On the one hand, an organism is similar to a crystalline structure of ordered biomolecules. Many practitioners of biofield therapies can also assess imbalances in the human biofield either with their hands or intuitively. Additionally, biofield therapies incorporate notions of a universal life energy, as in Reiki (a form of Japanese spiritual healing), qigong therapy, and many other types of human energy healing performed today. Nonetheless, considerable similarities exist between ancient concepts of the life force and modern biofield concepts in their assumption that a form of life-giving energy flows throughout the body and that illness arises as a result of blockages, excesses, or irregularities in its flow. The important difference between traditional and modern views of the vital force is that the biofield rests on physical principles and can be measured, whereas the traditional concepts remain metaphysical. They may actually refer to something similar to the present-day concept of the biofield, which is, at least in part, based on the electromagnetic field theory of modern physics but, in principle, might also include acoustic and possibly other subtler energy fields not yet known to science. Called by many names, including prana in Ayurvedic medicine and qi in Chinese medicine, these indigenous terms go back thousands of years. Indigenous systems of healing such as Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine and modern modalities such as chiropractic rest on concepts of a vital force or subtle life energy that is central to healing. In this view, the essence of life is seen as a metaphysical, irreducible life force that cannot be measured. Needless to say, the concept of an organizing field in biology and medicine evokes shades of vitalism, an old philosophical concept in the West from the 1600s that was overthrown in nineteenth-century science. At the highest level of organization, each life form may possess an innate biologic field, or biofield, a complex, dynamic, weak energy field involved in maintaining the integrity of the whole organism, regulating its physiologic and biochemical responses, and integral to development, healing, and regeneration (Rubik, 1993, 1997, 2002b).

Living systems may be regarded as complex, nonlinear, dynamic, self-organizing systems of energetic and field phenomena. Then, the mystery of embryonic development from the fertilized egg to an organized integral animal should be considered, which may also involve innate energy fields, starting with the initial polarization of the fertilized egg.Īlthough these phenomena involve an integral and dynamic wholeness that challenge the power of molecular explanation, another biophysical view of life has been offered that may help explain them. These fields may be beneficial (therapeutic), deleterious (electromagnetic pollution), or neutral. Another mystery is that living organisms respond to extremely low-level nonionizing electromagnetic fields, displaying a variety of effects ranging from cellular and subcellular scales to the level of brain, emotions, and behavior. Moreover, other mysteries in biology and medicine exist that appear to involve interacting energetic fields, including the mystery of regenerative healing in animals, sometimes associated with innate electromagnetic energy fields that have been measured (Becker, 1960, 1961) and sometimes actually stimulated with external low-level energy fields (Becker, 1972 Smith, 1967). Another influence is that they may transfer bioinformation carried by very small energy signals interacting directly with the energy fields of life, which is more recently known as the biofield (Rubik et al, 1994). One possible influence of biofield phenomena is that they may act directly on molecular structures, changing the conformation of molecules in functionally significant ways.

Many of these modalities challenge the dominant biomedical paradigm because they cannot be explained by the usual biochemical mechanisms. They include human energy therapies, homeopathy, acupuncture, magnet therapy, bioelectromagnetic therapy, electrodermal therapy, and phototherapy, among others. These therapies typically involve low-level energy field interactions. Energy medicine is one of the major categories of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

Human japanese light