What is the main Emotion Code book?
The core text is The Emotion Code: How to Release Your Trapped Emotions for Abundant Health, Love, and Happiness by Dr. Bradley Nelson, a chiropractor by training. It was first published in 2007 by Wellness Unmasked Publishing, the publishing arm of his own organization. An updated and expanded edition was published in hardcover by St. Martin's Essentials, an imprint of Macmillan, on May 7, 2019 (ISBN 978-1-250-21450-8). The publisher describes the new edition as adding chapters, stories and more muscle-testing instructions.
The book sets out Dr. Nelson's model: that emotionally charged experiences can leave trapped emotions in the body, that some form a Heart-Wall around the heart, and that muscle testing and a magnet or hand passed along the back can find and release them. It is written for general readers and teaches people to try the method on themselves. It is worth reading as a clear statement of what the method claims. It is not a scientific source, and its explanations of how the body and emotions work are Dr. Nelson's own.
Resources from Discover Healing
Discover Healing is the organization Dr. Nelson founded to teach and certify practitioners of the Emotion Code, the Body Code and the Belief Code. These trademarks belong to Wellness Unmasked, Inc. Its materials are the best place to see how the method describes itself, and they should be read as that: the method's own account.
The Emotion Code overview page
Discover Healing's Emotion Code page introduces the method, its premise about trapped emotions, and its training programs. It is promotional in tone and includes the organization's own descriptions of what the method can do. A disclaimer elsewhere on the site says its statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and that nothing on it is intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition.
The practitioner map
The practitioner map lists people who have completed Discover Healing's certification, filterable by location, certification level, language and session type. Discover Healing notes that listed practitioners run their own independent businesses and set their own prices. A listing tells you someone completed the organization's training; it is not a healthcare license and says nothing about any other qualifications they may hold.
The research page
Discover Healing keeps a research page listing studies it has sponsored or collected, including a study in mice and before-and-after studies in which participants report their own symptoms. Studies without an independent comparison group, or run by the organization that sells the method, cannot show that the method itself caused any change. It is useful for seeing what the organization points to, not as independent evidence.
Balanced reading on the evidence
The Emotion Code has not been tested in independent, controlled trials published in mainstream journals, so there is no direct scientific verdict on it. What does exist is research on its building blocks, and on energy-based practices in general. These sources are written by people with no stake in selling the method.
NCCIH on complementary health and energy practices
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, is the federal government's lead agency for research on complementary approaches. Its page on Reiki, the closest it has to a page on energy healing, says there is no scientific evidence supporting the existence of the energy field Reiki is thought to work through, and that Reiki has not been clearly shown to be effective for any health-related purpose. The same reasoning applies to the energy ideas behind the Emotion Code.
NCCIH on choosing a complementary approach
NCCIH's guidance on considering a complementary health approach is practical and short. It advises telling all your health care providers about everything you use, not using an unproven practice to put off seeing a provider, looking for scientific evidence rather than testimonials, and checking a practitioner's training. Its companion page on complementary, alternative or integrative health explains the difference between using a practice alongside conventional care and using it in place of it.
Research on muscle testing
Muscle testing, which the Emotion Code relies on, comes from a practice called applied kinesiology. A 2014 double-blind, randomized study by Stephan Schwartz and colleagues in the journal Explore, indexed on PubMed, found applied kinesiology performed no better than chance at identifying a hidden substance, and concluded it has not been shown to be a reliable diagnostic tool upon which health decisions can be based. Pediatrician Ran Anbar's 2024 Psychology Today essay gives a readable account of why a tester's expectations can shape the result.
Skeptical reading
If you are drawn to the Emotion Code, it is worth reading the strongest case against it. Robert Todd Carroll's entry on Bradley Nelson in The Skeptic's Dictionary is a direct critique. Carroll argues that the method rests on energy healing and applied kinesiology, that the Heart-Wall is not anatomically real, and that its apparent benefits are best explained by placebo and testimonial. It is pointed in tone, but it sets out the objections clearly.
Reading it does not mean you have to agree with it. Skepticism is a reasonable starting position with any practice whose mechanism is not established by scientific evidence, and a good practitioner should be comfortable with your questions. For the most common objections, answered plainly, see Emotion Code questions from skeptics.
How to read these resources well
- Notice who is writing. The method's own materials describe what it claims; independent sources assess whether there is evidence for it.
- Treat testimonials as personal experiences, not proof. People's stories are real to them, but they cannot show what caused a change.
- Look for comparison groups. A study with no control group, or run by the people who sell the method, cannot tell you whether the method did anything.
- Keep any health concern with a doctor or therapist, and tell them about any complementary practice you use.
- If you are in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911 in an emergency; no book or website is the right tool for that moment.
Where to go next on this site
For a plain-English introduction, start with what is the Emotion Code? For a balanced look at the research, see does the Emotion Code work? If you are thinking of booking with someone, how to choose an Emotion Code practitioner covers what to ask. The Emotion Code guide collects the full series, and the Emotion Code service page describes how Laura Bass, a certified Emotion Code practitioner, approaches it as a complementary pathway separate from her psychotherapy work.
Common questions
Which edition of The Emotion Code should I read?
The updated and expanded edition, published by St. Martin's Essentials in 2019, is the current one and the easiest to find in bookstores and libraries. It replaced the original 2007 edition from Wellness Unmasked Publishing and adds chapters, stories and more muscle-testing instructions. Either edition sets out Dr. Nelson's model, and both are the method's own account rather than scientific sources.
Is there scientific research on the Emotion Code?
Not of the independent, controlled kind that would settle whether it works. Discover Healing lists studies it has sponsored or collected, largely without independent comparison groups. Independent research on muscle testing has not found it reliable, and NCCIH says there is no scientific evidence for the energy fields that energy practices rely on. The mechanism is not established by scientific evidence.
How do I find a certified Emotion Code practitioner?
Discover Healing's practitioner map lists people who have completed its certification, with filters for location and session type. Remember that the certification is not a healthcare license, and practitioners run their own businesses. Before booking, ask what they will and will not claim, what it costs, and how they would handle a concern that needs a doctor or therapist.
Is this site connected to Discover Healing?
No. This site is independent and is not published or endorsed by Discover Healing. The Emotion Code, The Body Code, The Belief Code and Heart-Wall are trademarks of Wellness Unmasked, Inc. Laura Bass is a certified Emotion Code practitioner, and the resources listed here, including the critical ones, are included so readers can weigh the method for themselves.