What does energy healing mean?
Energy healing is a broad name for practices built on one shared idea: that a subtle life energy flows through and around the body, and that a trained practitioner can sense it and help it move more freely. Practitioners use different words for that energy depending on the tradition, such as ki in Japanese Reiki or prana in Indian yoga traditions.
Most sessions look quiet from the outside. The person receiving the work usually rests, fully clothed, while the practitioner places their hands lightly on or just above the body, or works with focused attention. What practitioners believe is happening beneath that stillness is the part that differs from one tradition to the next.
It is worth saying at the start what this page is not. Energy healing is not psychotherapy and not medical care, and the practices described here are not treatments for any condition.
What are biofield therapies?
Researchers and the National Institutes of Health tend to use the term biofield therapies rather than energy healing. The word biofield was adopted at a US National Institutes of Health conference in 1992 and described there as a massless field, not necessarily electromagnetic, that surrounds and permeates living bodies. A 2015 review in Global Advances in Health and Medicine defines biofield therapies as noninvasive, practitioner-mediated therapies that work with this proposed field.
Naming a field is not the same as detecting one. The biofield is a hypothesis. NCCIH states in its Reiki summary that there is no scientific evidence supporting the existence of the energy field thought to play a role in Reiki, and the same open question applies across the category.
- Reiki: a Japanese practice, developed by Mikao Usui in the early 1920s, in which practitioners place their hands lightly on or just above a person.
- Therapeutic Touch and Healing Touch: practices in which practitioners work with their hands on or near the body.
- Qigong in its external form: a Chinese practice in which a practitioner directs qi to another person.
- Chakra balancing: work with the chakras, energy centers described in Indian Tantric traditions and later reinterpreted in Western energy work.
- Andean-inspired energy work: practices taught in Western workshops that draw on the spiritual traditions of the Andes.
Which traditions has Laura trained in?
Alongside her psychotherapy practice, Laura Bass has trained in several complementary approaches. She has received three levels of Reiki attunement, has trained in what she describes as Incan Peruvian energy work, and was mentored in chakra balancing in the lineage of the Four Winds. She is also a certified Emotion Code practitioner, has studied spiritual direction at the Haden Institute, and is an Ordained Minister with the Alliance of Divine Love.
Each of these has its own page in this section, written to describe the practice in its own terms and to say plainly what is and is not known about it. Which of these Laura currently offers, and in what form, is something to ask Laura directly.
How these pages describe each practice
Every page here attributes the claims to the tradition that makes them. You will read phrases like "Reiki practitioners believe" or "in the Four Winds teaching" rather than statements of fact, because the mechanisms these traditions describe have not been established by scientific evidence.
What does the research say about energy healing?
The short answer is that the evidence is limited. NCCIH's summary states that Reiki has not been clearly shown to be effective for any health-related purpose, and that studies of it for pain, anxiety and depression have produced mixed results, often from small or poorly designed trials. NCCIH also notes that Reiki has not been shown to have harmful effects.
The 2015 review in Global Advances in Health and Medicine, written by researchers sympathetic to the field, describes the evidence as promising but limited, with few studies, small samples and design weaknesses. It also acknowledges a limited understanding of how these practices would work within the biomedical paradigm.
Some people report that a session feels deeply relaxing. That experience is real to the person having it. It is different from evidence that an energy field was changed, and these pages keep the two apart.
Is energy healing a substitute for therapy or medical care?
No. NCCIH advises people not to use an unproven practice as a reason to postpone seeing a health care provider, and to tell all of their health care providers about any complementary approaches they use. That advice applies to everything in this section.
Laura keeps her psychotherapy and her complementary work as separate pathways. Therapy is booked, described and delivered as therapy; energy work, if someone chooses it, is a different service with its own scope. If you are struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma or any health condition, psychotherapy or medical care is the right place to start. In an emergency, call 911, or call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Who is energy healing for?
People come to energy work for many personal reasons: curiosity, a wish for quiet and rest, a spiritual interest, or a sense that it fits their own beliefs. Others want nothing to do with it, and that is equally reasonable.
If you are considering it, it helps to go in with clear expectations. A session can be a calm, contemplative hour. It is not a diagnosis, a treatment plan or a replacement for care you already receive. The guide on how to choose an energy healer lists the questions worth asking first.
Common questions
Is energy healing the same as Reiki?
Reiki is one form of energy healing, and probably the best known in the United States. Energy healing is the broader umbrella. It also includes Therapeutic Touch, Healing Touch, external qigong, chakra work and Andean-inspired practices, each with its own history, vocabulary and training. What they share is the belief, held by their practitioners, that a subtle life energy can be sensed and influenced.
Has science proven that energy healing works?
No. NCCIH states that Reiki has not been clearly shown to be effective for any health-related purpose and that there is no scientific evidence the energy field it describes exists. Research on other biofield therapies is similarly limited, with small studies and design problems. Some people find sessions relaxing, but that is not the same as evidence that the proposed mechanism is real.
Is energy healing safe?
NCCIH notes that Reiki has not been shown to have harmful effects. The main risk with any unproven practice is indirect: using it instead of, or to delay, medical or psychological care. A responsible practitioner will encourage you to keep seeing your health care providers and will not ask you to stop any treatment.
Does Laura use energy healing in therapy sessions?
No. Laura keeps psychotherapy and complementary work as separate pathways, and clients choose what, if anything, to include. Energy work is not introduced into a therapy session unless a client asks about it, and choosing not to explore it has no bearing on therapy. To ask what she currently offers on the complementary side, contact her directly.