Research converging from many fields of the investigation indicates that the body is a complex energy system, rather than the mere clockwork machine of biological gears and parts that are often exposed in conventional medicine. Examples of energy transmission within the body are metabolic energy conversions of fats and sugars into ATP (adenosine-tri-phosphate), bioelectrical energy triggered by charged ions, which influence the heart, nerves, and brain, and biophotonic energy from ultraviolet biophotons, which are located in the nucleus of cells.
A precise definition of what we understand as “Energy” in relation to biological systems is a critical requirement if we want successfully incorporate into a Western scientific paradigm those complementary medicine approaches that are based on the Oriental notion of “energy transfer.”
Misuse of the term “energy” leads to misunderstanding and subconscious rejection of useful, practical applications. The latest biophysical quantum concepts can provide a conceptual understanding of the “energy transfer” mechanisms in biological systems at the organism level. These concepts create a basis for the biophysical explanation of Oriental notions of energy meridians, channels, and acupuncture points.
The circulation and transformation of energy in biological systems provide the basis for life on Earth. Electron-excited states in complex molecular systems are the main reservoir of free energy in biological processes. These excited states are continuously supported at the expense of electron circulation in the biosphere.
The main “working substance” is water and the energy source is the sun. A part of these electron-excited states is expended for the support of current energy resources in the organism. A part can also be reserved for the future, as it happens in lasers after the absorption of the pump pulse.
In other words, the notion of “energy” transfer, characteristic of the ideas of Eastern medicine and alien to most people with a European education, might be associated with the transport of electron-excited states through molecular protein complexes.