Originally published in Energy Magazine: The official Publication of the Healing Touch Program February Issue  Six Pillars of Energy Medicine by Donna Eden and David Feinstein, Ph.D.

In the ten years since the publication of our
fi rst book together, Energy Medicine, we
have seen the world begin to re-embrace
the ancient art of energy healing. More than
three hundred practitioners have completed
our two-year Certification Program in the
past three years and tens of thousands of
individuals have taken classes from us this
past decade. What was seen as strange and
woo-woo is becoming the respected cutting

edge of health care — and for good reason.
Energy Medicine (EM) is accurate, effi cient, and cost-effective.
It is based on a different model than conventional medicine,
which focuses on the biochemistry of cells, tissue, and organs.
EM focuses, instead, on the fi elds that organize and control the
growth and repair of cells, tissues, and organs, and on ways of
infl uencing those fi elds. This leads to six distinct advantages of
EM in comparison with the conventional medical model. These
strengths are the pillars that establish EM as such an exceedingly
important development in health care that Mehmet Oz,
M.D., Chief of Cardiology at Columbia, has called energy medicine
“the next great frontier in medicine.”
Pillar 1. REACH: Energy medicine can address biological
processes at their energetic foundations so it is able to
impact the full spectrum of physical conditions. EM optimizes
the energies that surround, permeate, and support the
body’s structure (e.g., its cells, organs, blood, and lymph) and
the body functions (e.g., immunity, respiration, cardiovascular).
EM methods also infl uence gene expression — the cutting edge
discovery that the energetic and environmental factors that determine
how a gene’s potential infl uences are expressed — are
as important as a person’s genetic inheritance.
For example, with multiple sclerosis, disturbances in a patient’s
energy fl ow can be corrected by holding, tapping, or massaging
specifi c energy points. Rather than the symptom suppression seen in most MS treatments, this can bring about changes in
the person’s nervous system that begin to reverse the disease
process. You change the energetic environment and the physical
body follows.
Pillar 2. EFFICIENCY: Energy medicine regulates
biological processes with precision, speed, and fl exibility.
EM techniques address systemic as well as specifi c disease
factors, fi ghting disease by strengthening the entire body. They
send signals that are hundreds of times faster than chemical
signals. In addition, they provide instant feedback to the practitioner
so interventions can be adjusted for intended outcomes.
For example, balancing and strengthening the energies that
surround and permeate the heart of a post-coronary patient
leads to an internal environment that better supports healing
and repair. The practitioner can utilize energy testing to monitor
the effects of the interventions and adjust them accordingly.
Meanwhile, more specifi c goals, such as lowering the blood
pressure, can be pursued.
Pillar 3. PRACTICALITY: Energy medicine fosters
healing and prevents illness with methods that can be
readily, economically, and non-invasively applied. EM
utilizes specifi c movements, postures, and hands-on approaches
that do not require high-tech equipment and do not result in
unintended side-effects.
For example, assessing disturbances in the energy fl ow to the
kidneys of a patient with renal failure allows interventions that
are more fl exible and precise than medication or surgery and
can be used preventively, circumventing damage to a vulnerable
organ.
Pillar 4. PATIENT EMPOWERMENT: Energy
medicine includes methods that can be utilized on an
at-home, self-help basis, fostering a stronger patient and
practitioner partnership in the healing process. EM procedures can be self-administered to assess systems that
are out of balance, implement corrective actions, and build
resilient energy patterns throughout the body. People can readily
learn them, often enjoy utilizing them, and can practice them
individually or as part of a support group.
For example, cirrhosis patients can on a daily basis utilize
techniques that balance the energies that impact the liver and
enhance its ability to heal. They can be part of a group of patients
at their health care facility who meet on a weekly basis to
reinforce the back-home exercise.
5. QUANTUM COMPATIBILITY: Energy medicine
adopts non-linear concepts consistent with distant healing,
the healing impact of prayer, and the role of intention in
healing. New concepts such as “macroscopic quantum interactions”
have been gaining credibility in explaining how intention
and expectation can impact physical events, as illustrated in the
placebo effect and distant healing. EM explores “fi elds” that infl
uence health and consciousness and that work over distance.
For example, cancer patients can be shown how the energies
of their thoughts and imagery affect their healing, and they can
be taught techniques which engage the healing power of focused
intention and guided imagery. Using additional methods
from energy psychology, they can reduce their fear and anxiety
and bolster their confi dence, all in ways that promote healing.
6. HOLISTIC ORIENTATION: Energy medicine
strengthens the integration of body, mind, and spirit, leading
not only to a focus on healing, but to achieving greater
well-being, peace, and passion for life. EM is based on the
principle that the body, mind, and spirit are integrally connected,
and it promotes their harmonious integration. By vitalizing a
person’s energy system, body, mind, and spirit all benefi t.
For example, where conventional medicine treats kidney disease
by focusing on the organ itself (thus leaving medication
and surgery as the most obvious choices), in energy medicine,
the treatment focuses on the energy systems that impact the
kidneys. Patients can also be shown how psychological confl
icts or spiritual emptiness may exacerbate their symptoms and
can be provided therapies which quickly engage the energetic
foundations of those challenges.  Closing. An essential difference between energy medicine
and conventional medicine involves the concepts of diagnosis
and treatment. In energy medicine, “diagnosis” focuses
on disruptions and imbalances in the body’s energy system.
“Treatment” is not of the disease or its symptoms per se. It is
rather designed to correct the energetic imbalances. Symptoms
provide clues for determining the nature of the imbalances and
a measure of whether the treatment is succeeding, but they are
not the primary focus.
For instance, there is some evidence that, with cancer, the energies
tend to be disorganized and lacking in coherence, while
with multiple sclerosis, they tend to be so highly ordered as to
lack fl exibility. Energy medicine practitioners assess and correct
such disturbances in the energy field.
* * *
A much longer and more detailed version of this paper, with
academic references, can be found at www.EnergyMedicine-
Principles.com.
About the authors:
DONNA EDEN is among the world’s most sought, most joyous,
and most authoritative spokespersons for Energy Medicine.
Her abilities as a healer are legendary. Her best-selling book,
Energy Medicine, is the classic in its fi eld. Translated into 15
languages, it won the U.S. Book News Book of the Year award
in their self-help category. It’s sequel, Energy Medicine for
Women, was the U.S. Book News 2008 Book of the Year in the
women’s health category.
DAVID FEINSTEIN, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, has served
on the faculties of The Johns Hopkins University School of
Medicine and Antioch College. Five of his eight books have won
national awards. Along with his wife, Donna Eden, he runs Innersource,
a pioneering organization bringing energy medicine
and energy psychology into the culture.
Their next 5-Day Basic Energy Medicine Workshop, which is
also a pre-requisite for their 2-year Certifi cation Program, is
March 5 – 10 at Hilton Head, South Carolina. CEs available.
Visit www.LearnEnergyMedicine.com.