interview

By Joseph Okoghenun

Dr. Iwowarri Berian James is a pioneer energy therapist in Nigeria and founding Director of GoldenRays Integrated Energy Therapy (GIET) Institute in Lagos. Currently African Regional Coordinator for Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP)- a USA-based association comprising 50 member countries with over 1,300 individual members worldwide, he is Africa's first certified energy health practitioner.

James, who has a Master's degree in Managerial Psychology and an honorary PhD, is also a National Complementary and Alternative Medical Association (NACAMA) licensed complementary and alternative medicine practitioner. In this interview, the passionate promoter of energy medicine urges government and the private sector to key into energy medicine which aim is to organise, control growth and repair cells, tissues and organs.

What is energy medicine and how long have you been in it?

ENERGY medicine, also known as energy psychology or energy therapy, is a process of restoring energy balance and harmony through the removal of energy blockages that cause sickness and blocks to mental, physical and emotional alertness and balance through the stimulation of known energy points, energy centres and the energy field of the human energy system.

I started my sojourn into energy therapy in 2005 and became certified in the US as an Energy Health Practitioner in 2009 by the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) based in Pennsylvania, US.

What are the benefits of energy therapy?

Energy psychology has been used in the treatment of various physical challenges like aches and pains, fatigue, anxiety, asthma, and deep emotional trauma issues such as fears and phobia, anger, grief, guilt, loss emotions, unhappiness and sadness. It has helped many to gain transformation in their negative beliefs and in freeing themselves from inhibiting mental attitude that has constrained peak achievement in personal, business and work life. It has produced deep relaxation within a short period of time, thus helped many people experiencing stress-related diseases to heal.

What has been the response to it from clients in Nigeria?

Nigerians are beginning to embrace energy medicine. I am very happy that the situation is changing for the better. When I started to speak about the possibility of receiving healing for a variety of ailments through the process of energy medicine, it was not possible to find one person among 100 people who has heard of energy therapy or energy medicine. Today, people are not only talking about energy healing, they are also selling energy healing products from China and US. Many who have attended my various workshops and seminars are now using the process to take care of themselves and family members. People send me text and email messages thanking me after experiencing energy medicine from me. We have had great testimonies of healing and restoration in these many years of its practice.

What are the challenges and opportunities that exist in energy medicine in Nigeria?

When I contemplate the opportunities that energy therapy holds in Nigeria, it blows my mind. With its use now as a post-war trauma healing agent in the US, the opportunities in sports development, in children intellectual development, in reduction of health bills, and in the promotion of good quality of life abound. Energy therapy provides enormous opportunities for individual, the state and governments, especially in developing economies like ours to improve performance, support the military and paramilitary organisations, and to build human capacity at all levels.

I do not speak of challenges for energy medicine yet. It took the US over 40 years, UK about 28 years before the process came to the lime light. Today, energy medicine has gone into the US medical process mainstream both at the utilisation process in the hospitals and in the educational process through the universities. Nigerians take time to accept what is new, but when they key into it, it spreads like wild fire. That is what will happen with energy therapy in the country. What remains now is for states, Federal Government, private sector organisations, as well as government parastatals to key into the drive for energy therapy knowledge growth by supporting my efforts at training and development of our human materials in this wonderful knowledge, and to bring sustained patronage to my seminars and workshops efforts in this regard. And for learning institutions to key into our work at the GIET Institute to popularise the process so that it can be studied in schools and used in direct clinical settings.

How about those those who are religiously inclined?

I do not discuss the perception of people who pretend to be religiously inclined and use that as a guise to promote ignorance. Is the cell phone spiritistic because we do not see the voice coming through the cell phone, or television because we do not see the picture in our rooms before they manifest on the TV screen? Energy therapy is not spiritistic. Energy therapy is scientific; various Energy Psychology methods have established protocols. Recently, the American Psychological Association (APA) approved Energy Psychology as evidence- based therapy process following series of scientific research outcomes presented by ACEP, which the APA found to be incontrovertible. Energy Psychology is now permitted by APA for psychology students in the US. It is based on practical demonstrable process that can be replicated in clinical settings.

What are the tools or methods for energy medicine and how do you make correct diagnosis and know the correct treatment option to give?

The tools and methods for energy healing are skillful tapping, stroking and waving of hands combined with affirmation, call it a combination of clinical psychotherapy with Eastern Oriental medicine practice.

Energy Medicine does not make diagnosis and we do not treat sicknesses or disease. Energy medicine is a process of balancing the energy system of an individual, which helps to bring about harmony in mind- body -spirit of the individual. It has been established that negative emotions which is indicated as the main issue in energy imbalance, accounts for over 85 per cent of physical ailments. So when you succeed in bringing about energetic harmony or balance, you are eliminating 85 per cent of ailments in the body. The major tool used in establishing this imbalance and in ascertaining if the therapy process has been successful is called muscle testing.

There have been global criticisms that healing from energy medicine is nothing more than placebo effects. How true are these criticisms?

This is not a criticism. Placebo is a credible healing method adopted by the various arms of medicine, including the orthodox medical practitioners. It is a recognition that the body through the instrumentality of the mind has the power to heal itself. The issue is that the root of this ability was not known by science until now. The ability is expressed through the life force energy. It is known that placebo effect accounts for over 30 per cent of healing in medicine. It is not bad but it gives cause for a deeper understanding of the human body system. That understanding is what energy therapy is bringing to the fore.

In similar vein, there are those who believe that there is no evidence supporting clinical efficacy of energy medicine. Is there evidence to counter this school of thought?

This is not true. I will refer these armchair critics to the huge works of my US- based association's website - The Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP)-www.energypsych.org, under the research column, to read up the various research outcomes on energy medicine. When they finish, they should then come back and thank me for the information and to join me in the effort to promote energy medicine in our dear country because we need it at this time. Testimonies abound in Nigeria here over these years as to the efficacy of energy therapy.

What mechanisms are on ground to regulate energy medicine in Nigeria?

Energy therapy as a body of knowledge is still very new. As at present, the effort to spread this knowledge of energy medicine in Nigeria is currently a one-man effort - me. I am grateful that we now have a registered institute - GoldenRays Integrated Energy Therapy Institute- located in Lagos, through which we are training Nigerians in this great process. Part of our training syllabus is the ethical use of energy therapy as a healing medium. This is drawn from the ethical resources of our parent association -ACEP. I am also a registered and licensed member of the National Complementary and Alternative Medical Association -NACAMA. I am bound by the ethical principles as enunciated by this great body. Anybody coming into this field will also be guided accordingly.