The Biofield in Health and Healing – June 2024

In recent years, the biological field or biofield has emerged at the frontiers of biology and health science as a scientific concept that may help explain the modus operandi of energy medicine. In 1992, my team brought the concept of “biofield” to the then Office of Alternative Medicine at NIH. The US National Library of Medicine accepted “biofield” as a medical subject heading in 1994, and in 2002, the NIH funded grant initiatives on “biofield science in frontier medicine.”

The biofield is an invisible energy field of the organism that has been proposed by some scientists to be an organizing field that may fundamentally regulate the biochemistry and physiology of the body. According to ancient Oriental medicine, “Where the mind goes, the qi (energy) flows, and blood follows qi,” suggests that mind is the master of this life energy field.

Although the human energy field is complex and dynamic, various components may be measured using scientific or medical instruments including the ryodoraku, electrodermal devices, thermography devices, and electrophotography, among other methods. Such biofield assessments show that each person has a unique energy signature that may be influenced by states of consciousness and level of wellness. Studies shows that the human biofield shows changes—typically improvements—following energy therapies and certain mind-body practices such as qigong and yoga. Research on the biological effects of electromagnetic stressors shows unhealthy changes in the biofield, especially in those who claim electrosensitivity. The human biofield also extends from the body into the surrounding space and is thought to “entangle” each person with one another and the biosphere.

The biofield is central to understanding life’s integral wholeness and to the development of an integrative health science and medicine that includes indigenous healing methods such as energy healing. It is thought to be involved fundamentally in many types of therapies, sometimes called biofield therapies, including laying-on-of-hands healing modalities, energy psychology, chiropractic, classical osteopathy, and homeopathy. This presentation will discuss the biofield concept and its consequences for energy medicine and integrative health.

Course Objectives:

1. Understand the history of the biofield
2. Understand how biofield is central to understanding life’s integral wholeness and to the development of an integrative health science and medicine
3. Understand the biofield concept and its consequences for energy medicine and integrative health

Course Instructor

Beverly Rubik Author