Alternative medicine has increasingly recognized techniques relying on subtle energy, from acupuncture and kinesiology to Reiki and healing touch.
Energy healing draws inspiration from non-Western concepts such as Polynesian mana, Franz Mesmer’s fluidum, Wilhelm Reich’s orgone and yoga concepts such as nadis and chakras; in China there is also an equivalent called medical qi.
Acupuncture
Subtle energies have long been recognized in healing traditions around the world, such as Polynesian mana, Sanskrit kundalini (often likened to Freud’s concept of libido) or Chinese medical concept of qi (“breath” or “vital energy”) and many other ideas not widely accepted by Western science. These ethereal agents may influence both physical and psychological or spiritual levels of reality simultaneously.
Some practitioners claim a special connection with energy that allows them to “read” the energetic state of a patient or client and use appropriate techniques for healing. Others have taken a more scientific approach – for instance Stanford physicist William Tiller suggested four kinds of energies within human bodies and identified “subtle energy” as energies which cannot be detected with current physical instruments, such as those associated with human auras, transmental states of consciousness or healing phenomena.
Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine was first published as a peer-reviewed journal in 1989, publishing peer-reviewed papers on energy information systems that interact with human psyche and physiology either to disturb or enhance healthy homeostasis. This site contains 21 years of publication — volumes 1-21 — before the journal stopped publishing in 2011. All articles found here may be freely accessed for educational use and the editors welcome comments from clinicians and scholars interested in studying these subjects, along with submission of articles or resources that help further this important area of study.
Reiki
Reiki is a touch healing modality designed to clear energy blockages, balance chakras and align vibrational frequencies within the body. Reiki practitioners believe it also supports natural body healing processes as well as alleviating side effects from medical treatments like chemotherapy or radiation therapies.
Reiki and other biofield therapies are becoming more mainstream within healthcare today, as evidenced by their inclusion by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCIH) among their biofield therapies.
People often report feeling more connected to life and others during and after receiving Reiki treatments, with an increased sense of well-being after each session. Their bodies may experience warmth or sensations such as lightness or tingling in certain areas. At the start of each session, practitioners set an intention; often unspoken during healing processes but infused throughout it – possibly programming crystals for use during their session as part of this intent.
Researchers are having difficulty conducting controlled scientific studies of Reiki. A Touchstone Process team identified some of the difficulties in conducting Reiki research as lacking placebo and control groups, difficulties randomly assigning participants and it being an oral tradition rather than written one as reasons.
Researchers noted that Reiki research tends to be of poor quality and that small sample sizes often lead to inaccurate or insignificant findings. They called for improved study design using larger sample sizes and including a control group receiving no treatment as well as developing a consensus between researchers regarding how Reiki should be studied and supported.
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is a psychological technique designed to alter how you think and act. Hypnosis puts you into a state of concentrated attention whereby your awareness decreases while you become more open to receiving suggestions, or invitations, from hypnotherapists. Hypnotherapists make suggestions designed to move away from unhelpful beliefs towards more beneficial ones – for instance if poor self-esteem stemming from having been raised with overcritical or domineering parents as a child led to rejection issues later on, hypnotherapy can create new beliefs such as rejection is survivable and that wholly as yourself are enough as is just who are.
Energy medicine utilizes breath as a vehicle to channel Life Force (Chi) throughout the body to alleviate blockages and restore balance. Some models of energy medicine work with an Aura, Astral Body or Etheric Body which corresponds with and infuses physical structures; channels and chakras connect this energetic network and form part of what makes up our physical bodies.
People may naturally perceive subtle energies, while most can develop this skill with practice and training. Hypnosis can be an excellent way to do just this; when conducted by an experienced practitioner it should always remain safe with no reports of harm being caused during sessions; you will always retain free will during hypnotherapy sessions or any other health approaches being pursued – telling your doctor about such sessions can ensure a more holistic treatment plan being created for you.
Meditation
Inner Healing Modalities, commonly referred to as “inner healing modalities,” work at an energy level to alter the subtle bodies beneath our physical bodies and promote change on an energetic level. Practitioners use sound, light, elements and vibrational fields for this type of regenerative medicine that addresses all levels of health concerns simultaneously.
Over millennia, energy phenomena known as auras, chakras, meridians and vital force have long been studied by modern science. While direct measurement remains difficult due to inaccessible subtle energies, indirect methods have emerged such as Kirlian photography as well as instruments measuring acupuncture points or electric discharge photography known as Kirlian photography – other theories propose that sick people’s energy fields have different vibratory rates than healthy people’s fields.
As most practitioners view themselves as healers, others also perform research. Established in 1989 as a non-profit organization dedicated to studying subtle energies for medical applications and therapeutic uses, the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM) conducts experimental scientific studies regarding medical applications as well as theoretical work pertaining to consciousness healing dynamics of human potential dynamics. Members include experimental scientists, other empirical researchers, clinicians, theoreticians and healers with scientific backgrounds as members.
Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine, published since 1989 by ISSSEEM, serves to provide guidelines and scientific credibility to an ever-increasing number of energy healing modalities. Furthermore, this journal fosters increased dialogue between clinicians and scientists alike – small membership contributions help sustain a central research center located in Colorado as well as an international network of affiliate researchers.
Healing Touch
Healing touch involves applying light touch to the body with the goal of creating balance and harmony, acting as an energetic healing modality that supports and complements traditional medical care. Used worldwide in hospitals, hospices, doctor’s offices and home healthcare settings alike – nurses at Wake Forest Baptist Health now offer this form of energy therapy as part of their care for their patients.
Healing Touch practitioners adhere to a theoretical foundation premised upon living organisms being dynamic energetic systems that continually interact with their environment, including humans. Nurse theorist Martha Rogers proposed that individuals’ energy fields extend well beyond physical boundaries and interconnect with living things across an energy web, connecting more deeply than previously imagined. Rogers believed healing touch practitioners can interact with this field by clearing and reordering its flow patterns and thus enable clients to absorb vitality more efficiently; however, this energy has not been observed or quantified using conventional scientific means.
Energy medicine, an application of subtle energy, focuses on its interaction between subtle energy and human health. Chi or prana fields generated by living beings play an integral part in this interaction; researchers refer to this energy form as quantum fields or potential fields and it carries information and influences life processes but cannot be directly measured with current scientific tools.
Researchers are trying to understand how quantum fields interact with living systems. One way they may detect this interaction is with special instruments known as superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). SQUIDs measure magnetic fields produced by all living organisms and therefore allow researchers to detect subtle energies present in living beings.
