In 1994, a panel of scientists at the National Institute of Health chose the word “biofield” to describe the field of energy and information that surrounds and interpenetrates the human body. The biofield is composed of both measurable electromagnetic energy and hypothetical subtle energy, or chi. This structure is also referred to as the "human energy field" or "aura."

While western science has yet to describe and measure this energy, other cultures, especially ancient Indian or Vedic cultures describe it extensively. The term "chakra" (wheel) in Sanskrit, refers to spinning energy vortices which are seen as structures in the body’s subtle energy anatomy. Not coincidentally, within the body at each chakra location there is a corresponding large cluster of nerves or plexuses.

Dr. Beverly Rubik at the Foundation for Alternative and Integrative Medicine (FAIM) writes that “indigenous systems of healing such as Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine and modern modalities such as chiropractic rest on concepts of a vital force or subtle life energy that is central to healing. Called by many names, including prana in Ayurvedic medicine and qi in Chinese medicine, these indigenous terms go back thousands of years. They may actually refer to something similar to the present-day concept of the biofield, which is, at least in part, based on the electromagnetic field theory of modern physics but, in principle, might also include acoustic and possibly other subtler energy fields not yet known to science. The important difference between traditional and modern views of the vital force is that the biofield rests on physical principles and can be measured, whereas the traditional concepts remain metaphysical. Nonetheless, considerable similarities exist between ancient concepts of the life force and modern biofield concepts in their assumption that a form of life-giving energy flows throughout the body and that illness arises as a result of blockages, excesses, or irregularities in its flow.”