Ask most people what the human biofield is and you get a blank look or a vague wave toward something mystical. Eileen McKusick, the founder of Biofield Tuning, has spent decades studying this human energy field and her answer is refreshingly simple.
Your biofield is your body's electrical system. That is it. It is your electric current and your magnetic field, and in her words, it does not need to be more complicated than that. Understanding the human biofield helps bridge the gap between how we usually think about physical health and energetic health, so let's break it down.
What Is a Biofield?
The biofield is a field of organizing information that surrounds and interacts with the physical body, helping coordinate your physiology. The term originated in 1994 by a panel of scientists convened by the National Institutes of Health to describe the biomagnetic field of the human body, sometimes called the aura or the human energy field.
We tend to picture ourselves as organs, bones, muscles, and chemistry, but the biofield is the part that connects and informs all of it. While the study of this physiological structure is still emerging, it has been part of the scientific conversation for decades and even centuries.
Do Humans Have an Electromagnetic Field?
In short, yes. Much of your biofield is already measurable with tools you have heard of. An EEG measures the electrical activity of your brain. An EKG and heart rate variability monitor track the electrical rhythm of your heart. An EMG reads the electrical activity of your muscles. The heart even produces a magnetic field that sensitive instruments can detect a few feet from the body.
As Eileen puts it, the energy in “energy medicine” is really just electricity. Anything with an electric current running through it, has a corresponding magnetic field around it. While the basic idea that your body is electric is well established in modern allopathic medicine, research continues to explore and document the more subtle aspects of the electrical nature of the biofield itself.
The Shape of the Biofield
Electrical energy organizes into a torus, the donut-like shape you find in magnets, plasma, hearts, and even planetary atmospheres. Charge circulates through a central channel and around an outer boundary, which makes the field self-sustaining and self-organizing. The biofield extends, on average, around six feet from the body. Interestingly, it is dynamic in size rather than fixed, meaning it grows or shrinks depending on your state, your surroundings, and the people around you.
Biofield Anatomy: How Your Experiences Live in the Field
Over decades of using tuning forks in the biofield, Eileen mapped what she calls the Biofield Anatomy. In this model, the field holds a timeline. Information generated recently sits close to the body and older experiences sit further out, much like rings in a tree.
The biofield is believed to hold the energetic residue of stress, tension, and past experiences as areas of stuck or frozen energy, often paired with patterns of physical tension.
Across thousands of sessions, Eileen recognized similar patterns appearing within specific areas of the biofield correlated to specific issues that clients were presenting. For example, clients who were experiencing right hip issues almost always had a correlating pattern of busy-ness, overdoing and overthinking.
By releasing and adjusting the area of stagnant energy within the biofield, clients frequently reported experiencing emotional release and a decrease in physical symptoms.
How Biofield Healing and Biofield Tuning Work
Biofield healing is a broad term for modalities that work with the body's energy field to support balance and wellbeing. Biofield Tuning is a sound-based method within that family. The premise is straightforward: magnetic fields guide and inform electric currents.
Rather than working directly on the body, a practitioner works in the magnetic field. Using a tuning fork, the practitioner identifies areas of discordance and supports the body in bringing stagnant energy back into circulation, much like tuning a musical instrument back to a clear reference tone.
People often describe the same thing after receiving a biofield healing session: they feel lighter. When energy that had been stuck returns to flow, there is often a sense of relaxation, reduced stress, calm, and mental clarity.
How to Strengthen Your Biofield
You do not need a practitioner to support your own biofield. Much of what supports your electric health is refreshingly ordinary, and you can integrate these practices into your daily life:
- Spend time in nature and get grounded, ideally barefoot on the earth
- Breathe deeply and slowly, since breath is a primary source of the charge you run on
- Use your own voice, from humming to toning, to help move energy
- Express emotions rather than holding them in
- Stay present rather than ruminating on the past or future
- Spend time in the sunshine, stay hydrated, and eat local healthy foods
In addition to these other free healthy habits, certain tuning forks are perfect for self care. Our most popular tuning fork, the Sonic Slider, is tuned to the 12th harmonic of the Schumann Resonance, the earth's natural electromagnetic frequency. Activating and gliding this fork along your body is a simple way to bring steady, grounding vibration to your own biofield.
None of these practices are treatments for a specific condition. They are simply everyday ways to support relaxation, grounding, and resilience, which many people find valuable.
Explore the Human Biofield With Biofield Tuning
If this way of seeing the body resonates, there are gentle ways to go deeper. Eileen's books Electric Body, Electric Health and Tuning the Human Biofield lay out the full model and the Biofield Anatomy map. For hands-on practice, simple tools like the 222 Hz tuning fork give you an easy way to experience sound healing on your own biofield. You can find these and more at the Biofield Tuning Store.