Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human Performance
Abstract
BOOK REVIEWS Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human Performance JAMES OSCHMAN, Ph.D. Philadelphia: Butterworth Heinemann: An Imprint of Elsevier Science 2003, 359 pages, softcover, ISBN 0-7506-54007, $49.95 J ames Oschman originated the concept of the living matrix, defined as the continuously interconnected molecular network composed of the connective tissues, cytoskeletons, and nuclear matrices throughout the body. In this book he details evidence that the living matrix is a high speed, body-wide energetic communication system that includes all of the bodyâs classic systems. This network integrates numerous functions, including growth and wound healing. In an analogy with the computer, the living matrix is the bodyâs operating system. Various kinds of energy, including sound, light, electricity, magnetism, heat, and elastic vibrations, serve as signals for integrating and coordinating a variety of physiological activities. Peak experiences in the therapeutic setting and in human performance, Oschman suggests, take place when the matrix is functioning optimally, a state he refers to as systemic cooperation. Oschmanâs scholarly explorations in this, and in his previous book, Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis (Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 2000) have helped demystify energetics and energy medicine. The development of objective methods for measuring energy fields in and around the