THE POWER OF Wearers say the pendant gets their energy on the right frequency

Richard Gray, holding the Q-Link Black pendant, left, the Q-Link White pendant, center, and the Q-link Silver Pebble pendant, right, in his hand, is the President and CEO of Clarus Transphase Scientific, Inc., makers of Q-Link pendants and bracelets, which boast the most advanced personal energy system avail, which is powered by Sympathetic Resonance Technology, in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday June 4, 2008.Photo by Katy Raddatz / The Chronicle less Richard Gray, holding the Q-Link Black pendant, left, the Q-Link White pendant, center, and the Q-link Silver Pebble pendant, right, in his hand, is the President and CEO of Clarus Transphase Scientific, Inc., ... more Photo: KATY RADDATZ, The Chronicle Photo: KATY RADDATZ, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close THE POWER OF 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

Jimmy Page, one of rock's all-time guitar heroes, is featured on the cover of this month's Rolling Stone sporting his from way back. Lindsay Lohan was photographed wearing hers after she checked out of rehab. And more than 300 golfers in the PGA wear theirs; 120 championships on the links have been won with them, and many on the tour say it's all because of the Q-link.

Bruce Fleisher, 2001 U.S. Senior Open Champ said, "The week after I put it on, I won the Senior Open. Was it luck? Absolutely. Destiny? You better believe it."

There's more. "It was amazing. In the space of a few weeks, the guy pitching the opener of the World Series, Josh Beckett, flying out of his shirt was the Q-Link and then Alex Shabalov, the U.S. chess champ, was wearing it," said Richard Gray, president and CEO of Clarus Transphase Scientific Inc., maker of Q-Link. "In a chess blog, he said he put it on and it helped him to win the tournament."

Is this just the latest cool object of the hour or is there something to this supposed magical amulet that celebrities and sports figures alike - supposedly Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker and Anthony Hopkins are on the list - have gone gonzo for?

The Q-link is a pendant that, adherents claim, increases energy, improves focus and concentration, reduces stress, enhances stamina and endurance, and protects against electromagnetic radiation from cell phones, power lines and computers.

A random pick from the alphabet led to the Q. Only later did the founders attach meaning to it. "We started to think about the Q-Link as being the 'Quantum Link,' " said Gray over the phone from his Larkspur company. "Quantum means an 'indivisible unit of energy,' something that supports the notion of the whole or holistic body."

What started as a funky pendant sold by alternative practitioners at trade shows has evolved into pieces designed by well-known artists in a range of precious metals.

So what about its supposed powers? According to Gray, everyone has an energetic field - known as a biofield - a term coined by the National Institutes of Health in 1994. "If you put the physical body into states of stress, the biofield goes out of balance," he said. "What the Q-link does is resonate sets of natural frequencies with the biofield, returning it to balance."

He gives an example: If you hit a tuning fork and hold it near another, the other will start to ring with the same note. It's the same principle with the Q-Link and your biofield.

Gray said that the Q-link is powered by a proprietary system he called Sympathetic Resonance Technology, a process of infusing materials with frequency-specific patterns of energy. Bay Area inventor and musician Robert Williams claims to have created the technology. He had been studying subtle energy since 1979 and in 1991 co-founded Clarus, a company committed to improving and enhancing quality of life by working with energy fields.

William Tiller, former chair of material science and engineering at Stanford University, was the senior scientist at Clarus for three years until he retired in 1994. According to Gray, inside the Q-Link is crystalline matter imbued with frequencies that exist outside of the electromagnetic spectrum. This realm of subtle energies is a new area of science and controversial because there is no way to prove the energies exist.

"It's really no different than a yoga teacher talking about balance," said Gray. "What's so interesting is if you look back over the last 20 years at anyone who ever talked about chakras, meridians, 1,000 years ago it was the basis of science."

Although there has been some independent research on the supposed effects of the Q-Link that are listed on the Clarus Web site, the scientific evidence is scant. Gray said the company hopes to do more research.

"We cannot make any health claims, nor do we," said Gray, "we'd be shut down in a second. The Q-Link operates by interacting with energy systems of the body, not directly on the body. All we're doing is providing a clearer pathway between the body's energy system and physical body itself."

Golf pro Fleisher got his Q-Link in the late '90s when the company gave the objects to select players on the PGA. "They show you numbers, your body makeup. I don't understand the molecules, the yin-yang," said Fleisher from his cell phone. "I don't understand any of that, but whatever it does, it mellows you out. It holds you in a neutral pattern of well-being. I don't really know how to explain it."

The company is glad for all the attention it's received thanks to celebrities who use Q-Link. "We've never paid anybody to wear the product," said Gray. "We're happy to have people wearing our products - we're never quite sure if they're doing it because it's the latest thing."

It doesn't hurt that two years ago, typeface king Neville Brody designed a Q-link. "He was fascinated by the technology and he's a visionary," said Gray, "He offered to help us out. We don't tend to be able to afford design fees that Neville charges.

"It's like the old saying, it's all about the company you keep."

But Gray also believes the interest is more than superficial. "People are understanding that if we look after the energetic, holistic body, that is the way to a more sustainable health," he said, "That's why we're seeing this resurgence - in yoga, meditation - it's all linked to the idea that the energy body performs an important function in every day life. "

He added, "The wellness market is changing. When I first started 10 years ago, it was enormously disparate - mostly services - alternative health practitioners, yoga studios. Now what's changing is there's a lot more consideration of products. Clarus is a big part of that. Wellness is here to stay. It's not a fad."

Pendants cost between $100 and $1,000 depending on whether you want acrylic or platinum. New to the mix is a bracelet. Tom Williams, PR/branding director of Buffalo Communications, which is helping to get the new product into the golf marketplace, says, "It helps that the bracelet looks good. It's not just performance and wellness product, it's a lifestyle product. For those who want to look good, it works as a fashion and lifestyle accessory."