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Bio-Energy Therapy - Michael O'Doherty gives us fuel for thought

Women Mean Business Magazine

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For centuries scientists, researchers and medical professionals have been searching for cures to various ailments and disorders - many previously fatal conditions have been eradicated. Unfortunately, some conditions have been replaced by even more deadly forces. As our world becomes supposedly more sophisticated, why are cancers, heart attacks, strokes and other life-threatening conditions on the increase? Is there just too much chaos and stress in our world or are we missing the bigger picture?

I recently came across a very interesting individual who may be able to shed some light on our ability or inability to live long and healthy lives. I decided to participate in a weekend bio-energy training session to enable me to gain a greater insight into bioenergy therapy and apply the various techniques of healing to my own family. I can sometimes be sceptical so I had to drill deep to understand the concept and what an interesting journey!

Two decades ago Michael O'Doherty co-founded Plexus Bio- Energy with his business partner Tom Griffin. Michael's theory is quite simple. Each of us is made up of energy. Bioenergy simply means - life energy. However, if the bio-energetic structure of our body becomes imbalanced in any way, the body becomes unwell. For the body to recover you have to work at this bio energy level.

"We proceed with techniques that we have developed to manipulate the energetic system; to scan the energy field of your body. If we find blockages we proceed to release them through a series of techniques to re-balance and re-establish the flow of energy to the body". Michael demonstrates his point on a volunteer through a series of deliberate hand movements - graceful and all consuming. I noticed from the outset that there is very little direct contact with the body and yet the whole process appears very powerful indeed.

"Once we can re-establish the flow, the intelligence encased is what allows the body to heal. That's the first step. Part of the process is to educate the patient - to breath properly, to visualise, diet, exercise. Depending on what we find, we build a programme for each patient. However, the first thing is to get the energy flowing properly", he elaborates.

Back in 1990, Michael gained considerable recognition when he appeared on the very popular Late Late Show with Gay Byrne. This created a greater awareness and understanding of bio-energy therapy and had a snowball effect on the work of Michael and his team. He has since brought his vision to the UK, Germany, Poland and the US.

"There is a realisation emerging in the consciousness of our society right now that we are evolving spiritual beings, that we are more than what we were told we were - 'chemical soups' and arising out of that is a whole new awareness. The attraction towards what we have to offer now is huge".

"The difficulties in our society are that when people don't get answers within the medical profession, they automatically think that the next step has got to be a miracle. We're saying 'no'. Just because medical science can't cure the problem, we need to exhaust other avenues and within those avenues that miracle can be achieved".

His sentiments are supported by the fact that there are queues in his daily clinics. A typical treatment is where a patient attends for four consecutive days for about 45 minutes each day in a private capacity. Word has travelled fast as people wake up to the possibility that our health cannot be found in a capsule or a bottle - that it is incapsulated in our very being. Michael contemplates further: "Sickness is an attempt to draw our awareness to a part of our own being. Yes we have queues outside our clinics and queues for the rest of the year. No matter where we go, it's the same thing. The main focus is to educate people to understand that there is an easier way".

I asked him about what lies ahead of us if we don't take stock. He paints a bleak picture with dire consequences. "If we look at the projections on the more terminal diseases like cancers, these are expected to increase by anything up to 200% in certain cases over the next 20 years. What has happened over the last number of years is very simple. We have detached and alienated ourselves from nature and as a result we have found that people are much more ill. We see this in the huge increase in prescription antibiotics because of the viruses, because we have weaker immune systems. In addition, there is an increase in the use of anti-depressants".

"We have all to realise that we're all spiritual beings and that unless we connect to who we are as humans - evolving spiritual beings - and work at that level, we're always going to be ill." Strong words from the man who has made healing people his life long ambition.

Many may regard Michael as a healer. However, he believes that he has developed an ability to work at an 'energetic' level and that everybody can learn to do this. Over the years, Michael has trained others to be therapists and now he wants to teach bio-energy techniques to parents so that they can look after their own families.

He philosophise further: "What is illness? It is an attempt to draw our awareness to a part of our being that we are ignoring. What we have to do is raise the level of consciousness in our society; to expose them fundamentally to how they function; to connect them and get them to work at that level and that can be powerfully healing - just that alone".

Michael views his work as a cog in the chain of rehabilitation. He sees medical science and what they do as part of that chain. The key to it, he believes, is the education of the patient. "We all can do our job, we can work with the energy system, put health care programmes into place, medical science can administer their medication - ultimately however, the patient has to be educated".

I'm sure there are plenty of readers who have gone to their doctors feeling absolutely awful only to be told that they have caught a virus! Drugs and rest is prescribed but little answers are given. No understanding of the cause other than perhaps overdoing it a bit! Bio-energy therapy looks deep into the person, into their lifestyle, into their working day, to find the answers - to prevent reoccurrence.

"Our society visits doctors and clinics but they are not being educated. They are being asked what is your problem? Here is your symptom, this is the diagnosis and these are the drugs. People's health care is boxed in. We have to go outside the box. Health is not just absence of physical illness it is much more than that".

Michael is clear when it comes to eliminating the problems in our society. "We have got to look at other ways of preventing and confronting the problems that are there. Right now there is a huge cost to the national health system and it's the tax payer that has to pay it. They can't afford it and it's increasing, increasing all of the time. What we have to do when we look at the medical projections of disease is to realise the road we're going down is a wrong road. We have got to start educating people otherwise we're going to find that every person in this country is going to be sick".

I was fascinated to learn during my weekend instruction that certain organs are adversely affected by certain emotions and asked Michael to expand on this: "A lot of people come into us with mucus type problems (Chrones disease, etc). If we look at what medical science has established that if the spleen energy is imbalanced then the digestive system becomes compromised and results in the over production of mucus. This manifests in digestive and respiratory problems".

"If people are nervous a lot of the time they are always running to the toilet because of how the kidneys and bladder deal with that emotion. And fear stores in the kidneys; grief in the lungs. So we've begun to realise that our emotions store within the organs and create a bio chemical reaction in the brain. What we do within our system is that we show people how to connect to those organs where the emotions are stored and to transform them. So instead of popping a pill to stimulate an emotion, we teach them how to transform the stress into vitality. We do this through active meditation, through Chi Khun; healing sounds; visualisation".

For many readers who manage businesses, stress plays a role in our day-to-day lives. Hoping to get a few tips on coping with stress, I asked Michael if there was such a thing as positive stress or were we all doomed!

"I think stress is stress and I don't think that it has to be negative or positive. Stress has an impact on the body and sometimes what happens is that we adapt to the stress. However, when we adapt we start developing symptoms - tiredness; digestive disorders; back pain; fatigue and eventually this leads to adrenal function problems or burnout".

"When your adrenal functions are affected you end up with a lot of symptoms and often your production capability at work just doesn't exist. If people in business are aware of the hazards associated with their jobs, they can take steps to understand and prevent stress - it doesn't have to manifest as a disease", he confirms.

In recent years, the 'C' word, which traditionally was never discussed openly, has now become almost commonplace in our society. We all know someone who has been affected by Cancer. The press has highlighted this disease through some of the most horrific medical screw-ups in recent times. Despite advancements in possible cures of types of cancer, it remains one of the biggest killers. I asked Michael what his thoughts were on this deadly disease and his prognosis for a cure.

"Professor Nordestrom of Sweden was able to prove that cancer begins as a disease within the energy system of the body. He was also able to demonstrate through electrical chemical treatment that within the energy system of the body that cancers could be cured. I believe that". "The way I feel about it is very simple. There is no multi-national drug company today inside in a lab that is trying to find a cure for disease - they're trying to find a way to treat it. Because if we have to find a cure for disease, we won't find it within a capsule because what the human is made up of isn't contained within a capsule. This is where the major shift is going to have to take place. Medicine has a role in the treatment of illness but when it comes to curing disease we've got to go beyond that point".

"It's a question of mind influencing matter. Our thoughts, our feelings, our perceptions, influence our body's physiology. If we have a thought, a feeling, a perception that our disease is going to kill us - you're right. If we have a feeling, a thought, a perception that what we have can be cured - we're right. That's the way the body works. We need to realise that it isn't a miraculous thing; it's a natural thing. It's natural to be healthy; it's not natural to be sick. Sickness is an unnatural reaction to a natural state. We have to look at our natural state".

There was a lot to absorb in my weekend programme and there was little doubt that I had tapped into something worth investigating further. But for any of you who still remain 'unconvinced', perhaps it is Michael's recent work with 'The Lord of the Dance' creator Michael Flatley, which will convince you to open your mind to the possibilities of bio-energy therapy.

You may recall that Flatley had to cancel a world tour back in 2006 due to illness and despite many tests and scans, doctors were unable to clarify precisely what virus had struck down the famous dancer. It was only at the end of last year that his health improved and he has openly attributed his remarkable recovery to Michael O'Doherty's healing hands.

"I was very happy to have had the opportunity to meet Michael, to have the opportunity to treat him. He has experienced the benefit of what we have to offer and thankfully he is now back to full health. The implication of him going public on it has been huge. Huge for me, for my therapists that I'm training, for business. The health sector is the one sector where there's growth and I see that the therapy and the treatment in the future is in this field".