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"Energy Healing "A bodily disease, which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may, after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part." Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote these words in the early nineteenth century, but it has taken the Western medical community some time to catch up. The idea that the mind plays an important part in the health of the body, however, is fast gaining acceptance in our empirically-oriented society. A recent study conducted by the East Tennessee State University Chattanooga Family Practice Residency Program found that more and more medical practitioners accept and encourage the role that alternative medicines and therapies play in healing. In a survey conducted through that study, it was found that sixty-five percent of physicians had prescribed at least one form of complementary or alternative therapy for their patients. About thirty-three percent had undergone some form of alternative therapy themselves. It was also found that doctors who had been practicing for ten or less years were more likely to view alternative medicine as viable and valuable. This step in the right direction is due to more exposure to alternative forms of healing and a greater awareness of patient needs. Hawthorne's observation that physical disorders were symptomatic of spiritual ailments is central to the concept of energy healing. When our life forces or energy fields are out of balance, physical illness can ensue. Energy healing seeks to use positive energy to create a better balance within the body. Also inherent in energy healing is the idea that all energy fields are interconnected. This allows energy healing practitioners to send energy to their patients, thus creating a more balanced and positive energy field. Energy healing can even be done from thousands of miles away. Perhaps one of the most prominent forms of energy healing is prayer. Paul Parker, a professor of theology at Elmhurst College, says: Judaism,