The Telepathy Tapes – S2E8: "Energy Healing: Consciousness at Work in the Body" (Part 1)

Host: Ky Dickens
Release Date: December 3, 2025

Main Theme

This episode of The Telepathy Tapes delves into the enigmatic world of energy healing—where intention and consciousness interface with the physical body. Host Ky Dickens investigates historic and contemporary accounts, lived experiences, and groundbreaking science that challenge the foundations of Western medicine. The episode features stories from skeptics-turned-believers, perspectives from both Chinese and Western traditions, and emerging explanations for how energy healing might occur—even at a distance.

"Energy healing is where the mysteries of these unseen forces leave the mind and enter the body—where intention meets biology and telepathy meets physiology." (Ky Dickens, 01:40)

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. A Scientist’s Paradigm Shift: Dr. Simon Duan’s Story

(02:28 – 10:44)

• Background: Dr. Simon Duan, a Cambridge-trained materials scientist, grounded in the belief that only what can be measured is real.
• Turning Point: Suffers severe wisdom tooth pain; a friend sends him to a non-traditional dentist in Beijing who uses "incantations"—not anesthesia—to remove teeth.
  • Experience: The tooth is extracted painlessly, quickly, with no medication.

    "He tapped my cheek...He recite this incantation silently which allowed him to make the tooth loosen. Then he can take them out effortlessly." (Dr. Simon Duan, 04:00)

  • Dr. Duan’s skepticism challenged so deeply he begins to study consciousness and energy healing.
• Historical Context: Ancient Chinese medicine included psychic elements—viewing inside the body and communicating with medicinal herbs.

  • "The top doctors...are psychic people—they are able to use their psychic power to see through the body, see the organ." (Dr. Simon Duan, 06:55)

  • Psi (telepathy, clairvoyance, etc.) was once an "applied technology" in Chinese medicine, suppressed during 20th-century reforms but now resurfacing.

2. Energy vs. Information in Healing

(10:44 – 12:14)

• Distance Healing: The Beijing dentist claims to perform extractions remotely (not in the same room as the patient).

  • Dr. Duan distinguishes between "energy" (which weakens with distance) and "information" (which does not).
  • This reframes energy healing as interacting with an informational field—called by various names: collective consciousness, the Dao, universal intelligence.

  "If it's energy, normally we think about energy as a wave...it deteriorates with distance. If it's information...the distance can be the other half the globe." (Dr. Simon Duan, 11:07)

3. The Western Skeptic Experiences Reiki: Julie Gilts’ Journey

(13:13 – 25:46)

• Introduction to Reiki:

  • Julie Gilts, a science-minded massage therapist, is persuaded by her teacher to learn Reiki despite skepticism.
  • She turns to Reiki when her husband, John, faces life-threatening lymphedema after cancer treatment.
  • During a session, she "sees" fluid flowing away from his neck; his symptoms resolve and disappear for good.

  • "The fluid went away—and after it went away, it never came back the same way that it had...I was no longer skeptical." (Julie Gilts, 16:11)

  • John has remained disease- and lymphedema-free for over 8 years, confirming the results for both of them.

• Remote Healing Experiences:

  • Julie finds she can "tune in" to clients across the world, sometimes even remote viewing their environments.
  • Notable anecdote: She senses a client isn’t in Florida and describes a townhouse in D.C. that matches the client's new home (22:14 – 23:26).

  • "I said, are you in like the Washington DC area? And she said 'yeah, exactly.'...I was like, oh look at that. Wow." (Julie Gilts, 22:14–23:26)

  • Observes that sometimes remote healing is "more potent" than in-person (24:34).

• On the Nature of Energy Healing:

  • Sees herself as simply facilitating the body's innate capacity for healing; doesn’t claim to direct or channel something of her own ego.

  • "Energy healing is our body's innate healing mechanism. I just get to be there to help facilitate that...the healing session belongs to the patient." (Julie Gilts, 25:05)

4. Bridging Traditions: Jill Blakeway and the Science of Energy Medicine

(26:18 – 45:44)

• Defining Energy Medicine:
  • Encompasses practices that prompt the body's self-regulation, including acupuncture, prayer, hypnosis, and hands-on healing.

  • "We have a coherent intelligence from the top of our head to the tip of our toes—and that is what's directing operations." (Jill Blakeway, 27:53)

  • Chronic disease often reflects a breakdown in this communicative coherence.

The Physiology of Energy Healing:

• The Interstitium Discovery:

  • Dr. Neil Theise, pathologist, discusses the discovery of the "interstitium"—a newly recognized system of fluid-filled spaces inside the body that conducts electricity.

  • "The collagen of the fascia itself probably produces electricity...it's producing a bioelectromagnetic field around the body." (Dr. Neil Theise, 31:47)

  • Healers from other traditions recognize the interstitium as the "channels" they’ve worked with for millennia.

• Consciousness as Foundation:

  • Theise posits consciousness is fundamental, giving rise to physical existence—reality, bodies, and healing might all be interfaces within a unified field.

  • "Consciousness doesn't come out of the structure of the universe—it's what gives rise to the universe." (Dr. Neil Theise, 33:29)

Experience and Technique:

• Becoming the "Antenna":
  • Jill describes entering a "flow" by using qigong postures and bypassing the ego.

  • "Your ego is the little bit of you that's really invested in being separate...When we let that flow through us, magic happens." (Jill Blakeway, 36:59)

  • She receives continuous feedback from her patients—correlating sensation with intended effects.

Placebo & Scientific Study:

• Placebo as a Form of Energy Medicine:
  • "Placebo" triggers the body’s own self-healing and isn’t imaginary—it produces measurable physical effects.

  • "Placebo is just a prompt to self healing...It causes measurable physical changes in the body." (Jill Blakeway, 39:11)

• Bill Bengston’s Mouse Experiments:
  • Mice with cancer, healed by skeptical students performing a healing technique, survive; even control-group mice remit if near the healing sessions.

  • "The most skeptical...students could do it—they could all keep their mice alive." (Jill Blakeway, 41:10)

Language and Healing:

• Power of Language and Coherence:
  • Avoids "battle" metaphors with cancer patients—focuses on language that supports internal coherence, which she believes fosters real recovery.

  • "We should be encouraging coherence. As your body communicates better internally, it cleans up cancer cells all the time until they get overwhelmed." (Jill Blakeway, 42:39)

A Sceptic’s Testimony:

• Tim Daly’s Story:
  • Actor and initially skeptical patient unexpectedly experiences strong, involuntary sensations—and rapid healing—during energy healing after a severe injury.

  • "When I busted my legs the sensation...was profound." (Tim Daly, 45:52)

  • The more urgent his need, the more pronounced the effect.

  • "My abilities...increase depending on need—the effect is more dramatic the more you need it." (Jill Blakeway, 46:24)

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• "[Qigong] has a way of enhancing those energies...your body and the cosmos are connected." —Dr. Simon Duan (06:00)
• "Historically psi was very much an applied technology in the culture of China." —Dr. Simon Duan (08:11)
• "Sometimes my clients see the same thing...we're just so connected during the sessions." —Julie Gilts (21:05)
• "If consciousness is primary, then everything physical...all arise out of that same field." —Dr. Neil Theise (34:57)
• "Life has a vibration—it’s got a little fizz, that’s your chi." —Jill Blakeway (36:15)
• "Placebo is just a prompt to self healing, and it causes measurable physical changes in the body." —Jill Blakeway (39:11)
• "I still—as does Jill—want to find some people who will put it into a context of scientific process or method." —Tim Daly (46:41)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:28 – 10:44: Dr. Simon Duan tells his tooth extraction story and outlines the "psychic" tradition of Chinese medicine.
• 10:44 – 12:14: The debate: is healing energy, or information?
• 13:13 – 16:11: Julie Gilts’ husband’s healing from lymphedema through Reiki.
• 21:11 – 24:41: Julie's remote healing and instances of accurate remote viewing.
• 26:18 – 30:00: Jill Blakeway describes defining and practicing energy medicine.
• 31:27 – 33:15: Dr. Neil Theise explains the interstitium and its potential as the somatic basis for energy medicine.
• 33:29 – 35:29: Theise’s big thesis: consciousness creates reality, not vice versa.
• 39:11 – 41:10: Discussion of placebo, Bill Bengston’s mouse experiments, and implications for energy medicine.
• 43:37 – 46:29: Actor Tim Daly’s story—a skeptic’s powerful physical reaction to energy healing.

Flow, Tone, and Style

The tone remains open, inquisitive, and grounded despite often mystical subject matter. Guests speak honestly about their skepticism and awe, and Ky Dickens frequently reiterates questions a skeptical listener might have. Throughout, the show blends personal stories with scientific hypotheses, always circling the idea that we may need a broader understanding of consciousness and connection to explain energy healing’s most compelling evidence.

What’s Next?

The episode concludes with a tease for Part 2, promising lab-based experiments measuring what happens during healing and even whether distance healing can affect cancer cells in a Petri dish miles away.

"Next week, we ask—if something is moving between us, can we catch it in the act, and if we can—even in the smallest way—our ideas about what a body is, and where it ends, may have to change." (Ky Dickens, 47:03)

This summary covers all educational and content-driven portions—the episode skips extended ad reads and production credits.