Tinkering with the Unbearable Lightness of Being: Meditation, Mind-Body Medicine and Placebo in the Quantum Biology Age

There are empirical indications that mind-body therapies have a nonlocal quantum component, in addition to the psychoneuroimmunological pathways that have been the focus of the predominant experimental paradigm. The discussion below addresses the evidence and proposed theoretical mechanisms supporting this conclusion, and makes the case that there should be a convergence of research agendas between mind-body interventions (including placebo), photomedicine and quantum biology. Specifically, the role of endogenously generated biophotons in the regulation of genetic expression and the apparent ability of mental intent to direct biophoton emissions to specifically targeted tissues needs to be further evaluated from the perspective of photobiomodulation mechanisms, with a special focus on the spectroscopy and dosimetry of these emissions. Finally, the possible role of long-term meditation in enhancing quantum biological effects has to be further investigated at the level of cellular and macromolecular remodeling, both in the brain and the body.