Dr. Caitlin A. Connor, DAOM, PGDip, AMP, EHP-C 

 I’m tired. I’m tired of having conversations with energy practitioners who decide to tell me that energy healing cannot be researched. I do research on energy healing. I have for over 20 years. There is a database on naoep.org with links to over 15,000 peer reviewed journal articles on energy healing which have been written across the world. It is being researched. And it is carefully researched in many of the studies. 

However, that raises a question. Why, with so much research that exists, do people, especially energy practitioners, not know about it? The research is being done. The research is being published. But somehow, the research is not getting disseminated to the groups being studied. That is a major failing within the community. It suggests that the research design and subject choices are not being done in communication with the population that is undergoing the research. It also suggests that the research which is currently being done does not reflect the needs or the lived realities of the group being researched. And it suggests that when the research is published, the group being researched is not informed. 

The energy healing community is very fragmented, which means that even when one groups knows about the research and is involved, the information doesn’t get disseminated.