"Spiritual Healing" is one of those unfortunate terms frequently tossed around in the alternative health community without ever being very clearly defined. This results in understood skepticism by the general public not only of true, spiritual healing, but also of energy healing, aka information healing or quantum healing.

Taken for its true meaning, spiritual healing would refer to a healing of the spirit OR of healing that took place by means of the spiritual plane. Now, if you believe in a spiritual plane, you might accurately point out that all healing takes place in one sense through this world, because without this world we wouldn't be alive. But if this defines spiritual healing, then we might as well call everything "spiritual" ... which would obviously just confuse our meaning.

So in terms of alternative health, I think it's important that we give a distinct meaning to spiritual healing -- where perhaps an advanced person has access to true, spiritual (non-physical, non-quantum) power and can affect health from that plane. Yes, this healing might certainly AFFECT the physical (including quantum) levels of reality, but the point is that spiritual healing wouldn't ORIGINATE there. And if you distinguish between the spirit and the soul, I expect it makes sense to make a difference between spiritual healing and soul healing. The term "esoteric healing" might then refer to both.

But these are different issues altogether from healing methods based on energy or information, which are quantum realities being studied by scientists today. Whether or not we have objective tests or studies of Reiki today, if it works, it is by definition working with "ki" or "chi" -- the source energy we believe is present in potential throughout the known universe. This is a quantum energy, though it may be unmanifested at one point and manifested at another, which is perhaps why a valid Reiki practitioner is able to truly impact source energy with hands (or in fact thoughts?) alone.

LIkewise, homeopathy, Infoceuticals, probably essential oils, and other energy medicines / vibrational medicines / information medicines / quantum medicines are simply working on the quantum biofield. They are certainly alternative healing methods in our world today, but they are by no means spiritual healing methods any more than pharmaceutical drugs are. Spiritual healing is an approach unto itself.

It might also be worth noting here that prayer and meditation might immediately be thought of as forms of spiritual healing. They may or may not be. I believe that the SOURCE of the results (whether from some other plane or from the physical plane) should be the defining point behind what we call a thing. If a prayer healed someone because literally God listened, stepped in, and healed someone, it seems appropriate to call this in fact a divine healing. But if a prayer happened to heal someone because of the THOUGHTS of the people praying, we might call it a mental healing.

If we keep to stricter definitions like this and understand WHY we call something "spiritual healing" or "energy healing" (two distinct things), then perhaps we can better understand just what it is we're working with and how to affect greater healing in years to come.