Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion Not-Quite-Science Forum Philosophy of Religions--all religions, including,

Meanwhile, TNZ, take a look at the following story:
CATHERINE'S STORY OF HOW SHE HELPED HEAL HERSELF
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The following first-person story is on the record and in the anthology: EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCES?Personal accounts of the para-normal in Canada, by John R. Colombo, a skeptic and an agnostic (1989).

The Endless Power of the Human Spirit

John R. Colombo is no one's fool. I met with him on more than one occasion, including participating with him on media panels. This anthology, which is a gold mine of well-researched stories was brought together by this well-known anthologist (See also Colombo's Quotations) in 1989. The facts in the story were examined by many people, including the religion editor of the Toronto Star.

In the winter of 1963-1964 my eight-year-old daughter, Catherine (Born April 1, 1956) ?ailing since she was two and a half?was seriously ill with her fifth bout of pneumonia that winter. Doctors at Children's Hospital, Toronto, told our doctor and my wife and me: "Catherine's lung problem is extremely serious. One more bout of pneumonia could kill her. Her lungs are extremely scarred. What she needs is new set of lungs." And since this was in the day before lung transplantation, all that was recommended was more of the same ineffective treatment.

ENTER PNEUMATHERAPY
The basic story in the anthology is about my interest, since my student days, in the relation between religion, faith, science and healing. Early on, I was influenced by the writings of religious psychologists such as Dr. William Parker and Elaine St. John (Prayer Can Change Your Life) and The Rev. and doctor, Leslie D. Weatherhead (Psychology, Religion and Healing) and others.

In my thirties at the time, with the help of, Allen Spraggett, then religion editor of the Toronto Star, I met the following great thinkers who were then on the cutting edge of research in science, faith and religion. I invited those I met to speak at the church I served, in what is now east Toronto. I followed their work, closely.

I remember meeting the researcher, The Rev. Dr. Frankiln Loehr. I invited him and his wife to my church and my home. I heard, first hand, from him how his experiments were conducted with close attention to details and the keeping of careful statistics.

I also met and studied with the Rev. Harold Crump, who visited and lectured in Toronto more than once, over the years. He was in his 80's, when I met him, and he was still dynamically alive and well.

Crump, a methodist minister, was actually trained as an electronics engineer. He had worked with the brilliant Charles P. Setinmetz--the wizzard of General Electric.
http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~eugeniik/history/steinmetz.html
Crump taught a spiritual/science philosophy which is still being taught. He was whiz at hypnosis. The program he taught is called Concept Therapy. I have much of the concept therapy literature.
http://www.concept-therapy.org/

WHAT I LEARNED FROM FATHER JOE HELPED SAVE MY DAUGHTER'S LIFE
Then I met the one who really helped me help my daughter, Catherine, recover from a potentially fatal disease. Now in the hereafter, Father Joe was then an American Episcopalian canon and priest. The Rev. Canon Joseph Wittkofski, Charleroi, Pa., told me that he had been drummed out of the Roman Catholic faith, by a narrow-minded bishop of his, because of his (Father Joe's ) "weird" ideas. However, he became a priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church of the USA?an open-minded religion, not unlike the United Church of Canada.

From him I took several private studies. Later, with a group of twenty students, I arranged to have him come and give a week-long?over thirty hours?seminar Following the seminar, he went back to his own church in Charleroi, Pa.

Before he left, I told him of my daughter's problem. His words to me, as he left for his home, were: "You now know how to use hypnotherapy within the context of spiritual, or faith healing. You can help your daughter, better that I can. Go to work. Because of the dumb law you have here in Ontario against non-medical therapists using hypnosis, it would be wise for you to speak to your family doctor. I would like to see you and your group get the law reformed."

With this knowledge, I approached our family doctor, Dr. Harold Hutchins. I told him about Father Joe's work, and what I had learned from him. Then I loaned him a copy of the book, by Father Joe: THE PASTORAL USE OF HYPNOTIC TECHNIQUE. Also, I told him that Father Joe was now back in Pa., but was willing to keep in touch, by phone.

Our doctor readily admitted to me that he was not skilled in hypnosis. Was I ever happy when he told me: "You will get no hassle from me. I happen to think that the law is a bad one. I have no objection to your following Canon Wittkofski's suggestion. Give hypnosis a try. I will be interested in what results you get.?

Then he added, "Anything you can do to help your daughter's immune system, to kick in, is okay with me. In the light of Children's Hospital prognosis, we have nothing to lose. The law, as I understand it, is toothless. I think it was brought into being for the convenience of a certain few with a vested interest in keeping control. I will not report you, and I will monitor your daughter's condition, as needed."

[BTW, years later, a group of us lobbied the provincial department of health. The law was reformed. Hypnosis is no longer considered a medical procedure. Thank GOD!]

Encouraged by this, and the desperate condition of Catherine, I went ahead. The details of what I said are in the anthology.

I used what now I call pneumatherapy?the spiritual application of hypnotic technique?hypnosis without the hype and the hocus pocus. It is similar to what is now called neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). One of the early developers of NLP was the father of North American hypnosis, psychiatrist Dr. Milton Erickson. In my opinion, Dr. Erickson was practicing what I now call pneumatherapy.

Wittkofski, who was also trained in biology, taught me that hypnotic suggestion can influence the will and the imagination of individuals. This guides the mind and the body to awaken the extremely valuable auto-immune system.

A FULL RECOVERY TOOK PLACE
To the amazement of all involved, overnight, Catherine, began to recover from a disease that had been poised to kill her. The doctor was as good as his word. He kept a close watch on, and monitored, her condition. Within a very short time, Catherine was well enough to go back to school. She was never bed-ridden again.

BTW, sometime later (in the early 1970's), it was discovered that the full-spectrum anti-biotic, prescribed by her doctors to fight Catherine's pneumonias, was quietly removed from general usage. It was discovered that it had a very negative effect on kidney functions and the immune systems all patients. Interesting.
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THE SEQUEL
As Catherine began to get stronger and stronger, physically, I experienced the following internal dialogue. I asked myself: Why don't you work with your daughter and see if you can find out what is the root cause her illness? Maybe, there is a spiritual dimension to her illness.

When Catherine recovered sufficiently from her serious death-threatening somatic illness I explained to her the nature and function of the trance state and what I felt had happened, which helped her harness her own immune system.

Then I asked her: Catherine, how do you feel about exploring the root cause of what caused you to be so ill in the first place? She agreed to the exploration.

Within seconds, she went into the same kind of deep trance state into which she had gone when I first spoke to her about her physical illness and the problem with her lungs.

Then I told her: "Go back, in your memory, to a time in your present
life which you feel is of importance to you."

After a short period of silence, she started describing the time that we lived in Pointe Claire, Quebec, west of Dorval. She was about two and a half. She said: "We are at the shopping centre. I am asleep in my stroller, which you left just outside one of the stores. You and mom are inside the store. It is a sunny and warm day. I am asleep.

"I see myself being suddenly awakened by a rather large dog, which jumped up and looked at me in the stroller. At this point, all I see was a head, and the dog's paws. Not understanding what was happening, I felt terrified.

"Then, a woman appeared. She hit the dog with her purse... 'Get away, you nasty dogs. Leave that child alone...''

I started to howl. At that point you appeared and took control of things.

Interestingly, at Children's Hospital, Catherine was diagnosed as being very allergic to animals, birds, cats and, especially, dogs. This was my cue to suggest to her, while she was in the trance state: "Do not blame the dog. It was simply having fun. Birds and animals, in general, are there for you to enjoy. Be careful, but do not allow yourself to be be filled with fear."

From then, on, she was no longer allergic to animals, including dogs. From then on, we had birds and cats, and she associated, freely, with the neighbor's dogs. Since she married she had two beloved dogs, cats, and even hens.