Energy practice and traditional medical care are unified within the human body, but often separated in the clinic. This article grants permission to providers looking to expand spiritual care in a medical model.

Occupational therapy is a healthcare profession focused on helping people function in their daily lives. OTs assess your body, your habits, and your environment and the interactions that support or limit what you are able to do. This includes how you move, how you care for yourself, how you manage symptoms, and how you maintain consistency over time. Unlike traditional physical therapy, OTs do not treat one body part, rather they treat the entire body and your function. There are different ways of understanding how your body moves, adapts, and responds over time, and OT has tools to examine the timeline.

1. Occupational therapy

OT is a health profession centered on helping people do the things they want and need to do in daily life through the therapeutic use of everyday activities. The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) describes OT as a profession that promotes health, well-being, and participation by looking at the whole person in context, not just a diagnosis or isolated symptom.

In the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF), health management is part of the OT domain, and values, beliefs, and spirituality are recognized as client factors that influence participation and motivation. AOTA’s (2023) position statement on complementary health approaches and integrative health opens the door for approaches such as breathing, meditation, and Reiki when they are used ethically and within scope to support occupational performance and self-regulation. This provides a professional foundation for a broader, more integrative model of care. OT connects body function, habits, environments, meaning, and lived experience into an approach that helps people participate more fully in life. AOTA’s Vision 2025 also called the profession toward inclusive, effective service delivery models, which supports thoughtful innovation in how care is structured and delivered. Occupational therapy provides the structure for understanding how the body functions in daily life and how support can be applied in practical, meaningful ways.

2. The Lymphatic system

The lymphatic system adds a physical, tangible component. It is one of the body’s primary fluid management systems, but unlike the cardiovascular system, it does not have a heart to pump the fluid. Lymph movement relies on pressure gradients, diaphragmatic breathing, muscle activity, tissue recoil, and the condition of the skin and fascia. Swelling is not simply “water weight,” but a more complex interaction among tissue quality, circulation, skin condition, daily habits, and resistance to flow. In that sense, swelling is not only about fluid quantity. It is about fluid resistance within tissues, including the skin and underlying fascia. Recent research has described fascia as a regulatory system that is highly innervated and rich with blood vessels, lymphatics, and signaling receptors, suggesting that connective tissue participates in whole-body regulation rather than acting as passive packing material (Slater et al., 2024). Earlier work by Langevin and Sherman (2007) proposed an integrative model linking connective tissue plasticity, movement, posture, and nervous system mechanisms, which helps explain why physical restriction and chronic bracing can become problematic over time. In my research of The Lymphatic Perceptual Experience, this is exactly the lane that has been emerging most clearly: body as regulation, interoception as awareness, and bioelectric signaling as coordinated communication across tissues (Quadt et al., 2018): lymphatic drainage movement from the inside out.

The lymphatic system is one of the body’s primary fluid management systems. It is responsible for moving lymph fluid through a network of vessels just beneath the skin. Unlike the cardiovascular system, there is no central pump. Fluid moves based on pressure changes created by breathing, muscle activity, tissue flexibility, and nervous system state, along with other bodily support. When these systems are working together, fluid moves efficiently. When they are not, fluid can begin to collect, creating swelling, heaviness, or discomfort. This is why swelling is not simply a fluid problem. It is a pressure and resistance problem, influenced by how your tissues, skin, and daily habits support or limit flow. Injury, surgery, inflammation, or chronic stress can increase tissue resistance, making fluid movement more difficult over time.

Manual lymph drainage is a gentle, hands-on technique used to support this system, performed by certified practitioners (CLT or CDT). It uses light, directional, skin-level touch to encourage fluid to move toward areas where it can drain more effectively. The pressure is intentionally soft because the lymphatic vessels respond best to subtle stimulation rather than force. The goal is not to push fluid out of the body, but to stimulate the lymphatic network, open vessel valves manually and move fluid gently with touch. This approach aligns with the idea that lasting change comes from working with your body’s natural processes rather than overriding them. When you learn how to support the body’s own fluid systems so they can function with less resistance and more efficiency, you are in control of your body. Manual techniques for fibrosis, scar tissue, and skin support may improve comfort and skin conditions.

3. Energy awareness

Practices such as Reiki introduce another emerging layer of understanding. Some frameworks suggest parallels between energetic maps and connective tissue or fluid pathways. I invite you to read about chakras, meridians, and connected flow, here. These practices focus on relaxation, attention, and how the body feels from the inside. Reiki is typically practiced through light touch or hands placed just above the body, with the intention of supporting relaxation and internal balance through energy exchange. While it does not mechanically move lymph fluid, it may influence the conditions that affect how fluid moves. When the body feels grounded and safe, the breath slows, and the nervous system shifts out of a fight or flight sympathetic response, internal pressure patterns change and soften. In that state, the body is often better able to regulate, adapt, and allow movement to occur more naturally.

In this context, energy practices such as Reiki, meditation, chakra work, and other awareness-based modalities are not being presented as replacements for medical care. Rather, they are complementary and may influence how the body responds to care. Complementary practices shape understanding of how state, perception, and regulation affect the body and mind. AOTA’s (2023) complementary health statement names Reiki as one example of a modality that may be used in occupational therapy practice to support self-regulation when applied ethically and within the practitioner’s competence. Reiki also has a growing presence in medical settings. An IARP summary of the American Hospital Association/Health Forum–Samueli survey reports that more than 42% of responding hospitals offered one or more complementary and alternative medicine therapies. The Joint Commissions' pain standards (2018) also support the inclusion of nonpharmacologic approaches to pain management, reflecting a broader shift toward integrative care.

What people often describe as “energy” can be understood as changes in sensation, awareness, and system coordination. It is often intuitive when you feel a sense of belonging or avoidance when you enter a non-familiar room. Similar to sound waves or light waves, the body constantly communicates through pressure, movement, and feelings (vibes). When multiple systems begin to shift at once, people may experience this as flow, release, or connection. This is where physical systems, nervous system regulation, and perception overlap in a meaningful way. You can read about my foundational concept here: The Lymphatic Perceptual Experience.

When OT, the lymphatic system, and energetic awareness are brought together, a clearer picture emerges. Occupational therapy provides structure and function. The lymphatic system explains how fluid physically moves. Energy awareness reflects how the body is experienced and regulated from within. These are three views of one body. Interoception is the sensing of internal bodily states, and Quadt et al. (2018) describe it as a broad system that integrates body-to-brain signaling across neural and humoral pathways. This provides scientific language for what many people describe as tuning into the body. Bioelectric signaling research, including Levin’s work, adds another layer by showing that tissues coordinate through endogenous electrical patterns that help organize growth and communication. Together, interoception, bioelectric signaling, and fascia/tissue regulation form a foundation for understanding how the body coordinates movement, sensation, and adaptation.

OT asks how your condition affects daily life and what support will actually help. Lymphatics explains why breathing, movement, tissue condition, and gentle manual input matter. Energy practices help explain why safety, attention, stillness, and meaning can change how the body feels and responds. Three views of one body. One speaks the language of function, one speaks the language of fluid and tissue mechanics, and one speaks the language of regulation, awareness, and pattern. Together, this integrated perspective reflects the foundation of perceptual physiology, where fluid movement, nervous system regulation, and body awareness are understood as interconnected aspects of the same system.

This approach and education are designed to support awareness, consistency, and daily function. It is not a replacement for medical care. If you experience sudden swelling, redness, heat, pain, shortness of breath, or other concerning changes, medical evaluation is important. Within these boundaries, this approach helps you understand your body more clearly and explore practical ways to support it over time.

Further reading:

You are also invited to download a complementary freetheflow relaxation guide, here.

References:

American Occupational Therapy Association. (2017). Vision 2025. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 71(3), 7103420010.

American Occupational Therapy Association. (2020). Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process (4th ed.). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74(Suppl. 2), 7412410010.

American Occupational Therapy Association. (2023). Complementary health approaches and integrative health in occupational therapy. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 77(Suppl. 3), 7713410200. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2023.77S3001

International Association of Reiki Professionals. (2017). Reiki in medicine: Reiki in hospitals and other medical settings. https://iarp.org/reiki-and-medicine

Langevin, H. M., & Sherman, K. J. (2007). Pathophysiological model for chronic low back pain integrating connective tissue and nervous system mechanisms. Medical Hypotheses, 68(1), 74–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2006.06.033

Levin, M. (2021). Bioelectric signaling: Reprogrammable circuits underlying embryogenesis, regeneration, and cancer. Cell, 184(8), 1971–1989.

Quadt, L., Critchley, H. D., & Garfinkel, S. N. (2018). The neurobiology of interoception in health and disease. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Slater, A. M., Barclay, S. J., Granfar, R. M. S., & Pratt, R. L. (2024). Fascia as a regulatory system in health and disease. Frontiers in Neurology, 15, 1458385. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2024.1458385

The Joint Commission. (2018). R3 report issue 11: Pain assessment and management standards for hospitals.

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