Rick Leskowitz of Buckland is a fascinating figure. He’s a psychiatrist, a bit of a historian and a pioneer in the field of energy medicine. This field aims to explore unseen forces and connections within the human body and between human beings.

Leskowitz is also a sports fan who has translated his professional interests into a film, “The Joy of Sox.” The documentary, which aired on PBS, illustrates some of the ways in which the phenomena he studies can translate into events in sports.

His recent book, “The Mystery of Life Energy,” combines history, exercises and case studies to describe energy medicine to the lay reader.

He begins with a confession. “I was the son of a scientist, an organic chemist turned immunologist, and I loved the excitement of the real-life not-on-TV microscopes and test tubes in my father’s research lab,” he writes.

“However, I didn’t realize that while I was being entranced by these powerful tools, I was also being indoctrinated into a very limited worldview.”

The limited worldview he ultimately wanted to expand upon was classical western medicine, with its view of the body as a machine capable of repair from the engineer/doctor.

As Leskowitz traveled to Asia to learn new approaches and began implementing different therapies, he explains, he began to explore new ways of approaching the human body. He was working within the medical establishment, so he learned to discuss his new interests with more stodgy medical practitioners.

He explains, “For example, if I started speaking to my physiology professor about auras, he’d just tune me out, but if I talked about the electromagnetic field surrounding the body he’d be all ears.

“So I became bilingual, learning how to translate woo-woo energy concepts into scientific terminology that my colleagues could relate to.”

The book, to some extent, overlaps with Leskowitz’s life story. As he developed a strong interest in alternative medical practices, so did much of the medical establishment.

I don’t know that I completely grasped the forces Leskowitz describes. I enjoyed his openness to new ideas, though, and, like most people today, I believe that western medicine has its limitations.

I took pleasure in the humor he sprinkles throughout the book, and I liked opening my mind and body in the exercises his pages offer for readers.

“The Mystery of Life Energy” is an eloquent introduction to a field that is growing in American medicine. In the book, Leskowitz shares information, a charming knowledge of popular culture and a few jokes. Above all, he shares his passion for, and openness to, new ways of seeing and healing the human body.

Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning writer and singer known as the Diva of Deliciousness. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.