I was impressed by the courage and vision of the school's founder who would choose to plant herself so boldly in midst of modern Americana, with every intention that this fourth location would be just as successful as the other three. Obtaining a copy of Nancy's new book R.Y.S.E.: Tools for Life — Holding Your Personal Power and Lifeforce, I found myself resonating with what I read and called for an interview to learn more. Nancy spoke articulately about the new concepts of spirituality and energy being introduced into our healthcare world and how this gives hope for the possibility of healing in the world at large.

Carol: What is polarity?

Nancy: Polarity is the study of the relationships between the body, mind, emotion and life force. If you were my client, I would be assessing what the energy is that would spark your system and give you vitality to fill you with life. I would trace where that lifeforce was blocking and move the blocks. The blockage can be in the physical body, in the energy of the cranium and the spine, or it can be in what we call the elemental pathways. The elemental pathways relate to the proper functioning of an organ system.

One theory of polarity therapy is that energy comes before form. This leads to the question of "How does energy become form?" How does energy become a human, a dog, a tree? Very simply put, it travels through various parts of our being and one of those are the elemental pathways. If the elemental pathway is healthy there is a healthy expression in the world. If it is blocked, that is an area of life which causes pain or distress for the person it is blocked in.

Carol: So, the basis of all this is energy. 

Nancy: Yes. Let's look at the principle of "energy comes before form." For instance, we think a thought before we do something. Now some may say, "Is a thought energy or is it form?" On the realm I live in, it's form. I think we need to ask what is energy, because energy is a very over-used term.

Carol: What is energy?

Nancy: The chair you're sitting in is energy. The room you're in has energy. The thought you're thinking is energy. The emotion you're feeling is energy. And then there is energy in the room you're sitting in. It could be a really high type of energy. There may be leftover energy from yesterday in the room. All of these things are energy.

Energy has different forms of density. As human beings we have a very palpable type of energy. You can touch it and it comes before the form. In learning to run our energy systems and work on the energy, we create the form of our physical body. We create the form of our thoughts, our emotions and our life.

Carol: What is the difference between the energy that is our body and the energy that runs through it to feed it?

Nancy: The difference is the density. Your arm, for instance, is a much denser form of energy than the energy that runs through it. The energy that helps create it, which is in the aura and the chakra system is a much lighter form of energy. It's more volatile. It moves faster.

Carol: In your work you talk about the Sublime Energetic System. What is that?

Nancy: In my work the acronym I use is R.Y.S.E. which means Realizing Your Sublime Energetic Systems. The sublime energetic systems are the energy fields of the body. These have been documented by several very good authors including Barbara Ann Brennan in Hands of Light. Barbara had done a lot of work on documentation. Rosalyn Bruyere in Wheels of Light had also done a lot of work on documentation. Rupert Sheldrake, who is a biochemist wrote Memories of the Past. He hasn't worked on energy fields, per se, but his study is on how animals learn from each other in the wild. He has a term called "morphic resonance" which basically applies to an auric connection between animals.

Therefore, given that the existence of these energy systems is proven and documented, the next step is to learn how to use them. This is information that just hasn't been in the world. The energetic systems, when we learn to perceive them, form a map of our inner emotional state at any given time. Those that perceive energetic systems can read the map which gives a picture of the inner emotional state and condition of the lifeforce.

Carol: You use the term "map" a lot in your work. "Clicking to another map." What does that refer to?

Nancy: Most people are emotionally set at what we would call their default pattern. If you've done work on yourself, your default pattern changes. The example I use in my book is that I can program my word processor to have a certain default font. Every time I turn on the computer, that font comes up automatically. Most people keep falling back into their emotional default patterns even if it is not where they choose to live. This default pattern is formed by the key people in their lives growing up and their present environment.

When a person realizes their sublime energetic systems, they can literally change the map. If they want more clarity or vitality, they can change their energetic systems into a map that will allow them more clarity or vitality. They can change their map to manifest relationships and all that supports them in their life. Relationships, for instance, are a very complicated issue and certainly more than one issue. When we remove the blocks in the energetic system, the possibility of drawing to you a relationship, or a more positive relationship, is greatly enhanced.

Carol: And the same can be said of circumstances in your life? 

Nancy: Any circumstances.

Carol: If you change the emotional default pattern you can start to draw new circumstances to you? 

Nancy: That's right. Absolutely. Our lives are us. Wherever there are blocks in the energetic systems, they form what we call a negative pole in polarity and this pole draws energy to it. We live our blocks because the blocks create energy to keep our discomfort in the forefront When the blocks are cleared, we live out our clarity more. We live out our blueprint, our highest potential. It's really very simple.  R.Y.S.E. is a sixteen hour course that teaches people what their energy systems are and how to use them quickly and easily. It's a world class energy system clearing and repair.

Carol: I'm curious about the name of the Institute. The word "realization" has both a positive and negative draw. On one hand, the word realization refers to self-actualization and realizing our fullest potential. On the other hand, people who may not be familiar the word might be put off.

Nancy: It refers to self-actualization and realizing our true mastery. That's what I was thinking at the time when I named it twenty years ago.

Carol: Have you encountered resistance from people about that word? 

Nancy: Yes, especially in certain religious sectors there is resistance to the word. The thought has occurred to me to change the name many times, but we have a very, very good reputation with that name. At the same time, this is very in-depth, sophisticated work and it's only right for certain people. So the name does act as a screening. If somebody is too turned off by the name then, maybe, this isn't the right place for them.

Carol: You mentioned that the work is very complex, yet you also say that there is a sixteen-hour course for learning it which does not sound very in-depth.

Nancy: (laughs) When I wrote the book I originally wrote it for people who were going through the program. One of the things I knew is that if people haven't been cleared, or aren't cleared to a certain level, sometimes it's hard to do this work. Lately, though, I've actually gotten feedback from other people who have never been through R.Y.S.E. or anything like it and they're getting it very quickly.

Carol: I think your book refers to the highest potential for the whole morphic field, the whole human race. Maybe as we're moving closer to that common human goal or spiritual realization, these energies are more easily accessible to us.

Nancy: Absolutely. They definitely are. And then after that there is a next level to be prepared for. I think this is all speeded up now. There are more and more people open and receptive, there is a higher energy coming in, and what is important is that our energetic systems can hold and maintain that higher level of energy.

Carol: So you do believe that there is a higher energy coming into the earth plane now and that human consciousness is evolving?

Nancy: Yes, absolutely. Clear people draw in and hold high energy. I believe we're evolutionary beings on an evolutionary planet. Our first level of evolution is through our energetic systems. We can only evolve as far as our energetic systems are clear and able to hold and maintain the highest quality of energy coming through them.

Carol: So the common goal for all of humanity right now is to do this type of clearing work?

Nancy: Yes, I think all of humanity, or at least a certain segment of humanity, has a definite urge to move forward, to have a higher quality of life, to have more joy, more connection with their lifeforce, spirit or creativity. I love Carolyn Myss's term from Anatomy of the Spirit. The energetic systems are the anatomy of the spirit. When we are fully creative beings it's the energetic systems that are cleared and aligned. Our energetic systems form the map of a fully clear and aligned person and attract more of that to us.

Carol: So the sublime energetic system that you talk about in your work is what we would be applying towards our better health, towards creating more positive circumstances and relationships in our life which then branch out into the whole world and all of humanity?

Nancy: Absolutely, because every person that does this work really affects so many other people.

Carol: Let's talk a little bit about training now. What is the difference between buying your book and learning R.Y.S.E. through self-teaching, and actually enrolling in the training program? Can you benefit from this information without taking the training program?

Nancy:

Carol: The full training is about six months?

Nancy: No. We have six month trainings in polarity therapy and massage. But to be a R.Y.S.E. practitioner, those people have currently done at least 200 hours of specific polarity therapy training and then they have done another 240 hours of R.Y.S.E. training. So it's about 440 hours. But they do a lot of outside work, and there must be quite a readiness for this. We also have 650 hour polarity therapy training program which includes R.Y.S.E., as well as a first level understanding of how to clear and repair energetic systems. People come into energy awareness incrementally. 

Carol: Can anybody be trained in this work?

Nancy: Yes, I think so, but if there is too much blockage, or if the belief that this can't work is too strong, the learning could be impaired. But there are a lot of people that are ready for it now. I know I am really thrilled with the participants I've had in R.Y.S.E. over the past ten years because they have just been so ready. Whether there is a broad spectrum of people ready or not, unfortunately, I don't know that because I am such an energy nerd. I just go into the classes and write the book, and I have another book inside me I want to write, and that's the level I'm at that's why I appreciate hearing your good feedback and any other feedback I can get. l really believe there are a lot of people interested in this and they just haven't known where to go.

Carol: Or they don't even know what it's called. It's energy. In your book you often say, "it just takes a few minutes," (to do the clearing) and it certainly does once you become aware of it and how to work with it yourself. There's something really exciting about this work expanding into the mainstream so that people can acknowledge that energy is at the basis of everything we are and do.

Nancy: Absolutely. Watching the growth of this over the last twenty years has been just wonderful. Twenty years ago it was truly pioneers that came into this work. Now it is people who want to do this as a career. The thing that amazes me is, recently, high schools have called up and said, "We have students who are really interested in the work that you're doing. Can we come and investigate?" There are now enough people out there with very successful practices who have worked on these people's mothers and other relatives, and now these young adults are coming of age saying, "Oh, this is where it's happening. This is where I want to be."

Carol: Do you believe polarity and energy workers are the medical doctors of the future?

Nancy: I would not say medical, but I would say they are the new wellness doctors. 

Carol: Why not medical?

Nancy: Because I think there is a real place for a lot of medicine still, such as trauma and accident, when things are badly broken.

Carol: But things like cancer and other degenerative diseases can be addressed with energy work, either as prevention or reversal.

Nancy: Absolutely. But legally, if you're not a doctor you can't make a single claim about anything.

Carol: I understand that. But I will also let you know that for the thirteen years I've been publishing Spirit of Change I have never printed a disclaimer, nor will I ever print a disclaimer saying — "this is not a medical treatment; go talk to your doctor" — because I do believe this is medical treatment.  And that's where we are headed.

Nancy: The results of this kind of work speak for themselves. Before the school grew and I wrote the book and was doing all these R.Y.S.E.'s, I had a twenty-four year practice as a polarity therapist. My clients would always come to me first when anything went wrong and then if we couldn't deal with it, I'd help them get to the right place.

Carol: It's because the patterns and thoughts that we've had ingrained in our minds for thirty, forty, fifty years do not change overnight. Sometimes they do. Do you feel that we have the ability to heal instantly?

Nancy: Yes. As we align, we know more. Getting energetic work done directly affects the glandular system, which, affects the nervous and immune systems. It keeps the immune system healthier, which keeps the body healthier.

Carol: Can anyone become a R.Y.S.E. practitioner? Do you need to possess any special, magical skills in order to do this for yourself or others?

Nancy:

Carol: What about the question of charging for spirituality? Is R.Y.S.E. work spirituality?

Nancy: You know what question I would even prefer to ask? Is money unspiritual? Because people are putting energy into doing this. For instance, I was a single parent I supported my daughter while I did this work. Had I not had the energetic exchange of money for food, clothing, shelter and daycare, I could never have done the work I've done. So, I think by saying, "Is this spiritual?" I think it's saying, "Is money a spiritual issue or is it something that spiritual people should avoid?" I think everything in life is really important, and money is simply another energy flow that can really support our growth, our spirit and really enhance the world if used in a good way. If alternative organizations had more money, for instance, they could educate more people and I think that is an important spiritual pursuit. It is the exchange of money that allows these people to get information to other people.

Carol: That is certainly true. Spirit of Change has often been criticized for selling spirituality so I have given this issue much thought over the past few years. I see how it is a medium in some instances for people who are selling spirituality themselves, but I don't believe the magazine itself is selling spirituality. It's even free!

Nancy: You need a certain amount of money to keep the paper going, and your paper has been wonderful for so many people. It has exposed people to things they never would have known about otherwise. So, to me, spirit is also about when we align the right way, we do get supported. We are not all in a priesthood where your food and shelter and clothing are taken care of.

And I think you can take that one step further and say, "Yes, there is a community that supports spiritual healers. It's their clients." And that becomes part of a supportive community for these people. My school's been around twenty years and I have a lot of graduates who are making good livings as energy workers, polarity therapists and massage therapists. They're supported by their client community who are all very grateful for them.

A full polarity or massage practice consists of between twelve and twenty clients a week. A lot of clients become regular clients because they find that this brings them into a higher level of wellness and a higher level of creativity. Not only does it ease the pain, but it makes their lives better, they are better, they are stronger. I actually had clients for fifteen or twenty years. I didn't say to them on their first visit, "We're going to work together every week for twenty years." We did one session and they got really good results, and we did another and they got really good results, and we did another and they got really good results, and we kept growing together. The point is that people who have good practices usually have long term relationships with their clients. The results can keep getting deeper and deeper and can enhance the client's life so much. Being facilitated by a well-trained holistic therapist is just an excellent way to do it. For people who are really looking for right livelihood, these are blissful ways to make a living. It gives so much back when we do it the right way.

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Carol Bedrosian is the Publisher and Editor of Spirit of Change Magazine which is located in Grafton, MA. To contact Carol call 508-839-2228 or fax 508-839-1173.