Energy Medicine

Progress/Success Report: May 27, 2010
Something very exciting is going on...a ground-breaking book in the making about a unique model of bringing spirituality into mental health care. Authors invited to contribute include: Stanley Krippner,PhD, Melvin Morse, MD, Alan Wallace, PhD, Beverly Rubik, PhD, James Oschman, PhD, Dean Radin, PhD, Andrew Powell, MD, Candace Pert, PhD, William Braud, PHD, Robert Cloninger, and Linda Haltinner, DC (Medical Director of Sojourns Community Health Center in Westminster, VT)

“Dr. Bragdon is uniquely positioned to provide the authentic voice to this important and emerging tradition which offers the possibility of a revolution in the treatment of mental illness.” –Marc Micozzi, MD, PhD.

We know that healing and wellness must involve body, mind, and spirit. Effectively addressing the spiritual component lies at the heart of wellness. We know that medical intuitives and spiritual healers can help--sometimes incisively but without invasive measures. Fifty Spiritist Hospitals in Brazil have employed these methods since 1930 and provide a model for us to learn from.

The Foundation for Energy Therapies is seeking funding for editing and publishing this collection of articles written mainly by pioneering physicians

• from Brazil revealing the philosophy and practical details of Spiritist treatments in Spiritist Hospitals and
• from the US exposing the underpinning of contemporary science that explains how these therapies are so effective.

In November, 2008, two US doctors and a minister visited several Spiritual Healing Centers and a Spiritist Psychiatric Hospital in Porto Alegre, Brazil with Dr. Bragdon as their guide. The tour was a great success and Dr. Bragdon has been collaborating with educational institutions to create both research and learning opportunities for more English-speaking students and health professionals. This book is a step in that direction.

Dr. Bragdon's new Foundation, Foundation for Energy Therapies, Inc. achieved 501c3 status in April, 2009.

In 2007, Emma Bragdon, PhD raised funds to complete her second film in a series on Energy Medicine, titled "Spiritism" and also to create a not-for-profit foundation, write articles and a chapter for a medical school textbook about Spiritism, and develop more educational and research opportunities for those interested in spiritual healing in Brazil.

Motivation behind Bragdon's Work

The US health care system is in crisis. It is the most expensive in the world but ranks 37th in effectiveness according to the World Health Organization. Brazil's Spiritist Centers and Hospitals are models that can help us reflect on and improve our system. The Spiritist model does not add expense, in fact, may make attending physical and psychiatric problems less expensive while adding therapies that improve well-being and longevity. 

What are Spiritist Therapies?

Spiritist therapies have been developed since the 1880s in Brazil. They are practiced in community centers and Spiritist Hospitals which follow the writing of Allen Kardec, a French academic. They are free, integrative therapies that complement conventional bio-medicine.

Examples of Spiritist therapies:

• "reforma intima" (Portuguese), assistance in personal transformation
• study of spiritual texts and group discussion of spiritual questions, eg. Why are we here?
• laying-on of hands (similar to Reiki or Touch for Health)
• disobsession — helping people rid themselves of obsessive thinking and behavior
• blessed water — prayers are said to infuse drinking water with positive energy, so it can be an aid in healing
• psychic surgery — healing accomplished through directing powerful prayers that effect measureable change in the subtle energy body of the patient
• medical intuition — intuitives offer important information for diagnosis and treatment protocols which go beyond the limitations of technological diagnostic devices
• training healers — people gifted as healers or mediums learn to harness these gifts to benefit their own well being and serve others
• charity — participants organize ways to assist the poor
• In the last 50 years, John of God has made himself available to medical professionals who come to learn from him, along with thousands from around the world seeking healing.

How can Spiritist Therapies help us in the USA?

Although medication and surgery have improved health care, we cannot rely on them to be the most effective therapies to uproot the origins of illness. We must take into account also that the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that complications stemming from medications and in-hospital care are the 3rd leading cause of death in the USA. We need to bring care of the spirit back into the practice of health care, so that therapy covers biological, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects of life. Spiritist Centers have been able to accomplish this without indoctrinating anyone into a specific religion or philosophy. Spiritist Centers are ecumenical, educational and charitable organizations. Participation leads one from pathology to health and spiritual growth simultaneously.

A 30 minute documentary on John of God

"Beautiful beyond words... It offers a simple education of what really occurs in the human energy field when spiritual healing is taking place … in a way that is easily understood and accepted."
— Paula Sellars, Trainer

To purchase this DVD online for $24.95, click here. It has subtitles in German, Portuguese, and Spanish.
   

"The Marion Institute has been of great practical and philosophical support to everything I am doing. Its commitment to exploring new understandings of reality and of healing continues to invigorate my work. Its Serendipity Fund provided money at a crucial time in the development of the films I have been able to produce."
— Emma Bragdon

"Spiritism": A 30 minute documentary

Intimately reveals the colorful highly-effective spiritual therapies developed in Brazil in the last 150 years. Dr. Bragdon interviews Daniel Benor, MD, a foremost authority on spiritual healing, as well as Marlene Nobre, MD, President of the International Spiritist Medical Association. The message is delivered with heart, strength, and simplicity. Subtitles in Portuguese, French and Spanish. To purchase online, click here.

More than 20 million Brazilians attend these centers. One reports it is 90% effective in helping addicts and suicidally depressed regain wellness. Another claims 70-80% effectiveness with healing all manner of diseases. In the midst of the dissolution and change we are experiencing in the USA-we need POSITIVE MODELS OF COMMUNITY AND HEALTHCARE that we can bring home to enrich our community centers and hospitals.

Emma Bragdon, PhD
Energy Medicine Films Project Leader
EBragdon@aol.com
Ph: 802.674.2919
Website: www.emmabragdon.com