energy healing
A question that's become more prominent within mainstream scientific circles is whether or not the mind can affect matter.

The connection between human consciousness or factors associated with human consciousness such as intention, thoughts, feelings and emotions, and the physical realm is fascinating. This is precisely why nearly all of the founding fathers of quantum physics were so preoccupied with learning more about consciousness and "non-material" science in general. For instance, the theoretical physicist who originated quantum theory, Max Planck regarded "consciousness as fundamental" and matter as a "derivative from consciousness." Eugene Wigner, another famous theoretical physicist and mathematician, also emphasized how "it was not possible to formulate the laws of quantum mechanics in a fully consistent way without reference to consciousness."

A paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Physics Essays by Dean Radin, PhD explains how this experiment has been used multiple times to explore the role of consciousness in shaping the nature of physical reality. The paper showed that meditators were able to collapse quantum systems at a distance through intention alone.

"Observations not only disturb what has to be measured, they produce it... We compel [the electron] to assume a definite position... We ourselves produce the results of the measurement."

There are literally countless studies within the realms of parapsychology and quantum physics that make it quite clear that human thought, intention, and overall human consciousness has some sort of relationship with our physical material world. That is not what's in question, what's in question is the nature of that relationship and how strong this effect is. There is still so much to discover.

Beyond peer-reviewed published studies, there are also some very reputable sources showing that mind influencing matter goes well beyond the quantum scale, but we'll get to that a little later.

Now, a fairly recent study published in SAG Journals entitled Transcriptional Changes In Cancer Cells Induced By Exposure To A Healing Method has examined the effect that healing intention can have on cancer cells in vitro. The goal of the study was to assess if stored or recorded energy has an impact on breast cancer cells by using energy-charged cotton and electromagnetic recording of healers practicing the method.

When it comes to healing, the study points out:
Virtually all recorded societies report that certain individuals appear to have the ability to heal. Oftentimes this healing has been associated with spiritual disciples of one sort or another, and the healers themselves have sometimes been accorded a special status within the culture. Healers have utilized various methods of practice, including laying on of hands, prayer and induced altered states of consciousness, to name a few. Hippocrates, referred to this healing as "the force which flows from many people's hands".
This type of healing has been practiced in various cultures throughout human history, especially in Buddhism. Ancient texts in this area are full of stories of people with exceptional abilities, but what's even more exciting is that we actually have real-world examples today that can't really be debunked.

For example, when talking about modern-day research, one of the pioneers in this area was a biologist by the name of Bernard Grad of McGill University. In controlled experiments, he discovered that certain people could actually influence the germination of plant seeds, make plants grow at a faster rate, and influence the curing of seeds that had been shocked by saline solution. Furthermore, he was able to measure the ability of healers to reduce goiter and stimulate wound healing in mice. (source) (source)(source)

What's interesting about that particular study is that it wasn't the only one. A study published in the American Journal of Chinese Medicine, as seen in the US National Library of Medicine, demonstrated that a woman with special abilities was able to accelerate the germination of seeds for the purposes of developing a more robust seed stock. Her name was Chulin Sun, and she entered into a deep trance-like state, which sprouted dry seeds in 20 minutes, compared to the normal 3 to 4 days. You can read more about her and access that study here.

The Science Is There

The cancer study mentioned above goes on to provide more examples:
Since Grad's initial work, there have been innumerable preclinical studies of healing, sometimes categorized by the target of the intended healing. Benor, for example, discusses healing action on enzymes, cells in the laboratory, fungi/yeasts, bacteria, plants, single-cell organisms, and animals that have been subjected to controlled study. The proliferation of healing studies has continued to rise in recent years. At present, there are several peer-reviewed journals devoted exclusively to the burgeoning field of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), publishing both preclinical and controlled clinical studies of healing of a wide variety of conditions. In addition, there is an increasing number of peer-reviewed journals which are not focused exclusively on CAM but that are open to publishing controlled studies in these areas.
Scientists used energy-charged cotton to store healing intention from several self-proclaimed "healers," and they discovered that, of the cells that were exposed to an electromagnetic recording, 37 genes of the 167 tested showed a statistically significant change compared to the control, and 68 genes showed statistically significant fold changes.
Two genes, ATP citrate lyase (ACLY) and interleukin 1β (IL-1β), were consistently downregulated at 4 and 24 hours of exposure to the recording, respectively, in 3 independent experiments. Both acly and IL-1β were also downregulated in cells exposed to a hands-on delivery of the method, suggesting these 2 genes as potential markers of the healing method.
When it was all said and done, the study clearly indicated that there is at least some biological response that has been stimulated by the healer as well as the recording of the healing energy. No matter how small, the effect was there in this study and it has huge implications.
"The consequences of that genomics effect, and the careful evaluation of the several components to induce them, require further study. Multiple questions need to be addressed, such as exposure time of subjects to energy recordings, the composition of the recording itself, what equipment can best capture the healer's input, and so on. Efforts to find the answers to these questions are underway.
The key takeaway points and conclusions that can be drawn from the study are as follows:
  1. Reproducible biological changes have been induced by healing energy, whether by direct hands-on healing or using a recording of healing activity.
  2. Healing intention can be captured and released, thereby potentially allowing the phenomenon to be more widely disseminated.
  3. Hands-on delivery of the healing intention is stronger than the recording used in this study, suggesting the possibility that the recording did not fully capture the healing potential.
A Few More Real World Examples

In 1987, researchers at the Institute of Space-Medico Engineering, as mentioned in the CIA document earlier in the article, publicized a fraction of their work in the form of a film showcasing their work and what they had accomplished.

The film showed a medicine pill moving through an irreversibly sealed glass vial, which occurred in three frames of a 400 frame per second film. (source)

Another release (about Zhang) from the CIA (Research Into Paranormal Ability To Break Through Spatial Barriers) states:
A wooden cabinet 120 by 180 by 60 centimeters was used as a sealed container. Sheets of papers and boards with one of a kind markings were used as the target objects and placed inside the cabinet on the upper shelf. Without damaging the cabinet or opening the door, the person with ESP was able to remove the target objets and also was able to put them back inside. This demonstrates that even when using especially large container it is possible to completely break through spacial barriers, however, the success rate was much lower and was exceptionally difficult. (Source)(source)
The CIA document linked above provides more examples.

According to Eric Davis, Ph.D, FBIS, from a declassified US Air Force document obtained via the Federation of American Scientists, Shuhuang reported that 'gifted children' were responsible for the teleportation of small, physical objects from one place to another. (source)

These are just a few examples of mind/matter interaction that go beyond the lab that never really seem to be acknowledged in mainstream publications.

Our Interview With Dr. Trent

Below is a clip from an interview we recently conducted with Dr. Natalie Leigh Trent, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School and Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, where she investigates the mind-body practices of yoga and mindfulness for health and wellbeing. She obtained her Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto in 2006 and her Doctorate in neuroscience from Queen's University in 2012.

In this part of the interview, we discuss the ancient healing art of Reiki, a healing modality that has been practiced and taught around the world for thousands of years. As Dr. Trent shares in the interview, it's a relatively new field of science and medicine that's continually growing, with approximately 80 studies that've been published so far.

The popularity of this particular practice is exemplified by the fact that, as of 2000, there were more 'distant healers' in the United Kingdom than therapists practicing any other form of complementary or alternative medicine, and the same goes for the United States. (Barnes PM, Powell-Griner E, McFann K, Nahin RL. Complementary and alternative medicine use among adults: United States, 2002. Adv Data. 2004. May 27;(343):1-19. [PubMed])


The Takeaway


"The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence." ― Nikola Tesla

A great quote that I've used multiple times as to why this type of science is still greeted with a frown:
"There seems to be a deep concern that the whole field will be tarnished by studying a phenomenon that is tainted by its association with superstition, spiritualism and magic. Protecting against this possibility sometimes seems more important than encouraging scientific exploration or protecting academic freedom. But this may be changing." - Cassandra Vieten, PhD and President/CEO at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (source)
The implications of these findings, that our consciousness can and does have an effect on our physical material world, are huge. This is proof that we live in a very spiritual world that has yet to be properly acknowledged. We still have a long way to go.