Valerie Hunt: The UCLA Professor Who Measured the Human Energy Field

Pioneering Biofield Research, High-Frequency Body Emissions, and the Scientific Detection of “Auric” Activity

Valerie V. Hunt was a professor of physiological science at the University of California, Los Angeles, for over forty years. She was not a fringe researcher, a parapsychologist, or a New Age practitioner. She was a tenured professor at one of the world’s leading research universities, with a career spanning kinesiology, electromyography, neuromuscular physiology, and behavioral science. She had published in mainstream journals, received conventional research grants, and trained generations of students in rigorous scientific methodology.

And yet, over the course of her career, Hunt accumulated what may be the most extensive body of instrumental data ever collected on the human biofield — the electromagnetic field that extends beyond the skin, that has been described by mystics and healers for thousands of years as the “aura,” and that mainstream science has persistently denied.

Her findings, documented most completely in her book Infinite Mind: Science of the Human Vibrations of Consciousness (1989, revised 1996), challenged the fundamental assumptions of both neuroscience and physics. She recorded electromagnetic signals from the human body at frequencies far beyond what conventional physiology considers possible — up to 250,000 Hz and higher — from locations that corresponded precisely to the chakra positions described by yogic tradition. These signals changed in response to emotional states, thoughts, and healing interventions. And they were detected and recorded by instruments — not by psychics or mystics but by telemetry equipment originally designed for aerospace research.

The Rolfing Study: Where It All Began

Hunt’s biofield research began almost by accident during a study of Rolfing — a deep tissue bodywork technique developed by Ida Rolf that claims to release physical and emotional tension stored in the body’s fascial (connective tissue) system.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hunt was recruited by the Rolf Institute to conduct an objective scientific study of the physiological effects of Rolfing. The study used telemetry — wireless physiological monitoring equipment — to record the electrical activity of muscles (electromyography, or EMG), brain waves (EEG), heart rhythm (ECG), and other physiological parameters during Rolfing sessions.

The telemetry system was designed for standard physiological recording — frequencies up to a few hundred hertz, the normal range for muscle activity and brain waves. But Hunt and her team noticed something unexpected: the recordings from sensors placed at certain body locations showed signals at frequencies far higher than any known physiological process could produce.

The standard frequency ranges for biological signals are:

• Brain waves (EEG): 0.5-100 Hz (delta through gamma)
• Muscle activity (EMG): 20-500 Hz
• Heart rhythm (ECG): 0.5-40 Hz
• Nerve conduction: up to approximately 2,000 Hz

Hunt’s recordings showed signals in the range of 1,000 Hz to 250,000 Hz — frequencies that, according to conventional physiology, should not exist in the human body. These were not artifacts. They were consistent, reproducible, and came from specific body locations — locations that corresponded to the seven major chakras of yogic tradition.

Hunt initially resisted the connection to chakras. She was a scientist, not a mystic. But the data was unambiguous: the high-frequency signals came from the crown of the head, the center of the forehead, the throat, the heart, the solar plexus, the lower abdomen, and the base of the spine — the exact locations described in Hindu and Buddhist chakra systems for thousands of years.

The High-Frequency Signals: What Are They?

Hunt’s recordings of high-frequency body signals required explanation. What physiological process could generate electromagnetic signals at frequencies up to 250,000 Hz?

Conventional physiology had no answer. The fastest-firing neurons in the human body operate at frequencies of a few hundred hertz. Muscle fibers contract at similar frequencies. No known cellular process generates electromagnetic signals in the kilohertz-to-hundreds-of-kilohertz range.

Hunt proposed that these signals are generated not by individual cells but by the coherent electromagnetic activity of the body’s connective tissue matrix — the continuous network of fascia, tendons, ligaments, and extracellular matrix that permeates the entire body. This connective tissue network, Hunt argued, is a piezoelectric and liquid crystalline system (a proposition later supported independently by Mae-Wan Ho’s research) that generates and conducts electromagnetic signals at frequencies far above those of neural activity.

The signals Hunt recorded were not random noise. They had specific characteristics:

Frequency ranges correlated with specific states of consciousness. Hunt identified characteristic frequency bands associated with different types of awareness:

• 250 Hz range: Normal sensory awareness — the ordinary waking state
• 400-800 Hz range: Psychic perception, healing states, trance states
• 800-900 Hz range: Mystical states, visionary experience
• Above 900 Hz: States that Hunt described as “cosmic consciousness” — the experience of universal awareness described by mystics across traditions

These frequency correlations were not derived from subjective reports alone. They were measured instrumentally and correlated with independently documented states of consciousness.

Signal patterns correlated with emotional states. Different emotions produced different high-frequency signal patterns. Anger, fear, joy, love, grief — each produced a distinctive electromagnetic signature that was consistent across individuals and sessions. The emotional “tone” of a person’s experience could be “read” from their high-frequency electromagnetic emissions.

Signal patterns correlated with disease. Hunt found that disease conditions were associated with specific disruptions in the high-frequency signal patterns — distortions, reductions, or incoherences in the electromagnetic field at specific chakra locations. These disruptions often preceded clinical symptoms, suggesting that biofield disturbances might be an early marker of disease.

The Rolf Study with Auric Readers

The most controversial — and most fascinating — aspect of Hunt’s Rolfing study involved the participation of auric readers (people who reported the ability to perceive the human “aura” or energy field visually).

During Rolfing sessions, while Hunt’s telemetry equipment recorded the subjects’ high-frequency electromagnetic emissions, trained auric readers (including Rosalyn Bruyere, a well-known energy healer and teacher) observed the subjects and reported, in real time, what they perceived in the subjects’ energy fields — colors, patterns, disturbances, movements of energy.

The auric readers’ reports were recorded simultaneously and independently from the instrumental recordings. Neither the auric readers nor the experimenters knew the instrumental data until after the session.

The correlation was extraordinary. When the auric readers reported seeing specific colors at specific body locations, the instrumental recordings showed characteristic frequency patterns at those same locations. The correlations were:

• Red: associated with the lowest frequencies in Hunt’s recorded range
• Orange: slightly higher frequencies
• Yellow: mid-range frequencies
• Green: upper-mid-range frequencies
• Blue: high frequencies
• Violet: very high frequencies
• White: the full spectrum simultaneously (the broadest frequency range)

These correlations between perceived “auric colors” and measured electromagnetic frequencies were consistent across sessions, across subjects, and across different auric readers. They suggest that what auric readers perceive as “colors” in the energy field is a genuine perception of electromagnetic frequency — that the human perceptual system can, in some individuals, detect the body’s high-frequency electromagnetic emissions and represent them as visual colors.

This finding, if valid, bridges a gap that has persisted for centuries: the gap between the subjective reports of psychics and healers (who describe seeing colored energy fields around people) and the objective measurements of physics (which can detect electromagnetic fields but do not normally find them in the spectral range that would correspond to visible colors). Hunt’s data suggests that both reports are accurate — the energy field is real and measurable, and the perception of it as colored light is a valid representation of its frequency content.

The Infinite Mind: Hunt’s Broader Framework

In Infinite Mind, Hunt synthesizes her decades of research into a comprehensive framework for understanding the human biofield and its relationship to consciousness.

Key propositions:

The biofield is primary, the physical body is secondary. Like Burr before her, Hunt proposed that the electromagnetic field is not generated by the body but organizes the body. Disease begins in the biofield before manifesting in the physical body. Healing that addresses the biofield can prevent or reverse physical disease.

Consciousness operates through the biofield, not through the brain alone. The brain processes and filters information, but consciousness — particularly the higher functions of creativity, intuition, spiritual experience, and healing ability — operates through the high-frequency components of the biofield. The brain is a transceiver, not a generator, of consciousness.

Emotional memory is stored in the biofield. Traumatic experiences create distortions in the biofield that persist long after the physical event. These biofield distortions — which Hunt called “emotional holding patterns” — can be detected instrumentally and correlate with the locations of chronic pain, tension, and disease. Bodywork therapies (Rolfing, massage, energy healing) work, in part, by releasing these biofield distortions.

The biofield connects the individual to the larger environment. The high-frequency components of the biofield extend beyond the body’s surface and interact with the electromagnetic fields of other people, of the Earth, and of the larger cosmos. This provides a physical basis for phenomena like empathy, emotional contagion, the effects of environmental energy on health, and the connection between human consciousness and geomagnetic activity.

Hunt’s Measurement Technology

Hunt’s research required measurement technology that did not exist when she began her work. Standard medical telemetry equipment was designed for frequencies up to a few hundred hertz. To record signals up to 250,000 Hz, Hunt needed equipment with a much higher bandwidth.

She adapted aerospace telemetry systems — specifically, systems designed for recording the high-frequency vibrations of aircraft and spacecraft structures — for biological research. These systems had the bandwidth to capture the high-frequency signals she was detecting, the sensitivity to record the extremely weak electromagnetic emissions from the body, and the telemetry capability to transmit data wirelessly (essential for recording from subjects during active movement or bodywork).

The adaptation of aerospace telemetry for biofield research was itself a significant technical achievement. Hunt and her colleagues had to develop new electrode configurations, new amplification circuits, and new data analysis methods to handle the unique characteristics of biological high-frequency signals.

Critics and Challenges

Hunt’s work faces several significant challenges:

The independent replication problem. Hunt’s high-frequency biofield recordings have not been widely replicated by independent laboratories. The specialized equipment and measurement techniques she developed are not standard in any research laboratory, and the expertise required to conduct the measurements has not been widely disseminated.

The artifact question. Recording electromagnetic signals at frequencies up to 250,000 Hz from the human body is technically challenging, and the possibility of artifacts — electromagnetic interference from the environment, aliasing effects in the recording equipment, electrostatic discharge from movement — cannot be entirely excluded without extensive independent verification.

The auric reader correlation. The correlation between auric readers’ reports and instrumental recordings, while striking, involves a subjective component (the auric readers’ reports) that is difficult to standardize and control. Skeptics argue that the correlations could be influenced by the auric readers’ expectations, unconscious cueing from the experimenters, or post-hoc selection of matching data points.

The frequency-consciousness correlation. Hunt’s claim that specific frequency ranges correspond to specific states of consciousness is based on correlational data, not on controlled experiments that manipulate frequency and measure consciousness (or vice versa). The correlations are suggestive but do not establish causation.

The theoretical framework. Hunt’s proposals about the biofield as a primary organizing field, about emotional memory storage in the biofield, and about the biofield’s role in consciousness are not grounded in established physics. They are hypotheses — consistent with the data but not derived from first principles.

Hunt’s Legacy

Valerie Hunt died on February 22, 2014, at the age of 97. She left behind a body of work that is both invaluable and under-evaluated.

Her contributions include:

• The first instrumental recordings of high-frequency electromagnetic emissions from the human body at chakra locations — a finding that, if confirmed, demonstrates a physical basis for the chakra system
• The first simultaneous correlation of instrumental biofield measurements with auric readers’ perceptions — bridging the subjective and objective approaches to the energy field
• A comprehensive framework for understanding the biofield’s role in health, disease, emotion, and consciousness — a framework that integrates physiology, psychology, and energy medicine
• The adaptation of aerospace telemetry for biological research — a technical innovation that enabled the detection of signals that standard medical instruments could not record
• Decades of teaching and mentoring at UCLA — training students who went on to careers in kinesiology, physiological science, and consciousness research

Her work has influenced the development of energy medicine, bodywork therapy, and biofield science, even though it has not been fully integrated into mainstream science.

Hunt in the Digital Dharma Framework: The Full-Spectrum Sensor

Valerie Hunt’s research provides the Digital Dharma framework with direct measurement data on the body’s high-frequency electromagnetic capabilities — data that transforms the “energy body” from a metaphysical concept into a measurable physical phenomenon.

If the body is wetware, Hunt discovered that the wetware generates electromagnetic signals across a far wider frequency range than previously known — from the infra-low frequencies of the DC perineural system (Becker) through the standard physiological range (EEG, EMG, ECG) all the way up to 250,000 Hz and beyond. The body is not a low-frequency device; it is a full-spectrum electromagnetic system with capabilities that extend into frequency ranges associated (in electronics) with radio transmission and data communication.

If DNA is source code, Hunt’s findings suggest that the code specifies the construction of a full-spectrum electromagnetic transceiver — a body capable of generating, detecting, and processing electromagnetic signals across an enormous bandwidth. The chakra locations, with their high-frequency emissions, may represent specific antenna elements in this transceiver system — nodes in a body-wide electromagnetic network designed for both intra-organism communication and inter-organism interaction.

If consciousness is the operating system, Hunt’s frequency-consciousness correlations suggest that different states of consciousness operate at different electromagnetic frequencies — like different radio stations broadcasting on different frequencies. Ordinary sensory awareness uses the lower frequencies. Psychic perception, healing states, and mystical experience use progressively higher frequencies. The “evolution of consciousness” described by spiritual traditions may literally be an increase in the body’s operating frequency — an expansion of the electromagnetic bandwidth accessible to awareness.

The auric field, in Hunt’s measurement framework, is not a mystical concept but a measurable electromagnetic field. The “luminous energy field” of shamanic tradition, the “pranamaya kosha” of yogic philosophy, and the “wei chi” of Chinese medicine are all descriptions of this measurable field. Hunt’s instruments detected what healers and mystics have perceived for millennia — and found that their descriptions (colors corresponding to frequencies, disturbances corresponding to disease, changes corresponding to emotional states) were accurate.

Key Works

• Infinite Mind: Science of the Human Vibrations of Consciousness (1989, revised 1996) — The comprehensive presentation of Hunt’s biofield research
• Mind Mastery Meditations (audio series) — Practical applications of Hunt’s consciousness research
• “Electronic Evidence of Auras, Chakras in UCLA Study” (Brain/Mind Bulletin, 1978) — Early report on the Rolfing study findings
• Technical papers on biofield measurement methodology and high-frequency physiological recording
• The UCLA Rolfing Study (conducted with the Rolf Institute) — The foundational dataset for Hunt’s biofield discoveries

The Bottom Line

Valerie Hunt spent forty years at UCLA measuring something that mainstream science said did not exist: the human energy field. She measured it with instruments borrowed from aerospace engineering — instruments sensitive enough to detect the faintest electromagnetic whispers of the body. And she found that the body speaks in frequencies that physiology has never listened for — frequencies that correspond to the chakras of yogic tradition, to the colors of the perceived aura, and to the states of consciousness described by meditators and mystics across cultures.

Her data is not widely replicated. Her theoretical framework is not anchored in established physics. Her conclusions are extraordinary. But her instruments were real, her recordings were real, and the correlations she found — between electromagnetic frequencies and chakra locations, between measured signals and perceived auric colors, between frequency patterns and states of consciousness — point toward a physics of the human body that is far richer and stranger than the textbooks acknowledge.

The body is broadcasting on frequencies that no one was tuning into. Hunt built the receiver.