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A Rainbow Inside

By mapping the human body's energy fields, researchers are unravelling new ways to find and fight disease

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A Rainbow Inside
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PIP isn't curative by itself, clarify the experts, nor is it a substitute for CT or MRI scans. But it helps the likes of Doshi make lifestyle changes well in time. For others like Kaustubh Mahurkar, it's helped plan their recovery. The 35-year-old professional squash player, suffering from chronic back pain for long, had been advised surgery to clear a nerve block. But before taking the big step, he was looking atalternatives. That's when someone suggested a PIP scan. A fiery red spread across his lower back helped pin down the seat of thepain. Post analysis, he opted for energy therapy and was advised specific posture corrections and yoga. He has since hit the courts again, and has also had another scan to corroborate his recuperation. "I shuddered at the thought of surgery," Mahurkar recalls. His sage advice: "Keep a receptive mind."

And that's what even die-hard sceptics have learnt. Take 59-year-old Praveen Jathar, who equated energy healing with "hocus-pocus". Looking at PIP to harden his reservations, he once availed of energy healing. To his surprise, not only did he come out feeling healthier, but his improved sense of well-being also showed up in his energy field's brightness and transparency. Which is also how PIP scans are found to reflect the feeling of freshness and vigour, like the one after undertaking rituals like 'agnihotra,' a fire ceremony supposed to purify homes and improve the inmates' health. Scoffers, aver experts, can no longer say it's all in the mind.

Trained under Oldfield, Streeter has investigated the human biofield for over 15 years and evaluated the efficacy of 160 therapy techniques. His own tryst with aura and crystal healing came after a near-death accident that left him wheelchair-bound. Needless to say, it was a major catalyst in his recovery. "Ancient medicinal systems never resorted to dissection," he says. Adds Oak, "This technique provides a scientific approach to the 5,000-year-old principle of aura hygiene."

Interestingly, the seven parts scanned in PIP—the crown, brow, throat, chest, abdomen, back and solar plexus—correspond to the seven chakras enunciated in Ayurveda. These are energy centres from where life energy (prana) is believed to flow into and out of our aura and among the chakras along nadis. Traditional Chinese medicine also subscribes to a comparable energy model. These systems struck a rare accord with modern science when the chakras were found to correspond with glands in the endocrine system. Now, by lending itself to the analysis of chakras, nadis and meridians, energy mapping is helping validate these systems, ridding them of their occultish image. A willing suspension of cynicism is a prerequisite for the scan, much like the placebo effect for drugs to work. "The scan captures even the slightest negative emotion," says Oak. "Counselling helps the subjects attain the right frame of mind."

Apart from training over 350 energy practitioners (not essentially doctors), the centre has established several branches in India and abroad. These co-affiliated clinics, including those at Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram hospital and Pune's Lokmanya Hospital, have obtained biofield imaging systems and the necessary training from CBS. The latest addition to CBS is the Gas Discharge Visualisation technique, which photographs the corona of the fingertips. This provides miniature maps of the individual's energy field.

The centre is also conducting its own research. Still, Streeter laments that although their array of biofield visualisation is well tested, medical researchers haven't invested enough to probe the advantages. Perhaps, as science beavers away at the ultimate mystery of life, CBS and their ilk will be able to convince more people that energy mapping can aid a more scientific understanding of disease and healing.

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