Randolph Stone, DO, ND, DC, (1890-1991) developed Polarity Therapy based on an integration of Western medicine with the energetic concepts integral to Eastern medical systems.
Dr. Stone traveled widely, studying many of the traditional and indigenous practices of healing. He became especially versed in the ayurvedic medicine of India and the Hermetic science of the Mediterranean area, and was generally familiar with Chinese medicine and other traditional systems.
Stone began to notice commonalities among these various healing systems and realized that all of them were founded on the idea of life energy.
While different names exist for this energy (e.g., chi, ki, prana, life energy) and its specific actions are often conceptualized differently between cultures, the fundamental importance of life energy is paramount in most cultures.
Core Concepts: Dr. Stone combined this emphasis on life energy with his Western medical knowledge of anatomy and physiology, and natural therapeutics.
His osteopathic background integrated the importance of the body's cerebrospinal fluid system, fascial membrane, nervous system, and structural anatomy in their relationship to energy dynamics in the body.
Energetically, Stone drew concepts most strongly from Ayurveda. Ayurveda, in Sanskrit, means the science of life. Many important concepts in Ayurvedic understanding are now known to be the same principles as those in the disciplines of field dynamics and quantum physics.
A primary notion is that energy has three states: a positive, outflowing aspect; a negative, receptive aspect; and a neutral, integrating aspect. If we examine any system in the universe, we will find these qualities present.
These three states of energy set up a charged field dynamic, which in turn creates the principles of energy movement.
This field dynamic is repeated throughout the human body countless times in a range of large to infinitesimal patterns. The interaction of these fields gives rise to various currents of energy flow, which in turn support the physical structures of the body and their movement.
