TL;DR
Energy healing does not treat, shrink, or cure cancer, and anyone who tells you otherwise is putting you at real risk. What it can do is sit alongside your medical treatment as complementary care, aimed at the things cancer and its treatment pile on top of the disease itself: fatigue that sleep doesn't touch, pain, anxiety, and a nervous system that has been on high alert for months. The research on biofield therapies in cancer patients is mixed but not empty, with moderate evidence for reducing pain intensity and less certain results for fatigue and quality of life. Tell your oncology team you're doing it, never delay or replace treatment for it, and judge it by whether you actually feel better.
I want to start with the part that matters most, because it's the part that protects you. Energy healing is not a cancer treatment. It doesn't shrink tumors, it doesn't replace chemotherapy or radiation or surgery, and I will never suggest you skip, delay, or swap out anything your oncologist recommends in favor of a session with me.
I say that first because this is the one area of energy healing where a bad promise can cost someone their life. People with a frightening diagnosis are vulnerable to anyone offering certainty, and the alternative health world has plenty of people offering it. I'm not one of them.
So if it can't treat cancer, why write about it at all? Because cancer is never only the tumor. It's the fatigue, the scans, the waiting rooms, the 2am thinking. That part is where this work can actually help.
Complementary, Not Alternative
The National Cancer Institute draws a line worth knowing. In its overview of complementary and alternative medicine, complementary medicine is defined as something used along with standard medical treatment, while alternative medicine is used instead of it. Energy healing, done responsibly, belongs entirely in the first category.
The NCI also asks patients to tell their doctor about any complementary approach they're using. I agree with that completely. A good oncology team wants to know the whole picture, and you shouldn't have to keep any part of your care a secret.
What Cancer Treatment Does to the Rest of You
According to the NCI's page on cancer fatigue, more than 80% of people receiving chemotherapy or radiation experience fatigue. And it isn't ordinary tiredness. The NCI describes it as fatigue that isn't fully relieved by rest or sleep, and that can show up after little or no activity at all.
Add to that the pain, the nausea, the disrupted sleep, and the low hum of fear that comes with every follow-up appointment. A body going through cancer treatment is a body under sustained stress, and the nervous system carries a lot of that load. This is the same stress physiology I wrote about in the polyvagal theory piece, just running for months instead of days.
"The disease is the oncologist's territory. What it does to your nervous system along the way is something we can work on together."
What the Research Actually Says
I'd rather give you an honest picture than a flattering one. A 2010 review by Shamini Jain and Paul Mills, "Biofield Therapies: Helpful or Full of Hype?", looked at 66 clinical studies of biofield therapies such as Reiki, Therapeutic Touch, and Healing Touch. For cancer populations, they found moderate evidence for reducing pain intensity. For fatigue and quality of life in cancer patients, the evidence was equivocal, meaning the studies didn't agree with each other clearly enough to say either way.
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health is more cautious still. Its page on Reiki says the practice hasn't been clearly shown to be effective for any health purpose, that much of the research has been low quality, and also that Reiki hasn't been shown to have any harmful effects.
Put those together and you get something like this: it appears to be safe, there's some real signal for pain, and the rest needs better research. That's not a sales pitch. It's where the evidence actually sits, and you deserve to know that before you spend money on anything.
Why I Use the SUDS Scale Here
Because the research is mixed, I don't want you taking my word for anything. Every session uses the SUDS scale, a simple 0 to 10 rating of how much distress, pain, or depletion you're feeling, checked before and after. If the number moves, you'll see it. If it doesn't, you'll see that too, and we can have an honest conversation about whether this is worth your time and money.
What a Session Looks Like
Sessions are 45 minutes over Google Meet, which matters more than usual here. During treatment, getting dressed and driving somewhere can cost energy you don't have. You can do this from your couch, or your bed, on a day when that's all you've got.
- 1We talk through what's weighing on you most right now. That might be pain, exhaustion, anxiety before a scan, or just how much the whole thing has taken out of you.
- 2We start with grounding, the same as every session, before any energy work begins.
- 3The work is aimed at your body's stress state and whatever you named as the priority, with a SUDS rating taken before and after.
- 4We close by checking that rating again and talking about timing, so sessions fit around your treatment schedule instead of adding to the load.
A practical note on timing: some people find a session most useful in the days after an infusion, when fatigue peaks. Others prefer it before a scan, when the anxiety is worst. There's no correct answer. We figure out what works for your body and your calendar.
If you're in the middle of this, I'm sorry. It's a lot. If what you want is an hour where someone helps your body set down some of what it's been carrying, that's something I can offer. The cancer itself stays with your medical team, where it belongs.