News & Events

Michael O'Doherty : Lord of the Healers

Article written by Katie Mythen, RSVP Magazine : March 2009

Download PDF copy of Article here, including photographs

Michael Flatley attributes his recovery from a debilitating mysterious virus that had besieged him for three years to energy healer Michael O’Doherty from County Clare. The symptoms that attacked the dancer included acute lethargy and joint and muscular pain, conditions that left him completely incapacitated despite the best efforts of the conventional medical world. Michael describes the effects of O’ Doherty’s treatment as “nothing short of astonishing.”

So who is Michael O’Doherty? He established the Plexus Bio-Energy Clinic with Tom Griffin 21 years ago. The therapy they promote, which has roots tracing back centuries to the Far East, works by integrating a network of powerful and effective healing techniques - all with the aim of rebalancing a person’s life energy. To find out some more, RSVP joined Michael and his wife Gina (a trained therapist at the clinic) at the Temple Gate Hotel in Ennis to talk about the many facets to Plexus Bio Energy.

First we asked Michael to demystify the healing for us and explain in layman’s terms how it works…

“It’s necessary, when people come to our clinics, that they are not expecting a magic cure. We’re giving them an understanding and an appreciation about how their body functions. We know scientifically that our bodies are made up of energy so if we take any part of the body out and dissect and analyse it, we find an energetic pattern flows through it to keep us alive. Ultimately, if that energy system becomes unbalanced or blocked as a result of shock or stress, the body’s physiology changes so the person becomes ill. What we have developed are a series of techniques to manipulate the energetic structure of the body to clear these blockages and to restore wellbeing.”

What can be cured by unblocking these energies?

“Over the last 20 years we have been treating people with every conceivable problem from back pain to depression to cancer, asthma and arthritis. We have also treated children with colic, scorisisis, and eczema as well as children with learning and behavioural disorders, so we really have seen all illnesses. We act to get the energy flowing through the body correctly and we educate the patient on maintaining that on a continuous basis, we also train them on diet, visualisations and breathing. We assist them in creating an internal environment for the body to recover and over the last 20 years the success of that approach has been well documented. We became phenomenally successful after we appeared on the Late Late Show in 1990.

That must have been very progressive in 1990?

It was really progressive in 1990 especially when you think that we were so very young, in our early twenties, we started off working quietly and our clinic became very popular. Eventually the Late Late Show got word of it and organised about 20 people suffering from depression, headaches, strokes as well as other ailments and we treated them in Jury’s Hotel in Dublin. The patients were then brought on to the show and many of them were cured for life. Since then we have been developing the treatments, working with medical people and researching disease in different ways. At this point we have a technique that if taken on board can play a major role the healthcare and wellbeing of our society.

Is there anybody that it’s not suitable for or wouldn’t work on?

While it can completely cure some people in the traditional sense, for other people it can help to relieve a lot of the symptoms associated with the disease and help them cope, particularly if they are suffering from a is a very serious or terminal disease. Some very ill people will be able to use what we’re doing in conjunction with traditional medical treatment; our therapies will enable them to cope with their pain. Our philosophy is to create an integrated approach towards health care, which combine our therapies with traditional medicines to the benefit of the patient.

Would you ever advise people to stop taking traditional medicines?

No, absolutely not. We recognise the value of everything and if somebody comes to us and is on medication, we advise them to stay on it. When they start to feel better as a result of our treatments, they often ask us about coming off their medication and we send them back to their GP, who will make the decision, not us. We work with consultant psychiatrists, with counsellors, with GPs and oncologists so we have a very good rapport with a lot of very professional people. What we need for our health does not exist within a capsule. Health is about life style and well being and we can enhance that hugely.

Do you think that more people, to use your phrase, are becoming, “blocked” resulting in illnesses today?

Everybody’s energy system becomes imbalanced at some stage throughout their life because of the nature of the human being. We’re always putting ourselves under stress, we’re always worried and we’re always experiencing lows, trauma and situational depression. Some people find ways of dealing with that and are able to cope. Sometimes the energy system continues to be imbalanced if the energy system is continuously exposed to negativity, negative thought patterns, negative emotions and a long-term negative environment. This prolonged exposure will lead to that blockage of energy manifesting as a serious disease.

Do you think that you can get serious illnesses such as cancer from negative exposure?

Absolutely. It was written in the European Journal of Surgery that the body has its own independent electrical system and this energy system of the body is the primary area where diseases like cancer develop. So blockages in this energy can most certainly lead to diseases like cancer. There is absolute scientific verification now that a breakdown in the energy system and its relationship to emotional stress and trauma has a direct link on our physiology and that manifests as a specific disease

Why would one person exposed to a negative environment with a lot of stress go on to develop sickness while another in the same situation wouldn’t?

It depends very much on each individual and the immune system, some people are better at experiencing emotional stress, trauma or shock while others have a predisposition to it medically. The severity of the negative impact of the energy system of the body determines the types of symptoms that you are going to develop. Our perception of disease has to change because if we continue to consider disease as life-threatening then it has a huge impact on our energy system and a huge impact on our biology and our future We’ve got to try and change people’s way of thinking about diseases like cancer. In my opinion they don’t have to be life threatening. We need to educate society more. It isn’t about me or my partner Tom Griffin curing people at all, it is about re-establishing the flow of energy to unlock the code of healing within the cells of our bodies.

When you said that you wanted to change people’s attitudes, in what way would you change it?

Well I’d like to get them to raise their consciousness to the possibility that we are made up of more than just clinical matter and I’d like to be able to get them to focus on how they can cope or how they can create their own biology. People need to understand that their thoughts affect their physical health so if our society is thinking negatively as we are now within the present economic downturn, we are creating a biology that is going to manifest in anxiety and depression. If, on the other hand, we can get our society to focus more positively and become aware of the importance of their thoughts and their emotions and encourage them to actively engage on how their body is functioning then they can vastly improve their energy system.

Do you think we will see more illness manifesting as a result of the current economic doom and gloom?

Absolutely! In actual fact the evidence is there now, we are already seeing that there is a massive increase in the admissions to psychiatric hospitals and we see a huge increase in anti-depressants being prescribed. Recession in an economy can lead to depression in our people because they are full of fear and anxiety and have no hope. That creates a physiological reaction that’s going to manifest in disease. A home with a negative environment, where the parents are always fighting, where there already is depression, fear and anxiety or abuse will produce more sickness in the people living in it. So we need to educate our society on how they can cope and give them techniques and methods to survive and manage in order to stop the spread of illness, which apart from the individual pain would create a huge strain on the exchequer.

How would people manage to avoid negativity in these times, it’s all over the newspapers, radio and TV?

People can continue to read papers, listen to the news and watch your TV but don’t absorb the negativity as part of your life and your energy.

How do you do that?

You have to find coping mechanisms to protect yourself from negativity. This can be done through breathing, visualisation, meditation, relaxation, exercise and diet. It is important to be aware that the most powerful chemical in your body is created through your thoughts so if you’re thinking negatively about your future and your health, then your body is going to reflect that. We all have to practice visualisation, visualising energy flowing through your body, which will wipe-out the stress and tension on a daily basis. People need to learn to breathe correctly from the abdominal. There is scientific evidence that if we give our body caring and attention at this level then we can build and maintain our health and sanity, resulting in a better quality of health.

Would there be some nationalities more than others that would be prone to energy blocking or negativity? Where would the Irish stand on that?

Right now I think the Irish people over the last number have in some way encountered a spiritual famine. I think that spiritually we became very stagnant as a result of the so-called Celtic Tiger. I think the illusion of that is coming back right now to bite us because I think if you look at the statistics I don’t think we ever had as many people depressed, or suffering from cancer, or respiratory problems or coronary problems. Irish society is in limbo because we are lacking leadership from our politicians, we’re not getting guidance from our spiritual institutions so we are living in a state of fear and anxiety and negativity. It’s all doom and gloom. We have to believe however that, this economic crisis is part of the shock frequency that was needed for our society to begin to wake up and realise who we are and evolve as spiritual beings so it takes us into a much deeper level of understanding about how the human functions.

How did you get the tag “celebrity healer”?

Well over the years we’ve treated a lot of people, the likes of Michael Flatley and Michael York and the idea was just coined I suppose. To me it’s therapy but within the media “healer” seems more popular. From my perspective it’s very simple. I want the individual to understand how his or her body functions. I can teach a person to do what I do in my clinic in a very short period of time. I want to waken up people from this myth that there’s somebody specially chosen out there, there’s not, anyone can do it. It’s all about potential and unleashing the power within. Sometimes a catch phrase like “celebrity healer” can be useful in that it grabs people’s attention.

What is the procedure when someone comes to you for treatment?

Right now I’m completely booked out until June, here at home in the States and in the UK. That said we always try to squeeze someone in if they really need an appointment urgently. Our programme is run over four consecutive days initially for 45 minutes to an hour each day. When this is complete the patient leaves with a programme of their own to work with and approximately two months later I will see them again to check their progress. If they are implementing the programme their quality of life will have improved radically. The initial four day treatment costs €240 - €60 a session.

You have spoken a lot of about the negativity in society at the moment, are you confident that will change?

I believe that when we look back in a few years time we will have a better society. In order for us to evolve out of our present crisis I think society has to get in touch with the spiritual aspect of our own being. If we can get in touch with that we can develop as a stronger and better community. People are so caught up in the economic crisis at the moment they don’t realise that real wealth is health. I have found that when people get their health back, they are happy with what they have. The big house, the big car and the big bank account aren’t important to them anymore. Health is your happiness, it’s the most important thing that we can have. For me all I want in life is to see people get back on track and to see people being happier, that’s my vision for life.