ABSTRACT
Energy-based medicine embraces a wide range of techniques. It includes faith healing, laying-on of hands, therapeutic touch, Reiki, psychic healing, absent healing and channelling. Whereas western doctors do not accept the legitimacy of subtle energies, eastern religious and healing traditions have drawn on concepts of non-material energies such as ‘prana’ (life force), or ‘chi’ (vital energy) for thousands of years. Healing is an integral aspect of ‘whole disciplines’, including Ayurvedic medicine and Navajo healing. The secularisation of many western societies and the absence of spirituality in most people’s lives has meant that, even within CAM, discussion about healing is marginalised.
