TL;DR
Distance energy healing means the session happens with you and the practitioner in different places, in my case over Google Meet. The research is genuinely mixed: a 2000 systematic review in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that 13 of 23 randomized trials showed a positive effect, while flagging real problems with study quality, and a 2015 pair of meta-analyses found small but statistically significant effects, including in studies on plants and cell cultures where placebo can't easily explain the result. Nobody has a proven mechanism for it yet, and I won't pretend otherwise. In my own practice, remote sessions produce the same results as in-person ones, and every session is tracked with a before-and-after SUDS rating so you can judge it yourself. You don't need a practitioner in your city.
Of all the questions I get, this is the one people ask with the most suspicion in their voice, and fair enough. Hands-on work at least looks like something is happening. A healer on a laptop screen, three states away, asks a lot more of your trust.
I came to distance work the slow way. About 20 years ago I got my Reiki 1 certification, struggled to find people to practice on, and ended up teaching myself long distance Reiki so I could work with family and friends who didn't live near me. I was skeptical of it myself at first. Now nearly all of my sessions are remote, with in-person work saved for my monthly visits to Richland, Washington.
What the Studies Found
The most cited review is still a 2000 paper by Astin, Harkness, and Ernst, "The Efficacy of 'Distant Healing': A Systematic Review of Randomized Trials," published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. They looked at 23 trials with 2,774 patients covering prayer, noncontact Therapeutic Touch, and other forms of distant healing. Thirteen trials showed a statistically significant treatment effect. Nine showed no effect. One showed a negative effect.
Their conclusion was careful, and I think that's to their credit. Methodological problems in several studies made it hard to draw firm conclusions, but with roughly 57% of trials showing a positive effect, they said the evidence merited further study. Worth knowing: Ernst built much of his later career as one of the best-known critics of alternative medicine, so this isn't a friendly source grading its own homework.
A 2015 paper by Roe, Sonnex, and Roxburgh, "Two Meta-Analyses of Noncontact Healing Studies," tried to deal with the obvious objection, which is that people who know they're being healed might just feel better because they expect to. So one of their two analyses looked only at studies on biological systems that can't have expectations, things like plants and cell cultures. Both analyses found small but statistically significant effects. They also found wide variation between studies and real problems with study quality, and they called for stricter standards in future research.
"Small, real, and not yet explained is a more honest summary than either 'proven' or 'impossible.'"
What Nobody Can Explain Yet
Here's where I'll be straight with you. There is no accepted scientific mechanism for how distance healing would work. You'll find practitioners who wave at quantum physics as if it settles the question, and it doesn't. The honest position is that some controlled studies show effects, the quality of those studies varies a lot, and the "how" is still an open question.
I'm comfortable living with that. Plenty of things in medicine were observed to work long before anyone understood why. What I'm not comfortable with is overselling it, so I'd rather you come in with your skepticism intact and judge the results for yourself.
How You Can Check It Yourself
Every session, remote or in person, starts and ends with a SUDS rating, a simple 0 to 10 score for whatever you came in with, whether that's pain, anxiety, or exhaustion. You give the number, not me. If it moves, you'll know. If it doesn't, you'll know that too. It's the same approach I describe in the biofield healing piece: keep the claims small and let the client do the reporting.
What Happens in a Remote Session
The structure is the same as an in-person session. The only thing that changes is that you're at home.
- 1We meet on Google Meet. You'll want a quiet room, a comfortable chair or bed, and a device you can prop up so we can talk at the start and end.
- 2We talk through what's going on and take your SUDS rating.
- 3We start with grounding, the same as every session, and then I begin the energy work. Most people simply rest with their eyes closed. Some feel warmth or tingling, some feel very little, and both are normal.
- 4We check your rating again and talk about anything that came up.
One thing people don't expect: a lot of clients find remote sessions easier to relax into. There's no drive home afterward, no waiting room, no stranger's table. You can lie down on your own couch and stay there when we're done.
Do You Need Someone Local?
No. I see people search for a Shiva Murti healer in their own city, and I understand the instinct, but in my practice remote sessions produce the same results as in-person ones. I work with clients across the country and overseas from my home base in Pendleton, Oregon. If you'd rather meet face to face and you're near the Tri-Cities, I'm at Harmonic SoulScape in Richland once a month.
You don't have to believe any of this before your first session. Bring your doubts, tell me your number at the start, and tell me your number at the end. That's the whole experiment.