Energy Medicine as the Medicine of Future - Dissertation Example

Discussion 1 Introduction Energy medicine, also known as energy healing is founded on the notion that it is possible for the healer to direct the rejuvenating energy into the patient through various processes like touching, applying pressure or even distant rejuvenation (where the healer is physically absent and located differently from his/her patient) (Daulby and Mathison, 1996, 89). Within energy healing, there are various fields like contact rejuvenation, spiritual rejuvenation, bio-field energy healing, Qigong, Reiki, distant healing, and therapeutic touch. Spiritual healing is primary non-denominational (that is, it is not controlled by any specific religious group or sect) and faith based on religious traditions are not mandatory for curing patients. On the other hand, it has been noted that faith healing is based on religious notions. According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine or NCCAM (US), energy healing is one of five realms of "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) (NCCAM, What Is Complementary and Alternative Medicine? 2005).  In their review, NCCAM classified the process of practicing energy healing into two basic categories, veritable and putative. Veritable – healing based on energy measurable energy fields, like sound or electromagnetism. Here there are use of measured and specific frequencies and wavelengths for healing patients (Vallbona and Richards, 1999). These therapies are based on the theory that energy flow and electrical impulses govern all human processes and the various processes used within the therapies tend to create low levels of energy at specific wavelengths and frequencies that aid in the healing process of a patient. Of the two forms (veritable and putative), it has been seen that science and technology of veritable form of energy medicines is developing at a fast rate with effective treatment results (Markov, 2007). In the veritable approach, Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapy or PEMFT shows a great potential in treatment. This form of therapy uses non-invasive tools that produce electricity while channeling magnetic pulses, which initiate small amount of electrical charges to start the repair of body cells. PEMF is especially effective as it can pierce through body matter with loss of very low levels of energy (ibid). There are various studies that have shown the clinical effectiveness of PEMF in bone healing and growth, in repairing damages to soft tissues, restraining inflammation at the level of the cell membranes, and in controlling pain; and in 1979 after FDA approved PEMF it is now widely used within mainstream clinical treatment with high potential for future use (Simmons, Mooney, and Thacker, 2004). Putative – healing based on energy fields that are primarily at theory levels and remain unmeasured as in traditional Chinese medicines, Ayurveda, and homeopathy. In this approach, healers believe that a form of vital energy flows through the physical body of any human body, though it cannot be measured in an absolute form using customary techniques and measuring tools. However, the healers feel that they are capable of working with this form of hidden energy and can view it, which allows them to modify the physical body and bring in positive changes in the patient’s health condition. In these therapies the underlying vital energy force that forms the main element, is known as chi or qi in the traditional Chinese medicine while it is referred to as prana in the Indian form of Ayurveda. In an average person, his/her health is ascertained by the nature of the vital energy flow and its balance. The blocks or imbalances in the energy flow within the human body invariably lead to diseases. When such blocks or imbalances take place in the human body various energy medicine processes like acupressure or acupuncture, help the patient to regain health by correcting energy flow imbalances within the energy meridians. In energy medicinal therapies that include forms like the rejuvenating touch and Reiki, the healer is said to create within himself a form of healing energy that he transmits into the body of the patient that allows the latter to regain his/her lost health. A look at the early scientific literature reviews on energy healing shows that data available (especially on putative approach) was extremely ambiguous in nature, and a great deal of further researches was necessary to prove the clinical effectiveness of this form of treatment (Astin, Harkness, and Ernst, 2000).  However, recent reviews also do not derive at any specific evidence that reinforce medical efficiency of these treatments (Abbot, Harkness, Stevinson, Marshall, Conn, and Ernst, 2001). In this context, Edzard Ernst opined, "healing continues to be promoted despite the absence of biological plausibility or convincing clinical evidence…that these methods work therapeutically and plenty to demonstrate that they do not" (2004, 394). A majority of the scientists label these forms of treatment as a form of pseudoscience, which tend to exploit lack of scientific knowledge amongst the common people (Gist and Lubin, 1999). Despite the lack of support from the scientific world primarily of putative approaches, these forms of treatment are fast gaining popularity, especially in US. 1.2 Energy medicines as the medicines of future There are rising instances of contemporary medical sciences and scienti?c researches providing increasing integrity to some of the doctrines and methods used in energy medicines (chiefly for veritable types) while at the same time there is a general discontent amongst common people regarding rising costs and risks involved conventional medicine (Star?eld, 2000). It is mainly for these reasons that energy medicines are being considered as the future medicines where there are contentions that energy medicine might enhance and in some cases even override the conventional clinical methods. From the various reviews, it has been observed that there are six areas where energy medicine may turn out to be the future form of therapy. To understand the future scope of energy medicines it is necessary to focus on these six areas. The conventional form of clinical practice focuses on biochemistry that involves chemical agents and their effects on human cells and organs. Energy medicine, on the other hand focuses on energy ?elds that coordinate and control the healing and further growth of human cells and tissues, while also highlighting processes that affect these energy fields. These differences tend to put energy medicine at a higher notch with a higher strength, when compared to traditional clinical practices. Of these, six major aspects have developed as core areas of strengths within energy medicines that have helped the researcher to establish this therapy as the future form of health-care. The following part now focuses on the six aspects and examines them in details, which reflects as why the energy medicines are fast gaining popularity amongst the general people and also to some extent the traditional medical practitioners. Range or ambit: Since the energy medicines are capable of approaching the human biological mechanisms through the roots of their vital energy flow, it is able to also capable of influencing the complete range of human physical conditions. The human body along with its mechanical components also constitutes a system that is comprised of vital living energy, where it has been seen that human cells produce electromagnetic radiation, with electrical waves governing all human physiological activities, while the human skin releases around 30 photons /cm2/ second (Cajochen et al., 2005) Thus, there are no doubts that energy field play an important part in all human processes. Despite this knowledge, conventional clinical practices, mainly in the western countries, continue focusing only on the biochemistry aspect of a human body and completely disregard for the energy flows and it’s regulating ?elds, and provides medicaments that are chemical in nature along with surgeries, instead of opting for energy medicines. Any form of leading-edge technology does not follow a one-sided approach, thus it is for the betterment of medical sciences that both conventional and energy medicines are given equal considerations while treating patients. In fact, there are suggestions that the effects of the vital energy flow on human gene expression may be at the center of the treatment accorded by energy medicines, which would provide for a substantial range and scope in rejuvenation, and even some cases even helping to prevent the unspecific forms of health issues. Bruce Lipton in his papers had opined that in the last five decades various researches have shown that almost all aspects of biological regulation are influenced by unseen impacts of the electromagnetic wavelength. He further contends that certain particular designs of “electromagnetic radiation regulate DNA, RNA and protein synthesis, alter protein shape and function, and control gene regulation, cell division, cell differentiation, morphogenesis (the process by which cells assemble into organs and tissues), hormone secretion, nerve growth and function,” which are the basic processes associated with “the unfolding of life” (Lipton, 2005, 111). However, the strong association that energy fields have with human life as proven by various researches and “though these research studies have been published in some of the most respected mainstream biomedical journals, their revolutionary ?ndings have not been incorporated into our medical school curriculum” (ibid). Completely ignoring the treatment through energy medicines results in more presumptuous processes that are simultaneously, often unable to locate the fundamental causative processes, which subsequently results in failure to accurately influence these processes and initiate healing. As for example in cases of electromagnetic imbalances in a body there are stimulations that lead to production of chemicals for restoring the lost balance, and the chemical must necessarily be produced only in the appropriate amount and in places where it is required. This is very often seen in cases of estrogen-progesterone imbalance in women. In such scenarios, the energy medium that is designed to release greater quantities of progesterone or estrogen produce electromagnetic signals that makes the body create the required hormone internally. When chemical medicines, specifically for correcting this imbalance, are made to enter the bloodstream, their dosage is chiefly based on averages, and often they have unintended effects on other parts of the body, like increasing in heart disease, strokes, and breast cancer among women who have undergone hormone replacement therapy (Lipton, 2005). In US, around 300000 people die annually owing to the unwarranted side-effects of biochemical medicines taken by the patients as prescribed by the doctors and forms to be one of the major causes of deaths in the country. In a review by the US governmental department of health, it had been derived that “When the number one killer in a society is the health care system, then that system has no excuse except to address its own urgent shortcomings…beginning at its very foundations” (Null, Dean, Feldman, Rasio, and Smith, 2003, 33). The major strength in the ability accorded through treatment by energy medicines which address the drawbacks in conventional healthcare, is in its ambit and its ability to affect the energy fields that form the basis of all human physiological processes in a manner that biochemistry fails to do. Not having a proper framework that directly aims at creating clinical interventions targeting human energy ?elds, contemporary medicine does not propagate procedures with the potential for affecting the determination of human gene expression, necessary for proper diagnosis and prevention of illnesses, and for effective immunity functioning intervention. Effectiveness: Researchers have found that the energy medicines when used as a form of medical intervention can control human physiological processes with better exactitude, quickness, and adaptability. The electromagnetic wavelengths have shown to be 100 times more effective than biochemical mediums like nerve-transmitters and hormones, and in passing information within the human physiological systems (McClare, 1974). McClare derived that while of the human body’s internal chemicals that regulate physiological functions, like hormones, cannot travel more than one centimeter /second, electromagnetic wavelengths have the potential of traveling almost ? th of the distance from earth to moon in that same time period (ibid). Even the signals sent through acupressure or acupuncture move at a greater speed than the human nerve impulses (Cho, Chung, Jones, et al., 1998). Besides the lack of speed, impulses when transferred by chemical dispersal methods are often depleted as the entire process just involves creation and disintegration of biochemical bonds. In this context Lipton claims, “Energy signals are 100 times more ef?cient and in?nitely faster than physical chemical signaling” (2005, 112). The contemporary form of clinical practices do not make avail of the benefits offered by energy medicines where energy flow can transfer information within the human body systems (with some exceptions being optic nerve atrophy, PMS devices, pacemakers, harmonic frequencies for disintegrating kidney stones, magnets for decreasing tendonitis, and facial paralysis). Despite the strong resistance from the conventional medical practitioners against the use of energy medicines, ironically, they have made use of diagnostic devices based on the use of energy where we find various energy-scanning machineries are being used to study the frequencies of cells and chemicals found within human body. Electromyograms or EMGs, electroencephalo-grams or EEGs, computed axial tomography or CAT scans, MRIs, and electrocardiograms or ECGs, are effectively used for diagnosing diseases in a manner that is noninvasive. In the scanned images obtained from the aforementioned techniques, distinction can be easily made of healthy and unhealthy tissues as they both have different electromagnetic properties. Here Lipton maintained that “diseased tissue emits its own unique energy signature, which differs from the energy emitted by surrounding healthy cells,” and he further suggested till date there are enough evidences that show it is possible to create energy frequencies to be used for healing purposes “in much the same way that we now modulate chemical structures with drugs” (2005, 119). The practitioners of energy medicine can distinguish the body’s energy imbalances without use of any devices and can interfere in a manner where wavelengths released by the sick cells and other non-functional systems are changed and enclosed by energy ?elds that bring in a healing effect. Thus, as future therapy we find that energy medicines provide better intervening methods that are noninvasive, non-rigid and more accurate than the chemical medicines and surgeries, while decreasing the time required for the undertaken therapy, and not producing any undesirable side effects. Concern over the practicality of energy medicines: Energy medicine promotes rejuvenation and counters illness with methods that are economically viable, easily available, and applicable in a noninvasive manner. The energy medicine in practice for more than a thousand years in the Eastern world has always been associated with survival and was always connected with the capability of locating and rectifying the imbalances within the human body. Being in use for over a long time, the availability of the energy medicines is not rare, and being mostly natural in form (like herbs) is found quite commonly in the market. Oriental medicinal application is aimed at keeping a person healthy by allowing the energy flow to remain constant and in perfect balance. As Albert Szent-Gyorgyi opined, “In every culture and in every medical tradition before ours, healing was accomplished by moving energy” (1960, 135). According to the traditional Chinese form of medical application, to keep the physical body healthy one must start by keeping the supporting energy ?elds healthy, as disturbances in the energy fields subsequently results in disorders in the human physical body, thus making clear it that to maintain a healthy body one must maintain healthy energy fields. Dawson Church and Norman Shealy had distinguished four different ways through which energy flow could be gradually channelized into the therapeutic processes (Shealy and Church, 2006). The ?rst method represents a process where the energy form is created mechanically, much like the fire spark created when a gas lighter is pressed. Known as the piezo-electricity which refers to the production of electricity at a touch or a press, it is based on the notion that when a correct amount of pressure is applied on specific materials in specific manner, electricity is created. Electric current can also be created by applying pressure on structures that are crystalline in nature, like human bones and collagen. This forms to be the core theory used during acupressure, acupuncture, and the various forms of massages (like Indian Kerala Massage). Here piezoelectrical energy produced by touching or pressing the energy points can be transmitted via the human connective tissues. The second method represents a process where the healing process is initiated by surrounding the damaged tissues with electromagnetic (energy) ?elds. When the magnets or the practitioner’s hands are pressed, touched or even held over the necessary body parts, theoretically the tissue energies can be brought back into balance and harmony. The third method involves passing actual electrical shortwaves through the human body, which is seen in cases of PMS devices and pacemakers. The fourth method, which is actually theoretical in nature, attempts at explaining methods like distance healing and other processes that involves quantum energy fields at a macro-level. The most popular tool used by the energy medicine practitioners are their hands, which touch, press or hold the energy points in the patient’s body to balance and harmonize the energy flow and ?elds. Besides the hands other forms of interventions include magnets, needles, electrical devices, aromas, and crystals, are used as energy medicines. Thus, again we find that the interventions use for treating patients in energy medicines are hands-on methods that are constructed to bring harmonize and balance the energy flow and ?elds in the body. An energy medicine practitioner is able to massage, touch, twist, press, pinch, or link particular energy points on the skin, and since every human beings hands have quantifiable amounts of electromagnetic energy, field effects can be produced by placing or surrounding a specific body part with the hands, or sometimes the practitioners use their hands to shift and coordinate the energy points in the body by tracking the energy flows along the patient’s skin. Such processes that are noninvasive in nature can be used routinely within the future clinical systems based on the principle that any medicinal (energy or clinical) measure that is least invasive in nature and most likely to heal a patient should be the ?rst used. The low-tech methods used while applying energy medicines are quite easily available and highly cost-effective when compared to the traditional form of clinical practice. Approval of the patient: the processes involved within energy medicinal practices are often applicable at home and can be based on self-help, thus forging a stronger bond between the patient and the practitioner in the entire process of therapy. In this therapy the term energy is used in two different ways. In the first, energy forms to be the patient, while according to the second form energy is equivalent to a medicine. The patient’s body is rejuvenated by mobilizing the natural healing body energies (here energy performs the role of the medicine). The patient can also be treated by reinforcing bodily energies that are disturbed, imbalanced weak, disturbed, (here the energy plays the role of the patient). Energy medicine is generally administered under any one or more of the three given frame of references: (1) as a separate form of health care system to take care of the various physical issues; (2) as a counterpart to the contemporary form of healthcare; and (3) as series of processes that require self-help and self-care and help, with or without any continual expert guidance, as for example one can continue with yoga therapy through self-care, even after completion of yoga classes under the guidance of a practitioner. Using the process of self-care, the patients can understand how specific key energy systems can become imbalanced, and can learn to apply the correct techniques, which would help to create a naturally resistant energy flow for disease prevention. Even though the contemporary form of medicine does advocate healthy eating, physical exercise, alleviation of stress, and procedures that promote quality health, the basic processes are dependent on chemical medicines, harmful radiations, and surgical interventions, which are ultimately prescribed by the physicians, thus not promoting self-care or self-help in any form. Energy medicines, however, promoting the vital energy fields as living forces provides large scope for self-administrations. The body’s energy fields being found freely and being common to all, the practitioners of energy medicine inspire people to channelize the energy flow to prevent diseases and lead a healthy life. Quantum consonance: in the theory of Energy medicine there are various abstract concepts like healing through prayers, distant rejuvenation, while the aims and objectives of the healing process plays a major role in the entire procedure. According to the formula as derived by Einstein in 1905 it was shown that matter and energy and interchangeable. With the comprehension that the atoms and molecules discovered many years ago were nothing but energy packets with their own spin rates, negative and positive charges, and vibrating modes, it has led to the invention of computers, mobiles, televisions, all of which had their origins based on the science of electromagnetic energy and its effects. With more researches into the building blocks of life, there are further claims instead of matter being composed of particles it is more likely that it is akin to energy strings that are continually vibrating (Greene, 2003). Thus, it leads to a derivation where one can assume that a physical body is also vibrating in resonance with the various vibrating energy strings located in the surrounding atmosphere, showing the importance of energy medicines in maintaining this harmony in vibration. Even though the contemporary medicines have lately introduced some of the interventions based on use of energy fields, scientists in other academic circles are conducting researches into the arena of energy and matter and their correlation with human bodies. Some such works acknowledge the fact that there are energy fields with power which are “totally unlike any of those presently known” (Becker, 2004, 17) and they can transfer or even hold information in a unique manner, show certain quantum properties (as theorized in distant healing techniques and in methods for interaction with human consciousness). It has been contended that even though the quantum forces found naturally influence only the subatomic world, there are energy ?elds (theorized) whose influence on the human physiological systems work from far via “macroscopic quantum interactions” (Rein, 2004, 75), that may involve the techniques of distant rejuvenation and healing through prayers as observed under energy medicines. Thus, with further researches and greater insights into concepts related to matter and energy, along with the study of quantum sciences, energy medicines are likely to hold a stronger sway over the conventional from of medicines in the future, in the context of quantum consonance. A Comprehensive approach: since energy medicine works towards fortifying and integrating body, mind and soul of an individual, while focusing not only on rejuvenating, but also on the overall physical and mental well-being of that individual. One important difference that is observed between contemporary form of medicine and energy medicines in the procedures followed for diagnosing diseases and later treating them. In energy medicine an individual is viewed as integrated system of energy fields and flows that are able to affect a person’s mind, body and soul. And here the diagnosis is based on checking the break and imbalances in the patient’s energy flow. As for example some researchers contend that, in cases of malignancy, the body energy fields seem to become disjoint and appear completely disorganized and in cases of multiple sclerosis, they seem to become too ordered rendering them completely rigid (Cohen and Popp, 1997). Thus, in energy medicines, treatment involves not in treating the disease but in correcting the imbalances seen within energy fields. The diseases symptoms are not seen as areas of main focus and are simply for tracing the type of imbalances while it also helps to measure the success rate of the used treatment. As for example in energy medicines for heart ailments the practitioners target the energy systems that influence the functioning of heart (systemic energies running throughout the body and not always restrained to the heart); on the other hand contemporary form of clinical medicine treats heart disease by keeping the organ in focus which makes medicines and surgical intervention the only choice. Energy medicines are capable of providing various processes, the application of which may instantly affect the entire body, and this overall effect of energy interventions is possible through the human connective tissue, which forms to be the mode of communication, in some cases. In this context Church opined, “Every organ of your body is encased within the body’s largest organ, which functions as a liquid crystal semiconductor [which transmits information by allowing] “to store energy, amplify signals, filter information, and to move information in one direction but not in another” (Church, 2007, 137-138). Using this connective tissue as a semiconductor, the energy medicine applications can be passed onto each cell, tissue and organ within the body. Unlike the chemical medications that often have harmful effects on other organs as they are carried through the blood stream to reach the target organ or cell, energy medicines when applied, are transferred through the connective tissue, thus information is passed at the same time throughout the entire body. This makes way for the introduced energies to match with the patient’s energy system, which results in compatible self-help and self-administration. There have been no reports of any negative side effects from interventions by well-trained practitioners with only complaints being problems associated with large amounts of energy being transferred too rapidly for a sick person to adjust quickly. Thus we find that energy medicines not only create a scope for fast signaling motions widening the body, which, as per the practitioners, are without any adverse side effects, they are, as an overall, more holistic in their performances that aim at integrating the mind, soul and body. The link between an individual’s mind and his physical health has been long proven. This is particularly evident in a longitudinal research study for up to 35 years, where it was derived that individuals showing constant pessimism faced greater risk of falling sick than individuals having an optimistic thinking process (Peterson, Seligman, and Vaillant, 1988). The mental thought processes have a strong and direct influence on the human biological processes and any form of concentration desire intention can actually loosen or tighten the DNA strands. This has led to a presumption that DNA may be playing a role similar to that of an antenna where it adjusts to the body’s energy ?elds and mental processes, ultimately affecting human gene expression (McCraty, Atkinson, Tomasino, 2003). Thus, here we find attempts to integrate psychological processes and Energy medicine where the researchers aim to modulate the energies that affect one’s psychology. This approach, if appropriately researched and used effectively in the future to handle psychiatric issues and emotional problems, it would actually help in advocating healthy mental functioning of the patient, without any adverse side effects, often seen in patients being treated by chemical drugs for depression, like drowsiness. This gives energy medicines a powerful tool for applying their working principles created within the traditional norms of behavioral sciences. Thus, again we find that energy medicines, if further researched, hold a distinct possibility of turning into the future medicine or can even work in collaboration with the contemporary health care system for providing better medical services to the common people. Integrating modern technologies like digital sound therapy, where sound is reproduced through modulations of pulse-codes and digital signals emitted from a body, in this case it can be used for reproducing the sound energies emitted from human bodies (as we have already seen energy released from different diseased cells are different). Nanotechnology is another modern application recently introduced in medical sciences that uses the nanoparticles (small energy particles as already discussed) for transmitting the drugs, or other forms of energy like light and heat, or any other substances to the particular target cells (primarily cancer cells). One of the earliest use of nanoparticles was through the application of nanocrystalline silver, an antimicrobial agent used healing wounds. Recently nanoparticles are being used for carrying drugs to reach the diseased tissues or cells, without damaging any other healthy cells in the way, thus allowing for direct treatment of malignant cells. This technique also allows for early cancer disease, leading to saving of many lives (it has been speculated that Quantum Dots or qdots can be applied in the future for distinguishing malignant cysts, and may become the future diagnostic tests for cancer tissues or cells). Thus, again we find a scope for integration of energy particles (energy medicine) within the realms of medicinal sciences that can further developed in the future to offer even better clinical services. 1.3 Conclusion The health care system, worldwide, has been undergoing continuous transformations and developing persistently for past almost two centuries. Various technological innovations have changed the entire scenario of the medical world, which is now based on extremely sophisticated and hi-tech form of equipment and medications. A look at the ancient history of medicine, however, shows us that medical care then was primarily based on natural products, like medicinal plants, oils from flowers, herbs, and natural foods were used in healing. Human emotions were given a great deal of significance as it was considered to have a strong impact on one’s health and was often used as a mechanism for rejuvenating the physical body. Presently the developments in technological innovations have gained prominence and now occupy a large within the medical sciences, and human bodies were turned into machines to be repaired mechanically as and when necessary. In the meanwhile, all things natural were suddenly termed as inconsequential. However presently there has been an increase in interest in the applicability of Energy medicines amongst the general people (owing to rising costs of contemporary medicines and deaths from side effects of prescribed drugs), and amongst the researchers where various studies on energy fields within human bodies have been made. Introduction of electromagnetic field and electric shortwave based EKGs and EEGs, CAT scans and MRIs are some of the new energy based technologies used by the contemporary physicians to measure energy patterns of the patient’s cells and organs. However, it must be remembered that energy moves throughout the entire body, and not just through some organs. Every movement that a body makes, and even the mental processes of a human being is actually based on energy fields and flows. To remain one must keep the energy flow in a balanced pattern and in harmony with all surrounding energies. Chemical medicines often tend to have undesired effects on various parts of the body, other than the target organs, also proving to be fatal at times. Energy medicine is completely natural in form, which works by synchronizing with the patient’s body and his energy patterns that he himself has created (the concept of pessimistic and optimistic personalities), helping that person to achieve the proper balance as and when required, and rejuvenating when it is possible. It also helps the patients to become more aware of his body and comprehend his energy flows and fields to be able to control them better. Thus, it helps a person achieve a holistic health (both, mental and physical) though self-care and self-help and is indeed medicine for the future. A well-balanced integration between contemporary medicine and the ancient form of healing through use of energy points is the best procedure for optimizing healing processes and health care systems, and achieving an overall good health for the general people. References Abbot, N., Harkness, E., Stevinson, C., Marshall, F., Conn, D., Ernst, E. (2001). Spiritual healing as a therapy for chronic pain: a randomized, clinical trial. Pain 91 (1-2), 79–89. Astin, J., Harkness, E., Ernst, E. (2000). The Efficacy of "Distant Healing”: A Systematic Review of Randomized Trials. Ann. Internal Medicine 132 (11), 903–910.  Becker, R. (2004). Exploring new horizons in electromedicine. J Altern Complement Med. 10 (1):17-18. Cajochen, C., et al. (2005). High Sensitivity of Human Melatonin, Alertness, Thermoregulation, and Heart Rate to Short Wavelength Light. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, vol. 90 no. 3, 1311-1316. Church D. (2007). The Genie in Your Genes: Epigenetic Medicine and the New Biology of Intention. Santa Rosa, CA: Elite. Cohen, S, and Popp F. (1997). Biophoton emission of the human body. J Photochem Photobiol B. 40(2):187-189. Cho, Z., Chung, S., Jones, J., et al. (1998). New ?ndings of the correlation between acupoints and corresponding brain cortices using functional MRI. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 95(5): 2670-2673. Greene B. (2003). The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. New York: Norton. McClare, C. (1974). Resonance in bioenergetics. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 227, 74–97 [PubMed]. Daulby, M., and Mathison, C. (1996). Guide to Spiritual Healing. Brockhampton Press. Ernst E. (2006). Spiritual healing: more than meets the eye. J Pain Symptom Manage, 32 (5): 393–5. Gist, R., and Lubin, B. (1999). Response to disaster: psychosocial, community, and ecological approaches in clinical and community psychology. Ann Arbour, MI: Psychology Press. Lipton B. (2005). The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles. Santa Rosa, CA: Elite. Markov, M. (2007). Expanding Use of Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Therapies. Electromagnetic Biology & Medicine 26.3 (2007): 257–274. McCraty, R., Atkinson, M., Tomasino, D. (2003). Modulation of DNA conformation by heart-focused intention. Publication No. 03-008. Boulder Creek, CA. Retrieved from, http://www.vitality-living.com/resources/Modulation_of_DNA.pdf. [Accessed 14th January 2011] NCCAM. (2005). What Is Complementary and Alternative Medicine? Retrieved from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/ [Accessed 10th January 2011] Null, G., Dean, C., Feldman, M., Rasio, D., and Smith, D. (2003). Death by Medicine. New York: Nutrition Institute of America. Peterson, C., Seligman, M., and Vaillant, G. (1988). Pessimistic explanatory style is a risk factor for physical illness: a thirty-?ve-year longitudinal study. J Pers Soc Psychol. 55(1):23-27. Rein G. (2004). Bioinformation within the biofield: beyond bioelectromagnetics. J Altern Complement Med. 10(1):59-68. Simmons, J., Mooney, V., and Thacker, I. (2004). Pseudarthrosis after lumbar spine fusion: nonoperative salvage with pulsed electromagnetic fields. American Journal of Orthopedics, 33.1, 27–30. Shealy, C., and Church, D. (2006). Soul Medicine: Awakening Your Inner Blueprint for Abundant Health and Energy. Santa Rosa, CA: Elite. Star?eld B. (2000). Is US health really the best in the world? JAMA 284(4):483-485. Szent-Gyorgyi A. (1960). Introduction to a Submolecular Biology. New York: Academic Press. Vallbona, C., and Richards, T. (1999). Evolution of magnetic therapy from alternative to traditional medicine. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America, 10(3):729-754. Read More