Are you looking for a way to fix whatever ails you? Do you want to be proactive in protecting yourself from getting sick? Are you in need of more balance in your life? Energy medicine may hold the answers you are seeking.

What is energy medicine? It’s a dynamic form of health care in which energy is the medicine. Energy is unlimited and universal—permeating everything and everyone in existence, from you to the beautiful roses outside your door. Within this vast field of energy, all individuals have their own unique energy systems that channel the chi through them—a personal energy field within the larger unified field. If the chi in your energetic pathways and energy centers (called chakras) is blocked or distorted, you won’t be able to enjoy radiant health, mental clarity, emotional balance, or peace and joy.

Why should you consider energy medicine? Here are  five reasons why it could be important for you.

1. It gets to the root cause.

While conventional medicine works to alleviate physical symptoms and to treat illness through surgery and pharmaceuticals, energy medicine is concerned with clearing the reasons you got sick in the first place. Your physical body reflects whatever is happening in your energy field. In a simplistic example, if you’ve blocked your feelings of anger at the way your ex betrayed you and grief over your divorce, which affects the heart chakra, years later you might be diagnosed with breast cancer. Once a distorted energy has manifested in the physical body, you need all hands on deck in order to get well—your medical doctor and whatever specialists are necessary for your particular situation. But energy medicine will help you find and acknowledge the buried emotions behind the condition and release them safely. It will also help the conventional treatments, like chemo and radiation, do their job even better and may minimize any difficult side effects.

2. It acts as an emotional clearing house.

As in the above example, energy medicine helps you to discover, acknowledge, and safely release the emotional traumas that have blocked or distorted your optimum flow of energy. A trained healer can spot problems in your energy field long before they manifest as physical problems and can help break up or dissolve the blockages. And certain practices, such as journal writing, can help you uncover the painful emotions you’ve buried deep within, as well as making sure that you process whatever you’re going through on a day-to-day basis; journaling is a modern-day shamanic technique for transformation!

3. It is good preventative medicine.

If you’re cruising along in good health, energy medicine can help you stay that way and prevent illness down the road. Along with its power to release the energetic blockages in your chakras (there are seven main chakras and over 20 minor ones), energy medicine can also insure that the energy centers are moving optimally to maintain your physical, emotional, and spiritual balance.

4. It facilitates self-healing.

Energy medicine is based on the ability of the body to heal itself. By releasing the toxic energy of the wounds in your system, energy medicine clears the way for your energy to flow more smoothly and allows your body to self-correct. Certain practices and self-help tools—like meditation and some ancient shamanic techniques—help in clearing out old traumas and emotional wounds.

5. It connects you to Source.

Energy medicine is intertwined with your spiritual health and happiness along with your physical and emotional balance. To be in harmony with all parts of your being, the spiritual component is vitally important. When you are deeply connected to Source (Spirit, God, whatever words you like to use), you are able to listen to your intuition and validate your own inner truth. You will be able to “hear” your body tell you what you need for optimum health, and you will be able to reside in a space of clarity, compassion, and real happiness.

Deborah King is a health & wellness expert, master healer, teacher, attorney, and author of the national best-seller Truth Heals. Her new book, Be Your Own Shaman (Hay House, 2011) takes you on a one-of-a-kind journey into the powerful esoteric world of healing.