The field of energy healing has been around for centuries in Eastern cultures and is becoming more mainstream on this side of the globe too. There’s also a lot of confusion around it. What is it, exactly? Are there credible studies on it? Isn’t it just a little bit…woo-woo? And, does my holistic doctor practice it too?

Let’s start with its definition. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), the government’s lead agency for research on non-conventional medicine, energy medicine (or biofield therapies) is the act of channelling and manipulating the energy that courses through your body to heal it. This can reportedly be done with hands-on practices, such as acupuncture and Reiki, as well as sensory-based experiences, like the use of crystals, sound baths, and aromatherapy. While some of this might sound too “out there” for you, some of it does have some credibility.

The Medical Theory

Energy practitioners believe that your body is instilled with subtle energy—or animating life force—the flow of which must be balanced for good health. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), this force is called qi (pronounced “chee”). Johns Hopkins Medicine also states that in Ayurvedic medicine, which originated in India, this energy is represented in the doshas—three energies (Vata, pitta, and Kapha) that provide every person’s makeup. The basis of energy medicine is removing blocks in your body’s energetic field that can cause poor health.

Energy medicine has been around for thousands of years. But even with its long history, people find it hard to wrap their heads around energy medicine, said licensed acupuncturist, clinical herbalist, and doctor of Chinese medicine Jill Blakeway, author of the book “Energy Medicine: The Science and Mystery of Healing.”

This is not helped by the fact that this field is, as Blakeway said bluntly, “rife with quackery.” Anyone can call themselves an energy healer, said Blakeway, a funny, forthcoming Brit. Who works with MDs and is the opposite of woo-woo. “While practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine are licensed and do either a four-year masters or a five-year doctorate, there are no minimum standards for most other types of energy work.”

Gathering Evidence

These days, it seems like everyone in the wellness world is heading into the mystic. But it’s not just trendy celebrity spirit warriors who have energy healers on speed dial. Some of the country’s best hospitals are hiring them too. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center offers acupuncture to its patients. Duke University Health System has acupuncture, yoga therapy, and massage therapy on its menu of services. And Mayo Clinic’s campus in Rochester, Minnesota, offers Reiki.

UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Health offers a line-up of classes and medical staff who specialize in energy healing areas, including Ayurveda, TCM, and acupuncture. And New York-Presbyterian provides aromatherapy for stress reduction along with various mind-body techniques like meditation and breathing exercises.

Some forms of energy medicine are backed by research. Acupuncture—skillfully placing very thin needles in specific spots on the body—is supported by solid studies on several health issues. For example, a 2022 review of the literature published in the journal Medical Acupuncture suggests that acupuncture is a safe adjunct to other treatments to help reduce pain and disability in people with low back pain.

And despite acupuncture involving needles, it tends to elicit a relaxation response. Blakeway’s patients sometimes ask her, “What do you put in the needles?”. They become so calm during her sessions, that they assume she’s coated her needles with a sedative.

Reiki—a technique that involves a practitioner placing their hands either just above your body or lightly touching it—has also been shown to be an effective pain-reducer, according to a 2018 review of the literature published in the journal Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice.

The Power of Belief

Of course, some of the healing benefits patients may report arising from the so-called placebo effect. In which the brain convinces the body that a particular treatment will work, and then it does.

According to the NCCIH, “the placebo effect is a beneficial health outcome resulting from a person’s anticipation that an intervention will help.” For example, the placebo effect may result in less pain or fatigue.

How the effect works exactly is still a mystery, but according to 2020 research published in The Lancet, it may involve a burst of feel-good neurotransmitters like dopamine and endorphins. And a 2021 study in the journal Nature suggests that many areas of the brain are involved in placebo-mediated pain control.

Even Blakeway admits that energy healing likely contains an element of placebo—so if you believe it will work, it’s more likely to work. But as she points out, if it’s functioning as part of the healing process, why fear it?

Dr Lin said that when she was in med school, she was taught a simple formula. Identify a disease by listening to the symptoms, then treat it with drugs. Now that she has moved into energy healing, the first question she tries to answer is. What is triggering the illness? “Then we try and remove that trigger,” said Dr Lin.

Energy healing requires you to listen carefully to what your body is telling you, added Dr Orloff. “That’s the beauty of it. It’s about tapping into your intuition and ability to heal.”