There are thousands of years of written and anecdotal reports of energy practitioners of various types having multi-sensory experiences. These stretch from Greece and Rome to the current day.[4-8]  Often, they have been defined by modern science as hallucinatory when in fact they may simply be a difference in the neurological processing of the individual.[9]  Synesthesia, is a multi-sensory process in which perceptions of the individual are complex and often layered. Cytowic [10]  called synesthesia “joined senses.” While Rouw & Scholte [11] considers that it is "a rewiring of the brain" where nerves may be repurposed or through neuroplasticity become multi-purposed.  Ramachandran & Hubbard, [2, 12-13] found that though the process can be considered multi-sensory, it is limited as it does not involve memory. The energy practitioner of today in books, blogs, lectures, videos etc often describes multi-sensory experiences. Determining if these experience are common among this practitioner population and if that is different from the general population of humans may provide some insight into both groups. Clarifying whether the experiences of energy practitioners are unique in form and depth may go to explaining normative perceptive experiences among the population since historically "healers" were "called" to the work to support the health of their particular community.

Background

Energy practitioners have reported regular occurrences which include multi-sensory perception for thousands of years.[4-8] Reported experiences come in a range from a single mixing of senses for example the taste of a number or a color to a fully integrated sensate experience. The fully integrated experience includes unified experiences like for example: the taste, of the smell, of the sound, of the color of paint on the wall. These include complex experiential differences where any of the sensory elements can be substituted. For example: the sound, of the smell, of the taste, of the color, of the wall. These two experience will be subtly different and when questioned energy practitioners will state that there is inadequate human vocabulary to describe the subtle differences between the two. Since there are demonstrated differences in integration of the synesthetic experience, the process has been found to be both "uni-directional" and "bi-directional" depending on the individual. [14] The starting point for these observations appears to be imaging areas of the brain which have been identified as involved. For example, "synesthetic color experiences can activate color regions in occipito-temporal cortex, but this is not necessarily restricted to V4"  and repeated imaging has shown "six brain regions of overlapping results emerge, these regions are in sensory and motor regions as well as 'higher level' regions in parietal and frontal lobe."[15].

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to see if the rates of synesthesia in these energy practitioner populations are different than in the general population.

Practitioners were recruited by email, flyer, and class announcements. All practitioners had to call into the PI for a prescreening interview and scheduling for consenting. All studies were approved through human studies research ethics boards (BSC#04-030, BSC B04.212, NFFEH 02.03.08.06) Exclusion criterion included any history of depression, other forms mental illness and pregnancy. All individuals included in this study were not on any prescribed medications. This was a sample of convenience based on responses from the existing energy practitioner community and on practitioners coming to Los Angeles, CA and Tucson, AZ for training. No special efforts were made to recruit woman or minorities though the sample included both with women being the predominate sex in the studies. Only binary determinations of sex were made with participant individuals selecting male or female as their personal preference. No vulnerable populations participated in the studies.

This data was collected from three studies N=124

Study 1: Baseline Testing of Energy Healers N=20

Study 2: Testing of Energy Practitioners taking Level  1 & 2 of  Reconnection Training   N=46

Study 3: Water, Imagery and the Reconnection Trained Practitioner  N=58 Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS) was used in this study, and is a widely used questionnaire to assess openness of an individual to experiences that are perceived as absorbing and self-altering, and it incorporates a reliable synesthesia scale.[1] The TAS Synesthesia Scale consists of true/false answers on 7 possible items: questions 10, 17, 25, 26, 27, 30, and 33. True answers are an indication of synesthesia. The TAS Synesthesia Scale was determined to be rapid, easy to administer over several studies, easy to fill out for participants and a reliable measure. After the studies were completed, the data was compiled and analyzed for the specific measures. Since population data is traditionally reported in percentages of a population, the choice was made to report the data in a similar way. The total n for this study was determined to be sufficient to generalize to the population of practitioners in the US base on expected population sizes of the community at that time.[16].

The following are the results of the practitioner responses to the TAS filled out in three studies using the TAS Synesthesia Subscale:

41.19%    Question 10 - Textures (such as wool, sand, wood) sometimes remind me of colors or music.

83.44%    Question 17 - Different colors have distinctive and special meanings for me.

52.73%    Question 25 - Sometimes I can change noise into music by the way I listen to it.

86.46%    Question 26 - Some of my most vivid memories are called up by scents and smells.

66.86%    Question 27 - Some music reminds me of pictures or changing color patterns.

62.38%    Question 30 - The sound of a voice can be so fascinating to me that I can just go on listening to it.

31.39%    Question 33 - I find that different odors have different colors.

Energy practitioners reported synesthesia type experiences at a rate of 1 in 3 in this study. Based on a question by question analysis, a range of 31.39% to 86.46% have experienced the process.

While the findings in this study are very clear they provide an opening for additional questions. The general population reported experiencing some form of synesthesia at a reported rate of 1 in 200, or 0.5% [2] and 1 in 2000.[3]  With energy practitioners reporting the experience at a rate of 1 in 3 in this study, the following questions could be considered: Were the individuals who reported experiencing this process in other studies all involved in some form of health care discipline?  How often does an energy healing practitioner occur in the general population? Does this type of integrated sensory experience trend an individual to study a health care discipline? In what kinds of professions do individuals with documented synesthesia become involved and to what degree do they experience synesthesia? Do complex integrated forms of synesthesia improve the life experience of an energy practitioner or are increasingly complex sensory experiences disruptive to their life?

Repeated research has shown that as a group energy practitioners are stable, sane and operate within largely normal life experience parameters. [7] They hold jobs, keep regular schedules, often practice a healthy life style and focus on cherishing and tending to those around them. There are a number of questions about energy practitioners who have perceptive skills which look like a fully integrated form of synesthesia, which will need to be answered. Is it fully integrated synesthesia or is it an entirely different form of brain integration?[9, 17] Is the ability to perceive in a more complex manner a type of learned skill? [18-19]There is some information that these experiences can be triggered through a range of exceptional experiences. [20] Do these experiences produce the same brain changes as the healing practitioner with integrated sensing? Is this integrated sensing a part of a fully integrated human? Is more integrated sensing a result of a more coherent brain state? Is it necessary for a practitioner to have more integrated perception to be accurate in their use of the energy healing skills? While synesthesia in the literature is often considered a neurological and potentially psychiatric disorder [21-22] , it is possible that it should instead be considered either a survival skill, used historically, which is under utilized today and thus not part of the selection process, or is it a potential measure of the continuous evolution of the human species. In EEG with QEEG analysis, MRI and PET imaging humans rarely show full brain integration and utilization. [23-24] It is possible that the more complete sensory integration of the human is either not being used and may be lost or is a logical next step in evolution and should be tracked. [25-26] Certainly within the varied mammalian species that have existed longer than ours, there are species that have sensory integration in one area or another that is far in advance of ours. [27-28] If this is a historic survival skill, then it may be in danger of being lost and consideration should be given to the question of should it continue to be deliberately cultivated. While some work has been done to address the evolution of brain integration and coherience, [28] this population has not been specifically explored from that aspect. Of concern is some of the existing literature around extended perceptive abilities. This literature defines these complex sensory integrated experiences in terms from the mental health diagnostic manuals and imply an underlying psychopathology. Scientists should consider that until our community has a more complete understanding of the processes involved, assigning a psychopathology to a brain structure issue, would be potentially inappropriate. Moreover, to stop or disrupt a potentially positive evolutionary survival skill because we as a community label it a psychopathology, holds the potential to be deeply damaging to humanity as a whole and remove a golden opportunity to discover more about human evolutionary process in a specific area. It would be similar to defining Itsac Perlman and Yoyo Ma as mentally ill because they are extraordinary musicians and subsequently defining all extraordinary musicians as being mentally ill. Humans are naturally build in a range of skill levels and scientists are wise to remember that information. This may be a long term and evolving survival characteristic.[30] The most complete range of survival skills in any population need to be maintained. The earth and the universe are historically very volatile places. If complex and integrated perceptive abilities are a step toward evolution, then the monitoring of the integration in the brain of adults who show this trend over generations, may act as a potential marker of the human evolutionary process. Scientists as a whole might consider the need to answer this question as rapidly so no data in this and other similar areas are lost: are more integrated forms of synesthesia or other skills which include the senses, a characteristic a marker of evolution, and will information in those areas enable scientists to map the next step in human evolution real time? This research and the use of this subscale is only a starting point in the exploration of the range of sensory experience in the energy practitioner population. More research needs to be done to define skills in terms of sensory experience, integration, placement neurologically, and stability of the perceptive experience across the population and generations. DNA comparisons could be done once the perceptive processes are more fully brain mapped, against historic populations, to determine if this is an evolutionary step or a set of skills which are no longer used as often. Or to determine if these skills are specific to those individuals who seek to do medical or healing work.

Energy practitioners reported synesthesia type experiences at a rate of 1 in 3 in this study with a range of 31% to 86% positive responses on specific questions on the Telegen Absorption Scale Synesthesia Subscale,. In comparison, Ramachandran & Hubbard, [2] reported 1 in 200, or 0.5% of the population and  Baron-Cohen, et al, [3] reported a rate of 1 in 2000 in the general population. Further study needs to be done to explore this emerging information.

Special thanks to the following individuals for support of these studies:

Dr. Ann Baldwin, Ph.D.

Dr. Iris Bell, MD, DHom

Dr. Eric Pearl, DC

Dr. Gary Schwartz, Ph.D.

Funding Information

Funding for these studies were as follows:

Study one: The BSW Foundation

Study two: The Karen Connor Optimal Healing Fund

Study three: The Reconnection

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