I have already mentioned the role of the human body's energy system in Thought Field Therapy (TFT). This program draws upon Eastern tradition and its understanding of the presence and importance of energy in the human body. Let's look at the science behind it a little more closely.
The Chinese use the term qi ( pronounced "chee") to describe the vital life energy. When the flow of this qi energy becomes blocked or imbalanced, according to the Chinese belief, it can trigger physical illnesses. Just as acupuncturists have developed ways to eliminate pain and promote physical healing by manipulating energy flow along a network of so-called meridians, or pathways, throughout the human body, It has been shown that these energy pathways can be accessed in order to heal emotional distress.
The human body's energy system has not been ignored by Western researchers, who have applied hard science to this ancient knowledge. As far back as the 1940s, Harold Saxon Burr of Yale University hypothesized that an internal energy system was key to human and all living things. Robert o. Becker, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon, used electromagnetic energy fields to stimulate the natural healing of broken bones and found that electromagnetic fields could be use to help regenerate amputated limbs in frogs.
Some of the most intriguing research was conducted by Dr. Bjorn Nordenstrom, a prominent Swedish scientist and radiologist and former president of the Nobel prize nominating committee. [ About Dr. Nordenstrom work, click here and here to watch youtube video]
In studies spanning two decades, he actually documented the existence of these electrical circuits in the human body. Dr. Bjorn Nordenstrom's interest in this area started when he observed a halo around malignant lung tumors and began looking for an explanation for this phenomenon. He identified a circulatory energy system in the human body, which he felt was just as significant to physical well-being as the blood circulation system. He demonstrated that electric circuits are carried by the interstitial spaces (the spaces between cells)and the blood vessels, and he believed that disruptions in the human energy system may play a role in the development of diseases as serious as cancer. He began cutting-edge research in which patients with metastatic cancer who were believed to be terminal were treated with applications of electrical currents -- with promising results. Another researcher, French biochemist Jacques Hauton, wrote that Dr. Nordenstrom's findings led him to conclude that the electrical system"is not only as complex as the circulation of blood, but it also ....... intervenes in all physiology activity."
In 1995, Pierre de Vernejoul provided concrete evidence that the meridian network does exist. He and his team of investigators injected non-harmful radioactive technetium 99m into the arms and legs of human volunteers at the sits of commonly used acupuncuture points along the meridian system. Then they used gamma-camera imaging to track the flow of this injected material. They found that the radioactive isotope traveled specifically along the meridian pathways that the Chinese had identified thousands of years ago. By contrast, when the substance was injected randomly elsewhere in the human body, it did not move along any specific internal pathway. The bottom line: The meridian system is an actual, clearly defined network -- the same one the Chinese have been using for millennia.
Thus, the energy system used in Thought Field Therapy is genuine, not some mystical notion. Every perturbation in the Thought Field is associated with a specific energy meridian. My own research has shown that the meridian system is a governing force in controlling and healing the disturbing emotions. Best of all, this system can be accessed by TFT. This is true whether the psychological problem is anxiety, trauma, addictions, panic attacks, phobias, anxiety, anger, jealousy, or depression. More recently, we've learned that TFT seems capable of producing physical healing as well. By tapping on specific points along the human body's energy meridians, re-balancing and healing can take place at the most fundamental level, weakening and eliminating the underlying negative emotion or physical ailment. AS the stimulation from this tapping influences the internal electromagnetic energy, it has a direct effect on the Thought Field and the perturbation associated with the problem being treated.
As you learnt he self-administered algorithms that are key to Thought Field Therapy, you will tap on points along these energy meridian that have been chosen specifically for the particular emotional (or physical) distress you're having, and sequenced in a specific way, like the order of a combination lock. If the sequence is wrong or the points are inappropriate, the lock won't open; but if they are correct sequenced and tapped, healing will occur, rapidly and usually permanently. The "recipe" for each problem has been initially validated on hundreds and, in some cases, even thousands of people and is now widely accepted and used as an algorithm. Each can achieve predictable results in patient after patient.
THE ANATOMICAL REALITY OF ACUPUNCTURE CHANNELS: CONNECTIVE TISSUE?
Posted on January 13, 2013 by Boyd Bailey, L.Ac.
Way back in 1992, 3 French guys submitted a paper to a prominent acupuncture journal detailing a unique experiment. They injected 250 healthy folks and 80 with kidney disease with a radioactive tracer at a common acupuncture point on the inner ankle associated with kidney function (Kidney-7) and used a gamma camera to track its migration.
Low and behold the techetium-99m (99mTc) flowed exactly along the traditionally known Kidney Channel in both groups. Apparently they ruled out the possibility that this migration, this flow of the radioactive isotope was either vascular or lymphatic, but rather along connective tissue planes.
This would seem a groundbreaking discovery, and so my question for you, dear reader- especially y’all in the field – is WHY we’ve not heard more about this, why similar studies have not been performed, why the lack of follow-up? Or perhaps there has been… In which case please enlighten me!
A Study on the Migration of Radioactive Tracers after Injection at Acupoints
Objective: This paper reports on the authors’ investigation of the pathways of acupuncture meridians in the human body through the injection of radioactive tracers (isotopes) at acupuncture points.
Design: The radioactive tracer used was the most common radioactive tracer, techetium-99m (99mTc), as sodium pertechnetate. The experiment was conducted with a gamma camera, a Siemens SAM (small-area mobile) digital scintillation camera. Image analysis was conducted by a computer system built into the camera. Morphological studies and quantitative dynamic studies were conducted.
The morphological studies consisted of analytical and differential studies. For the analytical studies, the radioactive tracer is injected at a control point located outside any acupoint. Then, another injection is given at an acupoint.
The differential analysis was conducted in order to establish the specific and unique characteristics of the pathways observed in the analytical studies and thus eliminate a vascular or lymphatic explanation. To investigate the vascular pathways, two radiotracers of different energies and therefore discernible by spectrometry were utilised: Technetium-99m was injected as an acupoint and Thallium (201TI) was injected in a small vein situated next to that acupoint. To study the possible relationship between the lymphatic pathways and those demonstrated by the radiotracer, the same dose (20 MBq) and volume (0.05ml) of pertechnetate was simultaneously injected at an acupoint and the first interdigital space of the foot. A quantitative study of the previous data was conducted after selecting two mirror regions of identical shape and size on the leg along the Liver meridian (an acupuncture meridian) and similar “background noise regions” outside the pathways.
Sequential study and stimulation studies were conducted as part of quantitative dynamic studies. The goal of the sequential study was to evaluate the speed of radiotracer migration along preferential pathways. In healthy control subjects and patients with unilateral renal pathology, two sodium pertechnetate injections of identical volume and activity were given simultaneously at the left and fight acupoints K-7. In the stimulation study, mechanical, electrical, and thermal stimulation were performed on certain acupoints after the injection of radiotracers to study the migration of the radiotracers.
Laboratory experiments conducted in collaboration with the Cytology Laboratory of the Military Hospital of Percy in Paris tested modifications of granulocyte membrane potentials during stimulation of an acupoint using either a needle or a laser beam. The cell membrane potential was measured with a fluorometric method on blood sampled one minute after the end of injections or stimulation’s, and compared with control blood from the same subject.
Setting: The work was conducted on patients from the Department of Urology and from the Acupuncture Department of Biophysics and Nuclear Medicine from the Necker Hospital in Paris. Each experiment was repeated several times.
Patients and Other Participants: The work was conducted on over 250 healthy control subjects and on 80 patients with renal pathology.
Main Outcome Measures: The authors expected to find that the preferential pathways taken by the radiotracers coincide with the acupuncture meridians as described in Chinese traditional medicine and that these pathways are distinguishable from either lymphatic or vascular mutes.
Results: Morphological studies found those tracer migrations from acupoints in both healthy and sick patients followed the same identical pathways with those described as “meridians” in Chinese traditional medicine. The results suggest that these pathways are different from vascular and lymphatic pathways.
The quantitative dynamic studies found that in injections at bilateral K-7, there was a faster diffusion on the healthy side, and slower diffusion on the diseased side. In inflammatory organ disease, there was increased migration speed of the radiotracer in the meridian of the related organ. A reduced tracer migration speed is indicative of a degenerative disease, such as cancer. Such findings could be used as the basis of a therapeutic evaluation or diagnosis. The laboratory experiments with cell membranes suggests that acupoint stimulation could be used to provoke constant and reproducible change in cellular physiology.
Conclusion: The migration speed and patterns of a radioactive tracer along pathways which coincide with the Chinese acupuncture meridians show that these routes have neither a vascular nor a LYMPHATIC origin. These pathways are very likely related to the connective tissue diffusion following the neurovascular bundles along the extremities. Findings suggest the hypothesis of the intervention of a neurochemical mechanism in information transmission.”
American Journal of Acupuncture, Vol. 20, No. 3, 1992
Writers: Jean-Claude Darras, Pierre de Vernejoul, and Pierre Albarhde; C.H.U. Necker – Enfants Malades, F-75 743 Paris Cedex 15, France.
