Discussion week 5
How is the human body both physical and energetic?
Because some manual and touch therapies have little documentation on record, the therapies discussed
in the text in chapter 17 are not inclusive of all that exist.
After reading the chapter, identify and discuss any therapies that you have encountered that are not
mentioned in it.
Answer
The human body is a unit. The basic plan of the body, as a physical entity and as an energetic system,
evolves and exists in an ecological context. This basically means that what the body needs, it draws from
its immediate environment. The human organism evolved and is designed to obtain nutrients from
natural food sources present in the natural environment, and the body is often best suited to get
nutrients in their natural forms (Micozzi, 2015, p.7). These nutrients, when absorbed into the physical
body system in the form of calories, generate energy. This energy is believed to flow throughout the
material human body and is responsible for effecting changes in the physical body and influencing
health (Micozzi, 2015, p.209). Physical manipulations affect the flow of energy such as qi in a body and
explain how therapies affect the health of an individual; through altering or balancing the flow of energy
in a body to induce these therapeutic effects. Accordingly, as a living entity, the body is an energetic
system.
Manual and touch therapies that I have come across and have not been documented by Micozzi, 2015
book are the bio-resonance therapy, zero balancing, and the Japanese Sotai. Bio-resonance therapy is a
pseudoscientific medical practice in which it is based on the fact that electromagnetic waves can be
used to diagnose and treat human illness (Ernst, 2004). This system involves stimulating a change of
resonance in the cells and reversing the change caused by the disease. The devices would need to
isolate and pinpoint pathogens responses from the mixture of responses the device receives via the
electrodes, and the transmission of the transformed signals over the same electrode would generate
signals that practitioners claimed to have the curative effect (S. Barrett, 2004).
The Japanese Sotai was invented to restore balance and health. Its technique is based on traditional East
Asian medicine forms, for example, acupuncture. Sotai Therapy balances the nervous and muscular
systems (Hashimoto & Kawakami, 1983), with its principle being the backtracking movement or reverse-
motion treatment. The idea is that structural distortions can be returned to a more normal condition by
, moving the body in a comfortable direction. By using the effects of an isometric contraction followed by
a sudden relaxation, practitioners can normalize the strained condition.
As we have discussed earlier, a kind of energy field within the human body could be affected by physical
bodily manipulations, so bringing health benefits. Frederick based zero balancing pseudoscientific
therapy manual therapy on this principle with the main emphasis being on the currents of energy that
are stored within the human skeleton, and that these affect both physical and mental wellbeing (S.
Frederick, 1970). It is through the use of skilled touch that practitioners are able to address the
relationship between energy and structures of the body (Bellamy J.2015). According to (S. Frederick,
1970) Zero balancing teaches that the deepest currents of energy are in bone, that memory can be held
in tissue, that energy fields in the body underlie mind, body and emotions, and that imbalances in the
field precede pathology.
References
1. Barrett, S. (2004). BioResonance tumor therapy. Quackwatch, Nov, 6.
2. Bellamy J. (17 September 2015). "Massage Therapy rubs me the wrong way". Science-Based
Medicine.
3. Ernst, E. (2004). Bioresonance, a study of pseudoscientific language. Complementary Medicine
Research, 11(3), 171-173.
4. Hashimoto, K., & Kawakami, Y. (1983). Sotai: Balance and Health through Natural Movement.
Japan Publications.
5. Micozzi, M. S. (2015). In fundamentals of complementary and alternative medicine (5th ed.). St.
Louis, Missouri: Elsevier.
6. Smith, F. F. (1986). Inner Bridges: A Guide to Energy Movement and Body Structure: Ill.: Bib.
Humanics, Us.
7. Smith, Fritz Frederick (1986). Inner Bridges – A Guide to Energy Movement and Body Structure.
p. 89. ISBN 0893340863.
How is the human body both physical and energetic?
Because some manual and touch therapies have little documentation on record, the therapies discussed
in the text in chapter 17 are not inclusive of all that exist.
After reading the chapter, identify and discuss any therapies that you have encountered that are not
mentioned in it.
Answer
The human body is a unit. The basic plan of the body, as a physical entity and as an energetic system,
evolves and exists in an ecological context. This basically means that what the body needs, it draws from
its immediate environment. The human organism evolved and is designed to obtain nutrients from
natural food sources present in the natural environment, and the body is often best suited to get
nutrients in their natural forms (Micozzi, 2015, p.7). These nutrients, when absorbed into the physical
body system in the form of calories, generate energy. This energy is believed to flow throughout the
material human body and is responsible for effecting changes in the physical body and influencing
health (Micozzi, 2015, p.209). Physical manipulations affect the flow of energy such as qi in a body and
explain how therapies affect the health of an individual; through altering or balancing the flow of energy
in a body to induce these therapeutic effects. Accordingly, as a living entity, the body is an energetic
system.
Manual and touch therapies that I have come across and have not been documented by Micozzi, 2015
book are the bio-resonance therapy, zero balancing, and the Japanese Sotai. Bio-resonance therapy is a
pseudoscientific medical practice in which it is based on the fact that electromagnetic waves can be
used to diagnose and treat human illness (Ernst, 2004). This system involves stimulating a change of
resonance in the cells and reversing the change caused by the disease. The devices would need to
isolate and pinpoint pathogens responses from the mixture of responses the device receives via the
electrodes, and the transmission of the transformed signals over the same electrode would generate
signals that practitioners claimed to have the curative effect (S. Barrett, 2004).
The Japanese Sotai was invented to restore balance and health. Its technique is based on traditional East
Asian medicine forms, for example, acupuncture. Sotai Therapy balances the nervous and muscular
systems (Hashimoto & Kawakami, 1983), with its principle being the backtracking movement or reverse-
motion treatment. The idea is that structural distortions can be returned to a more normal condition by
, moving the body in a comfortable direction. By using the effects of an isometric contraction followed by
a sudden relaxation, practitioners can normalize the strained condition.
As we have discussed earlier, a kind of energy field within the human body could be affected by physical
bodily manipulations, so bringing health benefits. Frederick based zero balancing pseudoscientific
therapy manual therapy on this principle with the main emphasis being on the currents of energy that
are stored within the human skeleton, and that these affect both physical and mental wellbeing (S.
Frederick, 1970). It is through the use of skilled touch that practitioners are able to address the
relationship between energy and structures of the body (Bellamy J.2015). According to (S. Frederick,
1970) Zero balancing teaches that the deepest currents of energy are in bone, that memory can be held
in tissue, that energy fields in the body underlie mind, body and emotions, and that imbalances in the
field precede pathology.
References
1. Barrett, S. (2004). BioResonance tumor therapy. Quackwatch, Nov, 6.
2. Bellamy J. (17 September 2015). "Massage Therapy rubs me the wrong way". Science-Based
Medicine.
3. Ernst, E. (2004). Bioresonance, a study of pseudoscientific language. Complementary Medicine
Research, 11(3), 171-173.
4. Hashimoto, K., & Kawakami, Y. (1983). Sotai: Balance and Health through Natural Movement.
Japan Publications.
5. Micozzi, M. S. (2015). In fundamentals of complementary and alternative medicine (5th ed.). St.
Louis, Missouri: Elsevier.
6. Smith, F. F. (1986). Inner Bridges: A Guide to Energy Movement and Body Structure: Ill.: Bib.
Humanics, Us.
7. Smith, Fritz Frederick (1986). Inner Bridges – A Guide to Energy Movement and Body Structure.
p. 89. ISBN 0893340863.
