Biofield Therapy

Tiffany J Barsotti et al. (2023) · Explore (New York, N.Y.)

This exploratory study investigates the effects of encountering a sacred object, specifically the Sri Yantra / Durga Stone, on human biofield responses. The significance of this research lies in its potential to bridge traditional healing practices with modern scientific understanding, particularly in the context of enhancing well-being through sacred objects. The study aims to explore how such encounters influence emotional and physical health, addressing a gap in existing literature regarding the biofield and sacred spaces. The study employed a pre-post single group design with a sample size of 17 participants, aged 38 to 79, consisting of 12 women and 5 men, all of whom provided informed consent. Participants engaged with the sacred object by placing their hand on the Sri Yantra / Durga Stone for up to 3 minutes, optionally reciting a mantra. Outcomes were measured using a Bio-Well device, which assessed emotional pressure, energy levels, and readings from various organ systems before and after the encounter. The intervention was conducted at the Sri Narayani Golden Temple in Vellore, India, with no specific treatment provided beyond the encounter itself. Results indicated a significant increase in the overall Bio-Well energy state, with baseline levels of 53.78 significantly lower than pre-exposure levels of 60.54 (p = 0.005) and post-exposure levels of 66.78 (p < 0.001). Significant changes were also observed in cardiovascular (F(2,32) = 11.441, p < 0.001) and endocrine system assessments (F(2,32) = 10.34, p = 0.001). However, emotional pressure and left/right symmetry measures did not show significant changes (p = 0.017 and p = 0.156, respectively). Participants reported enhanced feelings of energy, emotional balance, and a sense of peace, with no adverse events noted during the study. The findings suggest that exposure to sacred objects may enhance emotional and physical well-being, indicating potential therapeutic applications in clinical settings. However, the study's limitations include the absence of a control group and the short duration of exposure, which may affect the validity and generalizability of the results. Practitioners may consider incorporating similar interventions into therapeutic practices to explore their benefits further. Future research should include control conditions and longer engagement times with sacred objects to better assess their effects on the human biofield and overall health.

Beverly Rubik et al. (2015) · Global advances in health and medicine

This foundational paper set out to define a single question: what exactly is the biofield? The authors — four researchers who helped establish the field — describe it as a complex organizing field of energy and information engaged in generating, maintaining, and regulating the body's self-balancing processes (homeodynamics). The term was coined in 1992 to give scientists and practitioners of energy medicine a common word for what traditions have long called qi (the vital functional energy of Chinese medicine) or prana (the life force in Indian traditions). Rather than running an experiment, the paper maps the concept's history and terminology. It shows how the idea grew out of vitalism (the historical view that living things carry a distinctive organizing force) into something researchers can study at many scales — from ultra-weak light emissions of cells (biophotons) to the electrical fields of the heart and brain that hospitals already measure every day with ECG and EEG machines. The authors' central move is connecting three worlds that rarely talk to each other: spiritual traditions describing energy pathways in the body, hands-on healing practices meant to support that flow, and laboratory biology showing that electromagnetic fields genuinely participate in development and tissue repair. They are careful about what this does and does not prove: the biofield is presented as a working concept and even a scientific metaphor — a hypothesis-generating tool — not an established mechanism. There are no statistics, patients, or outcomes here, and no health condition is addressed; the evidence level is expert synthesis. The paper's value is as the terminology cornerstone of biofield research: nearly every later study of Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, or energy healing devices builds on the definitions established in this supplement.