I suspect that my first experience of energy healing was many, many years ago after I won a drawing for two treatments. One was a massage; the other was for something for which I do not recall the name.

I was thoroughly enjoying the massage when all of a sudden I felt a great deal of heat. I asked the massage therapist if she was using hot stones. No. The heat was being generated through the hands of the second therapist. In fact, that therapist wasn’t even touching me.

To this day I don’t really know what happened that day. And many, many years later, although I have consciously engaged energy healers, I still don’t fully grasp what goes on.

That explains why, despite being quite excited about and proud of this month’s Special Section on energy healing, there is still a bit of trepidation; for some people, the “woo woo factor” around energy healing is quite high. Indeed, the editor I inherited when I took over this franchise promptly announced that, to his mind, Reiki is fake, a pseudoscience.

Never mind that Reiki has found its way into some of this country’s operating rooms. Never mind that quantum mechanics, the roots of which exceed 100 years of scientific history, confirms that everything is energy. Never mind that chakras and meridians have been with humanity for millennia.

I get it. Being the firstborn son of Chinese immigrants, I did not have a choice to not be a science and math nerd. The title of one of my prize-winning science fair projects was An Analysis of Proteins in Sickle Cell Anemia Blood Using Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis. I took several post-baccalaureate courses in statistics. I directed market research for a technology company. I believe in evidence-based science and evidence-based medicine.

I am also fully aware that we need not know how things work in order for things to work. Gravity worked exactly the same before and after Sir Isaac. I am fully aware that the difference between causation and correlation is clear and significant, but at the same time, no one has ever laid eyes on an actual cause. And almost all of us know that despite the skepticism of some and the outright denial by others of a wide range of so-called metaphysical phenomena, that which almost every human being prizes the most cannot be seen, heard, smelled, tasted or touched. Yet, how many of us are willing to say that love doesn’t exist because there is no objective, observable phenomenon that can be poked, prodded, measured and assessed?

If you’re a regular reader of this magazine, it is likely that you accept energy healing as legitimate medicine. So in effect my words have been for the minority of readers who doubt that energy healing is real and works.

I’m here to tell you that energy medicine works, and it has had positive effects on my life. It certainly has not had the dramatic, life-changing impact that some have experienced, but I have felt less triggered, more focused and more peaceful after many a session, often for as long as a week to 10 days. And since the only healer I saw in 2017 for a very painful knee injury was a shaman—that is, aside from a physical therapist—and since the pain in the knee disappeared completely, I will testify to the positive effect of shamanism.

Finally, nodding to the fact that things can and do change, it speaks volumes that I need not offer any support for the effectiveness of acupuncture.

Now that you’re completely on board with energy healing, allow me to direct you to our Special Section! We are absolutely thrilled to have the fabulously knowledgeable Adele Wang as our first guest editor, and we cannot thank her enough. She has been easy to work with and makes deadlines; we really couldn’t be more pleased. You can read more about Adele’s professional background on page XXX; the Special Section starts on page XXX.

We look forward to working with more guest editors in the future when we want to delve deeply into a subject in a broad, deep manner that would overburden our limited resources. Because we assume that you, our dear readers, value deep dives into popular subjects, it’s important that we hear from you. Please let us know your thoughts and feelings about this issue’s Energy Healing section by emailing us at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!