A year ago I met with a man who was suffering from devastating migraines. He had tried all available treatment options both conventional and alternative, and was hopeless. After seeming to have cured my ex-boyfriend's chronic shoulder pain I knew I had to try to help this man. I gave a 30-minute "treatment" consisting of visualization and light pressure against his head with my hands based on how I felt his condition with my "vision from feeling" which forms images for me that depict a health problem.
I told him that what I was doing was to be considered nonsense, because it is important not to put your faith in an alternative treatment option, since that can lead you astray from trusting medical procedures that have been verified to be effective and that also are governed by legal and ethical regulations to protect the safety and well-being of the recipient. We also do not want a person to experience an improvement when that is only the result of their positive expectations - in which the treatment itself was not the source of relief. I emphasized that I have no training in healthcare treatment, and that I am not licensed. I charged no money. I even emphasized that he must continue to take his medicines and to not make any changes to the advice he has received from his doctors.
He went from 12 migraines a month to only 2 migraines a month. Each lasting from one and a half days now only one day. And no longer with nausea. The change happened immediately after (or during) my "treatment", and prior to that his condition had only been getting steadily worse without any momentary improvement of this kind. He had made no other changes to lifestyle or medication or treatment otherwise. He attributes his dramatic improvement to what I did.
That is why I want to test this method on other persons as well, preferably skeptics. I remain skeptical about the supposed improvement, knowing things like placebo effect etc. However to test this method again allows it to be evaluated - if the method is found to be useful I will invest in a year-long (expensive) massage therapist education and become a licensed practitioner of this method. If the method is found to be useless, I will pursue no further interest in practicing or evaluating this method. And in the process I hope to learn more about this particular brand of pseudoscience; claims of healing.
If you suffer from migraines and would like to volunteer
to test this "treatment" method you can contact me at
brightstar@visionfromfeeling.com
To volunteer to have this method tested, the person would have to be 18 years or older, suffer from migraines, be under the care of a doctor in conventional medicine for their migraines, and have a migraine journal starting at least two months prior to receiving this method and should keep the migraine journal at least two months after that. The migraine journal simply states when you have a migraine (date, preferably also time of day), their duration, and their extent and other symptoms associated with a migraine, and any other information that you consider relevant, such as triggers. The migraine journal does not need to be submitted to me but provides you with a way to assess whether you experience any change in your migraine condition.
A volunteer can remain entirely anonymous and does not have to give me their name or other personal information. I do not ask for any documentation that proves that you have migraines. You should bring friends with you for the "treatment" so that you are not alone with me. There is no money involved. It costs nothing.
I would appreciate to receive regular updates from you regarding your migraine condition after the "treatment", but when and if you do so and how often is entirely up to you.
I regard the "treatment" to be entirely safe. I have described it to several legal councils that regulate massage and bodywork and I ensure that what I do is entirely safe and legal. The number of volunteers will be listed here. I conduct this investigation into this claim openly and no one has to suspect that I am engaging in this investigation in secret or that with this I would be doing anything illegal or unethical. The details of each interaction with a volunteer will be given here so that it is available for review to ensure ethical and legal conduct, while maintaining the privacy of each volunteer. I emphasize this since there are many unethical practitioners of pseudoscience and I do not wish to be suspected of their unethical or illegal conduct simply because we are dealing with the same subject - the claim of healing.
When I find a volunteer for this study I will carefully outline the procedure and double-check the procedure with laws and regulations before carrying it out. I will also list any meeting with a volunteer here as well as the procedure and so if in spite of doing what I can to ensure that the study abides by laws and regulations I have made myself responsible of any harm or violation then I am hoping that such will be apparent so that I can take responsibility for it.
Update: I now have a group of migraine sufferers who have volunteered to receive this "treatment" from me. I meet with them later this year. The full procedure will be outlined here, because this website is a documentary on paranormal investigation in the skeptical method, and also because the best way to prevent the wrongs done by psychic practitioners is to allow openness of the methods applied such that anything unlawful or unethical can be exposed and revealed.
Comments on the method about to be practiced: The method I used on one person prior and which I intend to use again uses a combination of visualization technique and the application of light pressure. The practice of massage is strictly regulated by law and regulations and may only be performed by a licensed practitioner. Since I am not a licensed practitioner, I will not administer anything which would be defined massage.
Visualization and energy work is permitted without license as it is considered safe (perhaps as it is considered by national review boards to be meaningless and without effect?) and the light pressure I use is of a form also regarded not massage and which I am permitted to use.
The volunteers are not charged any fee. The method I use is to be regarded as safe and harmless. If however for any reason I cause any harm I will take full responsibility for that. The purpose is to evaluate my method to see whether the volunteers experience any relief in their migraines after receiving the "treatment". If trials such as these show that my method is useless (volunteers do not experience a coinciding improvement in their migraines) then I can conclude on that. If trials show that the method may be effective (volunteers do experience a coinciding improvement in their migraines) then I will register myself as a practitioner of healing and energy work and also begin a one-year massage education programme, in which I learn about professional client-practitioner conduct, anatomy, ethics, and more, as well as receive the training and right to practice massage work. I would specialize in treating migraines.
If after initial successful trials I were to become a licensed practitioner, my policy would be that there is no fee, unless the person experiences an improvement in their migraines that they would attribute to the treatment received and only if they wish to pay and feel comfortable with paying, it would still be voluntary and the fee would have a maximum amount which could not be exceeded. I do this because many psychic practitioners of healing charge tremendous fees, and they do so regardless of if any studies or trials have confirmed their methods to be effective, and regardless of whether in a particular case a person experiences any personal relief or not. I also do this because my motives are primarily not to help myself, but to help others. If I have a talent I owe it to those suffering from migraines, to discover that talent and to make myself available to persons who might benefit from it. It would be selfish of me not to.
