Dean Radin a, Garret Yount a, Arnaud Delorme a b, Loren Carpenter a, Helané Wahbeh a
Highlights
- •Water may be used as a proxy for the human body in energy medicine studies.
- •Spectroscopic analysis of water in proximity to the act of energy healing showed a statistically significant change in hydrogen-oxygen bonds.
- •The molecular structure of distilled water changed in this study, but commercial bottled water (Fiji brand) did not.
Abstract
Previously reported experiments suggest that healing intention focused toward water, or merely taking place in the vicinity of water, affects the hydrogen-oxygen (H
O) covalent bonds. This claim was explored in the context of a clinical energy medicine pilot study involving 17 practitioners and 190 participants. In a “direct” test, samples of water were directly treated by the practitioners; in an “indirect” test, aliquots attached to lanyards were worn by practitioners and participants as they were engaged in healing sessions. Samples of laboratory-grade distilled water and Fiji brand water were used in the tests, and the water was analyzed using an Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer equipped with a liquid nitrogen-cooled detector. The comparison of interest was the ensemble average spectrum recorded during pre- vs. post-intentional healing periods in the primary infrared absorption portion of the water spectrum.
The analyses indicated that distilled water directly treated by the practitioners resulted in a change in the HO bond at the wavenumber 3200 cm−1 (p < 0.03, two-tailed). No effect was observed with the Fiji water. The distilled water in aliquots worn by practitioners also resulted in a significant change at the same wavenumber (p = 0.0004, two-tailed). No effects were observed in Fiji water aliquots worn by practitioners or participants, or in distilled water worn by participants.
This study contributes to previously reported observations suggesting that the structure of water reacts in an anomalous way to healing intentions. Such effects appear to involve some form of energetic influence, but that is not yet well established. Nor is it certain that the observed effect can only be due to intention; it is conceivable, for example, that an unidentified environmental factor may have been responsible for the observed comparisons. However, given similar results observed in several experiments so far, including the present study, further research seems warranted.
Introduction
Water is H2O, hydrogen two parts, oxygen one, but there is also a third thing that makes it water and nobody knows what it is. – D H Lawrence (1885–1930)
The idea that water might be influenced by human intention has been experimentally explored since the 1960s.1,2 A prime motivation for these studies is that the adult human body is composed of about 70% water, thus investigators interested in studying the effects of energy medicine and similar healing modalities have used water as a convenient proxy for the body.3 Another motivation may be that while water is ubiquitous and essential for life, it is also one of the least understood liquids, with over 50 anomalous properties, including its phases, density, material, thermodynamic, and physical properties.4
Methods used to study intentional effects on water have included (a) assessing the aesthetics of frozen water crystals,5., 6., 7. (b) examining the residue of evaporated water drops,8 (c) using differential electrochemical impedance spectroscopy,9 (d) measuring changes in plants hydrated with intentionally treated water,10,11 (e) collecting subjective mood assessments while individuals consume intentionally treated tea or wine,12,13 (f) measuring structural changes via scattered laser light,14 and the motivation for the present study, (g) measuring changes in molecular bonds by the absorption of infrared light.15., 16., 17. The preponderance of evidence from these studies suggests that to a small magnitude, but statistically significant degree, water is affected by intention.
In the most recent relevant study using infrared spectroscopy, aliquots filled with water were taped to the hands of energy medicine practitioners while they were engaged in treatment sessions.15 A multi-bounce attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectrometer was used to examine the water. This type of instrument sends a beam of infrared light a fraction of a micron into the surface of a sample of water, where it reflects multiple times between the water and a crystal with a high refractive index.18 The light produced by this process, called an “evanescence wave,” is absorbed by resonance with vibrations in the water’s molecular bonds. The resulting absorption spectrum reveals information about the molecular structure of water. The results of that study suggested that healing intention was correlated with a change in the hydrogen-oxygen (HO) covalent bonds at the primary infrared absorption spectral band, from 3200 cm−1 to 3400 cm−1 wavenumbers.15 That range is associated with stretching of the HO bonds.
The cause of this stretching effect, or possibly a bond-breaking and reforming effect, and its possible relevance to understanding the mechanisms of energy medicine, remains uncertain. But based on the earlier study’s observations, as well as similar results reported in previous experiments, the purpose of the present study was to again explore the possibility that HO bonds in that same region would change as a result of exposure to healing intention. To do this, we invited energy medicine practitioners to directly “heal” samples of water. We also asked those practitioners and recipients of healing intention to wear aliquots attached to nonmetallic lanyards during the healing intention sessions. In each case, we obtained pre-session and post-session water samples, and we determined the infrared spectrum for each sample. Then we created normalized ensemble averages of the spectra and compared the pre- vs. post-session results at the aforesaid location of the infrared spectrum. The research question was straightforward: Did the molecular structure of water change as a result of direct or indirect healing intentions?
Section snippets
Method
The detailed methods for the clinical trial, in which these water tests played a small role, are presented in an accompanying paper in this issue of the journal. In brief, 17 energy medicine practitioners performed a half-hour treatment session on 190 participants who presented with hand and wrist pain. A series of measurements were taken during the experiment to explore the effects of healing intention on various subjective and objective outcomes.
Results
Table 1 shows that two of the six tests showed statistically significant differences when examining the transmittance values at wavenumber 3200 cm−1. One of those six tests survived FDR correction for (six) multiple comparisons. That result was the indirect aliquot test by practitioners using distilled water (z = −3.57, p < 0.0004, two-tailed). The negative z score indicates that on average the pre-session transmittance was less than the post-session transmittance, or put another way, less
Discussion
This study successfully replicated previously reported experiments suggesting that certain properties of water change when exposed to healing intention. In the present case, HO covalent bonds were apparently influenced in such a way that distilled water absorbed significantly less infrared energy in the bond stretching region of the spectrum. Notice that the effect sizes for distilled water treated by the practitioners suggest that the magnitude of the effect in the direct test was more robust (
Funding
We are grateful to the Emerald Gate Charitable Trust for supporting this research.
Data repository: Open Science Framework
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the donors and management of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and the participants and practitioners for their contributions to this project.
Nguồn: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1550830720303530?via%3Dihub