Text and photos by Meredith Marin

Vacation…a time to relax, rejuvenate, and refresh our bodies and minds. Aruba is home to a thriving wellness community, including spas, yoga retreats, and even a vegan culinary scene. Did you know that Aruba also offers a range of alternative healing experiences that can inspire positive change in your life? Whether you’re looking to heal from pain or injury, or to embark on a soul-searching journey, Aruba’s alternative healing community is one to explore. This is article #1 in a series of three articles about energy healers on Aruba—where to find them, what to expect, and why you should try it.

My mom tells me that while she was giving birth to me, she had an out-of-body experience. “After you were born, I asked the nurse, ‘Is there a tissue box above the cabinet?’ And the nurse climbed onto a chair, looked above the tall cabinet, and confirmed there was,” she explains. “There’s no way I could’ve seen up there if my soul hadn’t been floating above my body.” Every year on my birthday, wherever I am in the world, my mom retells the story of my birth, whether it’s through a phone call or a very long text message, and I am again confronted with this story of my own mother’s powerful experience of bringing me into the world.

Of course, I never believed her. Floating outside of your body? Reconnecting with your soul? It turns out that this level of ability to connect with your “higher” self runs in families, as I’ll hear from every energy healer I meet with when I begin my journey to write this series of articles. My grandmother—my mother’s mother—gives what you’d call “healing vibes.” She’s a psychotherapist, and at 81 years old, treats 30+ clients each week. She creates deep connections with everyone she meets, from the woman selling lipstick at the Macy’s counter to the maitre d’ at a restaurant in Aruba (who is now my husband, but that’s a story for another day). She’s alive and well and hopefully will stay that way for a long time, but when the time comes, her funeral is going to look like a sold-out Taylor Swift concert.

This “energy” we give and receive was popularized years ago as “the law of attraction.” What we give attention to in our lives, we attract. If we focus on what’s wrong in our lives, things will stay wrong. If we visualize the life we want, we will attain it, so the theory goes. Then there’s the idea that our energy is influenced by the people around us. You may have experienced this, for example, at a party—you get pumped up when everyone is dancing (or, alternatively, if you’re an introvert, maybe this kind of manic energy drains you). When someone around you is feeling negative, you may start to feel down too. And when the people around you are happy and supportive, a positive energy follows. There have been numerous scientific studies on the “mirror neurons” in our brain that allow us to feel empathy and connect with others—to the point that if you’re watching a sports game, these neurons are at play, creating activity in your brain that can make you feel like you are actually there playing that game yourself.

This isn’t complicated stuff—we’ve all experienced it. So why was I so skeptical when I first heard about energy healers? As I first understood it, energy healers are people who claim to be able to transfer healing energy to support your physical, emotional, and spiritual healing or growth. There is a huge alternative healing community on Aruba, but until now it’s been a bit of an underground network. Of course, there are spas at hotels offering massages and perhaps acupuncture, and yoga is booming across the island, but the type of healing I’m talking about is less visible. I’m talking about the chakra-cleansing, sound-healing, crystal-worshipping, energy-balancing type. Ok, maybe you’re thinking, Coffee is my preferred type of energy healing. But if you’re interested in an off-the-beaten path, alternative, something-to-write-home-about experience on your vacation, keep reading. I can tell you that what I experienced is worth the adventure.

The first energy healer I visited was Ellen Buermans, holistic therapist at Pulse Aruba. I followed the simple directions ultimately leading me down a desert road to her idyllic healing center, surrounded by an iconic Aruban cacti landscape.

Ellen offered me lemongrass tea fresh from her garden and led me to her treatment room, where we began to chat about her journey and her practice. Ellen is well known in Aruba’s yoga community. She was one of the first people to teach yoga at Manchebo Beach Resort and then went on to found Prana Yoga, a yoga center in downtown Oranjestad that recently closed after being a hub for local community practice for 14 years. While Ellen was working at Manchebo, she spent time as a massage therapist when their spa opened up. This is when she began to realize her gift for healing, which she tells me was passed on to her through her grandmother. Ellen’s massage clients began to share their experiences with her, as they received more than just muscle relaxation. They reported feeling a healing energy, not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. Ellen realized that this is her gift, to “work from the outside in,” using physical touch to begin the process of inner healing.

She began to research the science of healing—quantum physics and frequency therapy. “I start with sound healing to stimulate theta brainwave healing, the syncing of the right and left brain,” Ellen told me when I asked how the treatment begins. “Great, when can we get started?” I asked. “Listen,” she said, “the sounds have been on since you walked into the room.” Oops, I didn’t even notice. I guess my mindfulness practice is a little rusty! I thought.

Ellen has a thriving practice, healing clients all day long. So why do people come for healing? Some of the most common reasons, she told me, are to de-stress; to heal from burn-out, shoulder and back pain, knee pain, and emotional pain from grief or depression; to develop spiritually; to discover tools for mindfulness; and to move inwards toward their authentic being, what Regenesis Healing calls the “soul identity.” Regenesis Healing is what the majority of Ellen’s clients come for, and it’s what she gave me a taste of during our time together. Regenesis Healing is popular across Europe, and Ellen studied at Regenesis Quantum Academy in the Netherlands. This healing work includes generating healing pulses throughout the body, facilitating a meditative state, and activating a sense of stillness, connection, and regeneration of the body. “After the session, you’ll want to take time to rest,” Ellen said. “For example, don’t go to the supermarket.” She claims she’s not a mind reader, but I was totally planning to go to the supermarket after the session. (I still did—sorry, Ellen! I survived and found time to rest later on.)

When we were ready to get started with the Regenesis Therapy, Ellen asked me to stand next to the massage table and relax my body. She placed two fingers at the base of my hairline on my neck and guided me to relax, explaining that she would support me in following my body wherever it wanted to go. My body moved a little bit, swaying from side to side as if trying to find a balance. Ellen explained that this is the work of realigning my spine. She commented that I have a healthy body. I felt grateful for my body, and relieved. Over the past few years, I’ve been through some big physical and emotional changes—I had a baby and moved to a new country—and this basic statement, “You have a healthy body,” was just what I needed to hear. This is when I began to understand the healing dynamic—that it’s not all “magical” and it’s not all “scientific.” Energy healing at its core is about the human connection from one person to another. It’s the feelings of empathy, maternal love, and care, which we so often need a reminder of as adults living in a stressful, disconnected world. Ellen explained, “Most of us are stuck living in the fear field. This work helps us move toward the love field.”

It was time to move to the massage table. With me lying face down, Ellen began applying light touches on my back. Throughout the treatment, I began to feel an intense pulsating in my upper abdomen. It was not uncomfortable, but surprising. Blood was clearly being sent toward my internal organs. We know from “fight or flight”—living in the “fear field”—that blood is sent to our extremities so that we can fight or run away. Perhaps this was my introduction to the “love field” as I felt healing pulses toward the center of my body. Later I learned that this area is the solar plexus chakra, the part of my body representing confidence and self-worth. The treatment finished with Ellen massaging my neck, which was tight when I arrived and loose when I walked out. Ellen used singing bowls to offer me sound healing as I lay on my back. I felt the vibrations run through my body.

We ended the session sitting together and chatting about my experience. I felt fueled, so to speak. I felt calm and still. I shared with Ellen some initial emotions—that I feel the urge to give to others, but often I worry that the lack of resources or time makes me less generous than I’d like to be. The therapy brought to me the insight that I can give to others just by connecting with them—that offering loving energy, just as Ellen had offered me, is a great gift. Ellen told me that she sees healing energy in me, and that she truly believes I could heal others as well.

When we said goodbye, Ellen told me that the effects of the treatment could appear anytime over the next 48 hours. At this point I still wasn’t sure what to expect. I went about my day, went to sleep, woke up. The next day I felt a shift happening—a realization. I needed to take time for myself. If I wanted to be more of a giver, I needed to first give to myself. With a toddler and numerous jobs, I was waiting for something to change before I could take time for myself. But I needed to change—I was the something. So the next morning, I woke up early with the sunrise. I rolled out my yoga mat, sat on a pillow, and drank my tea while writing thoughts in my journal. Here’s what I wrote:

Phases, cycles. I am infinite. I am not overflowing. I am flowing. The love I give is returned.

Am I becoming some crazy hippie? I worried. Just go with it. Ok, ok. I stretched out on my mat and started to move my body, and before I knew it, I had done a 30-minute yoga practice and felt amazing. Then I lay on the couch and read a book. For fun! I couldn’t remember the last time I did that. I made breakfast for my family, and by the time my toddler and husband woke up, I felt so productive and at peace.

Then I did it again—Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. But wait! On Monday, I went to see another energy healer. My experience with this next healer was powerful, and despite my meaningful experience with Ellen, I still went into it with a bit of skepticism. I felt like Alice spiraling down the rabbit hole, with each experience linking together and introducing me to a world within me that I never knew existed. Stay tuned to read what happened next.

To contact Ellen Buermans or book an appointment, email her at [email protected] or visit Pulse Aruba on Facebook.

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