which areas of the body are deplete or overactive and helping to balance them.

Our own bodies are perhaps the best tool of all since all of those systems are present and active in the healing.  The tools explored in this class can supplement that, perhaps when we recognize that our own body needs to conserve its stores or is out of balance itself or when the work infront of us exceeds the energy we wish to bring to it ourselves.  The true beauty of much bodywork is that its benefits extend to both the giver and the receiver so that when done intentionally and from a place of knowledge, both bodies involved are fed and balanced simultaneously and the work itself does not require a giving or taking at all.  Other aspects of life however can often drain or disrupt those systems so that we are bringing less to the game so to speak.  In these instances, tools can be a valuable helper or can act as an extension of our own powers.

Horses are said to have an energy field that extends far beyond their physical body.  Research has indicated that the human heart rate will slow down when within the energy field of a horse.  While the human energy fields appears to move upward and around the body, the horse’s field runs deep into the earth.  It is theorized that herd animals can communicate through this energy field to one another because of this extension down into the ground.