Spiritual Massage Healing recognizes that human consciousness is part of a greater universal energy that has vast healing powers. This healing energy is available and accessible to all.

The goal of spiritual Massage Healing is to help people use this healing energy to live in peace with themselves and in the world, to experience the joy and the wonder of life.

Through prayer, visualization and touch, with input and feedback from the recipient, a sacred space is created in which an individual can move forward in his or her own timing towards greater wholeness, and spiritual, mental, emotional and physical well-being.

I believe in the sacredness of life,

For the past twenty years, I have studied sacred traditions of the East and West, including Native American philosophy, Sacred Geometry, The Fourth Way, and Sacred Dances.

Helen's healing

We did contact and distant (absent) spiritual healings on Helen, a 57-year-old woman, for about two weeks. We also periodically monitored the energy fields of her two hips and legs, and other parts of her body with L-rods. Here is her account about two months after we worked on her.

Helen: "Vivian saw me when I was walking because she was in the back of me. She whistled, which I don't turn around for. I felt that everything was aching on me. She could see I was in a lot of pain. You really can tell when someone is in pain. She said, 'When you get through with what you're going to do, come around.' I did. I went to see her and Albert.

"Before you started working on me, I had cramps in my legs and my back was hurting. I couldn't even walk two blocks, and I had to rest. I don't know what caused the problem. It just came on. I had it for about three weeks before I went to the doctor.

"He didn't give me a name for what was bothering me. He sent me to get X-rays. He also gave me a pain-killer for my legs, but I don't remember the name of it. I stopped taking the pain-killer and didn't go back to the doctor after the X-rays because after you and Vivian started working on me, things started easing up. So I didn't think I needed to take the pain-killer and go back to the doctor.

"When you started working on me, things eased up and the pains in my legs were going down towards the foot. As they went down towards the foot, the hip started getting better. I did the foot exercises you suggested. And the visualization in blue light, and the pelvis exercises" [the Feldenkrais pelvic clock] "which helped me more than the blue light. That helped me a lot. I still continue doing it.

"I don't have much trouble any more. I get little pains in my legs occasionally, but not that I have to stop after I walk two or three blocks. But other than that, I'm alright. I don't think I need you and Vivian to work on me now.

In August, 1997, Clyde, age 38, was struck by a car while crossing the street and was in a coma when he was taken to the hospital. A few days later, I started distant healings which I did daily for about a month, and then three or four times a week. I also used L-rods to monitor the energy fields of his whole body, his brain, and his will to live - before and after the healings. Clyde was hospitalized and received medical treatment while I was giving him healings.

On November 19, 1997, I received the following information about Clyde's progress.

From Clyde's brother: "You must be doing something right because he is making good progress. My wife and I visited him last Friday. He is now walking without assistance and fighting back from his injuries...  Just what the future holds for him is uncertain, but I feel in my heart that he will make a good recovery.

"He is starting to talk again. At times he can hold a logical conversation with people and shows recognition of people and places. At other times, he doesn't seem coherent and becomes agitated and frustrated but I just keep showering him with love and encouragement. So many people love him and are pulling for him that combined with his strong will things just might work out. We tell him that he has to work even harder to recover.

"Considering that my brother Henry was ready to sign the release for organ donation when Clyde almost died shortly after the accident, and Mary was set to cremate him, his progress so far is nothing short of miraculous."

I consider myself a Hindu, Christian, Moslem, Jew, Buddhist, and Confucian. - Mohandas Gandhi

Two kinds of religions

"The world's first international academic conference on Pagan Studies took place on April 9-13, 1996, in England. Professors, other scholars, and practitioners interested in the academic study of Paganism convened at the conference center of Charlotte Mason College, Lake District of Lancaster, in northwestern England. The 130 conference participants came from throughout the United Kingdom and other countries, including Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Canada, and the United States. Forty-five papers were presented at 19 sessions.

Co-creative science and the New Age

A core interest of the Church for Spiritual Healing and Health is New Age co-creative health care which is based on co-creative science. The terms New Age and co-creative science have different meanings. The New Age, with which we are concerned, is described by Spangler who differentiates the New Age from New Age movements.

"The New Age," Spangler writes, "...  is an idea that is timeless. It is much larger than the movement that bears its name. It has a history that goes back at least three thousand years, and in some ways it represents an intuition of the human heart and soul that a world defined by the unity between spirit and matter, nature and humanity, the sacred and the incarnate is not only possible but an imperative.

Healing ourselves and our planet

The worldwide devastation of nature, for which humans are responsible, has already caused the extinction of many animal species, and now threatens the survival of one out of every  eight plant species. More and more species are being added to the list of endangered species.

The same global ecological damage now threatens our survival as a species. Healing ourselves our society, and our planet are so intimately interrelated that we cannot heal one without healing the others. This means that all healing is interrelated. We can accomplish more if we recognize this and work co-creatively in partnership with God, with nature, and with one another.

Our spiritual values influence the health care we provide for ourselves, other forms of life, and our planet. We are all health care providers because we all provide health care of one kind or another for ourselves and others.

We also believes

The twenty-first century will be religious or it will not be at all. - André Malraux

The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull facilities can comprehend only in the most primitive form - this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness. Albert Einstein.

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. - Albert Einstein

References

JSB = Journal of Spiritual Bodywork

SMMN = Spiritual Massage Ministry Newsletter.

1. Schatz, A. Why was the Church for Spiritual Healing and Health established? JSB 1(4):1-3. 1995.

2. What is the religion of the Church for Spiritual Healing and Health? JSB 1(4):4-5. 1995.

3. Rev. Geraint ap Iorwerth. The Greeting of Christianity: A Celtic Touch. 15th Annual Conference. Light of Christ Community Church. Sparrow Hawk Village. 22 Summit Ridge Drive. Tahlequah, OK. 74464-9215.

4. Some comments on Spirituality. Spirituality can exist independently of religion. SMMN 1(3):2-4.1995.

5. Vernon, T.S. Thomas Paine. The world is my country and to do good is my religion. The Human Quest. p. 8. July-August. 1997.

6. Pellican, J. Editor. The World Treasury of Modern Religious Thought. Little, Brown & Co. Boston. 1990.

7. Adler, Margot, Give Me that Old-Time Religion! Goddesses, Pagans, Witches, & the Resurgence of Earth Based Spirituality. 1993 Midwest Association for Humanistic Psychology Video. Great Lakes Training Associates, Inc. Indianapolis, IN.

8. Fox, Selma. Nature religions today. Pagan Studies International. Issue 10. p. 9. Summer. 1996.

9. Spangler, D. A Pilgrim in Aquarius. Findhorn Press. Scotland. 1996.

10. The Findhorn Garden, by The Findhorn Community. HarperPerennial. NY. 1975.

11. Maclean, D. To Hear the Angels Sing. An Odyssey of Co-Creation with the Devic Kingdom. Lindisfarne Press. Hudson, NY. 1980.

12. Spangler, D. Foreword to Dorothy Maclean's book.1113.  Schatz, A. Worldwide ecologic damage threatens our survival as a species. JSB. Special Issue No. 3. 1997.

14. Schatz, A. A one-day workshop. Dowsing for health. Healing ourselves and one another with spiritual healing and Therapeutic Touch. JSB. 3(2):3-6. 1998.

15. Tompkins, P, and Bird, C. Secrets of the Soil. Harper & Row. NY. 1989.

16. Ross, II, T.E. A Dowser's Model. The American Dowser. pp. 11-14. May. 1983.

We thank those who have expressed their appreciation for the research we have been doing. We originally assumed our first reports on regulation would be all we would publish on that subject. However, we received so many requests for additional information that we continued researching and publishing. The same thing happened when we published our first reports on harm. That convinced us to continue because many people consider what we are doing important.

The right to be left alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom. - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis

People who want to make an honest living by doing massage, which is not harmful, should be left alone and not have to pay in order to do that.

An example of loss of freedom, and $$$$

"If you have a massage license, you do not need a definition or a scope of practice to do reflexology. In fact, you can really be anything you want - Rolfer, Feldenkrais, Trager, etc. And you really don't have to define a thing...

"It is a sad day when native healers are put out of business to satisfy the greed of the massage industry. What a scam. The consumer pays higher prices for lower standards of service. And one group gets a monopoly over an entire industry."

Reflexology does not harm people. Con- sequently, the simplest way for Florida to resolve this repressive situation is not to regulate reflexology, but to deregulate massage.

1. constitutional protection of freedom of speech and freedom of the press?

The state has no obligation and no right to regulate a profession merely to give it status in the eyes of the public. It is the profession's responsibility to determine its acceptance and popularity with the public.

In a democracy, people who promote "licensure ... first and foremost to protect the public from harm" by massage should be required to reveal the specific kinds of harm from which they want to protect the public.

I have been doing scientific research for more than half a century, and have always been concerned about the social responsibility of science. Although I retired in 1981, I continued doing research on problems that have important implications for our society.

That is why I apply my expertise as a researcher to provide evidence that regulation is not needed to protect the public from being harmed by bodyworkers.

My objectives

To protect the integrity of bodywork. The integrity of the bodywork professions is violated if they are unjustly accused of being harmful - particularly if special interests use the allegation of harm to corporatize, monopolize, and exploit the practitioners.

To protect the identity and sanctity of spiritual massage healing. Even though there is no convincing evidence that secular massage therapy harms people, the corporatizers and monopolizers of secular massage therapy may try to expand their regulatory dragnet to include spiritual massage healing.

To do that, they may  allege that  spiritual massage healing -  like secular massage therapy - is harmful and should therefore also be regulated.

The reality is quite different 

1. Spiritual massage healing, like secular massage therapy, is not harmful. There is con- siderable evidence that neither one is injurious.

2. The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and many state constitutions prohibit government from interfering with the practice of one's religion. Spiritual massage healing, like other kinds of spiritual healing, is the practice of one's religion.

3. The fact that state medical practice acts exempt spiritual healing is convincing evidence that it is not harmful. If it were, it would not be exempt.

State medical practice acts determine the requirements with which all doctors must comply in order to practice medicine. Doctors who may sincerely believe they are guided by and working with God in treating patients are not exempt because conventional medicine is harmful. It is the fourth major cause of death in the United States.

Some medications which doctors prescribe have serious adverse side effects and have been the direct cause of many deaths.

1. The Coalition has no well-documented evidence that massage therapists have harmed people. This is understandable because massage is safe. In fact, more people are struck by lightning than are injured by massage. More people are bitten by dogs than are injured by massage.

The decreasing cost of insurance for massage therapists also reveals the safety of massage. I have been told that $65.00, which was the wholesale price of $1,000,000 of insurance in 1984, is now the wholesale price of $2,000,000 of insurance. While the price of many things has increased significantly since 1984, the cost of insurance for massage therapists has decreased by 50%. The same wholesale price of  $65.00 buys twice as much coverage today as it did in 1984.

2. Pennsylvania does not need licensure to protect the public from nonexistent harm, or for any other reason.

Our constitutional protection of freedom of speech and freedom of the press enables us to do that.

To understand what is happening to bodyworkers, we have to follow the money trail. Or, as the French say, Chercher l'argent. The money trail leads to the massage industry. This industry has industrialized the bodywork professions.

The changes, which that industrialization has brought about, constitute what I call the industrial revolution of bodywork. This revolution has corporatized and monopolized bodywork in order to exploit bodyworkers. The following two economic areas of massage illuminate what has been happening and why.

Some massage schools have additional income because they offer workshops for continuing ducation credit and to prepare graduates for the national certification examination.

Insurance, continuing education, etc. We have no data on these payments.

Without regulation, the income of the entire industry would be considerably less. It would be illuminating to have hard data on the fees and total income of massage therapists in states which do and do not regulate massage.

Many massage therapists do not want regulation simply because: (a) They don't believe it's worth the money they have to pay. And (b) Regulation creates special interest groups with monopoly control.

 Our reply

People with that defeatist attitude help make regulation inevitable because they don't actively oppose it.

It is not enough for a wise man to study nature and truth; he should dare state truth for the benefit of the few who are willing and able to think. As for the rest, who are voluntarily slaves of prejudice, they can no more attain truth than frogs can fly. - Julien Offray de la Mettrie

References

1. Kunz, K. <footcsc@swcp.com> Reflex- ology now a felony in Florida. Feb. 27, 1998. <http://www,reflexology-research.com>

2. Schatz, A. Does Senate Bill 1171 violate laws that protect freedom of speech and freedom of the press, prohibit discrimination and arbitrary governmental interference, and prohibit  restraint of trade, monopolies, and unfair trade practices? Massage Law Newsletter. 4(2):1-3, 1998.

3. Schatz, A., and Brewster, M. The cor- poratization of massage. An economic perspective. Massage Law Newsletter. 2(2):1-10. 1997.

4. Schatz, A. Follow the money trail to find out why scare tactics tell us massage is harmful. JSB. Special Issue 4. pp. 1-14. 1997.

5.  A career in Massage & Bodywork. Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals.  Touch Therapy Directory. pp. 2-5. 1997.

6. Thomas, J. The way boards work. Massage Magazine. pp. 103-105. May/June. 1998.

7. Schatz, A. Some thoughts and questions about the $3,000,000 National Certification examination. One man's point of view. SMMN. 2(1):1-5. 1996.