Controversial author Brandon Bays says she rid herself of a tumour by confronting childhood abuse. Thousands of people claim to have cured themselves by using Bays's Journey process. Niamh Hooper reports
Diagnosed with a tumour at 39, Brandon Bays was told the only option was immediate surgery. But the New Yorker refused. Having spent 20 years in the field of mind-body healing she wasn't going to allow a surgeon to open her up without trying to heal herself.
Driven to probe deeper, she underwent a profound process and six weeks later underwent every test available before being pronounced text book perfect, clean, completely tumour-free - without drugs or surgery.
Within her tumour, she believes, was an old unresolved memory of childhood abuse that she was sure she'd already dealt with but obviously hadn't. Once finally resolved and forgiven - and the lesson the tumour had been sent to teach her had been learned - her body went about the natural process of healing on its own.
In the 12 years since, thousands of people claim to have released themselves from physical illnesses and emotional blocks using the process Bays pioneered.
This process, called The Journey, is reported to be getting good results worldwide by cancer patients, prisoners and violent criminals, and the South African Government is financing the training of teachers who will introduce it into the nation's school curricula.
"For every emotion we have, there is a biochemical response in the body. This is measurable in a lab. Cellular biologists have found that when you suppress an emotion, it releases a specific biochemistry into the blood stream which will go to certain cell receptors and block them. When they're blocked, they cannot communicate with any other cells in the body," Bays says.
"If these cells remain blocked over time and if disease happens in the body, it's likely to happen in the part of the body where the cells are blocked.
"So what The Journey enables you to do is get access to these blood cells, find out the stored repressed emotion and memory stored there in consciousness and release the stored pain so it is no longer stored inside the body."
Not alone in her belief that repressed emotional conflict can manifest itself physically, Bays says even if the condition heals, it may reappear if the memory of that trauma is retained in the cells. The only way to resolve the issue is to uncover that emotion, find the root cause and make your peace, she believes.
"When we have an emotional issue, it is an invitation to find freedom. I feel emotional issues and physical challenges can be an invitation to undergo your own healing truth and to heed the wake-up call.
"They can be an opportunity to learn what your soul is trying to teach you through this illness. You can become part of the process of healing rather than become a victim of it."
The Journey is being used by cancer patients alongside orthodox and alternative medical treatments. "The thing that people need to know is that in the core of their worst pain is a peace that is beyond anything they could imagine," Bays says.
"You can have pain leaking out and feel it in a muted form for 40 years or you can face up to it for an hour, release it and find completion and come home to the wholeness of who you are. Emotions are the gateway."
Hard as people find it to accept, our bodies are print-outs of our biographies. And given the right circumstance, the human body will heal. It has been seen over and over again. And is often dismissed by the medical profession as "miraculous".
Dr Paddy Rudden, a GP who has been in practice in the North East for more than 30 years, believes this approach is the future of medicine. A member of People as Partners in Medicine which is dedicated to returning power to the individual through an integrated approach to healthcare he adds:, "The only way you can hope to heal a person fully is by integrating mind and spirit as well as body."
"In the medical profession, our training is so scientific it blinds us to this kind of thing which is a shame. Most doctors want to heal more than to cure but the problem is a lot of our innate abilities to heal people are trained out of us by the system.
"We're well equipped to fix things but healing is much deeper and involves the mind, body and spirit. The new physics supports this point of view and some of the best writing on this subject is by physicists and not by doctors. Brandon Bays's work would fit right in here."
In response to criticism that this could be giving people false hope, Dr Rudden says this is a very relevant issue. "Every case is individual but if you look, the figures aren't very encouraging. More than 50 per cent of cancers don't respond to chemotherapy but nevertheless not all of those people die. We don't know what impact hope has in each situation.
"Often it's seen that it's the rebellious people who tend to do better - with a spark of individuality and a survival instinct. Perhaps that's what this lady, Brandon Bays, did - she harnessed her own survival instinct very effectively and connected with hope.
"People have an enormous ability to heal, they just need to believe it."
Bays's Journey work is being deployed in a large number of cases in South Africa and Australia. Sydney-based GP, Dr Mark Naim, who has been in medical practice for 30 years, believes the Journey is "logical, unique, simple, effective and extremely cutting edge".
"The feedback from patients has been remarkable. Some changes are quite rapid, others are slower. People have been freed from issues that have profoundly influenced their lives up until that point. I was particularly interested to see whether patients could be 'cured' from traditional illnesses," he says.
"Over time, I have started to see patterns emerging and there are certainly some conditions that have been totally relieved, and some partially. I have a collection of correspondence that attest to the remarkable healing powers of the Journey."
Ignoring or suppressing issues isn't going to make the cause go away, hope as we might.
"The more you run from fear, the more it hunts you. There comes a moment when you must face it and deep in the heart of that fear you will find your true self. Each of us knows our own truth. Fear is an invitation to find it," Bays adds.
From her experience of working with thousands of people, she assures any curious potential participants that "your own soul only gives you what you are ready to face and clear".
• Brandon Bays is facilitating a Journey Intensive weekend in Dublin on June 12th and 13th in Killiney Castle Hotel. www.thejourney.com.