Since inception, IONS has set out with an understanding that everything is interconnected. We are all connected to each other, to the world, and to information beyond time and space. This hypothesis is what has driven us to conduct ground-breaking research on meditation, energy healing, presentiment, and more. In recent years, we have begun to investigate channeling abilities. Our Channeling Research Program is spearheaded by Dr. Helané Wahbeh who is our Director of Research, as well as a trance channeler, hailing from a long line of trance channelers.
The Direct Experience of Channeling
In her book The Science of Channeling: Why You Should Trust Your Intuition and Embrace the Force That Connects Us All, Dr. Wahbeh pulls together both the scientific study and the direct experience of channeling. She defines channeling as:
The process of revealing information and energy not limited by our conventional notions of space and time that can appear receptive or expressive.
In other words, channeling encompases not just trance channeling (the channeling of disembodied entities) but all psychic phenomena. This study of psychic phenomena is variously called parapsychology or psi, pronounced “sigh.” The Science of Channeling provides both a compelling case for psi as well as a guidebook for those who want to better understand and cultivate their gifts. Your unique set of channeling abilities are called your Noetic Signature™.
Everyone has a Noetic Signature™. In fact, channeling experiences are quite widespread. In one study conducted by IONS, we found that over 80% of ~900 participants had at least one channeling experience. Participants included three distinct groups: scientists and engineers, the general public, and IONS own member base. Surprisingly, we found that all groups had channeling experiences. While we would expect it from our own audience, the fact that scientists and engineers (presumably more skeptical) and the general public scored high tells us that these channeling experiences are very common.
For example, have you ever:
- Thought about someone moments before they called or texted;
- Known something that you had no way of knowing;
- Had someone bring up an obscure topic that you were just thinking about; or
- Dreamed something and then experienced or seen it in real life?
The above are common experiences, and yet they’re not easily studied. Scientists have had to find other ways of investigating channeling phenomena.
Psi Experiments That Indicate Channeling Is Real
Take, for example, the sense of being stared at. Have you ever had that sensation in your body where you can feel someone staring at you, turn to face them, and find that they are in fact staring? Many studies have been conducted on remote staring. It involves two people, a looker and a receiver. The looker will alternate between looking away from and staring at the receiver. The receiver is often in another room so the looker may be viewing them through a two-way mirror or a closed-circuit TV. The receiver can often tell when they are being stared at.
In fact, there is a large body of related experiments classified as Distant Mental Influence on Living Systems, or DMILS. In experiments of this type, scientists study how people can influence other people’s bodies through intention. The one sending the intention is the sender and the one whose body is being affected is the receiver.
Here’s how this experiment might look: The receiver sits in an electromagnetically shielded chamber while hooked up to an EEG (which measures electrical activity in the brain) and various instruments that measure heart signals, skin signals, temperature, and blood pressure. Someone the receiver loves is in a different room, hooked up to the same kinds of equipment but they face a TV screen. Images of the receiver will occasionally appear on the screen. The sender focuses on sending as much positive intention as they can to the receiver when those images appear.
The results are astounding: Even though the receiver doesn’t consciously “know” the sender is sending them a positive intention, the receiver’s body changes when they are receiving — versus not receiving — that intention. The effects are small but observable and instantaneous.
Interested in learning more? The Science of Channeling book dives deep into all of this and more. Discover the compelling evidence for channeling abilities as well as how to hone your unique set of psychic gifts.
