Whole-Person Health and the Biofield: There’s A New Paradigm in Town and Why It’s Significant

Jason Yuan explores how energy is becoming part of a new paradigm in health

Whole-Person Health is an emerging healthcare framework that emphasizes the multi-faceted and interconnected relationship between health and disease. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH):

Whole-Person Health involves looking at the whole person—not just separate organs or body systems—and considering multiple factors that promote either health or disease … [which include] multiple interconnected biological, behavioral, social, and environmental areas. Instead of just treating a specific disease, Whole-Person Health focuses on restoring health, promoting resilience, and preventing diseases across a lifespan.

If someone were to ask you, “What are the foundations of health?” your answer would likely include diet, exercise, and sleep. But there’s one more essential factor that most people overlook—the biofield. Before you dismiss this as pseudoscience, let’s take a closer look at what current research has to say.

Image by Pixabay from Pexels

The Biofield: A Missing Piece of the Health Puzzle

Science defines the biofield as an invisible field of energy and information that influences physiological processes. But what does that really mean? Essentially, it’s two sides of the same coin:

  • On one side, conventional medicine evaluates health through diagnostic tests, blood markers, and physical examinations.
  • On the other side, we have an energy field that cannot be directly seen—but which, according to research, plays a crucial role in well-being.

The biofield framework provides an additional metric for assessing health, suggesting that the quality of this field influences both physical and emotional well-being. In fact, biofield therapies such as Reiki have been used for over a century to support health outcomes by interacting with this energy field.

One major difference between biofield-based approaches and conventional medicine is the lack of a standardised device to measure this field. So why should we consider it a foundational pillar of health?

Because historical and modern evidence support its existence.

The concept of life-force energy has been deeply embedded in healing traditions for millennia. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) incorporates it through acupuncture. Ayurveda harnesses it through pranayama (breathwork). Beyond this rich history, modern biofield science is now offering compelling scientific evidence for its benefits.

One of the most compelling areas of research in biofield science involves cancer patients.

A study evaluating a Reiki volunteer program at two cancer infusion centres found that patients who received Reiki experienced clinically significant reductions in pain, fatigue, and anxiety (Dyer et al., 2024). Patients also reported that Reiki promoted relaxation and helped alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy.

Another groundbreaking study focused on mental health applications. A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study demonstrated that non-local energy healing improved stress levels, sleep quality, and cognitive function in the biofield therapy group compared to both the control and sham control groups (Trivedi et al., 2025). These findings suggest that distant biofield healing works beyond the placebo effect.

Is the Biofield “Woo-Woo”? The Science Says No

The notion that these energy healing practices are unscientific is simply invalid. High-quality scientific studies, such as those mentioned above, indicate that biofield therapies produce measurable health benefits—both physically and mentally.

Yet, one challenge remains: We still cannot directly see the biofield, nor do we fully understand its underlying mechanisms.

Attempts to visualize the biofield have primarily involved Kirlian photography, a method that uses gas discharge visualization (GDV) technology. However, this approach has limitations—several studies highlight reliability issues with these instruments (Miraglia, 2024).

Researchers have proposed several theories about how the biofield interacts with biological systems. Some suggest that electric, magnetic, and biophotonic interactions with cells, tissues, and DNA could be responsible for its positive effects (Kent et al., 2020; Sá, 2025; Babelyuk et al., 2025).

Can We Prove the Biofield’s Role in Health?

So, can we scientifically validate a health framework that we cannot entirely see or measure? The answer appears to be yes. Given the accumulating scientific evidence, we can already recommend biofield therapies as complementary treatments in cancer support and mental health care.

Does this mean the biofield is much less important than other health pillars like nutrition, exercise, and sleep? Not at all.

In fact, as our healthcare paradigm shifts toward a Whole-Person Health model, the biofield is positioned to bridge the gaps in conventional medicine. It reconnects us to the true foundations of health—an ever-evolving, interconnected system that combines mind, body, and spirit.

Article reproduced by kind permission of Jason Yuan

Jason Yuan is a Naturopathic Physician, Acupuncturist, Community Outreach Fellow

Contacts:

Website: drjasonyuan.com

Instagram: @drjasonyuan

References

  • Trivedi, M. K., Branton, A., Trivedi, D., Mondal, S., & Jana, S. (2024). Effects of Distant Biofield Energy Healing on Adults Associated with Psychological and Mental Health-Related Symptoms: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Study. Health Psychology Research, 12.
  • Babelyuk, V., Popovych, I., Smoleńska, O., Michalska, A., Muszkieta, R., Hagner-Derengowska, M., Dobrovolsky, Y., Dubkova, G., Korolyshyn, T., & Zukow, W. (2025). Visual Imagery in Modern Mind-Body Practices: Biophotonic Information Transfer through Water-Mediated Neural Resonance. Journal of Education, Health and Sport, 77, 58167.
  • Sá, R. (2024). Human Biofield Components Explained: A Tensegrity-Based Biophysical Framework for Energy Medicine. National Institute of Applied Naturopathy.
  • Dyer, N. L., Rodgers-Melnick, S. N., Fink, K. E., Rao, S., Surdam, J., & Dusek, J. A. Evaluation of a Reiki Volunteer Program within Two Cancer Infusion Centers. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2024 Nov 27:S0885-3924(24)01132-1. PMID: 39613272.
  • Kent, J. B., Jin, L., & Li, X. J. (2020). Quantifying Biofield Therapy through Biophoton Emission in a Cellular Model. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 34(3), 434-454.
  • Miraglia, F. E. (2024). Unreliability of the Gas Discharge Visualization (GDV) Device and the Bio-Well for Biofield Science: Kirlian Photography Revisited and Investigated, Part I. Journal of Anomalistics, 24, 80-119.