Fred on Forgiveness Heals Physically
Start Here: Introduction
My daughter was greatly helped by facilitators in the field of Energy Medicine. What if your child suffered from panic attacks and severe, suicidal depression, yet medical treatment wasn't helping enough? Would you consider using alternative therapies? Does their premise of subtle energy enveloping our physical body have any truth in it? I had lots of questions when I first heard about Energy Therapies. I am extremely grateful that I kept an open mind about techniques not usually available in a doctor's office because I believe they saved my daughter's life.
I am writing a book titled What Else Is There?: A Mother’s Search to Help Her Ill Daughter Reveals Astonishing Answers. My daughter had a bipolar type disorder. The operative word in that sentence is "had." She was repeatedly suicidal, even after years of medication. A series of events with incredible timing, in which the Lord absolutely had a hand, enabled my daughter to improve remarkably in sessions with Energy Medicine therapists.
Initially, I wondered if it was proper for Latter-day Saints and other Christians to be involved in unconventional healing techniques. Being uninformed, I wondered if Energy healing techniques would involve questionable practices or beliefs. There seems to be a lot of confusion by LDS members on this subject and I believe it often stems from fear and misconceptions. Having never heard of this field before, my concerns fueled a thirst for answers so much that I read dozens and dozens of energy medicine books as fast as I could.
More importantly, I went to the source of all truth and studied ancient and modern scriptures about our bodies and healing. I was guided to noteworthy, yet obscure quotes from prophets on subtle energy, mind/body medicine, and what else was involved in depression and illness.Words of prophets on all of these subjects give credibility to principles used in Energy Medicine. I have been prompted repeatedly to write down the things I have learned. I share my views as what I have learned to be true, not as the truth. I certainly do not claim to express the views of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It is my desire that a knowledge of "unconventional" methods of healing will increase hope in people afflicted with mental/physical illness or stressful situations. I desire that it will lessen suffering in the world. I hope that sharing my daughter's remarkable recovery will dispel myths about mental illness as well as so-called "alternative" medicine that many of us prefer to call "Whole Person Health." Sharing my journey will likely change the way the reader views illness and even the world around them. It is my intention that my voice makes a difference for good in the world.
Owing to my daughter’s miraculous recovery, I am an Energy therapist myself with several years experience. I became certified as a Master Rapid Eye Technician and have also trained in other Energy modalities. I have taught complementary health classes for Latter-day Saints at health clinics, health food stores and community groups.
In the past, bipolar illness was ripping my family apart. I am grateful now for all the learning those chaotic and terrifying experiences gave me. I am a much better person, more compassionate and far less likely to judge others. I am grateful that my trials enabled me to have firsthand knowledge that faith is a principle of power, just as The Lectures on Faith by Joseph Smith clearly indicate. I emerged from feeling I was a victim of despairing circumstances to being empowered.
I share my daughter's story because I believe it is possible for her healing results to be duplicated. Bernie S. Siegel, M.D. sums up my feelings: "If one patient can do it, there's no reason others can't. I realized that medicine has been studying its failures when it should have been learning from its successes. We should be paying more attention to the exceptional patients, those who get well unexpectedly..." (Bernie Siegel, Love, Medicine & Miracles, p 20) You or your loved one can also be well! Keep your optimism alive.
I desire that this site is most helpful. I look forward to reading your comments. I invite you to become an educated, and therefore, wiser health consumer.
Sincerely, Tamara
Summary of the story behind "What Else Is There?"
Several years ago, my youngest daughter was diagnosed with severe depression while in junior high school. Then in high school she was diagnosed with an unheard of bipolar-type illness. The only answers medical doctors had were drugs and counseling. However, these conventional methods still left her ill and sometimes even suicidal. At times, we wondered if side-effects of the medications were worse than what she was dealing with in the first place.
I feel extremely blessed that a friend said something that stands out in memory as being profoundly important. She asked concerning my daughter, "So you’ve only looked for help in the medical field?" Startled, I answered "Yes, of course. What else is there?" She said there was a whole other field of medicine. "Really?" I asked incredulously. "Yes, it is called Energy Medicine, she replied in a matter-of-fact way." My friend said it was an alternative but complementary treatment. We continued to follow doctors’ orders while investigating if it would be helpful. It wasn't only helpful- it was life changing.
I took my daughter to appointments with Rapid Eye Technicians who were also trained in other Energy Medicine techniques including Reiki and Theta Healing. I was never disappointed. In fact, I was repeatedly astounded at the changes my daughter made at these appointments. She felt more like herself.
My daughter had to be hospitalized three different times while under the traditional care of medical doctors. Yet, once we were consistent about having Energy therapies and applying universal health principles they taught, she was never hospitalized again. My teenage daughter eventually got off anti-depressants as well as anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic medications, and was able to successfully hold down steady jobs. Her whole life improved! My only regret is that we didn't try the alternative route sooner! Much to my amazement, Energy therapies helped not only my daughter and others with depression or mental illlness, but people with a whole array of physical illnesses and stressful life situations.
Energy Medicine therapies produced miracles in our family so I continued to search for truth about healing in complementary health books and scriptures. I hoped to begin to understand these unconventional methods. I wanted to know how unusual therapies could fit with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Was their message in accordance with His teachings? I never intended for Energy Medicine to become a passion in my life. I simply followed inspiration and took many steps on a learning path that has led me to what I am doing now. What a learning curve it has been!
So many unique things happened with incredible timing that I feel they ought to be shared. More importantly, many promptings from the spirit have told me to write our story down. I want the reader to know that I share my daughter's experiences with her permission and enthusiasm. If more people realized their emotional patterns, dysfunctional beliefs and even physical pain and disease were related to subtle energetic imbalances, the less suffering there would be. I also feel compelled to relate our journey because I have found truths about health and healing from prophets and apostles that are quite revealing. I marvel at what has been written about our bodies and healing. I am excited to share verses of scripture that have truly helpful answers. Modern scripture reveals a new perception of depression, mental illness and sickness in general.
WHAT ENERGY MEDICINE IS & ISN'T
The Energy Medicine my friend spoke of was not in pill form. It is not medicine you swallow. It is a field of medicine which takes into account that our bodies include complex systems of subtle energies. We are more than just the physical bodies we see. While the medical field focuses on the effects of one's disease, Energy Medicine deals with the emotional, spiritual, and mental bioenergetic parts of the disease. Almost every culture but ours has a name for this energy. John White lists 97 different cultures with 97 different names for it in his book, Future Science. That is astounding to me! Some call it "life force energy" or "chi." I often just call it "Energy." Richard Gerber,M.D. wrote,
"There is an entire level of subtle energetic anatomy that is virtually unknown to physicians and health care professionals who propose to treat the whole human being. It is by influencing these subtle energetic pathways, which the life-force follows, that many alternative medicine practices are successful in affecting human illness." (Vibrational Medicine, pp 67-68)
Energy Medicine involves techniques that are able to affect the body’s aura or electro-magnetic field. These techniques are able to go to the root of problems instead of just dealing with symptom relief. They balance the whole person: body, mind & spirit. My friend explained how energy medicine had helped people close to her recover from not only illnesses- but stress, negative emotions (like fear, anger, anxiety, depression...), a car accident, and even abuse. What a huge blessing being open-minded about this news would prove to be!
I know that some alternative therapies work whether or not one believes they can. I have seen skeptics (who actually hoped a method would NOT work) receive benefits that truly surprised them. On the other hand, I also know from experience that some alternative methods work even better when one believes they will make a difference. I believe the alternative techniques I have found are spiritually based, which definitely appeals to me.
Energy Medicine works by affecting the electro-magnetic field or energy system that penetrates and surrounds one's body. Restoring balance to the energetic pathways that run through one's organs, glands and tissues promotes health. The body's electro-magnetic field is measurable by scientists, so its existence is beyond debate.
If you have never heard of this field or aura, consider how Kirlian photography captures it on film. It is fascinating to me. Using Kirlian photography to take a picture of half a leaf after the other half has been destroyed will still reveal a picture of the entire leaf! Like the leaf, all living things have an electro-magnetic field around them- including humans. This gave me greater insight into many scriptures that I previously believed were strictly speaking figuratively such as "Let your light so shine before men" (Matt. 5:16) and "Let us put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:12) Our bodies really are surrounded by an aura of light! "For by him were all things created,...visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him...." (Col. 1:16-17 emphasis added)
STORING EMOTIONS IN OUR PHYSICAL BODY
I have learned from dozens of authors, experts and even medical doctors that our thoughts affect our health. Thoughts are vibrations of energy that can help or hurt us. Increasing numbers of medical doctors are coming to agree that we store unresolved negative emotions in our physical body that over time lead to pain and disease. Here is what one author writes that is typical of what I found in many alternative health books:
"We store both pleasant and painful memories. Emotions that we have faced, accept-ed, and dealt with are stored as intellectual memories. Such emotions are resolved and we have grown spiritually through the experiences that brought them to our awareness. We can recall such memories in detail, but they do not control us, give us pain, or make us sick. Emotions that we have not faced, accepted, nor dealt with are stored as repressed emotional energy, waiting for a future time when we can deal with them. Repressed emotions are unfinished business. They are lessons unlearned. They are assignments we have not yet chosen to accept. Since they are filed in our bodies in places of which ourconscious mind is not aware, they keep us reminded of their existence in a variety of negative ways. They can cause pain, illness, disease, and malfunctions on any and all levels- physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual. ...." (David Stewart, Ph.D, Healing Oils of the Bible, pp 116-117)
That was a foreign concept to me at first. Then I realized that I had always wondered why Jesus said his bowels were filled with compassion and mercy. Wasn't Jesus saying He was storing emotions in His physical body? I believe the quote below is completely supportive here.
"In a real, though figurative sense, the book of life is the record of the acts of men as such record is recorded in their own bodies. It is the record engraven on the very bones, sinews, and flesh of the mortal body. That is, every thought, word and deed has an affect on the human body; all these leave their marks, marks which can be read by Him who is Eternal as easily as the words in a book can be read...." (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1966, p 97)
I have found dozens and dozens of authors and doctors who say basically the same thing. The remarkable thing is that Energy Medicine therapies help release these unresolved emotions from the body. I was told that storing toxic emotions was worse than most physical toxins. Toxic emotions cause ‘subtle energy blocks’ that contribute to both physical and emotional illness. Louise Hay writes, "The mental thought patterns that cause the most disease in the body are criticism, anger, resentment, and guilt." (Louise Hay, Heal Your Body, p 7)
The news that your own thought patterns and emotions affect your health may initially be hard to accept, particularly if you are currently suffering. When I offer this mind/body view to friends or family who are complaining of ills, they are often quick to point out that their troubles are caused by chemical imbalances, physical misalignment, a past accident, or other more socially acceptable evidence. They would be very wise to consider that there may be more precursors than what we have been led to believe. There are probable emotional roots adding in to their 'dis-ease' equation, no matter how vehemently they feel their problems are strictly physically based. Even the American Medical Association admits that up to 85% of illnesses are due to stress. Understanding illness from this perspective offers great hope to people because the patient can actually do something themselves about the stressful mental patterns that played into developing pain or illness.
OUR EXPERIENCES
Energy Medicine therapies drastically reduced my stress from dealing with a child’s chronic illness and they helped my daughter immensely! The different techniques are called "modalities." My daughter, myself, family members, friends & clients have benefitted greatly from an eye work process called Deep Emotion Release and modalities such as Rapid Eye Technology, Emotional Freedom Technique, Reiki, Christ-Centered Theta Healing, Quantum Touch and Vibrational Medicine. These have been tremendously helpful!
We have also been truly blessed by the healing options God provides in nature. These options have included such things as Flower Essences, pure Essential Oils, and the frequency holding capability of crystals. (For more information on frequencies and the medical implications of energy see Stan M. Gardner M.D.'s articles starting in March 2008 at http://www.drstangardner.com/ or online at Meridian Magazine.)
We have also seen improvement from using various machines made with the latest technology to benefit our Energy systems. The first one I bought was a Light and Sound Machine (LSM) that utilizes full spectrum light. I bought a Grounding CD and 10th Chakra CD for my daughter to listen to in conjuction with the LSM (all can be purchased from http://www.rapideyetechnology.com/)
In the past, sometimes my daughter said she either needed an RET session (Rapid Eye Technology) or to go straight to the hospital emergency room. In a single session my daughter could make a night and day difference. At some of these appointments, the RET technician described my daughter's energy as a human "pressure cooker" about to explode! Her transformations during these appointments were graceful. She easily let go of most of that "steam"(trapped and unresolved emotions and subtle energy) and walked away feeling more like her old self. My daughter's quick turnarounds after Rapid Eye Technology were astonishing to her NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) support group members. I attribute our daughter being able to stay out of the hospital ever since (it has been several years) to Energy Medicine.
Ranae Johnson, Ph.D. writes, "We believe Rapid Eye Technology (RET) is the safest, fastest, least painful and most natural way to clear negative energy from all levels of our being... many professionals have found that after only one session, RET will unlock blocks in a client that conventional methods were ineffective with over a period of months or even years!" (Reclaim Your Light Through the Miracle of Rapid EyeTechnology, p29)
One can learn more on the website http://www.rapideyetechnology.com/ . Best of all, past trauma does not have to be relived or discussed to be released with RET. What a huge blessing that has been! Every time my daughter went to a new counselor for traditional talk therapy we had to repeat all of the heart wrenching history. That is unnecessary and counter-productive! That does not EVER have to happen using RET.
The energy modalities we found are cutting- edge clearing technologies that the average citizen has never even heard of. I count our family extremely blessed to have found such hidden treasures of wisdom before they become mainstream. World class neuro-scientist Candace Pert, Ph.D. , calls psychiatric "talk and dose therapies" a band-aid. She writes, "I believe the alternative or complementary therapies are a form of professional help much less likely to do harm and more likely to do good than conventional approaches." (Molecules of Emotion- Why You Feel the Way You Feel, pg 323) I know this is true from my own year of situational depression as well as watching my daughter try both routes- traditional and alternative. The field of Energy Medicine has changed my stress level dramatically. I know it can help others with all sorts of issues. I have seen great results in a single session on clients with issues from a toothache and migraines to muscle tetany, cyclic vomiting, emotional despair and phobias. Sometimes, a difference was felt within minutes. All that is needed is a willingness to try something new.
In 2005 our family was very blessed to find out about a Stress Management consultant in St. George, Utah named Jan Graf (435-673-6708.) That single two-hour visit was life-changing for our daughter. At the end of the appointment Dr. Graf said, "I think you have your daughter back!" She has been stable and off all anti-depressant, anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic medications ever since that visit in Feb. 2005. This saved hundreds of dollars each month for prescriptions and avoided the terrible side-effects the drugs caused.
I believe our daughter needed only one appointment with Dr. Graf because she came very well prepared. Jan Graf’s philosophy on stress management and illness centers on a principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ: forgiveness. We have learned firsthand that harboring feelings and thereby not forgiving others, or yourself, can actually make you PHYSICALLY ILL! The good news is that forgiveness heals! Dr. Graf's website is www.grafstressmanagement.com .
A similar philosophy is taught by numerous other authors and medical doctors. Feelings Buried Alive Never Die by Karol Truman; I Make Me Sick, a manuscript by Dr. Bradley Wilde; Remembering Wholeness by Carol Tuttle; My Peace I Give Unto You and Possibilites by Doug Mendenhall; In His Arms by Denise Mendenhall; and From Darkness Into Light by Melvin Fish, Ph.D are all such books. Those happen to be written by LDS authors although there are many more from all kinds of authors.
Our family found another gem in a gifted CranioSacral Therapist at the Advanced Health Clinic in Farmington, Utah named NanC Ludwig (801-447-8680.) My husband lost his hearing overnight in one ear over a decade ago. He spent a whole week in the hospital where doctors could not find any physical reason for his hearing loss. They were barking up the wrong tree! Human beings are clearly not only bodies. I praise God that there are professional energy work practitioners who practice from the viewpoint of "Person = Body + Mind + Spirit" instead of the absurdly reductionist "Person = Body." After my husband visited just a few minutes with this gifted health practitioner, she sensed an energy block over his ear. She found there were layers of emotional issues blocking his hearing. She assisted him in forgiving things in the past and helped him clear that energy block over his ear. During the 1 hour session with her, he began to be able to hear again in that ear! What a great blessing! It is another example of a world-class scientist's findings that strong emotions not processed thoroughly are stored at the cellular level (Candace Pert, Molecules of Emotion, p 290.)
Similar findings are reported by a plethora of other authors who say strong emotions affect our bodies creating energy imbalances that can lead to pain or illness if unaddressed. I continue to hear of miracles that occur in Energy therapist's offices involving a whole array of illnesses. Many times they are able to help patients that the medical community have no answers for. I believe this is because they address their ENTIRE person, which is much more than just a physical body.
Some Rapid Eye Technicians that have also been immensely helpful (and who do phone sessions) are Sylvia Laing (307- 272-9634), Tonya Cox (307-250-3510) and Karin Cummins (801-458-4190.) I recommend the Whole Person Health modalities these professionals use and personally know they are extremely worthwhile. I only recommend going to energy therapists who are full of integrity. So many amazing things have happened as I have studied, investigated, and become certified in Energy modalities. I feel compelled to share what I have learned from my experience with those who may be suffering. Perhaps your ills could be alleviated by clearing underlying emotional blocks. It is absolutely worth trying! The inside front cover of Bill Moyer’s book Healing and The Mind says,
"Medical professionals are finding that when they practice the ‘new medicine’ their patients heal faster, leave the hospital sooner, and do better once they get home."
I believe that combining allopathic medicine with Energy Medicine's clearing technologies offers enormous potential. It’s exciting that the number one health website by Dr. Mercola, www.mercola.com , endorses Emotional Freedom Technique(EFT) and the work of Carol Tuttle, an author and fellow Master Rapid Eye Technician. I am extremely grateful to have found this 'new medicine' when our family needed it, much sooner than when it becomes common knowledge in the coming years. I thank a loving God for leading me to Energy therapies- the ‘medicine of the future.’ Learning about it has blessed my family tremendously. Researching the science behind it has strengthened my religious beliefs. Sincerely, Tamara
PS There is quite a collection of books related to Energy Medicine on this site on my shelfari shelves. Many of them include my review which can be accessed by moving one's cursor over the book. There are also short videos at the bottom of this site on what is termed the new biology. I do not agree with every word and philosophy, but most are very interesting and one can glean truths from them. There are also videos on EFT and other modalities.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
What I have written will make A LOT more sense if you read the oldest blog entries first. I strongly encourage you to scroll back up to the Blog Archive and click on the oldest entries.