Energy medicine
Energy medicine is a holistic approach that involves the manipulation of various energy fields to promote health and well-being. Rooted in ancient practices like traditional Chinese medicine, which emphasizes the concept of qi (or chi) as a vital life force, energy medicine encompasses both measurable energy fields, such as those used in magnet and light therapies, and more subtle energies, like prana and homeopathic resonance. The term gained traction in the late 20th century and has been recognized as a domain of complementary and alternative medicine by institutions like the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Practitioners believe that maintaining a balance and free flow of energy is essential for physical and mental health, with blockages often caused by environmental factors or stress. Techniques may involve physical manipulations, such as acupuncture or tapping, as well as mental exercises akin to meditation. While some aspects of energy medicine have found acceptance in Western medicine, skepticism remains, particularly regarding the existence and intentional influence of biofields. Despite these controversies, energy medicine continues to grow in popularity, with various modalities like sound healing and Reiki being explored for their therapeutic potential.
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Subject Terms
Energy medicine
- DEFINITION: The manipulation of energy fields to promote health and well-being.
Overview
The notion of energy medicine is ancient, growing out of concepts such as the traditional Chinese medicine principle qi (or chi). This life force motivates the universe, informs all beings, and relates to such modalities as acupuncture, organized around the body’s electromagnetic meridians. The term “energy medicine” is, however, of recent coinage. It was first used as a term of art in conjunction with a 1987 conference in Madras, India, sponsored by the John E. Fetzer Foundation of Kalamazoo, Michigan, dedicated to promoting mind/body medicine. Two years later, drawing on work on psychophysiological self-regulation (also known as biofeedback) demonstrated at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, researchers T. M. Srinivasan, Elmer Green, and Carol Schneider founded the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energy and Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM), based in Arvada, Colorado. Although it retained its original name, in 2013, the ISSSEEM became part of the international research division of Holos University.
ISSSEEM, with its mission to improve human health and welfare, differentiates between therapeutic energy medicine involving tangible forces such as electromagnetic fields, acoustics, and gravity, and traditional subtle energies such as qi, prana (breath of life), and homeopathic resonance, all of which operate at the level of the subtle or etheric body and are difficult to measure. The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), which recognizes energy medicine as one of five domains of complementary and alternative medicine, similarly distinguishes between “veritable” energy fields, which can be measured for diagnosis and treatment, and “putative” energy fields (also called biofields), which resist measurement by reproducible methods. NCCAM cites magnet therapy and light therapy as examples of the former, and qigong and healing touch are examples of the latter.
A National Center for Health Statistics survey indicates that approximately 1 percent of Americans have used energy medicine techniques. It is worth noting, however, that almost one-half of all Americans use some form of alternative medicine in a given year. As energy medicine advocates emphasize, there is considerable overlap between energy medicine and NCCAM’s other four domains: whole medical systems, such as homeopathy and naturopathy; mind/body medicine, such as biofeedback and meditation; biological practices involving substances such as herbs and nutraceuticals; and manipulative, body-based practices such as massage and chiropractic.
Theory and Practice
As it is understood, energy medicine addresses both electromagnetic energy and more subtle energies, which comprise the body’s dynamic infrastructure. Physical and mental health depends on balancing and free-flowing these various energies. These energies may become blocked by environmental interference from toxins and electromagnetic pollution, as well as by internal factors such as prolonged physical or mental stress. Flow, balance, and harmony can be reestablished by manipulating specific energy points on the skin with exercises involving tapping, massaging, pinching, twisting, or manually tracing energy pathways over the skin. Alternatively, as in certain types of yoga exercises, one can assume postures designed to affect the body’s energies in specific ways. In addition, mental focusing exercises akin to meditation can help realign tangible and subtle energy.
Western medicine has long recognized and used the body’s oscillating magnetic fields, developing sophisticated technology such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners and bone-healing electronic stimulators to help diagnose and treat physical disorders. Acupuncture, long considered a type of quackery, is now widely accepted as an effective, if still somewhat misunderstood, method for addressing pain. It is not difficult, even for skeptics, to connect such machines and modalities.
Acceptance of biofields' existence, especially the ability to intentionally influence them, remains profoundly controversial. However, the discovery of peptides and opiate receptors in the human brain, the molecules of emotion, has cleared the way for a burgeoning new field of inquiry: energy psychology. Considered a derivative of energy medicine, energy psychology is rooted in an assumption that mental health conditions are related to disruptions in the body’s energy fields. Energy psychology involves physical and cognitive procedures influencing emotion, cognition, and behavior.
Positive reactions to energy medicine treatment can be challenging to quantify or verify, and they have often been attributed to the placebo effect or to cognitive dissonance. Positive research outcomes have been similarly discounted as resulting from practitioner or publication bias. Also, energy medicine, like any medical field (particularly any alternative medicine modality), is fraught with fraud. In 2008, the US Food and Drug Administration banned two devices purporting to heal with the use of energy medicine: the EPFX and the PAP-IMI. Still, forms of energy medicine continue to grow in popularity. Sound healing, crystal healing, Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, and polarity therapy are just a sampling of energy medicine modalities explored in the field of complementary and alternative medicine.
Bibliography
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"ISSSEEM." Alliance for Global Consciousness, www.allianceforglobalconsciousness.org/issseem. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.
Leskowitz, Eric. "A Cartography of Energy Medicine: From Subtle Anatomy to Energy Physiology." Explore, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 152-64, Mar.-Apr., 2022, doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2020.09.008. Accessed 14 Dec. 2022.
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Srinivasan, TM. "Energy Medicine." International Journal of Yoga, vol. 3, no. 1, 2010, p. 1, doi.org/10.4103/0973-6131.66770. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.