Spiritual healing: what is it and does it work?

Spiritual healing is a practice where the healer is believed to be an instrument of God, allowing the deity's power to flow through them to heal others. The healer freely acknowledges that they are not the source of the power; There's no real definition for spiritual or energy healing and the terms are often used interchangeably.

The belief that everything in the universe is energy holds that it is impossible to separate the material world from the spiritual, and energy or spiritual healing serves to bridge the gap between spirituality and science. The main idea that sets spiritual healing apart is that the healer is seen as a conduit to the divine.

Some spiritual healers are very specific in the divine form that they access for healing, and some refer to their work as being straight from God or some other divine source. Others believe that they draw their abilities from angels and other spiritual beings, and still others say that the spirits of deceased healers work through them. The latter philosophy is sometimes called "spiritism".

On the other hand, energy healing involves the use of knowledge of energy fields emitted by humans, as well as the techniques used to repair disturbances. An energy healing program based on a medical model will start with an assessment of the patient's energy field, followed by the formulation of a treatment plan, the plan's implementation, and finally a re-assessment to see if treatment was successful. Medical energy healing programs still recognize that a certain element of intuition is important, and all allow for the healer to use their intuition.

The fact that there's even a difference felt between spiritual and energy healing points to the bias which clearly separates the spiritual from the scientific. As we slowly realize that there is in fact a connection between these two seemingly different viewpoints, we will recognize that it is necessary to integrate the healing arts into conventional medical treatments.