Summary:
Energy exists all around us in many different forms and shapes. Bioenergy is one of these forms of energy that can be used in the healing response. The bioenergy research work done here at Samueli Institute includes basic research in the area of biophotons, basic and clinical research examining biofield therapies, and exploration of bio-energetic technology that may be used to augment healing responses. We explore how biofield therapies could be used for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and as an adjunct for cancer therapies.
Goals:
- Examine the relationship of biophoton emissions to specific disease states
- Explore the relationship of biophotonics with systems biology approaches, including metabolomics
- Examine potential mechanisms underlying the clinical impact of biofield therapies in cancer and pain populations
- Create and utilize basic science models to examine the bio-physical correlates of biofield therapies
Projects:
Healing Touch with Guided Imagery for PTSD in Returning Active Duty Military: A Randomized Controlled Trial
McMahon GF, Jain S, Hasen P, Kozub M, Porter V, King R, Guarneri EM, Healing Touch with Guided Imagery for PTSD in returning Active Duty Military: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Military Medicine, 2012, 177(9): 1015-1021.
Researchers in this journal article found that a program of guided imagery and healing touch resulted in reductions in post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD) and cynicism as well as improvements in quality of life versus treatment as usual for returning active duty military. These returning active duty military members had significant PTSD symptoms before treatment and the effects of guided imagery and healing touch were clinically significant for reducing PTSD symptoms.
Complementary Medicine for Fatigue and Cortisol Variability in Breast Cancer Survivors
Jain S, Pavlik D, Distefan J, Bruyere RR, Acer J, Garcia R, Coulter ID, Ives JA, Roesch SC, Jonas WB, Mills PJ., Complementary Medicine for Fatigue and Cortisol Variability in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Cancer, 2012. 118(3): p. 777-787.
In this paper researchers found that belief one was receiving biofield therapy, and not sham biofield therapy, predicted quality-of-life responses; however cortisol variability was unrelated to belief and increased in only the biofield therapy group.
Free Radicals and Low-Level Photon Emission
van Wijk R, van Wijk EPA, Wiegant FAC, Ives JA., Free radicals and low-level photon emission in human pathogenesis: State of the art.Indian Journal Experimental Biology, 2008. 46(5): p. 273-309.
Reviewers in this paper present: the basics of free radical and antioxidant metabolism, the role of the protein quality control system in protecting cells from free radical damage and its relation to chronic diseases, the basics of ultraweak luminescence as an oxidant status marker, and the work done in human photon emissions around using this as a non-invasive marker of oxidant stress.