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THIS MONTHS FEATURED SPEAKERS CORNER
A Tentative Mechanism for Healing
by Toni Bunnell PhD – Submitted by Ann Williams-Fitzgerald
Introduction
A criticism often levelled at healing, hands-on healing, bioenergy
therapy, therapeutic touch, or whatever you choose to call it, is that
there is little irrefutable proof that healing per se is effective; Also,
that of the few scientific studies conducted, most could not be considered
due to poor experimental design, making them invalid. This, in fact, is
not the case and many examples of sound research into healing have been
documented by Daniel Benor.
1 My own research into the effects of hands-on healing on enzyme
activity has been published2 and subsequent work has confirmed the
original findings (submitted for publication).
Tuning in before healing
Studies have shown that the vibrations from rhythmic sounds
have a profound effect on brain activity. In shamanic traditions, drums
were used in periodic rhythm to transport the shaman into other realms of
reality. Like sound waves, the brain has its own set of vibrations which
it uses to communicate with itself and the rest of the body; EEG equipment
distinguishes these waves by measuring the speed with which neurons (nerve
cells) fire in cycles per second. Alpha brain waves range between 7 - 12
Hz, which causes deep relaxation.3
Before a healer commences healing s/he centres themselves and
tunes in with the person receiving healing (the healee). Studies have
shown that a person healing with intent will typically exhibit a (alpha)
brain waves as demonstrated using an EEG and known as the a state.
Studies have also shown that during healing the healer's
alpha brainwaves synchronise with those of the healee, so both will be
resonating at the same frequency (sympathetic resonance).4 In other words,
channelling energy through the healer and to the healee involves both
being in the a state.
Sympathetic resonance, as with the strings on a Hardanger
fiddle or Hurdy Gurdy (vielle), or indeed the solid material of a bridge
when marching soldiers fail to break step, results in constructive
interference taking place. Constructive interference is when two wave
forms produced in separate 'structures' resonate in sympathy and, in so
doing, increase the amplitude of the wave form without altering its
frequency. In the case of the bridge, this can eventually result in the
collapse of the bridge. In the case of the human brain might it facilitate
the transmission of a signal(s) from the brain to the body via the A.N.S.
for instance?
Tapping the universal energy source
Alpha is also the home of the window frequency known as the
Schuman Resonance, which is the vibrational frequency of the earth's
electromagnetic field (emf). This means that the brain waves of a person
in the alpha state will resonate in sympathy with the earth's emf
producing constructive interference which amplifies the vibration. This
might explain how healers (having tuned into the healee) are able to draw
on energy (universal energy source?) from outside themselves i.e. channel
energy through them to the healee. It also might explain the discrepancy
between the magnitude of the biomagnetic field produced by the hand during
healing (at least 1000 times greater than that of normal human
bio-magnetism when healing is not taking place) and the corresponding
'electric' current which is detected flowing through the hands i.e. the
extraordinary large bio-magnetic field strength was shown not to derive
from internal body current alone.5 The above phenomenon only seems odd if
we attribute the human biofield solely to electricity produced within the
human body. Surmising that the extra large field produced during healing
might be produced by drawing on the 'infinite energy source' via the
Schuman resonance makes much more sense.
The discovery of millions of crystals in the cells of the
brain suggests that the brain might be able to tune in (similar to a radio
receiver) to the surrounding earth's emf, the crystals providing the
vibratory link between the earth's emf and the alpha brain waves,
resulting in the Schuman Resonance. The transmission of waves from the
brain throughout the body - in possibly a similar way to transmission of
radio waves from a radio tuned to a certain frequency - could help the
body achieve its own particular resonant frequency thought to achieve, or
be conducive to, optimal health.
Also, under normal, healthy circumstances, does the brain
transmit correct frequencies to all cells of the body to keep them
resonating at the optimal frequency? If, for some reason, the cells begin
to oscillate at a less than optimal frequency due to: localised injury,
emotional trauma, magnetic field deficiency etc., then hands-on healing
may be exerting its effect by jump-starting the system to redirect
(divert) energy flow. Following a myocardial infarction (heart attack),
electrical waves travelling through the heart muscle have to re-route
themselves round the area of damaged cardiac muscle so that the heart can
display normal rhythmia once more.
To sum up, channelling of energy through the healer to the
healee involves both being in the alpha state, with the healer tuned into
the earth's emf via the Schuman Resonance.
Magnetic Field Deficiency Syndrome
The importance of existing in harmony with the earth's natural emf
has been brought to our attention with the emergence of diseases
attributed to magnetic field deficiency syndrome, such as many
degenerative diseases, certain types of memory loss, or conditions such as
M.E.
Human beings, and all other living creatures, have their own
electrical-magnetic energy balance. Since our first appearance on the
planet, we have also encountered external emfs. The human body floats in a
sea of magnetic fields - those of the earth, moon, sun and other galactic
fields.6 The earth itself has an iron core that generates a halo of
electromagnetic energy, reaching far beyond our atmosphere. All life on
earth has adapted to and existed in this natural electromagnetic
environment for millions of years.
The body is full of magnetisable materials, such as iron in
the haemoglobin of the blood. The biomagnetic fields of the body have been
measured using SQUIDS (super-conducting quantum interference devices) and
found to be 100,000 times weaker than the earth's fields.7 We are so
dependent on the earth's fields that when we leave the planet for
prolonged periods we suffer. Astronauts in space for long periods require
artificial magnetic fields to maintain health.
In the last one hundred years we have radically altered our
environment with human-made emfs with a different waveform, coherence, and
frequency to natural emfs, and their effects on living biological systems
are only just beginning to be understood. Naturally-occurring emfs do not
seem to significantly alter the body's innate electromagnetic balance and
are thought to be necessary for its proper functioning.8 Most concern
comes from alternating currents (AC electricity) which create an energy
field that is both electrical and magnetic. Electrical fields are of
little concern as they do not penetrate the body, while ac magnetic fields
do penetrate organisms.
Nature of the Healing Energy
John Zimmerman at the University of Colorado has adapted a
machine to measure the brain's magnetic field to monitor the entire body.
When a trained healer attempts to heal, Zimmerman observes distinct
changes in the body's fields. Signals up to several hundred times larger
than background noise appear while the healer works. Some seem to be
associated with frequencies in the range of alpha and theta waves as seen
in the brain. As the signals' frequencies decrease in cycles per second,
their amplitudes increase.7
Also, William Tiller at Stanford University, CA, reported in
1986 that he had constructed a device that released bursts of electrons in
response to focused healing energy from a healer's hands. The device was
in a Faraday cage which shields it from any form of electromagnetic energy
such as radio, microwave, infrared, visible light, UV, X-rays or Gamma
rays. 70 volt pulses of electricity were produced at will by healers'
hands and recorded.
Professor Fritz-Albert Popp, a well-known biophysicist at
Kaiserslautern University, Germany, states that:
"All living organisms emit certain electromagnetic waves. If they
are in a healthy condition, they emit more. If not, they emit less. This
electromagnetic emission is called biophotons."
Glen Rein, a biophysicist at the Institute of HeartMath, CA,
has been doing some work on detecting subtle energies. He calls this
energy non-Herzian or scalar energy (after maverick scientist Thomas
Bearden's theories). He found that exposing neurons (nerve cells),
cultured in a petri dish, to healing energy, caused them to fire in their
synapses (gaps between the neurons); that is, impulses passed along the
nerves, and from one nerve to another, when they were exposed to the
scalar energy.
A survey of the literature suggests that 'scalar' energy is
the most appropriate description of healing energy up-to-date, as it
allows for the fact that healing energy has been shown to be not part of
the electromagnetic spectrum as we understand it. According to Robert
Jacobs,9 scalar waves are capable of acting on living organisms at a
sub-atomic level, and certain frequencies of scalar have been shown to
destroy viruses and bacteria. The most efficient use of scalar waves
appears to be when the body is exposed en masse to a sweeping range of
beneficial frequencies (similar to those delivered by a healer), which
enhances its own healthy resonance and helps to restore energetic order.
Experiments involving the Canadian healer Olga Worrell showed
her hand temperature, during healing, to remain normal and constant. The
absence of thermal transfer led Clyde Ford, one of the researchers, to
speculate that biological microwaves or an organising field might be
transferred from the healer.10
The absence of a temperature rise in the air surrounding a
healer's hands has also been recorded using a thermistor. Jochen Edrich of
the University of Colorado reported that "Since microwave emissions can be
detected at depths well below the surface of the skin, we felt this would
be the best region for diagnostic monitoring of biological radiation."
Tissue under stress emits increased levels of microwave radiation.
Although the difference is small, it can be detected by a radiometer.
Edrich used this technique to detect areas where tumour growth had caused
tissue stress. Microwaves may help to account for reports from healers
that they can sense/feel problem areas in the body, during scanning of the
body during healing. They may also explain sensations of heat reported by
healees during healing.11
Fire and electricity convey heat to a substance, but
microwaves induce heat within a substance by altering its molecular
motion. This altered molecular motion might be the mechanism of
unconventional healing. Internal sensations of heat generated by
microwaves would not necessarily be detected on the surface.
As James Oschman so ably recounts in his excellent series of
articles on healing energy,12 Zimmerman, observing biofields produced by a
healer's hand, recorded a pulsed signal of variable frequency ranging from
0.3 to 30Hz, with most of the activity in the range of 7-8 Hz.13 The
signal emitted is not steady or constant, but rather sweeps through a
range of frequencies. This range covers the low frequency pulses produced
by some pieces of physiotherapy equipment used for soft tissue
regeneration etc. Only healers were able to produce the biomagnetic
pulses.12
How Healing Energy Acts Upon the Body
So far then, we can see that healing may be operating in two
ways, one by inducing the alpha state in the healee and the other by the
direct action of healing energy upon the body. As the body is thought not
to consist of dense matter but rather vortices of energy spinning
continuously,14 the boundary between the physical body and the etheric
body becomes less distinct. However, I will endeavour, where possible, to
be specific regarding which part of the body I am referring to.
The pulsed biomagnetic signal produced by a healer's hands
can penetrate body tissue with ease, a phenomenon which is made use of
during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnostic procedures in
hospitals. In addition, the use of an electric coil positioned round a
broken bone that refuses to heal, will produce a magnetic field which
stimulates bone cells to begin dividing again. I saw this latter procedure
in action while living in Heidelberg, Germany in 1980, when a friend of
mine had opted to use the (then) controversial treatment for an upper-arm
fracture that refused to heal, and had to pay for it herself as it was
unrecognised by the medical profession and hence the medical insurance
company.
In addition to the transmission of a signal from brain/mind
to the body via the ANS, the healing energy might also travel via
connective tissue/fascia, the tissue found to have its own pulsing
activity,15 a fact made use of during cranio-sacral therapy.
The healing energy could access the body via the biomagnetic
field (aura), a slight misnomer as this implies a solid physical body
surrounded by a biofield, when the current thinking is that our 'dense'
bodies consist of vortices of energy14 vibrating at very high frequency
and giving the appearance of hard matter.
Healing energy could be carried round the body by (a)
magnetising the blood, (the iron content of haemoglobin being reported by
Linus Pauling as conferring magnetic properties on the blood), (b) the
ionic current created by the electrolytes in the plasma of the blood
(dissolved sodium, chloride, potassium, bicarbonate), (c) proteins which
serve as semi-conductors, (d) the nerves, (e) the fascia (connective
tissue and sheaths surrounding the spinal cord etc.), and (f) water.
The human body consists of approximately 70% water. Many
biologically active compounds are switched on or off by changes in the
concentrations of dissolved ions such as sodium and potassium. Individual
water molecules, with their tendency to form hydrogen bonds, also
stabilise the structure of proteins, whose action depends crucially on
their shape.16
If the hydrogen bonding angles of one molecule are altered,
those in the other molecules might be expected to follow suit (as in a
domino effect). Alteration of bonding angles shown to follow healing17&18
might also be the way in which homeopathy works, when the resonant
frequency of certain plants is thought to electromagnetically imprint upon
the water following potentisation and succussion of remedies.
Sweeping/scanning of the body during healing could result in
re-magnetising of the blood. This could have the two-fold action of
transferring healing energy throughout the body via the circulation to
parts where it is needed, and of helping to restore the particular
vibrational frequency of the person receiving healing.
Vibration of the body will occur as a whole, at a very minute
level, affecting water molecules, individual cells and helping to restore
the normal L-field19 and resonant frequency of DNA within the nucleus. It
was Linus Pauling in the 1920s who first pointed out that at the heart of
the covalent hydrogen bond is resonance.20 As the hydrogen bond is an
integral part of water molecules, enzymes, DNA, all food substances etc.,
it follows that if healing energy affects this bond it will be able to
influence every part of the body, in particular DNA and enzyme activity.2
Also, is it possible that the vibrational frequency of water molecules is
unique for each individual when in a state of optimal resonance? Each
person may have a particular frequency for tuning in with the earth's emf
i.e. each person could be viewed as a radio receiver capable of picking up
a particular frequency. The enormous number of different frequencies
involved is not prohibitive to this idea when we consider the existence of
many different frequencies for individual reception/transmission for
mobile phones or the totally unique fingerprints that each one of us
possesses.
Cells communicate with each other, and the vibratory energy
will reach within the cell via the cytoskeleton and microtubules.
Lakhovsky21 discovered in 1935 that the individual cell possesses two
characteristics - capacitance and inductance - which are the elements of a
tuned circuit. Like a radio, the cell must be tuned to the desired
frequency i.e. that necessary to sustain life. As Becker8 has shown, the
requirements for normal differentiation of cells and final shape and size
attained by body tissue is dictated by minute (micro) electric currents,
which are in turn dictated by the biomagnetic field of the body. This also
relates to healing energy which is thought to produce tiny eddy currents
in body tissue.
The maintenance or restoration of the L-field, or as Rupert
Sheldrake terms it 'morphic resonance', is crucial to health. The removal
of cells from a specific organ in the body (away from its defining
L-field) leads to the development of an amorphous mass (cancer) in the
absence of this template of energy which determines normal shape and size.
Distortion of this field either by geopathic
stress/trauma/exposure to mutagenic agents etc. could result in failure of
the body cells to differentiate (divide to form specific cells) properly,
leading to abnormal and unrestricted growth e.g. leukaemia.
Healing might be helping to restore the normal morphic field,
which could account for some of the cases of what are often termed
'remarkable recovery' or spontaneous remission.
Energy Blockages
There is nowhere in the body that is unable to receive
healing energy except where 'blockages' exist. Could these 'blockages',
often sensed by healers as warm areas, be pockets of electrical resistance
encountered within body either at cellular/tissue/meridian level?? If so,
healing might have the effect of stimulating the flow of ions again [ions
( or proteins, which serve as semi-conductors), cause 'electricity' to
flow round the human body as compared with a non-living electrical system
which uses the flow of electrons to create electricity]. In other words
healing could be used to stimulate energy flow through or round the areas
where resistance to flow has built up. As mentioned earlier, this can be
compared with electrical waves travelling through heart muscle which have
to re-route themselves following damage to the heart muscle resulting from
a myocardial infarction (heart attack) in order to restore normal cardiac
rhythm.
Potential benefits of healing energy
As well as altering the state of the body by acting upon it
at an atomic level, electromagnetic applications in energy medicine induce
changes in tissue voltage, improve the activities of the body's enzymes,
enhance ion transport at a cellular level and affect membrane potentials.?
This in turn results in heightened tissue repair and wound healing,
enhanced immune functions, and the reduction of inflammation. It can also
bring about the elimination of allergic sensitivities and the
re-establishment of energetic harmony in the body as a whole.9 In
addition, healing often brings a sense of well-being and peace - a general
uplifting of the spirit.
Example:
Sudden relief from back pain (sciatica) might be due to
reduction of inflammation of soft tissue surrounding (trapped) nerve,
therefore restoring to normal the size of the hole in the vertebra through
which the nerve passes, and eliminating the sensation of pain. It could be
noted that relief from pain, in this case, should be long-lasting, as it
would be due to a physical change rather than just the enhanced release of
the body's own endorphins.
Hopefully this description of a tentative mechanism for
healing will serve to stimulate further ideas and discussion and help to
develop a better, more comprehensive picture of what is actually happening
during healing. There are other aspects of healing, such as emotional and
spiritual, which have not been addressed in this article; suffice it to
say that they are no less important than the physical aspects, and I hope
the reader will bear this in mind.
Footnotes
1) Compare with the the electrical circuitry of a car, where using
too great a fuse strength may result in increased resistance to the flow
of electricity, a localised build-up of heat and occasionally fire.
2) The importance of maintaining a certain polarity within cells is
illustrated in Robert Charman's excellent series of articles,22 where he
states that living cells employ many of the properties of living systems
and continually work to generate and maintain regions of differing
electrical properties against continual leakage of charge. In fact, the
ceaseless work involved in achieving and maintaining these electrical
needs consumes some 50-60% of the metabolic activity of the cell.23
References
1. Benor Daniel J., 'Survey of spiritual healing research',
Complementary Medicine, Research 4,3: 9-32,1990
2. Bunnell T, 'The Effect of Hands-on Healing on Enzyme Activity',
Research in Complementary Medicine, Int. J., 3: 265-340, p314,December
1996
3. Brain Sync. Corporation, P.O. Box 9296, Santa Fe, New Mexico
87504,USA,1996 (Internet)
4. Cade M. & Coxhead N., 'The Awakened Mind: Biofeedback and the
Development of Higher States of Awareness', pub: Element Books, 1996
reprint
5. Seto A. et al, 'Detection of extraordinarily large bio-magnetic
field strength from human during external Qi emission', Acupuncture and
Electro-therapeutics Int. J., Vol 17, pp75-94, 1992
6. Pawluk William, 'Biomagnetic Brief: Miracle of
Biomagnetic'(Internet)
7. Zimmerman J., 'New technologies detect effects of healing
hands', Brain/Mind Bulletin, Vol 10, No 16 September 30, 1985
8. Becker Robert O., 'The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the
Foundation of Life', pub: William Morrow & Co. Inc., 1985
9. Jacobs R., '21st Century Medicine,' Kindred Spirit, Vol 3, No
10, pp37-40 1997
10. Ford Clyde, 'Healer speeds up self-organizing properties'
Brain/Mind Bulletin, Vol 7, No 3, pp 1-2, January, 1982
11. Edrich Jochen, 'New Device detects microwave emissions in
biological systems', Brain/Mind Bulletin, p1 & 3, January 4, 1982
12. Oschman J, Energy Review (parts 1,2,3,4,5) Journal of Bodywork
and Movement Therapies, Vol 1, issues 1,2,3, Churchill Livingston
1996/1997
13. Zimmerman J, 'The laying-on of hands, healing and therapeutic
touch: a testable theory BEMI Currents', Journal of the
Bio-Electromagnetics Institute 2: 9-17, 1990
14. Ash David & Hewitt Peter, 'The Vortex - Key to Future Science',
pub: Gateway Books,1990, ISBN:1-85860-019-7
15. Page J, 'Craniosacral therapy 21 years on', Positive Health,
Issue 13, pp54-57, 1996
16. Matthew Robert,'Wacky Water', New Scientist, No. 2087, pp
40-43, June 21,1997
17. Grad Bernard, 'Healing by the laying-on-of-hands: A review of
experiments', Ways of Health: Holistic Approaches to ancient and
contemporary medicine, ed D. Sobel (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich)
p267, 1979
18. Rein Glen & McCraty Rollin, 'Structural changes in water and
DNA associated with new physiologically measurable states', Journal of
Scientific Exploration, 8(3), pp 438-439, 1994
19. Harold Saxton Burr, 'Blueprint for Immortality: The Electrical
Patterns of Life', London, Spearman, 1972
20. Pauling Linus, 'The Nature of the Chemical Bond', Cornell
University Press, Ithaca, 3rd edn, 1960
21. Lakhovsky Georges, 'The Secret of Life', London: Heinemann,1939
22. Charman Robert A., 'Bioelectricity and electrotherapy - Towards
a new paradigm', The Journal of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists,
Sep. to Dec. 1990, Jan. to March 1991
3. Alberts B. et al, 'Molecular biology of the cell', 2nd edn,
Garland Publishing Co. New York, 1989
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The author can be contacted at:
Dr Toni Bunnell
5 Beech Avenue
Holgate
York Y024 4JJ
UK
Tel: +44 (0)1482 466790
Fax: +44 (0)1482 466686
Email: T.Bunnell@nursing.hull.ac.uk
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