So far, we’ve seen compelling evidence that subtle physical energies like (1) infrared radiation, as well as our (2) skin’s hidden thermal senses, may play a real role in the healing and diagnosing by hand-hovering. But is that the whole story?
Not necessarily.
Physicist Eduard Godik, one of the senior researchers behind the previous experiments, offers another, perhaps more “down-to-earth” explanation (Godik, 2010). This explanation doesn’t rely on physics, but instead draws from the lesser-known field of psycho-physiology.
The science which is all about the “mind-body connection,” or how the mind influences the body, or psychology influences physiology.
“Yes,” Godik says, “we showed that distant physical interaction is possible—that the body can sense and respond to faint infrared radiation.” “But that might not be the only explanation of this phenomenon.”
Instead, he suggests that ordinary visual perception, subtle patient-healer interactions, and the patient’s own self-healing abilities—could provide an alternative explanation.
“This is no more than one possible model to explain the miracle in an ordinary way,” Godik writes.
Patient’s Cues and Self-Healing — No Mystery Required?
Here’s how it might work. When a healer looks at a patient—closely observing their posture, skin tone, breathing, facial tension—this visual input can be consciously or subconsciously interpreted by the healer to deduce the patient’s illness or disease area.
In this explanation, it’s not that the healer is diagnosing through energy felt in their hands, but rather picking up on the patient’s visible cues: facial expressions, body movements, subtle signs of discomfort. This could explain how a healer seems to “sense” or diagnose a patient’s problem.
But that’s not all, Godik hypothesizes that as the healer and patient interact, both reacting to each other's subtle cues, especially the patient watching the healer work—it may even trigger self-healing in the patient. Because we all know the power of the mind and its ability to induce changes in the body—simply by belief. If the patient thinks the healing is working . . . it just might!
This is, after all, the foundation of the well-known placebo effect: when a patient takes a harmless sugar pill, believing it’s medicine, and their body responds as if it’s real—because the mind’s belief triggers physiological healing.
So in this explanation, there’s no need to invoke energy transfers or hidden perceptions. The explanation lies in normal sensory input, ordinary patient-healer interaction, and the body’s own capacity to self-heal.