I feel lucky to have attended the Thriving Project’s session ‘Grounding and protecting yourself in healthcare: An exploration of energy medicine’ with Darlus Jonsson in early September.  I came into the session not knowing anything about energy medicine and was curious to hear about what it might have to offer me, both as a healthcare provider as well as personally. What I do know is that in my years as a family physician, I have seen everyone—me, my colleagues, and my patients—struggle with exhaustion at times, and yet how curious that we don’t know what we can do to restore our energy or regain balance.

Darlus Jonsson is an Advanced Practitioner of the Eden Method of Energy Medicine—one of only 17 practitioners at this level in Canada—following four years of intensive training in this evidence-informed approach to integrative healing.  Darlus is deeply passionate about helping people cultivate awareness and curiosity about their own energetic systems. She guides clients to see how energetic imbalances show up physically and emotionally, and how unresolved stress or trauma can impact health over time.

During the session Darlus invited us to ‘stay open, stay curious, and stay quiet enough to hear what the body has to say’. She invited us to think about ‘energy as the medicine’ and described how energy practices can help us to restore balance, and decrease our sympathetic nervous system’s fight, flight or freeze response. I appreciated hearing about practices that can help build resilience—not pushing ourselves more but instead learning to stay present no matter what is going on around us.

I appreciated this interactive and experiential session, in which we didn’t just hear about the concepts of energy medicine, but also got to try them for ourselves.  Darlus shared with us some practical tools for grounding and cultivating protective energy, practices that can be done even with just a few intentional breaths during our busy workdays. She guided us through a Daily Energy Routine that incorporated four energy tools, a practice to ‘help to ease stress, quiet the mind, and start stepping into thriving with resilience’.

The discussion and reflection with participants afterwards highlighted how these energy practices felt grounding, and how we can use our bodies to calm our minds. I love the idea of a practice that helps us look after ourselves and cultivate a connection to a deeper restorative source of energy. What a relief to know that we don’t have to do it all on our own! I am grateful to have been able to be a part of this experience attending this event, and it leaves me curious  to explore more about energy medicine and what it could mean for my own well-being.

Dr. Erin Hasinoff is a family physician who lives in North Vancouver. She is involved with the North Shore Division of Family Practice and has helped develop a Peer Support program and co-leads the Physician Wellness committee. She is a certified leadership and executive coach dedicated to improving the well-being of her physician colleagues. With firsthand experience of the pressures of medical practice, she is passionate about helping colleagues build resilience, prevent burnout, and find renewed joy and meaning in medicine. Her work focuses on supporting physicians to thrive both personally and professionally.

The Thriving Project supports and enhances the wellness of rural healthcare practitioners, including doctors, residents, nurse practitioners and midwives, from across British Columbia by fostering connections between them and building a community of practice they can draw upon for learning, support, solace and inspiration. If you are interested in sharing your own experience in how you thrive, please email at thrivingproject@rccbc.ca.