The last solar eclipse on 4/8/2024 was highly anticipated because the next bicoastal North American total solar eclipse will be on 8/12/2045. What is about light that draws our immediate attention? Although humans can only see 0.0035% of the entire electromagnetic spectrum, why do we restrict ourselves to believe only what we see? Does that mean the rest of our Universe doesn’t exist despite knowing our visual limitations? Isn’t that similar to sticking our heads in the sand? And even though that is amusing to mentally visualize, why is it acceptable thinking in our technologically advanced world?
We believe material objects are real in our physical world because we use our physical senses and instruments to confirm their existence. This is an example of classic Newtonian physics, i.e., what you see is what you get. However, the physicists who studied quantum theory, Planck, Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Einstein, Bohm, etc., couldn’t explain how all objects behaved using Newtonian physical laws 1. For example, how can a subatomic particle like a proton exist simultaneously in two different places? This would only be possible if the particle acts like light energy which has dynamic, wavelike, fluid properties.
At the atomic and subatomic levels, quantum physics proposes everything in our physical world is composed of light energy. Our world is not limited to just objects that we can verify with our senses or instruments. When an object has a lower vibrational frequency, we see it as physically solid, touchable and quantifiable by the instruments we created to measure them. As the vibrational frequency of an object increases, it becomes more fluid and less solid.
For example, at the physical level, freezing liquid carbon dioxide below -80 ˚C creates dry ice, a solid, but when the temperature rises above -80 ˚C, dry ice sublimates and becomes carbon dioxide gas. The molecular vibration of each carbon dioxide molecule is greater as a gas than as solid dry ice. We smell and see the gas initially as it sublimates because of its localized high concentration and lower temperature relative to the surrounding air. As the carbon dioxide molecules move away from each other, they dilute into the surrounding air. Although we can’t detect the carbon dioxide gas by sight or smell anymore, it doesn’t mean the carbon dioxide molecules cease to exist.
Einstein introduced the concept of relativity, in which the behavior of an object changes when it is being observed because the presence of the observer influences where the object is and how it behaves. Relativity applies within the cells in our bodies, between people and between people and their environment. The Buddhist perspective of relativity, way before anyone thought about quantum theory, is the concept of interconnectedness, where the actions of a single individual affect others even if we wish to think we and our actions are independent.
We’ve been using light energy in the form of radio waves since 1887, x-rays since 1895 and microwaves since 1945. Although we cannot see them, our world relies on light energy for information, medical diagnoses and everyday life. Quantum physicists propose we live in a fluid, holographic Universe, where energy is conserved, past events are stored and accessible, and current and future events are probabilities 1.
But probability isn’t just an unfriendly, statistical number here. Instead, probability gives us the freedom of choice. We exercise our free will each and every time a choice is presented in every aspect of our consciousness, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. We are not pre-determined to choose A, B or C in any given situation – any choice is possible and available in our holographic Universe. In other words, you’re not a backseat passenger in your life.
Why is the difference between Newtonian and quantum physics important in healthcare? When you go to your doctor, you fully expect your doctor to see you and test your materialist, physical body. Your doctor’s tests give you a snapshot of your current physical health. However, modern science and medicine wouldn’t be as advanced today without lasers, LEDs, radiation, x-rays, infrared light or MRI’s – all of which are based on quantum physics. Although quantum theory was proposed in 1900, conventional, allopathic medicine is based largely on Newtonian physics, where matter is composed of particles that interact locally in a reductionist model within our physical or materialist world 2.
Unfortunately, conversations between allopathic and alternative medicine practitioners often reach an impasse because the former speaks the language of Newtonian physics, whereas the latter views the world through the lens of quantum physics 2. This lens recognizes subtle energies influence the health and vitality of the physical body and, each person is a complex, unique holistic system, not simply the sum of different systems that operate separately from each other 3, 4, 5. Both viewpoints are necessary in healthcare because as biological beings, we are, and we live on a planet in a Universe that is simultaneously materialist and energetic 2.
Our bodies naturally create individual energy fields from our energy centers or chakras. The seven chakra system was described in 1577 by Purnananda Swami of Bengal as mystical circles or psychoenergetic centers in the subtle or nonphysical human body. They are energetic vortices that reside from the base of the spine to the top of the head. The rotation of each chakra allows absorption of energy from the Universal energy field into each individual energy field. Their movement, speed and size are influenced by our thoughts, emotions, and health.
Each chakra creates an energetic body that interpenetrates itself and the physical body and forms distinct layers of the human aura or biofield that extend beyond the physical body 6, 7, 8. Each layer of our biofield emits a dynamic, electromagnetic field 6. Our biofields act like personal radar systems that allow us to notice when someone stands too close, is distraught, or cannot be trusted even though we can’t explain how we know that.
The colored layers of the auric field are seen by clairvoyants and have distinct shapes and sizes 6, 7. I feel their presence kinesthetically. As we move through our physical/energetic environments, our biofields unintentionally collect energetic “baggage” from our past experiences and others over time that aren’t beneficial for our current health and wellbeing. Think of your junk drawers, garage or closets that contain decades of stuff that you’ll probably never use. Once you clear out one drawer, closet, or a corner of your garage, you create a physical spaciousness. Clearing the auric field on a regular basis prevents accumulated energetic baggage from eventually materializing as illness in the physical body 4.
Recently, I explored the relationship of my individual energy field to physical health by thinking quantumly vs. materialistically. I dislocated my right hip joint over a decade ago which healed well using Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® lessons, herbs, and osteopathic treatments. Earlier this year, I noticed a dull pain in my hip joint and “tightness” that sometimes felt sharp and stinging the day after a run.
I received a remote Healing Touch (HT) session from a colleague who noticed “denseness” around my right hip and no movement of my sacral chakra. She cleared, connected, and balanced my energy system, cleared my sacral chakra and applied HT pain techniques to my hip joint. My hip felt great afterwards however, the dull pain returned in the evening. Rather than assuming my hip joint was physically injured, I continued to clear, connect, and balance my energy system. I focused on grounding and clearing my sacral chakra and paid closer attention to balancing my emotional health during my morning meditation for the next week. My right hip pain and tightness resolved despite progressively higher running mileages.
How do I explain what happened? The physical health of the hip joints is supported by the emotional energy field created by the sacral chakra. When this chakra wasn’t functioning properly, the “weakest” physical link within my sacral chakra energy field, my right hip joint, detected a problem and sounded an alarm that something wasn’t right – a reverse “canary in a coal mine” so to speak. By focusing on clearing my sacral chakra and attending to my emotional health, I restored the emotional energy field and returned my biofield back to health. Had I only thought materialistically about the discomfort I felt in my hip joint or took painkillers to mask my symptoms, I wouldn’t have uncovered the energetic deficiency that triggered my hip joint pain.
- Talbot, M. 1992. The Holographic Universe. Harper Perennial, New York.
- Goswami, A. 2004. The Quantum Doctor: A Quantum Physicist Explains the Healing Power of Integral Medicine, Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Charlottesville, VA.
- Joy, WB. 1979. Joy’s Way. An Introduction to the Potentials for Healing with Body Energies, Penguin Putnam, Inc., New York.
- Markides, KC. 1987. Homage to the Sun, The Wisdom of the Magus of Strovolos, Arkana (Penguin Books), London.
- Langevin, HM. 2021. Moving the complementary and integrative health research field toward whole person health, J Altern Complement Med, 27(8):623-26.
- Bruyere, RL. 1989. Wheels of Light. Fireside (Simon & Schuster, Inc), New York.
- Brennan, BA. 1987. Hands of Light, A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field, Bantam Books, New York.
- Rubik, B. 2002. The biofield hypothesis: its biophysical basis and role in medicine, J Altern Complement Med, 8(6):703-17.
