19. How Energy Healing Supports Health & Vitality in Midlife

Everything is energy — from the food you eat to the thoughts you think. In this episode of Midlife and Glowing, Alicia and Nicole unpack what that really means and how midlife women can harness energy healing practices to support their health, hormones, and vitality.

You’ll discover how stress, toxins, sound, light, and color all interact with your body’s energy, and why even simple practices like grounding, sound therapy, and mindful breathing can shift how you feel day to day.

✨ If you’ve ever wondered how to balance your energy in midlife without complicated tools, this conversation will help you see energy healing as a practical, supportive part of your wellness toolkit.

00:00 Introduction to Energy and Frequency
01:13 Understanding Vibrations and Resonance
02:13 Exploring Chakras and Their Impact
05:20 The Energy of Fabrics
06:29 Healing Tools: PEMF and Red Light Therapy
07:33 Acupuncture, Reiki, and Sound Therapy
10:12 Color Therapy and Auras
15:30 Breath Work and the Power of Gratitude
21:51 Conclusion: Embracing Energy Practices

📌 Resources:
📚 Eastern Body, Western Mind by Anodea Judith → https://amzn.to/4mZE3PO
📖 The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton → https://amzn.to/4m9P4Ni
🎧 528 Hz Music Video → https://youtu.be/iLk-mpoYfkg
🧲 PEMF Mat → https://rstyle.me/+06M54jijeqEzMUcwogt3bA
🏮 Red Light Therapy → https://snwbl.io/platinumled-therapy-lights/YMMZW6680

🌈 Color Cheat Sheet: 
❤️ - Vitality, circulation, physical energy
🧡 - Creativity, joy, enthusiasm
💛 - Clarity, confidence, digestion
💚 - Balance, calm, heart healing
🩵 - Relaxation, communication, sleep support
💙 - Intuition, insight, inner calm
💜 - Spirituality, peace, higher awareness

Transcript

Alicia: 0:00

Hey there. Welcome back to Midlife and Glowing. I'm Alicia.

Nicole: 0:03

And I'm Nicole, and today we're diving into a topic that might sound a little out there at first, but trust us, it's fascinating and actually has a lot of practical applications for your health in midlife.

Alicia: 0:13

We're talking about energy. The idea that everything, your body, your thoughts, even the clothes you put on carries a frequency.

Nicole: 0:22

And before you roll your eyes, this isn't just a woowoo talk, science backs it up. Our cells, our organs, and even the food we eat all vibrate at certain frequencies. The more balanced and aligned those frequencies are, the better we feel. And the opposite is true too. Low energy or out of sync frequencies can impact our health, hormones, mood and resilience.

Alicia: 0:44

And in midlife, we often feel these energetic shifts more strongly. Hormones are fluctuating, stress is higher, and a lot of women notice that they just feel more sensitive to things than they used to. And energy explains a big part of that.

Nicole: 0:58

So in today's episode, we're exploring the surprising ways energy and frequency show up in daily life, from chakras to fabrics to red light therapy, and how you can actually leverage these tools to support your health and wellbeing in this season of life.

Alicia: 1:13

Okay, Nicole, So let's start with the basics. What do we actually mean when we say everything is energy?

Nicole: 1:19

So here's the simplest way to put it. Everything in the universe vibrates. Your body, your organs, your thoughts. They all carry a measurable frequency. And health is really about keeping those vibrations in balance. It's called resonance. When you vibrate at a frequency that matches or compliments the frequencies around you. You're in harmony, so to speak.

Alicia: 1:40

Which makes sense because when we say we're low energy, it's not just a figure of speech. Our cells literally run on energy. So your mitochondria are like little batteries powering everything you do.

Nicole: 1:51

Exactly. And here's where it gets interesting. Things like chronic stress, toxin exposure, negative thoughts, or even the fabrics on your skin can lower your frequency. On the flip side, practices like breath work, meditation, light therapy, or even surrounding yourself with certain colors or materials, can raise your frequency and support healing.

Alicia: 2:13

Okay, so let's talk about chakras for a second. These are the energy centers in the body, right?

Nicole: 2:19

Yes, this is a topic that I absolutely love. There are seven main chakras, each aligned along the core of the body vertically. They're not just a spiritual concept. They actually map to physical and emotional aspects of your health. For example, your throat chakra connects to communication and thyroid health. Your heart chakra is tied to circulation and emotional wellbeing. Each chakra is located near a plexus of nerves. So for example, your third chakra is located near the solar plexus. And I share that because before I learned about them in the yoga teacher training program that I did, I just thought that they were energy centers that ran along the spine. I didn't realize they actually correlated to actual physical areas where there are these large collection of nerve bundles and I just thought that was really interesting. Another interesting piece is when we talk about the colors of the chakras, it's not just a pretty rainbow that we're imagining. It actually lines up with science. So visible light is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and each color has its own wavelength and frequency. Red light has the longest wavelength, which means it vibrates at the slowest frequency, and then Violet light, on the other hand, has the shortest wavelength and the fastest frequency. Now, what's fascinating is that when you look at the chakra system, it mirrors this sequence perfectly. Red is at the root chakra, right at the base of the spine, all the way up through the spectrum to violet, at the crown of the head. And this isn't just a coincidence. Many traditions see this as a reflection of the energy journey we go through as humans, starting with the dense grounding energy at the root chakra. So that longer wavelength, the slower frequency, and then moving up into the lighter, more expansive, higher vibration states of consciousness at the Crown. So it's really a pretty beautiful parallel between visible science and invisible energy fields.

Alicia: 4:14

Yeah, that's so fascinating. You know and in midlife when hormones are shifting and we're rethinking our roles and identities, those energy centers can get a little blocked. Right?

Nicole: 4:26

Yes, exactly. During other parts of our lives too, of course. But think about how common throat issues are. Thyroid imbalance, difficulty finding your voice or even just tension in your jaw and neck. And supporting your chakras doesn't have to be complicated. Things like color therapy, yoga poses, sound frequencies, energy therapies like reiki or even journaling can help rebalance those energy centers.

Alicia: 4:50

So even if you're skeptical, it's worth experimenting. You know, sometimes a simple practice like wearing the color blue to support your throat chakra or doing a heart opening yoga pose can have a surprisingly big impact.

Nicole: 5:03

Right, I personally find this topic really fascinating. If you do too, and you have a desire to learn more about the chakra system. Anodea Judith is who I learned from in the yoga teacher training program that I did, and she has a book called Eastern Body Western Mind that's really a great source to learn more about the chakra system. So, okay, let's move on to the energy of fabrics.

Alicia: 5:25

Now this is one of my favorite parts because it's so unexpected. Did you know fabrics carry frequency?

Nicole: 5:32

You know, I didn't really think about it until recently, and I do find this really interesting. Natural fibers like linen, wool, silk, and cotton, all have measurable frequencies. Linen, for example, has been measured at around 5,000 hertz, which is considered an incredibly healthy frequency. Wool and cashmere also measure at 5,000 hertz, and cotton has 40 to 100 hertz, but synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon measure at zero and are energetically neutral.

Alicia: 6:00

Zero. So that means they don't contribute anything positive to your energy field. And when you wear them all day, especially tight-fitting synthetics, they can actually interfere with your body's natural frequency.

Nicole: 6:12

Which is wild because so much of what we wear today, especially active wear, is made with synthetics. It doesn't mean you have to throw everything away, but maybe consider swapping in linen sheets, cotton sleepwear, or even a wool sweater. Small shifts can make you feel more grounded. All right. Now let's get into some of the exciting tools out there, things like PEMF therapy and red light therapy. We've covered these both in detail in our biohacking, self-care and sleep episodes, but they're both therapies that utilize energy as the healing tool. Infrared saunas do this as well using far infrared wavelengths of energy.

Alicia: 6:47

So how do they use energy to deliver these healing treatments?

Nicole: 6:52

Well, PEMF stands for pulsed electromagnetic fields. It uses low frequency waves similar to the Earth's natural frequencies to support the body. Benefits include better bone density, reduced inflammation, improved sleep, and even pain relief. For midlife women especially, the bone health benefit is huge.

Alicia: 7:12

And red light therapy?

Nicole: 7:14

Red light uses specific wavelengths of light to penetrate the skin and support mitochondrial health. Think of it as charging your cellular batteries. It's been shown to help with hormone balance, muscle recovery, skin elasticity, and reducing inflammation. Both of these are non-invasive safe ways to recharge your battery at a cellular level. But let's talk about other energy therapies for the body beyond red light and PEMF. Acupuncture and acupressure both work with the body's meridian system, unblocking or redirecting the flow of energy through the body. It's called qi, in traditional Chinese medicine. Research shows that acupuncture can help with hot flashes, anxiety, sleep, and even pain regulation in midlife. Reiki and energy healing. Reiki practitioners use gentle touch or even distance healing to channel energy into the body, promoting relaxation, stress relief, and a greater sense of alignment. Sound therapy and vibrational healing. Singing bowls, tuning forks or binaural beats use vibration and frequency to calm the nervous system and promote healing. Among the different sound frequencies used for healing, 528 Hertz is known as the love frequency for its powerful restorative qualities. And this isn't just woo, there are actual studies showing that certain frequencies of sound have powerful healing benefits. In 2018, there was a study done on nine people where they listened to 528 hertz music versus a standard 440 hertz music, and after just five minutes of 528 Hertz exposure, participants had significantly lower cortisol, which is your stress hormone. We've talked a lot about that on this podcast. Higher oxytocin, which is the bonding hormone and reported reduced anxiety and overall mood disturbances. None of these effects were seen with 440 hertz. That same study found that 528 hertz increased activity in the parasympathetic nervous system, meaning it actively calmed participants helping shift their bodies from that stress mode into the relax and reset mode that we talk about so often. Another small trial in 2024 showed that even a brief three minute exposure to a pure 528 hertz tone led to a fast measurable drop in state anxiety. Participants reported feeling significantly calmer compared to those who just did a neutral task. At the cellular level, a fascinating experiment exposed alcohol damaged human brain cells to 528 hertz of sound. And the result was there was about a 20% better survival, plus a dramatic drop in markers of cellular stress. So things definitely looked healthier. So yes, while the science is still emerging and these studies are small, they show that 528 hertz can lower stress, enhance calming hormones, reduce anxiety, and even support cellular resilience. We actually created a YouTube video with this specific frequency of sound. So if you're wanting to enjoy a little calm in your nervous system, you can head to the show notes and we'll make sure to link it there. So moving on to color therapy or chromotherapy, this is based on the idea that each color in the visible light spectrum carries a unique wavelength and frequency, and those frequencies can influence our physical, mental, and emotional states. You've probably experienced this yourself. Blue feels calming like the ocean or the sky. And then bright yellow feels energizing, right? So research is starting to back this up. One study found that exposure to green light significantly reduced migraine pain and anxiety in participants. While another study showed that blue light can lower blood pressure and support relaxation by calming the nervous system. Other research shows that red light may improve circulation and stimulate energy. So each color has a different potential impact. Green for balance, blue for calm, yellow for clarity, red for vitality. And even simple choices like the colors you wear, the lighting you use or the environments you spend time in can help shift your energy in subtle but meaningful ways.

Alicia: 11:11

Yeah. A popular, bedroom decoration for the teenagers or the tweeners or the younger generation is the lights in their room. You know, they have the strip lights in their room. Or different like projections of lights. So it's funny because I think they can choose what color light to put it on, so I should tell her, Hey, if you need to do this or that, turn on these lights,

Nicole: 11:36

Yeah, definitely.

Alicia: 11:37

will those types of lights work or does it

Nicole: 11:39

Mm-hmm.

Alicia: 11:39

be a special type of light?

Nicole: 11:41

No, I don't think it has to be a special type of light. I think as long as your, brain is perceiving that color, that's fine. That's interesting. So here's a quick color cheat sheet that you can use to kind of choose colors based on what effect you're going for. Red is for vitality, circulation, and physical energy. Orange is for creativity, joy, enthusiasm. Yellow is for clarity, confidence, digestion. Green is great for balance, calm and heart healing. Blue is for relaxation, communication, sleep support. Indigo for intuition, insight, inner calm. Violet for spirituality, peace and higher awareness. And as I mentioned, these actually map out pretty interestingly to the chakra system too. So when you look at red light, it's got that more grounding energy as opposed to violet, which has that higher awareness. The violet is associated with higher, vibration. So it's a interesting correlation.

Alicia: 12:49

Yeah, definitely. Well, my daughter doesn't know it yet, but she's gonna have a more frequent visitor in her room, turning on her different lights. If I'm

Nicole: 12:58

needing to feel a certain way.

Alicia: 12:59

Yeah.

Nicole: 13:00

That's right.

Alicia: 13:01

on the green light for me? I need some

Nicole: 13:02

I.

Alicia: 13:02

calm.

Nicole: 13:03

There you go.

Alicia: 13:05

So you know, a few months ago when we were together and we were talking about auras and we kind of looked into, that whole thing, like what the different colors meant for your auras.

Nicole: 13:18

Yeah.

Alicia: 13:19

A frequency?

Nicole: 13:22

Yeah, I don't know as much about that. So yes, it is a frequency because colors are frequency. So your aura, so to speak, the people that can detect these or, or tools that can detect these, I'm not exactly sure.

Alicia: 13:34

some lenses or cameras or something that we were looking into. I mean, some people can see them

Nicole: 13:40

Yeah,

Alicia: 13:40

we found, but otherwise it's some sort of a machine or a lens or a camera or something.

Nicole: 13:47

Yeah, and I think I had shared with you that I had done a craniosacral therapy seminar. It was a weekend seminar, and, a lady came up to me and she's like, you just have this green aura around you. And I was like, oh, cool, thanks. I had no idea what that meant at the time. Um, but you and I had, you know, when we were talking about these auras, we had looked it up and it was like, pretty interesting. I feel like that correlated pretty well for me. And then we looked at you and we're like, thinking yellow kind of made sense. Right. Is that right?

Alicia: 14:18

I think so. It was wild.

Nicole: 14:21

it was interesting.

Alicia: 14:22

Cause I

Nicole: 14:23

yours was

Alicia: 14:23

like a healer or something.

Nicole: 14:26

right. It had to do with healing.

Alicia: 14:29

definitely was you, so it was so, you know, like we went into it not having any idea. And I'm like,

Nicole: 14:36

Yeah.

Alicia: 14:36

I had to guess before looking at what any of these colors look like, I think I'm a yellow. And I have no idea why I thought that. I'm just like, I'm, I'm thinking yellow. And as we're looking through it, we're like, okay, yeah. So we're thinking yellow, um,

Nicole: 14:52

We gotta get our auras like actually tested or whatever.

Alicia: 14:55

whatever you

Nicole: 14:56

However you do that.

Alicia: 14:57

super interesting. I don't know.

Nicole: 15:00

It is.

Alicia: 15:01

It's

Nicole: 15:01

I do too.

Alicia: 15:02

and I

Nicole: 15:03

Yeah.

Alicia: 15:03

to learn a little bit more about it, And it kind

Nicole: 15:05

of goes along

Alicia: 15:06

with this conversation. Exactly,

Nicole: 15:08

and I mean, it makes sense too if they are, colors are frequency and

Alicia: 15:13

You're vibrating a frequency, you're

Nicole: 15:15

Exactly.

Alicia: 15:16

your color out there, whatever it is,

Nicole: 15:18

Yep.

Alicia: 15:19

your, aura color can change too, depending

Nicole: 15:21

I think so. Yeah.

Alicia: 15:23

going on? But

Nicole: 15:23

I right.

Alicia: 15:24

there'll be a future topic we'll talk about, because it is something I'd like to learn a little bit more about.

Nicole: 15:29

Mm-hmm. Yeah. likewise. And then breath work and pranayama. If you've never heard the word pranayama before, it's the practice of using your breath to direct and balance your body's energy. Basically, it's breath work with roots in yoga. But intentionally directing the breath is a powerful healing modality. Oxygen is energy and breathing practices can shift your body into parasympathetic mode, balance subtle energy, and increase clarity and vitality.

Alicia: 15:55

And here's something I find fascinating. Well, I actually, I find all of this fascinating, but here's just another one to add to the list, the Japanese water studies.

Nicole: 16:04

Yes, Dr. Masaru Emoto did these experiments where groups of people directed either positive or negative words towards water samples. The water that was exposed to love and gratitude seemed to form these beautiful crystalline structures while the water exposed to anger or hate looked discolored and chaotic under the microscope.

Alicia: 16:24

that's wild. You know, and whether or not you fully buy into the science behind these experiments, it does make you think, because our bodies are about 60% water. So if thoughts and words could impact water molecules, imagine the ripple effect they could have on us.

Nicole: 16:40

Yeah, definitely. And while Emoto's studies aren't widely accepted in mainstream science, there is solid research showing the power of gratitude and positive intention on our health. For example, gratitude practices have been shown to lower cortisol, boost heart rate variability and even strengthen immune function. Studies also show that people who regularly practice gratitude report better sleep and less stress. And you know, another interesting thing is think about the placebo effect. Just the fact that thinking something could be working for you, if you're taking a placebo pill and you think it's the active medication and that that could change how that placebo works in your body. That's just proof how much your thoughts matter. Right? I read a book called The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton. He's a biologist and it was so fascinating hearing how things like your thoughts and perceptions of something can actually influence your biology. So it sounds woo when you talk about things that we can't physically touch, that you can't put your finger on necessarily, it's hard to imagine the kind of impact that they can physically have on your body. Another really cool and interesting thing I had done a breath work summit, I think. And Rollin McCraty presented and he is the executive Vice President and Director of Research at the HeartMath Institute. He himself is a psychophysiologist, and he had shared that, okay, when you think about between your brain and your heart, so your brain has about 86 billion neurons in it, and your heart has about 40,000. So between your brain and your heart, which would you guess has a larger electromagnetic field. They tested both the brain's electromagnetic field and how far it extended from the body, and then the heart's electromagnetic field and how far that extended from the body. Between the brain and the heart, which would you guess would have a bigger electromagnetic field?

Alicia: 18:49

Well, I didn't know I was gonna be quizzed today, but I'm gonna go with brain.

Nicole: 18:54

You would think so, right? You've got 86 billion neurons in your brain. You would think that there would be a much larger electromagnetic field. But it actually is measured at only a couple inches from your body. Whereas your heart has an electromagnetic field that extends three feet from your body. And so when you think about, yeah, I thought that was really fascinating because it's not something you would expect, but he also talked a a little bit about the fact that within that electromagnetic field, you're both sending and receiving information. So thinking about it as like radio waves for example. Radios send out information in a frequency that get to, you know, some receiver tower and, and you can listen to it by tuning into a certain frequency station. Right? So we send and receive information within these electromagnetic fields so you can be close to someone and like get a vibe from them, right? Like you can know that when you're around a certain person, your energy just lifts, right? Or when you're around someone and you can just tell that they're in a funk and it kind of like brings you down a little bit.

Alicia: 20:07

Yeah,

Nicole: 20:08

you feel it. And that's like your electromagnetic field of your body sensing information, so we can't see a lot of this stuff, but it doesn't mean that it's not real and it's not having a real impact on your actual body. Yeah.

Alicia: 20:25

That's crazy.

Nicole: 20:26

It's fascinating. I find it really fascinating. The HeartMath Institute is pretty great. They talk a lot about coherent breathing as a way to support better heart rate variability, autonomic nervous system balance. So, you know, when it comes to things like gratitude that we just talked about, you know, having that positive energy really can impact those around you, not just yourself. It can impact yourself too. You know, choosing to focus on those positive thoughts and gratitude can impact your health, biology, physiology. But it can affect others as well.

Alicia: 21:02

Yeah, so it's not just a feel good habit, it's actually changing your biology.

Nicole: 21:06

Yes, exactly. And that's why gratitude, affirmations, and even pausing to bless your food before you eat, they're not just mindset tools. They're energetic practices that shift your nervous system into a calmer, more receptive state. And when your body is calm, you digest better, you absorb nutrients more effectively, and you literally are primed to receive nourishment.

Alicia: 21:27

So when we say watch your self-talk, it's not just a pep talk, it's energy medicine.

Nicole: 21:33

Yes, exactly. And as I mentioned, if this whole conversation is intriguing to you and you wanna learn more about how thoughts, beliefs can impact your actual biology, I would definitely recommend picking up Dr. Bruce Lipton's book, Biology of Belief. It's pretty fascinating. So let's tie this all together. Everything is energy. Your thoughts, your body, your environment. They all carry frequency. And midlife is the perfect time to start paying attention.

Alicia: 22:02

And It doesn't have to be overwhelming. Pick one energy upgrade this week. Swap out polyester sheets for cotton or linen. Try a few minutes of red light therapy. Spend time journaling and notice how your body feels.

Nicole: 22:16

The more you lean into energy practices, the more resilience, vitality, and ease you'll bring into your midlife years.

Alicia: 22:23

So if there's one takeaway from today, it's this: energy is everywhere from the clothes on your body to the light in your home, to the thoughts you think. It all carries a frequency that influences how you feel.

Nicole: 22:35

And the cool part is once you know that you can start to choose differently. You don't have to overhaul your whole life as we say. You can experiment. Swap out one synthetic fabric for linen, add a few minutes of red light in the morning, or even just pause to notice your thoughts before bed.

Alicia: 22:49

Exactly, these are simple shifts, but they can completely change the energy you bring into midlife.

Nicole: 22:55

And at the end of the day, it's about supporting yourself so you can feel more vibrant, more grounded, and more connected to your body and your life.

Alicia: 23:03

Thanks for joining us today. We'll

Nicole: 23:05

put

Alicia: 23:05

any links and resources in the show notes if you wanna dig deeper into some of these tools.

Nicole: 23:10

And we'd love to hear how you are experimenting with energy in your own life. Send us a message or leave us a review so we can keep this conversation going.

Alicia: 23:18

Thanks for hanging out with us on Midlife and Glowing.

Nicole: 23:20

If you love this episode, it would mean the world to us. If you'd follow the show, leave us a review or share it with a friend who's glowing through midlife right alongside you.

Alicia: 23:28

Let's make it our best era yet. We'll see you next time.