Holding the World Within: Energy, Psyche, and Practice in Unsettled Times

It is difficult right now to look at the world and feel untouched by it. War is not contained to one place but stretches across regions, across borders, and across psyches. The ongoing tensions involving the United States, Israel, and Iran continue to destabilize entire systems, shaping everything from energy supply to global markets. At the same time, conflicts persist elsewhere, in Ukraine, in Sudan, and in places that rarely leave the news cycle, even if one attempts to look away. Even conflicts that receive less sustained attention carry profound consequences. These events are not distant. They move through the world, and they move through us.

At the same time, the instability of the world is not only political. It is geological and ecological. Volcanic activity, seismic movement, and accelerating climate shifts all contribute to a growing sense that the ground itself is no longer steady. Even what is sometimes referred to as the Earth’s “heartbeat,” the Schumann Resonance, reflects this ongoing movement. Scientifically understood as a set of electromagnetic frequencies generated by global lightning within the Earth-ionosphere cavity, its fundamental frequency remains relatively stable, yet it is not fixed. It fluctuates in response to changes in atmospheric conditions, solar activity, and geomagnetic disturbances (Nickolaenko; Pazos; Sátori). Reports in February 2026 noted increased electromagnetic activity within this system, likely associated with solar events and ionospheric variation (“Are People’s Minds Being Scrambled by Earth’s Heartbeat?”). While popular media has suggested that such changes might influence human physiology or mood, these claims remain scientifically unverified. What they do reflect, however, is a growing awareness that human beings are not entirely separate from the systems of the planet, but are embedded within a field that is itself in constant motion.

The Psyche and the World

There is often an assumption that what happens “out there” should remain separate from what happens within us, that one should be able to remain composed, unaffected, and steady despite the conditions of the world. Yet this has never been how the psyche functions. In City and Soul, James Hillman reminds us that psyche is not contained within the individual but exists in relationship with the world itself. The soul is not sealed off. It is permeable, imaginal, and constantly shaped by what it encounters (Hillman). What occurs at the level of the macrocosm inevitably finds its way into the microcosm, not as abstraction but as lived experience.

Ecopsychology: The Psyche as Ecological

Ecopsychology extends this insight by articulating more explicitly the relationship between psyche and world. In Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind, Theodore Roszak and those working within this field argue that the human psyche and the Earth are fundamentally intertwined, such that psychological health can no longer be understood apart from ecological conditions (Blakemore). Similarly, in “Revisioning Ecopsychology,” Peter H. Kahn emphasizes that the psychological dimensions of environmental crisis are not secondary concerns but central to understanding the human condition in the present moment (Kahn). From this perspective, what is often experienced as anxiety, fatigue, or diffuse unease may not be reducible to individual imbalance. It may instead reflect participation in a world that is itself under strain.

The Body as the Site of Experience

There comes a point at which experience becomes too much, when the accumulation of suffering, instability, and uncertainty exceeds what the mind can comfortably process. In such moments, the body begins to carry what the mind cannot fully hold. In The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk demonstrates that overwhelming experience is not only remembered cognitively but is also stored within the body itself. The body becomes the site through which unintegrated experience persists (van der Kolk). This helps to explain why something can feel unsettled even when one’s immediate personal circumstances appear stable. One is not only responding to individual experience but to the larger field in which one exists.

Energy Healing as Relationship

It is here that energy healing begins to take on a different significance. Rather than functioning as an escape from the world, it offers a way of remaining in relationship with it. Across traditions, whether Reiki or other forms of subtle energy work, there is a shared understanding that the human being is not isolated but exists within a dynamic field of energy that is continuously in movement and exchange. In Hands of Light, Barbara Brennan describes the human energy field as something that evolves over time, suggesting that individual development participates in a broader process that extends beyond the individual (Brennan).

Within the Reiki tradition, this understanding is articulated through practice and lineage. In The Way of Reiki: The Inner Teachings of Mikao Usui, Reiki Master Frans Stiene describes Reiki not as a technique to be applied, but as a path of returning to the True Self, from which healing naturally unfolds (Stiene). Likewise, in Reiki for Life, Reiki Master Penelope Quest emphasizes that Reiki is not something one performs, but something one lives, a way of being in relationship with life energy itself (Quest). It is also worth noting that the “ki” in Reiki is the Japanese reading of the same character that is pronounced “qi” in Chinese. While the traditions developed within different cultural and philosophical frameworks, they point toward a shared understanding of life force as something that moves through and animates all living systems.

A Practice for This Moment

The practice does not need to be elaborate, but it does need to be intentional. Using Reiki as an example, one of the most foundational practices is the simple act of placing the hands over areas of the body that feel tension, discomfort, or emotional weight. The hands rest gently, without force, allowing energy to move where it is needed. In the formal Reiki tradition, this process is supported through initiation, which attunes the practitioner to the flow of Reiki energy and deepens their capacity to channel it (Quest; Stiene).

At the same time, this gesture is not limited to Reiki alone. Other traditions remind us that the human body is already part of an energetic system, and that this capacity for healing is not something external, but inherent. In Cultivating the Energy of Life, Eva Wong presents Daoist inner alchemical practices that describe the body as a site of transformation, where energy is refined through breath, awareness, and disciplined attention. Rather than introducing something new, these practices emphasize returning to and cultivating what is already present within the body (Wong).

This understanding resonates with what is found in Qigong traditions as well. In The Root of Chinese Qigong, Yang Jwing-Ming describes qi as something that circulates through the body and can be influenced through breath, posture, and intention. By calming the mind and regulating the breath, one begins to harmonize the flow of energy within the system (Yang). A similar perspective appears in Barbara Brennan’s Hands of Light, where she suggests that the human energy field is not something separate from us, but something we already are. From this perspective, healing does not require accessing something outside of oneself, but becoming aware of and working with the energy that is already present (Brennan).

When these perspectives are held together, a more expansive understanding of practice begins to emerge. One may sit quietly, place their hands on the body, perhaps at the heart or the stomach, and begin with the breath. The mind does not need to fix or change anything. Instead, it learns to witness. The body is given space to register what it is holding. In this state, energy begins to move, not through effort, but through attention.

From there, awareness may naturally extend outward. One may hold in mind a place, a people, or a situation that feels particularly heavy. This is not an act of control, nor an attempt to override what is happening in the world. It is a continuation of relationship. The same field that moves within the body is not separate from the field that moves through the world.

You Are Part of This Field

It is easy to feel powerless in the face of global events. Yet power is not located solely in large-scale action. It is also present in how experience is held, in whether one disconnects or remains present, in whether one hardens or softens. One is not separate from the world, and the way one cares for oneself is one way of participating in its healing.

If we begin from the understanding that we are part of a greater collective, then it follows that even the smallest shift carries consequence. A single ripple in water does not remain contained. It moves outward, extending far beyond its point of origin. In the same way, the state of one nervous system, one body, one field of awareness, participates in the greater whole. This does not diminish the scale of what is happening in the world, but it reframes where one’s agency begins. It must begin somewhere, and it can begin within.

From this place, practice can begin to extend beyond the self. In Reiki, this is often expressed through distance healing, where one offers energy not only to their own body, but to others, to communities, or to situations that are in need. While this may appear abstract, it is grounded in the same principle that underlies all of the traditions explored here: that energy is not confined to the physical body, but exists within a larger field of connection (Quest; Stiene). Distance healing is not about control, nor is it about imposing change. It is an act of relationship, of holding space, of allowing energy to move where it is needed without attachment to outcome.

Similar ideas appear across other traditions. In Daoist practices, cultivated energy is not only for personal refinement, but for harmonizing one’s relationship with the world. In Qigong, the regulation of breath and intention is understood to influence not only internal balance, but one’s interaction with the surrounding environment (Yang; Wong). These traditions suggest that the boundary between self and world is more permeable than it appears.

For those who feel called to extend their practice outward, this does not require anything elaborate. One may begin in the same way as before, by placing hands on the body, grounding the breath, and allowing the system to settle. From there, awareness can gently widen. A person, a place, or even the collective weight of the world may be held in mind. There is no need to direct or force anything. The practice remains the same. Presence, breath, and attention. The only difference is that the field of awareness has expanded.

In this way, self-healing and collective healing are not separate acts. They are movements within the same continuum. To tend to oneself is to participate in the field. To extend that awareness outward is to remain in relationship with the world as it is, without turning away from it.

The work, then, is not to carry the world, but to remain connected to it without losing oneself within it. And from that place, something subtle but real begins to move.

Works Cited (MLA 9th)

• Blakemore, P. “Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, vol. 5, no. 1, 1998.

• Brennan, Barbara Ann. Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field. Bantam, 1987.

• Cost, Ben. “Are People’s Minds Being Scrambled by Earth’s Heartbeat?” New York Post, 20 Feb. 2026.

• Hillman, James. City and Soul. Spring Publications, 2013.

• Kahn, Peter H. “Revisioning Ecopsychology: Perspectives from the Community.” Ecopsychology, vol. 5, no. 4, 2013.

• Nickolaenko, A. P., et al. “Impact of Solar Activity on Schumann Resonance.” Atmosphere, 2025.

• Pazos, M., et al. “Analysis of the Effects of Geomagnetic Storms in Schumann Resonance Data.” Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 2019.

• Quest, Penelope. Reiki for Life: The Complete Guide to Reiki Practice. TarcherPerigee, 2010.

• Sátori, G., et al. “Schumann Resonance Frequency Variations and Global Lightning Dynamics.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 2024.

• Stiene, Frans. The Way of Reiki: The Inner Teachings of Mikao Usui. O-Books, 2022.

• “Thailand and Cambodia Agree Immediate Ceasefire After Weeks of Deadly Border Clashes.” The Guardian, 27 Dec. 2025.

• van der Kolk, Bessel A. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking, 2014.

• Wong, Eva, editor. Cultivating the Energy of Life: A Translation of the Hui-Ming Ching and Its Commentaries. Shambhala Publications, 2013.

• Yang, Jwing-Ming. The Root of Chinese Qigong. YMAA Publication Center, 1997.