conventional medicine for diagnosis and treatment are energy-medicine devices. The
electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram, electromyogram, ultrasound, and mag-
netic resonance imaging devices all measure the electromagnetic frequencies emitted
by various parts of the body. Energy medicine is now used to heal bone fractures,
relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and improve circulation. Chapter 23,
“Bioelectromagnetics,” covers this healing in greater detail. As scientists learn to rec-
ognize the subtler expressions of energy, old and new energy therapies will continue
to complement the practice of conventional medicine.
People can detect a far greater spectrum of energies than can scientific measuring
devices. Elmer Green of the Menninger Foundation believes that people’s ability to
sense and work with subtle energies is based in a communication system in the body
that links the endocrine glands, nervous system, and the biofield. William Collinge,
author of Subtle Energy, believes that many phenomena that are dismissed as coinci-
dences—instances of extrasensory perception, déjà vu, and precognition—are part of
a subtle perceptual system outside our five senses. He believes that everyone has the
ability to sense energies that are not detectable with our current technology, but that
many Western individuals reject their intuitive experiences because of a belief that
anything that cannot be measured does not exist.
It is this energy field that skilled biofield practitioners can literally feel and modu-
late. The working hypotheses of TT are as follows:
■ Human beings are energy fields.
■ These energy fields are receptive to intentional repatterning.
■ Trained practitioners may assist in the intentional repatterning of a recipi-
ent’s energy field.Researchers and proponents of TT believe an intention or strong wish to help the
receiver is necessary as well as a conscious use of self as a link between the universal
life energy and the other person. Prior to the actual intervention, practitioners focus
completely on the well-being of the recipient in an act of unconditional love and
compassion. Compassion, basic to all healing intervention, involves two things:
intention and action. TT practitioners always set in mind their intention before
entering and intervening in others’ energy fields.
In the early days, most biofield therapists thought they acted solely as a conduit or a
channel for environmental energy. Because people are open systems, the transfer of
energy is a natural, continuous event. Therefore, it is conceivable that one person
could transfer energy to another through conscious intent. That view has since been
modified to include repatterning the recipients’ energy systems by providing an
example of a healthier pattern. When two people are in close proximity to one
another, their energy fields overlap. As they intermingle, each energy field influences170 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TOALTERNATIVE MEDICINE