Biofield Science & Therapies

  • The Biological Field, commonly called the biofield, is a complex sphere of energy and information that surrounds any organism. The biofield is involved in the generation, maintenance, and regulation of biological homeostasis and physiological functions of the organism it surrounds. The biofield is a massless field, not necessarily electromagnetic, that surrounds and permeates living bodies and affects the functions of the body.

    Its functions include but may not be limited to:

    -transferring information within the organism, holding and conveying information vital to biocommunication and bioregulation.  (Language of Life)

    -organizing, regulating, and mediating biological interactions

    -forming and maintaining an overall integrated network

    Biofields, such as the electromagnetic patterns from the brain (EEG) and heart (ECG), are generated at all levels of living systems, from whole organism to tissues and organs, cells, molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles.    

  • Biofield Science is an emerging field of study providing scientific ground for understanding the complex homeodynamic regulation of living organisms and thus the foundations of biology and the practice known as energy medicine.

    The Consciousness and Healing Initiative (CHI) defines the study of Biofield Science as an exploration of the view that molecules, cells, and organs of living systems communicate via fields of energy that serve as additional means of self-regulation to maintain health. The biofield hypothesis suggests that biofield activity is a normal, ongoing health-promoting function of the body, and that intentional alteration of the biofield can regulate health processes via pathways that mediate aspects of our physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being.

    Some biofields, such as, in the form of EEG and ECG patterns, are readily measurable and are in common use as diagnostic indicators. Other aspects of biofields appear more difficult to measure, but could be modulated by biofield therapists (such as Reiki and Healing Touch practitioners) to affect health.

     https://www.chi.is/advancing-biofield-science/

  • Biofield Therapies are noninvasive therapies in which the practitioner explicitly works with a client’s biofield to stimulate healing responses in patients through the application of extremely low level signals to the body via energy healer interventions or electromagnetic device therapies. Energy therapy, energy medicine, and energy healing are all types of Biofield Therapies. There are also specific training names that fall under these terms including Polarity Therapy, Healing Touch, Reiki, Brennan Healing Science, and many others. 

  • 1. Restores or rebalances vital life force energy to promote healing and optimal use of the living system/organism.

    2. Views the foundations of disease as an energetic imbalance such as a blockage or other irregularity in the energy flow of the body.

    3.  Applies extremely low-level signals to the body via energy healer interventions or electromagnetic device therapies.

    Examples of Energy Therapy Training:

    Polarity Therapy, Reiki, Pranic Healing, Qigong, Healing Touch, Brennan Healing Science, Eden School of Energy Healing, and many more.

  • -Patient groups commonly report using biofield therapies as part of their treatment for cancer and palliative care.

    -An epidemiological survey from 2007 found that in 2006 over 1.2 million adults and 161,000 children reported receiving at least one session.

    -In the 2012 National Health Interview Survey, 3.7 million adults have had at least one energy therapy session, and 1.6 million reported having had one within the past 12 months.

    -Biofield therapies are recognized by some state licensure boards as within the scope of nursing practice and are listed in the Nursing Intervention Classification Code.

    -Energy psychology therapies may combine a biofield intervention, like tapping specific points on the body, with cognitive behavioral techniques. These combinations are used to treat conditions like PTSD, depression, anxiety, and addictions. Some examples are Thought Field Therapy, Emotional Freedom Technique, and Tapas Acupressure.

    To learn more about Energy Psychology, visit: www.noetic.org and www.energypsych.com.

The Biofield & Medical Models

  • -Views life as chemistry (biochemical view of life).

    -Molecular reductionism that focuses on genes, proteins encoded by genes, and molecules synthesized by proteins.  

    -Based on an inherent belief that complex systems can be understood by identifying their components.  

    -Derivative of the ancient greek philosopher, Democritus, who proposed that everything, including organisms, is reducible to its constituents.

  • -Appreciates the complexity of our biology and allows space for an emergent phenomena that may not be perceived or predicted from a perspective of physiologically isolated parts.  

    -Grounded in the interconnected, information-based concept of the biofield. This holistic view embraces a field concept of life.

    -Based on Aristotle’s view that life processes are autonomous and organisms are integral wholes.

  • The term biofield has been accepted as a medical subject heading by the National Library of Medicine and is now an official search term for scholars to locate peer-reviewed literature. The diverse modes of energetic healing has been consolidated under the single definition of biofield therapies by the National Institute of Health. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has  funded a round of frontier medicine research grants in biofield science.

History

  • Biofield science's first discovery was in embryology as an underlying informational template to explain the developmental process. Histologist Dr. Alexander Gurwitsch defined a morphogenetic field to describe the highly coherent and dynamic process that appeared to be guiding the development of the unfolding embryo as well as biological regeneration. Gurwitsch also observed ultraviolet light emission during a cell division research study which he termed mitogenic radiation, now known as biophotonic energy.

    Biofield science is firmly grounded in physics. The discovery of a particular form of energy is associated with four types of force: gravity, electromagnetism, and strong and weak nuclear forces. Most important to living systems are the electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic energies associated with electromagnetic force.

Evidence

  • Biofield science may be applied successfully in a broad range of disciplines including biophysics, medical physiology, cell biology, ecology, and both classical and quantum physics.

    Sciences that are contributing to a medical shift toward integrative medicine and the acknowledgement of existence of a biofield include biophysics, biology, psychology, and the developing fields of mind-body research of psychoneuroimmunology, and psychosocial genomics.

    A Tibetan Buddhist, a neurologist, energy therapist, cell biologist, and a physicist all have understanding of the biofield and could provide valuable knowledge for a more complete understanding of this emerging concept.

    Evidence of Biofields

    -Western biomedicine routinely examines electrical fields from the heart via electrocardiogram [ECG] and brain via electroencephalogram [EEG] as indices of clinical pathology.  

    -The heart’s magnetic field, generated by moving electrical charges associated with electrical activity, can be recorded up to several feet from the body surface via a magnetocardiogram. Magnetic fields produced by the heart appear to carry information that may be detectable by other persons or animals.

    -Contemporary cell biology and biophysics provide evidence that endogenous electromagnetic and other types of fields play active roles in development, tissue repair, and an array of homeodynamic processes.

    -In photonics, the physical science of light generation, detection, and manipulation, ultraviolet light emission is observed during cell division.

    -Biofields explain fundamental properties of individual molecules by considering them as ordered electromagnetic structures.  An example is interactions that occur at a molecular level such as those between hormones and receptors.

    -In Ecology, Gaia theory holds a view that all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth are closely integrated to form a single and self-regulating complex system, maintaining the conditions for life on the planet.

    -Biofield interactions also extend to planetary levels, effects of geocosmic fields on human health and behavior.  For example, solar storms that significantly perturb the geomagnetic field correlate with increased rates and mortality from myocardial infarction.

    -Biophoton-mediated regulatory process including cell-cell communication, cell-cell orientation sensing, secretion of regulatory neurotransmitters, modulation of respiratory activity in white blood cells, and accelerated seed germination. This research suggests the existence of coherent biophoton fields that play fundamental roles in intercellular signaling and human health.

    -Identification of bioelectromagnetic medicine often associated with interaction energies which produce clinically significant effects such as enhancement of growth, wound repair, regeneration, and the reduction of pain and inflammation.

    -Field-like phenomena appear to contribute to the underlying principles of biological organization, including embryonic development and the coordinated maintenance of biological structure and function. For example, in complex organ regeneration or in limb regeneration in animals stimulated by externally applied electromagnetic fields.

    -Biofield Therapy Clinical Studies demonstrate a spectrum of beneficial results from the psychological and behavioral levels down to clinically relevant biomarkers.

    -Application of quantum theory to sentience, mind, and consciousness has shifted the view from biochemical neuroscience to a biofield-oriented approach producing theories of body-mind as a macroscopic quantum system. Increasing evidence of quantum signaling, communication, and conductivity in the cytoskeletal network of microtubules and the electric fields generated by synchronized oscillations of microtubules have been demonstrated to play key roles in the regulation of cell division and chromosome folding and transcription.

    -Evidence provided in biochemistry, cell biology, biophysics, and neurophysiology demonstrates the collagen matrix providing pathways for rapid intercommunication throughout the body, enabling the organism’s mind-body to function as a coherent whole. This research describes the mind-body as an interconnected system in which electromagnetic and quantum interactions act through field-coherent oscillatory activity to regulate the biological processes and mediate interactions correlated with sentience and mental activity.  

    -Biofield interactions recorded in molecular biology, such as information encoded in DNA, hormonal receptor interactions, enzyme-substrate interactions are all examples of biofield activity which are not meaningfully understood from a reductionist viewpoint.

    -Electrically phase-coupled systems in neuronal networks give rise to cooperative behaviors across large numbers of neurons.

    -Living organisms have an immense network of internal and external interconnections across which information flows to modulate life functions. The continuous exchange of information in living systems to maintain their integrity is astounding. The whispering between cells and other units of life is critical to sustaining life and promoting healing.

    -The most definitive information flow in humans is from the top down, from intention to the material body, to affect health and healing with conscious intent purpose, context, and meaning. Typically information is thought to be carried by either energy or matter. Bell’s Theorem (quantum nonlocality) supports observations of instantaneous interactions between entangled states. The quantum potential function conveys active information everywhere as does the morphogenetic field suggesting information may thus be everywhere instantaneously, but is active only where it is specifically directed, for example through conscious intent.

    Acknowledgement of the presence of biofields:

    -Many spiritual traditions throughout history describe modes and pathways of an energy system.

    -Many complementary and alternative medicine therapies are based on understanding the biofield and its support and manipulation.  

Interventions & Clinical Studies

  • Biofield therapies are also known as energy therapy, energy healing, energy medicine, bioenergetics, and other titles. These therapies acknowledge there is a universal life force; a metaphysical entity intrinsic to life that renders it alive.

    This concept can be found in many eastern cultures and societies such as:

    -Qi in Chinese medicine

    -Ki in Japanese medicine

    -Prana in Ayurveda

    -Ka in Ancient Egypt

  • Empirical evidence is beginning to support the effectiveness of biofield therapies.

    Pain:

    -Over 30 clinical trials had been published by 2015. In patients with chronic pain, arthritis, and movement restriction, two different reviews concluded there is strong evidence for reducing self-reported pain intensity through use of biofield therapies.

    Cancer:

    -More than 15 clinical trials have been held as of 2015.

    -These trials primarily focused on the effects of biofield therapies as adjunctive care to reduce symptoms of pain, fatigue, anxiety, and depression.  

    -A systematic review in 2010 found moderate success.  

    -After 2010, Trial in Healing Touch for cancer related symptoms study reported clinically significant reductions in depression and persistent fatigue and positive effects on clinically relevant biological markers.

    -Several preclinical investigations tested biofield therapies on several cancer models, for example, multiple tumor types with reports of inhibition of DNA synthesis and mineralization in osteosarcoma, inhibition of cell cycle, and induction of apoptosis in prostate cancer cells and colorectal cancer cells, and inhibition of migration and invasion of breast cancer cells.  

    Cardiovascular Function:

    -A few clinical studies conducted found increases in heart rate variability and reduced stress-related symptoms such as anxiety, which is known to negatively impact cardiovascular function in coronary patients.  

    -One randomized clinical trial with Reiki on autonomic activity in inpatients during recovery from acute coronary syndrome reported a statistically significant improvement in high frequency heart rate variability compared to both a classical music control and resting control.

    -Another randomized clinical trial noted the reduction of both anxiety and length of hospital stay for coronary artery bypass and length of hospital stay for coronary artery bypass graft patients receiving healing touch versus nurse visits alone or treatment as usual and no difference found between groups on pain medication and use of atrial fibrillation incidence.  

    Other Conditions:

    -Positive results of biofield therapies have been reported in other populations, including patients with dementia, osteoarthritis, and pediatric oncology outpatients.  

    These studies suggest even brief biofield interventions can generate effects that support health and well being and raise questions regarding the potential effects of longer durations or greater frequencies of treatment.  

    Overall Review:

    -Several reviews since 2010 of best evidence synthesis found there is promising but limited evidence based on relatively few studies with insufficient sample sizes as well as methodological issues that could be improved to better understand the effects of biofield therapies in a clinical context.

    -Evidence regarding clinical effectiveness is strongest in symptom management for pain and cancer, the two conditions that have received the most study. Studies are more sparse but evidence is promising for clinical populations with arthritis, dementia, and heart disease.