New Hampshire — the “Live Free or Die” state — has done something that may surprise UFO believers as well as skeptics. It has just erected a historical marker commemorating the 50th anniversary close encounter of Betty and Barney Hill.

The Hills’ story is undoubtedly the most famous of all UFO experiences because (as the official plaque reads) it was “the first widely-reported UFO abduction report in the United States.”

It was also the first time that anyone in this country had reported undergoing invasive physical examinations at the hands of short, “grey” aliens.

“To tell you the truth, we were very excited about the prospect,” said Elizabeth Muzzey, director of the N.H. Division of Historical Resources, which created the new historic plaque.

“We have more than 200 markers across the state and to have a 20th Century marker topic like this, we thought, was terrific and it’s certainly a great historical challenge,” Muzzey told The Huffington Post.

Historical challenge, indeed, considering the ongoing debate over whether or not the Hills — both deceased — actually were kidnapped onto an alien spacecraft 50 years ago.

Late at night on Sept. 19, 1961, they were driving through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, returning from a Canadian vacation to their home in Portsmouth when they spotted an object in the sky with lights, which at first seemed like an airplane. But when the “airplane” began to rapidly descend in their direction, they quickly continued driving south along Route 3.

Just south of the Indian Head resort, the Hills stopped in the middle of the road and said the silent, cigar-shaped craft hovered above their car. Through binoculars, Barney claimed to see several “strangely not human” figures at the object’s windows. Fearing they were about to be captured, Barney quickly drove away.

The next thing the Hills remembered was that they were 35 miles farther along on their journey and approximately two hours had passed which they couldn’t account for. This amnesia continued to bother them, leading to physical and mental disorders until finally, three years after the experience, time-regression hypnosis was used to extract the lost information. Under separate hypnotic sessions, the Hills produced details of a reported kidnapping by aliens on board a spacecraft.

Among the various odd things about this case that were verified: both the Hills’ watches mysteriously stopped running on the night of their experience; the tops of Barney’s shoes somehow got severely scraped; Betty’s dress had a 2-inch tear at the top of the zipper, was also torn from the waist to the hemline and the hem was torn down on one side; and they found shiny circles on the trunk of their car which caused the needle of a compass to spin rapidly when it was brought close to the trunk.

The Hills’ encounter became the subject of many books and a 1975 TV movie, The UFO Incident, starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons.

In 2008, Kathleen Marden, the Hills’ niece, became part of a campaign trying to get New Hampshire to create a historic landmark about her aunt and uncle’s experience. She contacted the department of cultural resources at the N.H. Division of Historical Resources in Concord.

“I was told that everything I submitted had to be backed up with a bibliography, and all of the text [for the marker] had to be footnoted,” Marden told The Huffington Post. “It was a very long process to compile everything and I sent them a lot of material. The state asked me to prove every statement that I made — I had to back up everything with source materials to indicate that I was being accurate.”

Marden, co-author of Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience with nuclear physicistStanton T. Friedman, says she finally received a long-awaited response this spring from the N.H. Historical Resources office.

“I had given up hope, thinking that the funding wouldn’t be allocated or that the state of New Hampshire had decided not to do this, but they told me the funding had been granted for this plaque to be erected, and they wanted some information about where I thought I would like for it to be.”

It was decided to put the historic marker at the Indian Head resort because that location had been an important part of the Hills’ original 1961 experience.

The commemorative sign, displaying the official New Hampshire state seal, and titled “Betty and Barney Hill Incident,” was unveiled on July 20 and reads:

On the night of September 19-20, 1961, Portsmouth, N.H., couple Betty and Barney Hill experienced a close encounter with an unidentified flying object and two hours of “lost” time while driving south on Rte 3 near Lincoln. They filed an official Air Force Project Blue Book report of a brightly-lit cigar-shaped craft the next day, but were not public with their story until it was leaked in the Boston Traveler in 1965. This was the first widely-reported UFO abduction report in the United States.

At the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources, Muzzey described how they decided on the exact text to use for the UFO marker.

“We thought about the 1950s and ’60s in our country when there was such widespread interest in things such as space travel and space exploration. And in all the years since, there have been a great number of people who have asked whether other forms of life may exist out there in the solar system and beyond,” she said.

“Certainly, the experience of the Hills falls right at the center of that cultural and scientific experience,” Muzzey added. “So that’s what we are presenting in the marker — that this was the first widely reported UFO abduction report in the U.S., and a ton have since followed.”

Whether one believes or doubts that the Hills were kidnapped by aliens, what stands out about them is that they were highly credible, reliable people. Betty was a social worker and Barney had been appointed by the governor of New Hampshire to serve on the state advisory committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. After campaigning for Lyndon Johnson’s successful 1964 presidential run, the Hills and Marden were invited to Johnson’s 1965 inauguration.

While the Hills’ historical highway marker is now up and available for all to see, a special 50th anniversary celebration of their UFO experience will take place at the Indian Head resort on Sept. 23-25.

WATCH THIS VIDEO ABOUT THE HILLS’ UFO ENCOUNTER:

What does getting hypnotized mean? For a non-scientific mind it is nothing short of black-magic, getting into a surreal trance, doing unbelievable things, utmost human power and control over another person; in simpler words making a robot out of others or himself in this case as the book is about self-hypnosis and autosuggestions in the tradition of Hypnotherapist Cuoe.

For Roy Hunter this is only a mythical popular concept of hypnosis; to get hypnotized is to get into a little different sort of mental state and interaction with another person. It is like strongly agreeing in a communicative atmosphere where suggestions are readily accepted without friction or criticism, a sort of emotional deeper communication level where the objective is not to convince oneself logically but to persuade and motivate emotionally without elaborate justifications. For the author, getting hypnotized is to respond emotionally even when we know that at another conscious level it may sound totally unreal. When watching a movie we respond to all its laughter and cries instantly but deep down we are aware that it is just a movie and nothing more. So does the hypnotized person know it is just a passing movement of intense emotional communication which will alter in no time, without a trace or memory in future? Similar to the trance created by music and poetry, no wonder Plato thought music has the power to possess people like they people who need exorcism.

From a scientific viewpoint, we know that our brains works by discharging waves and these waves can be measured by EEG (Electroencephalograph) in terms of it frequency; waves discharge like ECG of a heart where we measure functions. Brain waves of 13 and above per second mean we are in normal mode waking, usually in high gear, reasoning, talking and calculating called the Beta state. But at frequency between 8-13 EEG we are in Alpha state, where we are usually lost in imagination, inactive and relax, in a sort of daydreaming mode just like when we are in the middle of a long flight with nothing to do. Below 8 EEG we sleep in theDelta state and further down in Theta state of deep sleep where all conscious functions stop except heart, breathing and other vital processes. All this may sound medical-mysticism initially but is logical and in accordance with common place observations.

Part of the book discusses the historical progression of the concept of hypnotism and its use for public amusement on the stage; famous names like Franz Mesmer are quoted by the author who happens to be the ancestor in the family tree. For those who wish to read history, this part has useful information. In an impressive chapter author focuses on how people can get out of negative subconscious programming in addiction healing, common challenges of quitting alcohol and smoking etc are discussed in detail. The subconscious slipping down into the old state of affairs is usually the greatest danger for an addict. We have triggers and anchors and we must undo them at the subconscious level first before we change irreversibly. We can change at the surface and then fall back easily into old addictions cycle.

The last part of the book is about positive self-communication and the use of affirmative language in autosuggestions. It is always nice to use active verbs with positive emotional connotations according to the author. Words always rebound back and make things happen around us. Advice of the author is to “remain careful in what we say”, I can’t agree with him more on this. I recommend the book for everyone who has interest in positive psychology.

© 2011 Samin Khan

Jake Shannon is a hypnotherapist, stage hypnotist, radio host, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Utah and an author. He also teaches mental self-defense and has a long background in wrestling—his most recent book, Say Uncle, has been one of Amazon.com’s best-selling mixed-martial-arts books.

Do you need a spinny disk to hypnotize someone?
It is just having people focus on the operator, the hypnotist’s voice. Every single person that talks is essentially a hypnotist—they just differ in their ability to get compliance. It’s important to see how powerful language is in changing our perceptions. Language is incredibly powerful. It’s just like the gun—it has to do with the intent of the awareness. A gun is just a hunk of metal. As a hypnotist, all I have is language. I don’t have pills or potions. There are lots of ways we can be nudged to do things simply by words alone. It’s pretty powerful. Hypnotism is studied a lot in psychology departments. But I think it would be better served as an interdisciplinary study between psychology and graduate-level rhetoric—the study of persuasive speech.

How do you change someone from a smoker to a nonsmoker?
Part of that is getting to that identity, and then shifting that identity. Smokers are having this conversation—“I’m stressed out, I deserve one; I’ll just have one.” Coming to me, I change it; I have them disassociate from that and have them associate with the parts of their lives that are really into health and really want them to quit. Self-conversation is largely the way that we think, and as such, you need to take charge of your self-conversation. A lot of the time we go on cruise control. The questions that we ask ourselves are crucial because we answer them—and those answers will lead us in different directions.

Can you unlock repressed memories?
Memory is a massive problem because it’s completely unreliable. There’s a huge field of forensic hypnosis, using it for purposes of law enforcement. Forensic hypnosis largely has been focused on helping people remember—you know, witness testimony and whatnot. Back in the early ’90s, there was this big rash of people remembering that their parents were abusing them; they were having these repressed memories. What they came to find out was that those memories weren’t real. Later, most of these people were cleared through DNA. What they came to find out was that these people were hypnotized, and the intent of the hypnotist was to find these memories, and so they found them—they actually created them. It destroyed lives. One of the new branches that’s being pursued in Europe in forensic hypnosis is trying to verify how suggestible people are and how bad their memories are. Witness testimony does enter in as evidence, but people are wrong all the time.

Can hypnotherapy be used for evil?
Anti-social hypnotherapy is using hypnotherapy not to help somebody, and also while they’re unaware of it. You have entire fields—NLP, neuro-linguistic programming—I take it to the woodshed in my book. This stuff is huge in sales. One of the other big applications is in the pick-up-artist community. Men and women are using it to get laid. [With mental self defense], you’re aware and you can make a better decision. If you’re in the car lot and this guy is using certain ideas and language to nudge you to make a decision, you can say, “He’s doing that right now,” and that frees you. It is important for people to know, just as it is important for men and women to know basic self-defense. The real challenge is, in the moment, are you going to remember it?

Smoker question.
Consciousness is largely a bunch of different self-conversations going on in our head. What most people don’t realize is that we have the ability to pay attention to which conversations we’re going to have. That’s why you have people who neurosises or are particularly over-worried about things. They’re listening to the nebbish voice taking them down that path. That’s why you find people who have dissaccociative identity disorder, or schizophrenia, or depression. They’re not aware of the power they have to take charge of that voice, or they’re not disciplined enough to keep fighting until the other voices shut the heck up.

New alternative sports psychology program is geared specifically to the demands of triathletes. This cutting-edge sytem includes Hypnosis, Neuro-lingustic Programing and Energy Mechanics to empower triathletes to reach peak performance mental states for racing.

Can you imagine going through major surgery without general anesthesia? That’s what Christel Place (left) did when she had her thyroid removed – and she’s one of a growing number of patients who opt out of general anesthesia and get hypnotized instead. Hypnosis plus a local anesthetic leaves patients sedated but aware, reports the Associated Press, and doctors say their recovery time is faster and their need for painkillers reduced. This method is feasible for only certain operations, of course – not those involving the heart or internal organs.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-204_162-10008770.html#ixzz1TdCFiIUv

By Arthur Lightbourn
Contributor
These days, at 85, soon to be 86, local psychologist Edwin Yager, is making it his personal mission to spread the word about the effectiveness of what he considers to be “the treatment of the future” — subliminal therapy.

Subliminal therapy, Yager posits, is a technique that permits the patient guided by a therapist to tap into mental abilities that the patient probably doesn’t even know that he or she has [the ‘unconscious’ or ‘higher self’] and then use those abilities to halt the problems that the patient is experiencing as symptoms.

“You can get down to the root cause of the problem so you can actually resolve the problem,” he said, “not just wrestle with the symptoms.”

Not everyone agrees.

Although the theory of the unconscious mind as a repository of forgotten memories has been around for centuries, some professionals still question its scientific validity and even whether the unconscious mind exits at all.

Yager, however, says he has employed subliminal therapy in his private practice successfully for the past three decades to treat a wide range of disorders, some strictly mental, such as phobias and compulsions; and others psychogenic, with physical symptoms, such as migraine headaches, insomnia, pain, gastro-intestinal and sexual problems, even asthma.

“These often seem to be the consequences of earlier life experiences,” he said. “When you can uncover those experiences and ‘re-frame them’ and understand them in a different way, the effect changes and the symptom ceases to be there.

“The key, the focus element that’s involved here, is teaching people to use abilities they don’t know they have,” he said.

In addition to his private practice, Yager, a former engineer-turned-psychologist, is a clinical professor at UCSD School of Medicine, where, since 1975, he has taught an elective course in clinical hypnosis. He holds a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the Professional School for Psychological Studies, San Diego

We interviewed Yager in his office off Balboa Avenue in San Diego’s Mission Bay area.

Yager is a tall Texan, who attributes his good health and longevity to three things: “The woman I married, stopping smoking and going to the gym.”

Yager was “born in a little town called El Paso, Texas.” His father was a welder. “But I never knew him very well, he died when I was a little kid.” He was raised by his widowed mom, a school teacher. “That was during the Depression, a time when a lot of people were doing a lot of hurting,” he said.
Growing up, Yager discovered he had knack for things technical and mechanical. When he was 12, he landed a job repairing radios.

During World War II, when he turned 18, he joined the Navy (1943-45), and served as an electronics technician aboard the light cruiser USS Detroit.

“The Navy never sent me to school,” he said. “I learned mostly by osmosis, from other people and just by doing it.”

After the war, he studied electrical engineering at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, began working as an engineer, earned a bachelor’s degree in current technology at Texas State Technical Institute, subsequently moved to San Diego where he worked as a group engineer with Convair for 20 years, retiring in 1973.

A pastor at a church that Yager attended in Pacific Beach learned of Yager’s interest in clinical hypnosis and asked him if he would serve as a pastoral counselor to some of the church members — which he did and discovered “This is for me. This is what I wanted to do.”

In preparation for his retirement and transitioning eventually to a second career as a psychologist, he earned a master’s degree in counseling in 1972 from United States International University, and another master’s in technical education in 1973 from National University.

In 1975, he began teaching an elective course in the clinical applications of hypnosis at the UCSD School of Medicine, initially as an instructor, then as a clinical assistant professor, and, since 2005, as a clinical professor.

His work as a clinical hypnotist subsequently led him to become a leading practitioner of subliminal therapy.

In 1982, he earned his Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the Professional School for Psychological Studies, San Diego.

His mission these days, he said, is to teach therapists from around the globe the subliminal therapy technique.

He recently conducted a two-day workshop on “Transcending Traditional Therapy” at the 16th International Conference for the Association of Psychology and Psychiatry in Athens, Greece; and is scheduled to conduct workshops in New Orleans, Phoenix and Canada.

“Subliminal therapy is clearly and distinctly different in many ways from hypnosis. The classical understanding of hypnosis doesn’t apply. Hypnosis is an element of subliminal therapy, but only an element.

“It’s a technique that makes it possible — and this is why it’s so effective and so efficient time wise — to identify the cause of problems and resolve the problem at that level. Then the symptom, which is the presenting problem, ceases to exist.

“The patient has to be intelligent enough to understand these concepts, intelligent enough to recognize that he or she has a problem and has to be open to new ways of thinking about things maybe.

“I give credit to my engineering training, my engineering way of thinking, to the totally rational, logical, step-by-step process that subliminal therapy is. Every step is determined by the outcome of the previous step.”

How long does a therapy generally take?

“It’s the briefest of brief therapies that I know of,” he said. “A patient typically comes in with multiple problems.

To solve any one of those problems, is probably not going to take more than an hour maybe two after an hour of introduction and training.”

However, some disorders take longer.

He has one patient with multiple personalities — dissociative identity disorder — whom he has been treating for 27 years. With treatment, the patient has led a relatively normal life and has maintained employment.

“The dissociative disorders are classically long term in resolution,” he conceded.

He has had a high success rate, he said, in treating addictive and sexual disorders.

Of all the disorders, he said, the toughest to treat successfully is obesity.

Asked if he has used some of these techniques, including self-hypnosis, to overcome any of his personal issues, he said: “Absolutely.”

Such as?

“I had hay fever, to a devastating degree, as a child. No longer a problem” Also sea sickness, smoking and nail-biting, no longer problems.

Any others?

“Public speaking. That was a biggie. I didn’t solve that until I was in my 40s.”

Asked if it’s necessary for a subliminal therapy patient to undergo hypnosis, Yager said: “No. There is no formal trance induction or anything of that nature implied, but, it is also true that during the course of employing subliminal therapy very commonly a patient will slip into what I identify as hypnotic trance, but it’s spontaneous.”

Asked what has surprised him most in his years as a psychologist, he replied: “The key thing, if I wanted to isolate one thing, would be the malleability of the human psyche…We learn limitations, we learn values. We are conditioned creatures…and most of that conditioning comes from life experiences.

“That’s the way problems come in; that’s the way all the good things that we enjoy come in; and even though we may have problems now, we are still malleable and knowing how to do some reconditioning, we can change.

We can eliminate that limitation. We can alter almost any aspect of our experience.”

Demonstrating how he would work with a patient, he said he would be using the word “Centrum” to speak directly to the patient’s unconscious. (He thought up that name Centrum before it was adopted by a brand of multivitamins.)

Speaking in a slow monotone, he said, “I’m going to pretend for the moment that you’re my patient. Okay?”

Okay.

“And I’m teaching you the skill and I’m going to guide you to use the skill to make the changes you want to make. My role in subliminal therapy is strictly as a guide. A source of information sometimes, but I don’t have to be involved in the content of the problems that you address. I can even do this work, a therapist can, not just ‘I’, any clinician trained in this, can even do this work without even knowing what the patient’s problem is.

“So, you’re my patient and you came in with some problem…. And I have to be able to communicate with your ‘centrum.’”

He asks the patients to create in his conscious mind’s eye, the image of a chalkboard or computer screen, upon which Centrum can write.
“So I ask that you create that imaginary chalkboard right now. Got it?”

Okay.

“I ask your Centrum to indicate willingness to communicate this way by writing the word “Yes” on the chalkboard.

“Tell me when the word “Yes” is there.”

It’s there.

“Now you might reasonably at this point ask, how do I know that came from Centrum? A reasonable question.

And at least part of the answer to that question is that if, in fact, Centrum writes on the chalkboard, in all probability, you will not be able to erase it consciously.”

“Is the word ‘Yes’ still on?”

Yes.

“I invite you to try to erase it. Still there?”

Yes.

“Centrum, please erase the word ‘yes’ and replace it with a different word. I ask, Centrum, that you select a word and write it on the chalkboard.
Write a word, Centrum, that will surprise you, consciously…Centrum, please write the surprise word now on that chalkboard. Got a word?”

Not yet.

“Okay. Be patient. Got it?”

Okay.

“Are you consciously satisfied that you didn’t think that word up and put it there?”
I don’t know.

“You question that you did. Okay. Centrum, erase that word and please reach out somewhere and select a different word that truly will be unexpected and truly will surprise you consciously. Got that word?

Yes.

“Are you satisfied consciously that you didn’t think that word up and put it there?”

Yes.

“At this point, if you were my patient, I would start interacting with Centrum….You’re job now, as we work together, would be to tell me what Centrum writes on the chalkboard….The moment you tell me your conscious opinion in lieu of what Centrum writes, at that moment, we start spinning wheels. So here’s a little guiding rule, anytime I preface a question with the name ‘Centrum’, the next words I hear from you, I hope, will be the words on the chalkboard.

“You may get answers that don’t make sense. And you may get answers you don’t agree with. You may strongly disagree. And that’s all okay as long as you’ll tell me what those answers are as opposed to what you think they should be…. No other psychotherapy I know approaches it this way.”

We just went through a little hypnosis, didn’t we?

“You did,” he said. “It was not a deliberate induction on my part. Not everybody goes into trance, but most people do.”

Quick Facts

Name: Edwin K. Yager, Ph.D.

Distinction: UCSD School of Medicine clinical professor Edwin Yager is a leading practitioner in the use of clinical hypnosis and subliminal therapy to treat a wide range of disorders, addictions and illnesses.

Born: El Paso, Texas, 85 years ago

Education: Ph.D. in counseling psychology, Professional School of Psychological Studies, San Diego, 1982; M.T.E. (Masters in Technical Education), National University, San Diego, 1973; M.A. in counseling, United States International University, San Diego, 1972; B.T. (Bachelor of Technology), Texas State Technical Institute, Waco, Texas, 1969; studied electrical engineering, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, 1946-49.

Family: He and his wife, Gwen, have been married 35 years. “I had one practice marriage before this one and raised seven children, including four stepchildren, between the two marriages.”

Military service: U.S. Navy, electronics technician, 1943-45.

Interests: Family, woodworking, river cruises

Writing: He is the author of “Foundations of Clinical Hypnosis: From Theory to Practice,” considered a “must read” by fellow psychologists. He is currently working on a book on subliminal therapy.

Recent reading: “Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America,” by Robert Whitaker

Favorite TV: Every summer, he and his wife, re-watch all the episodes of their favorite TV series, “The West Wing.”

Favorite film: “The American President,” 1995 comedy, starring Michael Douglas and Annette Bening.

Philosophy: “People. I’m not tired at the end of the day. I’m energized by the people I work with.”

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BY RYAN E. SMITH

You’re getting sleeeeepy. Verrry sleeeepy.

Then — bam! — it’s all over, and you’ve delivered a baby.

OK, it’s not nearly as easy as that, but you might be surprised by how hypnosis is being used these days. It’s not just about getting people to stop smoking or lose weight anymore.

Hypnosis is quietly helping athletes increase their performance and surgical patients manage their pain. And yes, it’s even gained the notice of prospective mothers.

“When the mind is relaxed or the woman is not in fear, she’s able to relax her body. When the body is relaxed, when all the muscles are relaxed, normal, natural functions [such as childbirth] don’t need to hurt,” said Hayuta Cohen, an Israeli-born hypnotherapist in Encino who has led several classes in HypnoBirthing.

This is simply one way that treatments once considered alternative are evolving to become more widespread. In addition, many of these therapies are being integrated with traditional medicine. For proof, look no further than the existence of the UCLA Center for East-West Medicine, founded in 1993.

“There’s definitely a move toward integration or bringing the best of multiple traditions,” said Malcolm Taw, assistant clinical professor at the center.

More than one-third of American adults used some sort of complementary medicine in 2007, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. Taw said the reasons are simple.

“Overall, the patients want this,” he said. “They want to avoid potential medications or other interventions, whether surgery or injections, and they want to try other treatments that have less of a side-effect profile.”

Some have tried Western medicine without success. Others are looking for a less expensive choice or one that is natural and uses the body’s inherent abilities to heal itself. Many of these therapies, often termed complementary and alternative medicine, have roots that go back decades, if not centuries, in other parts of the world. The way practitioners are tinkering with them and using them in conjunction with Western medicine, however, is modern and ever-changing.

Just ask Uri Kenig.

The psychotherapist from Israel set up shop in Encino 23 years ago, and at first glance his office looks like any other. There’s a large window letting in plenty of natural light, a comfortable couch for the patient — of course — and soothing music available at the touch of a button.

But there is something unusual in the corner of the office: a high chair, the kind you might find at a patio bar, and in front of it, a short stool. This is where Part Two of Kenig’s unique form of treatment takes place — the part that comes after you’ve told him your life story. It’s this part that has attracted the attention of approximately 1,000 of his colleagues in Israel.

“Something was always missing for me about the incomplete process of talk therapy,” Kenig said. “I found myself hearing, time and time again, clients saying to me: ‘I understand my problem. What should I do about it?’ ”

The conundrum led the 60-year-old to look at the mind-body connection and how chronic emotional problems may lead to chronic physical conditions. Kenig’s investigation took him beyond traditional talk therapy, and into the world of energy healing and touch therapy. That’s where the chair in the corner comes into play.

As part of a system he developed called IPEC (Integrated Physical Emotional Clearing), Kenig sits on the low stool and asks clients to hold out both arms. He pushes down to check muscle resistance and either touches the hand to different parts of the body or asks questions.

“I’ve devised, in a very accurate and planned way, by questions, to get slowly a feedback from the body, from the unconscious mind,” Kenig said. “On specific words, the muscle will go weak. On specific other words, it will be strong. … There is a psychological story. The client is completely unaware.”

He then cross-checks what he says the body tells him against numerous charts and two large, colorful, home-made matrixes filled with hundreds of words that lead him to an assessment. Kenig, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology from the California Graduate Institute, said he has used IPEC to trace one patient’s migraines to problems at work and another patient’s breathing problems to an issue dating back to the client’s birth.

Kenig then uses LED light therapy or vibrating massage directed toward certain organs or body parts considered to be the source of the problem. He also uses music and meditation. The underlying theory behind the method is that the universe is made of energy and every individual has his or her own energy fields. In order for change to break through that field and restore a normal balance, it needs a little push — in this case, aided through things like light or vibrations.

The most recent statistics show that more than 1.2 million Americans sought some sort of energy healing therapy in 2007. That’s minuscule compared to the nearly 39 million people who used nonvitamin, nonmineral natural products, such as fish oil and ginkgo biloba — the largest category measured — and a much smaller segment than even the 3 million-plus who turned to acupuncture for relief.

Despite the increasing numbers, it’s still a field that has a lot to prove, believes Dr. Larry Bergstrom, director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“I haven’t found these types of therapies to be helpful,” he said. “They distract from addressing important aspects of each person’s illness.”

He further explained, “The people who invent and use these techniques fill a niche for a patient for whom conventional medicine has failed. I don’t think the [technique] is the issue; it is listening to the patients, believing them and creating a scenario where the patients can help themselves become better.”