Distance Energy Work – Part 1
Does distance healing/energy work actually work? Perhaps the best resource I have in my library right now is the book “Reinventing Medicine” by Larry Dossey, MD.
In his book, Dr. Dossey documents the research that has been done in non-local communication and healing. Since its publication in 1999, I would imagine there have been additional studies done and more theory added, but I decided to use this publication as a start for what has been done to show that non-local healing is possible.
Dr. Dossey introduces in his book, the concept that the human mind is “non-local.” That is, that “consciousness can free itself from the body and that it has the potential to act not just locally on one’s own body, but also nonlocally on distant things, events, and people, even though they may be unaware that they are being influenced.”
In Chapter 2, “The Case for Nonlocality,” some results from a 1997 Harvard University-hosted conference called “Intercessory Prayer and Distant Healing Intention: Clinical and Laboratory Research” are discussed. The research presented at this conference was all intended to test whether or not individuals could mentally help heal distant persons who were unaware that they were doing so.
One study (a controlled, double blind study) done by Dr. Elisabeth Targ and colleagues at California Pacific Medical Center tested whether distance healing had a therapeutic effect on health in AIDS when subjects did not know they were receiving treatment. Healers from eight different healing traditions: Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Native American, shamanic practices, bioenergetics and meditative healing schools focused their mental energy on a patient’s health for 1 hour a day, six days a week for 10 weeks.
Compared to the control group, patients receiving distant healing intentions had undergone fewer new AIDS-related illnesses, had less severe illnesses, required fewer doctor visits, fewer hospitalizations, and fewer days of hospitalization. They also showed significantly improved mood compared with controls.
Other studies had similar outcomes. People who were being prayed for had statistically better outcomes than those who were not, regardless of the religious affiliation of the person doing the praying. Studies of quigong masters showed an ability to alter biochemical processes in tissue samples taken from animals.
One thing of note is that not all healers performed as well in the tests. Those who performed better were people who had made a committment to practicing and learning the healing methods, as well as applying them in their own personal lives.