Energy healing or energy medicine is often thought of as quackery or new age nonsense.

The latest research, however, proves that there is some truth amidst many of these claims and that styles such as Reiki, Polarity Therapy, and Jin Shin Jitsu have a soothing effect on the nerves and can provide a much-needed stress relief in a contemporary life filled with surges of adrenaline and never-ending lists of things to do.

Many people have sought alternative healing methods after getting very little result with mainstream medicine by itself and have found being attended to by a healer who puts compassion in action was what their dis-ease had been longing for in the first place.

It is stunning how many illnesses have a psychosomatic component, i.e. psychological/spiritual aspect and the demand for faith healers, angel blessings and any number of spiritual readings, bodywork and massage has steadily increased over the years as compassionate care and attention seems to be less and less available in hospitals.

It might be true that someone waving a crystal at you and chanting some foreign language is not your cup of tea, but modern medicine proves with a very real and measureable result: the placebo effect works. If you believe it will happen, it is more likely to happen.

Perhaps the efficacy of Energy healing will always be mysterious and hard to prove quantitatively, but there is something ancient that can happen when the right healer places their hands on you while you open to the mystery and trust.