Energy medicine, energy therapy or energy healing is based on the belief that a healer is able to channel healing energy into the person seeking help by different methods: hands-on, hands-off, and distant (or absent) where the patient and healer are in different locations. The term "energy medicine" has been in general use since the founding of the non-profit International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine in the 1980s.
There are various schools of energy healing. It is known as biofield energy healing, spiritual healing, contact healing, distant healing, therapeutic touch, Reiki or Qigong. Spiritual healing is largely non-denominational and traditional religious faith is not seen as a prerequiste for effecting a cure.Energy medicine is one of five domains of "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) identified by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) in the United States. NCCAM divides the overall approach to the practice of "energy medicine" into two general categories:
Veritable - Therapies which rely on known forms of energy (that is, forms of energy such as electromagnetism).
Putative - Therapies predicated on theorized forms of "energy" (that is, forms of energy the existence of which scientific investigation has not confirmed)
Types of "Veritable Energy Medicine" include magnet therapy, colorpuncture and light therapy. Mainstream medicine involving electromagnetic radiation (radiation therapy, or magnetic resonance imaging) is not considered "energy medicine" in the terms of complementary medicine. Cymatic therapy uses sound waves.
Types of "Putative Energy Medicine" include Biofield energy healing therapies where the hands are used to direct or modulate "energies" which are believed to effect healing in the patient; this includes spiritual healing and psychic healing, Therapeutic touch, Healing Touch, Esoteric healing, Magnetic healing (now a historical term not to be confused with Magnet therapy), Qigong healing, Reiki, Pranic healing, Crystal healing, distant healing, Acupuncture and Ayurvedic medicine also come within this category. Concepts such as Qi (Chi), Prana, Mana, Pneuma, Vital fluid, Odic force, Orgone, etc. are amongst the many terms which have been used to describe these putative energy fields, but are not necessarily used to refer to energy medicine.
Yoga, for instance, has historically been believed to modify the body's subtle energy pathways - the Prana - within the body, but Yoga includes actions such as stretching and deep breathing that, it is believed, cause the energy to be manipulated rather than the 'healing at a distance' characteristic of energy medicine.
