The energy level in Severna Park has increased over the weeks since Meryl Martin moved to the area.

Arriving at the Natural Healing Wellness Center from a practice in Florida, she brought with her an enthusiasm for and expertise in the art of energy healing.

"I set a foundation for my clients by helping them understand the direct connection between their emotional well-being and their physical health," she says.

Ms. Martin, became involved in with what she calls "complementary" healing when she sought to help herself. At one time, she suffered from an eating disorder for which traditional medicine offered no relief. "Eating disorders are not just about food," she said. "There is an energetic component to all addictions that must be addressed."

In 1991, Ms Martin expanded her healing practice to include energy anatomy. Adherents of energy healing feel that there is a life force in the body that flows back and forth. You can't see it, but it's there. A trained person cannot only feel this force, but also understands if it is causing a problem. Learning to work with that force for Ms. Martin has entailed training with prominent practitioners in the field,

John E. Upledger, the founder of Craniosacral Therapy, and Caroline Myss, author of"Anatomy of the Spirit" and "Why People Don't Heal and How They Can."

Ms. Martin, an Energy Therapist and Intuitive Counselor, continues to study under Caroline Myss as one of only 35 candidates eligible for certification in her "Science of Medical Intuition," program. Ms. Myss is a medical intuitive ~ someone who can evaluate a person's physical health by reading his "energy field" ~ and then determine any ailments and the emotional imbalance that caused them.

"We've crossed over a bridge, entered into a different place in which the primary technique is vibrational energy instead of physical energy," Ms. Myss says. "Our biography becomes our biology."

Ms. Martin branched out and created her own system of healing, which she calls the "Martin Method." In her method, she combines various techniques that she has learned from her mentors. She subscribes to the Eastern belief that energy moves in and out of the body through the centers called "chakras". There are seven chakras, each of which has unique physical, emotional, and spiritual data. "I work with these energy centers to release the life stress that ultimately influences the quality of our health," she said.

In her 18 years in the energy healing field, Ms. Martin has encountered people with all kinds of problems ~ addiction, depression, stress, migraines, back and neck aches. Not promising a cure, she encourages people to continue seeing their medical doctors and not to stop treatments or medications. "It doesn't have to be either - or," Ms. Martin said. "One form of treatment is meant to enhance the other.