How the Qi-5 Works: The Science of Biological Signaling
In previous blogs, I shared how a similar type of work appeared to help resolve my son’s severe IBD-like symptoms and my own MCAS/histamine intolerance within a few months (without diets, supplement protocols, or more man-handling the body) — and why I decided to bring it into my practice. But how does it actually work? What is the Qi-5? And what can you expect? Let’s explore.
But first — a disclaimer.
The Biolight Qi-5 (and I) do not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. That’s the job of your doctor or licensed medical provider. Like any healing modality — from surgery and medication to supplements or lifestyle shifts — the Qi-5 doesn’t work for everyone in exactly the same way. Some people feel a shift almost immediately. Others notice gradual changes over weeks. And for some, it simply isn’t the right tool.
With that said, let’s talk about what the Qi-5 is designed to help your body support — and why.
What Is the Qi-5?
Simply put, the Qi-5 is a compact (and yes, extremely expensive) device designed to detect your body’s electrical signals and identify when there may be miscommunication within your system. It does this in an incredibly simple, non-invasive way: by reading your signals through the skin via an arm cuff. Think of it as a very sensitive electrical “stethoscope” for your nervous system.
When your electrical circuitry isn’t properly communicating, the device can pick that up. It then aims to help restore coherence by transmitting a gentle current carrying the electromagnetic “signature” of that trigger.
Yes — everything in nature has its own “energetic fingerprint,” and this isn’t just a poetic idea — it’s measurable physics. Every molecule absorbs and emits electromagnetic energy in patterns that are unique to its atomic structure. Techniques like infrared and Raman spectroscopy are literally built on this principle: they identify substances by reading their vibrational “fingerprint regions,” typically between 400–1,500 cm⁻¹. A peanut molecule scatters light differently than a water molecule, and those patterns are consistent and reproducible. In other words, the Qi-5 is working with the same physical reality — detecting and interacting with electromagnetic signatures that are already part of the natural world. 1, 2
What happens in a session?
During a session, the Qi-5 first scans your system for triggers. There are over 40,000 items in the database (from chemical and environmental, to foods and emotions) so we can really find quite a variety of triggers over the course of 6-13 sessions that may be draining your battery, or contributing to inflammation, allergies, or sensitivities.
Each session we make a new list, and work to balance the system. The Qi-5 allows your nervous system to do two things at once:
(a) experience the trigger safely, while
(b) simultaneously receiving powerful safety signals from a low-level laser applied to your acupuncture meridians.
This combination offers your nervous system new information — essentially a “reset” opportunity — helping shift a substance or stimulus (like an allergen) from being coded as a threat back to being a neutral part of life. In turn, symptoms can diminish.
Here’s a simple example: imagine your body is sending a loud signal that it can’t tolerate dust. The Qi-5 reads that electromagnetic pattern through the arm cuff. We then transmit the electromagnetic “signature” of dust through the wand. While your body picks up that cue, we simultaneously signal safety with the laser. The goal is to give the maladapted response — the “crossed wire” — a chance to re-pattern into a normal, non-reactive response.
What the Qi-5 May support — and not
How the Qi-5 May Support the Body
When we talk about “crossed wires,” what we’re really describing is miscommunication within the body’s electrical network. Stress, trauma, inflammation, and chronic overload can scramble those signals — leaving the nervous system stuck in defense mode. In that state, your body thinks it’s under threat. It shifts its energy toward survival, not healing. Inflammation goes up, repair goes down. You might feel this as pain, exhaustion, anxiety, digestive issues, brain fog, or a thousand other “mystery symptoms.”
To help, think of the Qi-5 as a tool that suggests coherence — turning the static of crossed wired into a subtle, in-tune, harmony. It aims to remind your system what safety feels like when confronted by a trigger (albeit an energetic one). When the nervous system feels safe and less burdened by so many triggers,, it can relax and return to parasympathetic mode — the state of rest, repair, digestion, and regeneration. This is where inflammation drops, tissues repair, hormones rebalance, digestion improves, and mood stabilizes.
In essence, the Qi-5 doesn’t force healing; it sets the stage for it — creating the conditions in which your body can do what it’s always known how to do: heal. Because let’s be honest: no healer, device, or supplement can knit your tissues, oxygenate your cells, or repair your gut lining for you. Your body does that. Always has. The best we can do is support it — offer better information, better resources, and a better environment to remember how.
What You may Notice
Results vary, but these are some of the shifts you may see after a handful (usually between 6 and 13) of sessions.
Diminished food Intolerances: Reactions to dairy, wheat, fermented foods, fruit acids (like oranges or apples), or “mystery foods” may calm as the body stops misreading them as threats.
Diminished environmental allergies: Seasonal allergies, dust sensitivities, or skin reactions to certain plants (like mango rash) may improve as the immune system re-learns what’s safe.
Improved digestive function: When the nervous system is on high alert, it can overreact to its own stomach acid or enzymes. Once that hypervigilance settles, digestion may become smoother and calmer.
Improved energy and fatigue: Mounting an inflammatory response is exhausting. When the body stops wasting energy fighting safe foods or emotions, that energy may become available again — for repair, focus, joy, and life.
Improved emotional and mental regulation: Clients may feel calmer, less reactive, more emotionally stable, and less “wired-and-tired.” The brain fog may lift; the mental spirals may quiet.
In short: when the body’s electrical system is back in alignment, everything that depends on that communication may work better.
What the Qi-5 may not Do
The Qi-5 is not a magic wand or cure-all! It’s not a stand in for a SIBO protocol or a nutritional deficiency or a surgery. It’s one tool among many.
It cannot kill pathogens.
The Qi-5 supports the terrain and immune system, but doesn’t act directly like an antibiotic or antifungal.It cannot change a response to a food because of a diagnosis
For example, if you have celiac, don’t expect to remove gluten from your dietary list of no-nos.
It cannot fix mechanical injuries or dysfunctions
Torn muscles or structural issues need physical repair or therapy.It cannot replace nourishment.
Your body still needs nutrients, minerals, amino acids, healthy fats, hydration, and rest. Think of the Qi-5 as supporting the blueprint and nutrition as supplying the building blocks.It cannot override patterns you don’t change.
Qi-5 work can support the body, but the environment in which you live, eat, think, and feel still matters. If you’re tired because you’re up all night watching Netflix, it won’t help much with energy. If you’re stomach is sensitive because you drink 3 cups of coffee on an empty stomach in the morning, it may not stop the sensitivity until you change that habit. Healing is a partnership :)
Explaining How the Qi-5 Works
Right now there isn’t much published research on devices like the Qi-5, AAT, or NAET explaining exactly how they work. As someone who loves evidence, this frustrates me — a lot. I experienced what felt like a profound healing shift from this work, yet there’s no large-scale study I can point to. Beyond the “why,” I became fascinated with the “how.” Systems like NAET have been used for decades, and the more advanced modalities like AAT and the Qi-5 as well. The results people report can be remarkable — but the mechanism of action is still not fully mapped out for those of us who love to understand the science.
After seeing how deeply this work impacted both me and my son, as well as others with extreme allergies and emotional hang ups, I wanted to understand the mechanism. That meant looking beyond the traditional view of the body as purely mechanical and chemical — and into its electrical nature. It turns out the body’s language isn’t just chemical.
At the cellular level, every living organism maintains its own bioelectric field. Each cell carries a voltage — a difference in charge between the inside and outside of its membrane — that acts as an instruction set for growth, repair, and communication. Researchers like Dr. Michael Levin at Tufts University have shown that these electrical patterns can determine how tissues form and even guide regeneration. When a cell’s voltage pattern changes, it can shift behavior — from inflammation to healing, from disorganization to order.
In this sense, the body’s electrical language is the operating system beneath chemistry itself. It’s simply swapping the perspective from a mechanical or chemical basis of healing to a physics-based one. And this information helps to offer a framework for how we might “biohack” the nervous system to influence symptoms with a system like the Qi-5.
We Are More Electric Than We Realize
Every cell in our body lives in a sea of charged particles — sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium — all dissolved in what biophysicist Dr. Gerald Pollack calls structured water. This water isn’t ordinary. It forms a semi-crystalline layer that actually stores and transmits electrical energy. When you combine that structured water with electrolytes, proteins, and connective tissue, you get a soft, biological plasma — a living, conductive medium through which information moves almost instantly. That’s what makes something called “bioelectromagnetic signaling” possible within the body:
The fluids in your body — blood, lymph, interstitial, cerebrospinal — act like highways for charge. This is one reason why balancing minerals (link) can support nervous system change.
The connective-tissue network (fascia) forms a semi-conductive web that both generates and senses electrical signals through piezoelectricity — where pressure or movement creates voltage. This is why bodywork and movement can be such a powerful support for nervous system regulation as well.
And the structured water surrounding every cell keeps the whole orchestra in sync — ions, fields, and frequencies dancing together to maintain order.
This helps explain why some frequency-based therapies — like NAAT, AAT, and Qi-5 — may have rapid, sometimes noticeable effects. They aren’t “forcing” anything through solid matter; they’re introducing coherent electromagnetic patterns into a plasma-like medium that’s already designed to carry them — potentially helping the body’s internal communication system reorganize.
Healing with Electric Signaling vs. Chemistry
What this really means is that the body is far more electric than most of us realize. We’re taught that our biology runs on chemistry — hormones, neurotransmitters, enzymes, immune cells — and so Western and even functional medicine focus on those mechanical and chemical aspects of healing: supplements, diets, medications, protocols.
And while all of that matters, chemistry only works because of electricity.
Every cell in your body runs on voltage. Your heart produces a measurable electromagnetic field detectable several feet away. Nerves carry current like wires. Even connective tissue and bone act as semiconductors, conducting charge and light. Receptors are dynamic structures that shift and vibrate; cells exchange information not just chemically, but also electrically — through voltage changes, ionic flows, and even faint bursts of light called biophotons.
(ultra-weak photon emissions from living cells; see NOTES for references).
This means that the plasma-like water inside us behaves like a liquid crystal (literally, like a crystalline structure), carrying current and storing light. Microtubules within our cells act like tiny antennas, picking up and sending out frequencies. We are, at our core, electrical beings — and when that bioelectromagnetic signaling system becomes disorganized by chronic stress, trauma, inflammation, or unprocessed emotion, the whole field may lose coherence.
Similar to Exposure Therapy — But Through the Body’s Electrical Language
If you’ve heard of therapies like EFT (tapping), Neuro-Emotional Technique (N.E.T.), or traditional exposure therapy, this work builds on a very similar foundation: helping the nervous system safely re-experience a stressor while signaling that it’s no longer a threat.
In exposure therapy, for example, a person is gently guided to face what they fear — whether it’s a phobia, a sound, or a difficult memory — while in a controlled, safe environment. Over time, this retrains the brain to stop associating that trigger with danger. The stress response quiets, and the body learns that it can tolerate the situation without going into alarm.
The Qi-5 does something remarkably similar — only instead of using words or imagery, it works through electrical communication. It allows the nervous system to “face” the trigger (say, dust, dairy, or an emotion like grief) at the electromagnetic level, while being simultaneously flooded with coherent, safety-coded frequencies from the laser.
Think of it as exposure therapy for your cells. The body revisits the pattern that once produced a defensive reaction, but this time in an environment of calm, coherence, and support. That contrast is what rewires the loop — shifting the body from “danger, react!” to “safe, integrate.”
Where traditional exposure therapy uses conscious awareness and emotional processing, the Qi-5 works below the level of thought — through the body’s own bioelectrical signaling network. In that sense, it’s less about remembering differently and more about resonating differently.
It’s Not Woo Woo, It’s Science
Seen through this lens, what happens during this work may not be so mystical at all. The body isn’t reacting to “woo-woo waves”; it’s responding to coherence being reintroduced into its electrical network. When that network becomes disordered, the body may lose efficient communication within the electrical body (think: short circuiting) and we feel it as fatigue, pain, anxiety, or hypersensitivity. When the signal is restored, the body may find its rhythm once more (again, read the NOTES for more science).
When that happens, inflammation may quiet, communication may clear, and the body may begin to regulate itself more effectively. It’s why these types of systems are being explored as supportive tools for mental and behavioral challenges in kids, ADHD, and certain aspects of autism, as well as digestive distress, food sensitivities, histamine intolerance, MCAS, and environmental allergies. They may also support people experiencing chronic fatigue, anxiety, or insomnia.
It’s not to say it’s a cure-all for all things — yet it’s remarkable just how much the body may be able to rebalance when the wires are no longer “crossed.”
What Does the Research Say?
There is currently very little research on the healing processes of Qi-5, AAT, and NAET (similar healing techniques). There are no large randomized controlled trials proving (or disproving) its efficacy or effectiveness that I could find. Why? It takes a lot of money to fund large-scale studies. So we’re left here with a few cool, smaller-scale studies and observations. Here is a bit of what I could find:
3‑Year‑Old Child with Multiple Food Intolerances Healed
A 3-year-old girl severely intolerant to foods like milk, sugar, egg white, and pork was completely healed in just seven NAET sessions over four weeks. Remarkably, she remained symptom-free and able to eat all previously intolerable foods—even after three years. [This is almost the EXACT same story as my son, 3 years later he is still clear] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2556663/Anaphalaxis Peanut Allergy Healed with No Reaction on Oral Challenge
A woman with a serious peanut allergy (anaphalaxis) saw significant reductions in immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels and lost all reactivity after 18 months of NAET treatments. She did an oral challene after 18 months of eating 1g peanut protein with no reaction. The paper states there was a "successful desensitization toward food allergies using NAET." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25105076/NAET’s Promising Role in Supporting Health
While not a clinical study, The Nambudripad’s Allergy Research Foundation (NARF) has gathered outcome data from NAET practitioners treating patients with a range of chronic symptoms with the following outcomes: https://www.naet.com/pdfs/NAET_Booklet_new.pdfAbdominal bloating: Out of 980 patients, 74% (720 people) experienced full resolution of symptoms after 15 NAET visits. About 25% required more than 25 visits for improvement, while only 1% did not respond or failed to follow up.
Flatulence: Among 669 cases, 65% (436 people) had resolution after 15 sessions, 34% improved after 25+ visits, and just 1% did not respond or were lost to follow-up.
Constipation: In a group of 775 patients, 67% (523 people) saw relief within 15 visits, while the remaining 33% responded after extended treatment. Only a fraction of a percent did not improve or follow up.
Diarrhea: Out of 2,424 patients, 69% (1,679 people) achieved resolution within 15 sessions, with under 1% failing to respond or complete the program.
Eczema: In 76 patients treated for skin symptoms, 50% (38 people) improved within 15 visits, while 2.5% did not respond or complete the program
Autism-Related Improvements Linked to NAET Intervention
A randomized, controlled study of 60 autistic children (ages 2.5–10) tested whether treating food and nutrient sensitivities with Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Techniques (NAET) could improve autism outcomes. Thirty children received a year of NAET targeting 50 key allergens, while 30 served as untreated controls. Results showed that 23 of 30 treated children were able to attend regular school classes (wow!!), compared with none in the control group, and the NAET group demonstrated statistically and clinically significant improvements across all four autism-related outcome measures (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/complementary-medicine/201204/new-study-explores-naet-possible-treatment-autism)The Doctor who Did that Autism Study above was cured of his allergies … why he did the autism study in the first place
"I first encountered NAET when my severe hay fever symptoms were eliminated by a 20-minute NAET treatment—and they never recurred! This is what spurred my interest in exploring NAET." https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/complementary-medicine/201204/new-study-explores-naet-possible-treatment-autism
The Bottom Line
The Qi-5 doesn’t do the healing — your body does! What it offers is coherence, clarity, and communication — the ingredients your nervous system needs to remember how to heal, or at least reduce symptoms. When your body receives clear information instead of static, it naturally begins to reorganize toward health. And that’s when the magic happens.
Notes for the scientist
As I mentioned previously, I went on a research mission to better understand how this work
How everything has its own “energetic fingerprint”
Physics Perspective
Everything in the universe really does carry its own energetic fingerprint — not in a mystical way, but in a deeply physical, measurable way. At the atomic and molecular levels, matter interacts with electromagnetic fields — light, infrared, ultraviolet — in ways determined by its structure: the atoms, bonds, and charge distribution. When light or electromagnetic waves hit a molecule, it absorbs or scatters specific frequencies depending on its molecular shape, bonding, and electronic configuration. In fact, vibrational spectroscopy techniques like Raman and infrared (IR) spectroscopy are precisely built on this — they read the “fingerprint region” (often 400–1,500 cm⁻¹) that is unique to each molecule. 1
For example, a peanut molecule will absorb or scatter electromagnetic energy in different patterns than a water molecule or a protein. Those patterns are consistent and reproducible — like a signature. Techniques like Raman spectroscopy can distinguish molecules even at the level of specific functional groups or edge geometries. 2
So in that sense, yes — everything does have a unique energetic imprint, and our scientific tools already use that principle to identify substances, measure purity, and understand structure.
Biological / Living Systems
When we shift the lens from inert matter to living organisms, things become even more fascinating. Living systems don’t just passively carry energetic signatures — they actively generate, modulate, and communicate via bioelectric fields and ion flows. At the cellular level, ion channels and pumps establish membrane potentials (voltages across the cell membrane) and regulate how cells behave: divide, migrate, differentiate, or die. These electrical gradients serve as instructions on how to behave, not just background noise. 3, 4
Cells are also interconnected through gap junctions and electrical synapses, forming networks that let voltage potentials ripple across tissues. In fact, patterns of membrane voltage guide processes like limb regeneration, organ formation, and spatial organization during development. 5, Some researchers argue that bioelectric fields are fundamental to life — that they provide a kind of organizing scaffold or “electrical skeleton” layered atop the biochemical machinery. 6
So living beings don’t just have energetic fingerprints — their biological functioning is an energetic dance: ions flowing, voltages shifting, fields interacting across tissues. That’s the deeper bridge between “energy medicine” ideas and real physiology.
How Cells Communicate energetically:
Cellular Receptors and Vibration
It’s well established in molecular biology that proteins, including cell receptors, are not rigid structures. They constantly shift, oscillate, and change conformation! This is actually central to how they function: a receptor’s shape determines which molecule can bind, and it actually shape shifts (way cool) when it’s activated. In biophysics, we see that these proteins also have natural vibrational modes — essentially, they “resonate” at certain frequencies depending on their structure.
Electrical Signals and Frequencies
Cells also communicate electrically. Ion channels open and close in response to voltage changes, and cell membranes maintain electrical potentials. This is obvious in neurons, but it’s also true in immune cells, fibroblasts, epithelial cells, etc. There’s an entire field called bioelectromagnetics exploring how weak electromagnetic fields influence cell behavior and development. That’s right, energy and frequency alone can change how a cell behaves! This is why new technology, such as low-level laser therapy, is making such a significant impact right now, as it can help induce healing at the cellular level with simple light and frequency (talk about non-invasive healing!).
Biophotons — Light-Based Communication
The idea that living cells emit light is measurable. All living organisms give off ultraweak photon emissions (UPE), often called biophotons. These are spontaneous bursts of light produced by metabolic and oxidative processes in the body — light little chemical reaction explosions — so faint they’re invisible to the eye but not with sensitive photomultiplier equipment. Caught ya! In fact, we now know that biophotons are a universal property of living cells — found in humans, animals, plants, and microbes alike. (7, 8).
What’s even more fascinating is that UPE intensity and pattern appear to reflect physiological state and health — increasing with oxidative stress, aging, or inflammation, and decreasing with antioxidant balance or recovery. This to me, is incredible. Studies have documented measurable differences in photon emission in models of Alzheimer’s disease (9), Type 2 diabetes(10), and during meditation or stress recovery (11).
There’s also preliminary evidence suggesting that biophotons could play a role in cell-to-cell communication or “radiation-induced bystander effects” — how one cell’s stress might influence another nearby without direct contact (12). This field is still emerging and debated, but the fact that living systems radiate faint, structured light — and that this light correlates with physiological balance — opens a profound window into how “energy” and biology may be more intertwined than we’ve realized.