We are made of liquid crystals and can do our own crystal healing.

We are captivated by crystals. Always have been. Mesmerised by the way they harvest light from the world around them and then fling it back outwards in every direction at once, throwing a tiny galaxy of stars around themselves. By their dream-like hues, which no human-mixed palette could match. And by the fact that they were created many thousands if not millions or billions of years ago, then churned out of the Earth's crust by some extraordinary stroke of volcanic chance, the stories of their journeys from rock to finger or throat stoking their mystery.

And we have always invested them with magical properties.

The Ancient Egyptians believed that Lapis Lazuli - often studded with golden flecks of pyrite, resembling the night sky - came from the heavens, providing protection in the afterlife. It was highly prized, most famously being used to decorate Tutankhamun's death mask.

Jade has been treasured in China from Neolithic times. It was believed to confer immortality, to ward off evil spirits and even to prevent the body from decaying after death, to the extent that it was used to make burial suits for the royal family of the Han dynasty.

And now, in the age of coronavirus, sales of healing crystals that are believed to ease anxiety, soothe an imbalanced nervous system or protect us from negative energies are outstripping diamond sales, according to a 2020 Bloomberg report.

But in the last half a century, scientists have discovered crystals growing far closer to home than we could ever have imagined: in the human body.

And they are healing crystals, too.

And their healing powers can be measured.

The view down a microscope tells us that a crystal is a structured array of molecules - shaped like cubes or rhomboids or tetrahedral pyramids or a number of other geometric shapes - repeated as a regular pattern throughout. The bones and connective tissues in our bodies - fascia, tendons, ligaments - that weave together our entire bodies, joining the circulatory system to the nervous system to the muscular system, wrapping around muscle fibres, whole muscle groups, organs and joints, also have a crystal-like structure. They are aligned and linked in structured, repeating patterns.

Our inner crystals bear little resemblance to quartz, rubies or diamonds, though, which are hard because their atoms and molecules are packed tightly together in very strong, regular formation. In contrast, the organic crystals making up our system of connective tissues are composed of long, thin, flexible filaments called actin, myosin, collagen and elastin. The result is more malleable rather than rigid crystals. Physiologist, cell biologist and biophysicist Dr James Oschman, in his book Energy Medicine, which summarises the scientific research underpinning bodywork, energy and movement therapies, describes them as 'liquid' crystals.

And a growing body of research shows that this liquid crystal matrix woven throughout our bodies enables our tissues to strengthen and repair themselves - every time we move.

How?

Those kids' sneakers that light up when they walk. Gas barbecues. E-cigarettes. Lighters. Doorbells. Musical greeting cards. Watches. Keyless car fobs. Ultrasound scanners. Alarm clocks. Speakers.

All of these things have something in common. Piezoelectricity. It ignites them, lights them up with pretty colours, gives them their spark, or switches on tiny motors inside them that generate sound. But it doesn't need a battery or a connection to the mains supply. All it needs is a crystal.

A small number of crystals - including quartz, topaz and tourmaline, which have asymmetrical atomic structures, meaning they are a little softer - can do something genuinely magical: when bent or squeezed out of their usual shape, they create small electrical fields, and can conduct an electrical current.

In a gas barbecue, for example, the sudden forceful deformation created by your finger pressing the ignition button, behind which is a crystal, produces a high voltage and subsequent electrical discharge or spark, which lights the gas.

The liquid crystals in our bodies, thanks to their asymmetry, can do this, too.

When we move, our bones and connective tissues are stretched or compressed, the cells deformed out of their usual shape, which creates a tiny electrical field believed to be the result of the piezoelectric effect. These electric fields spread through the surrounding tissues, providing signals that inform the cells of the location and nature of the movement and its intensity. They have nowhere near the power of nerve impulses, but it is enough to signal to nearby repair and maintenance cells - 'fibroblast' cells in connective tissues, 'osteoblast' cells in bone - to adjust their activities according to where they are most needed, laying down more strengthening collagen fibres in areas under the most stress.

The reverse happens when there is no tension or weight-bearing force placed on the tissues. The electric fields are weaker and less frequent and other cells within our tissues reabsorb the existing collagen, recycling its components for use elsewhere in the body. This is what happens when astronauts spend time at zero gravity and lose muscle and bone mass.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners - who target the fascia and energy-conducting channels running through it, called 'meridians', with acupuncture and acupressure - have known about this communication system within our bodies for millennia, as indicated by the ongoing research of the Director of the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Helene Langevin. But more and more studies by Western researchers are aligning with their knowledge.

It seems our nervous and circulatory systems, transmitting nerve impulses and hormones respectively, may be the tip of a communications iceberg beneath our skin, and our tissues' ability to generate and conduct 'bio-electricity' has implications for everything from cancer treatment to regenerative medicine.

So. We are walking, talking crystalline beings, capable of using our own crystals heal ourselves.

We are rare.

We precious.

We are miraculous.