THE METHOD
The Bengston Energy Healing Method® is an innovative healing technique that has been shown to be effective on a wide variety of conditions.
The core of the Bengston Method is Image Cycling™. Details about the method and how it evolved can be found in the book, The Energy Cure, or in the 6 audio CD set, Hands-On Healing: A Training Course in the Energy Cure. The technique is largely “mechanical” and “belief free,” but like any new skill, it takes practice and commitment to become proficient!
The applications of my techniques have been, and continue to be, tested under strict laboratory conditions in many independent labs and medical schools. Many peer-reviewed articles based on these evaluations have been published in professional biology and medical journals. This does not make my data “true,” but it does give the added benefit of having gone through rigorous scrutiny.
The bottom line “take home” message from all of my techniques is that you should first and foremost have fun! A playful approach to an area so little understood will take you a long way. And, once you start having success, it is equally important to avoid ritualizing any technique. Freshness matters; ritual is just for safety. I assume that the methods will evolve and improve.
IMAGE CYCLING™
Image cycling™, for reasons I do not yet fully understand, is extraordinarily important in enhancing healing. The cycling technique involves making around 20 mental images of things you would like (all of my techniques are selfishly based), or situations that you would like to be in, in the future. The mental images cannot be general, like “I want to be happy” or “I want to be healthy.” Instead, the images must be able to be recognized when accomplished. For example, “here I am driving my new car,” or “here I am in some specific exotic place.”
With practice, which includes in all likelihood a refinement of the images through a number of lists, these images become more specific and idiosyncratic as you find out what you really want. The image cycling™ itself involves running through these images at a very, very fast pace, while you are otherwise engaged in ordinary activity.
Like any skill, at first this is awkward (think, learning to ride a bicycle). After sufficient practice, riding a bicycle becomes effortless and second nature. What seemed like a formidable task requiring focused concentration, riding a bicycle, can now be done mindlessly. Image cycling™ is like that. In our experience, image cycling seems more difficult to learn on one’s own. That is the reason for the workshops and the audio training set.
RESEARCH
In the 35+ years that I have been doing research on healing with my method, I can’t tell you the number of times that the tests of my ideas, under controlled conditions, results in me being totally surprised. What I thought I would find does not match my actual results. I have learned not only patience, but most of all humility as I ponder the mysteries of healing. I can tell you without reservation that no one, including me, has a lock on the “truth” about healing.
My previous beliefs about healing have repeatedly been shattered by the data that comes out of the lab. And this is a wonderful thing! It actually turns out to be quite liberating to do research, as the wonders of nature are past my feeble imagination. And, as far as I know, the imagination of anyone else. I have found too many believers convinced of the truth of what they think they know. I suspect that under controlled conditions, much of the “truth” of what is out there would not stand the test of serious scrutiny. And so be cautious; be skeptical — about everything, even what I say.
Let me say that image cycling™ is not a healing technique! It can be used for healing, and in the workshop, we discuss hands-on techniques for combining cycling with healing. However, it is a practice that I recommend whether you want to heal or not. There are many positive experiences reported by people who cycle, in addition to the interesting phenomenon that the things on the list seem to become reality.
I have looked at the brains of image cyclers using EEGs and fMRIs, and something different is going on (see papers) — we have found unique harmonic frequencies in the brains of practicing cyclers. In addition, simultaneously running tests on both healer and healee demonstrate that something akin to brain phase locking between the two occurs. Once again, we don’t know what this means, only that something is clearly going on that appears to be unique.
I continue to do research — the “scroll” of questions and interests is long, and perhaps endless.
About Bill Bengston
William F. Bengston (Bill) is a professor of sociology at St. Josephs College in New York, U.S.A. He received his Ph.D. from Fordham University, New York, in 1980. His "day job" areas of specialization include research methods and statistics.
Bill has conducted research into anomalous healing for over 35 years and has proven the effectiveness of his technique in 10 controlled animal experiments conducted in seven university biological and medical laboratories. His healing research has produced the first successful full cures of transplanted mammary cancer and methylcholanthrene induced sarcomas in experimental mice by laying-on-of-hands techniques that he helped to develop. He has also investigated assorted correlates to healing such as geomagnetic micropulsations and EEG harmonics and entrainment.
Dr. Bengston does not provide healing treatments, medical diagnosis, or any other personal consultations related to health, medical, or psychiatric issues. Rather, his time and attention are devoted to energy healing research and education.
Dr. Bengston has publications in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, and Explore. In addition, he has lectured widely throughout the United States and Europe. Bill has been a member of the Society for Scientific Exploration (SSE) since 1999, and currently serves as President of the organization. He also is on the editorial board of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Bill has written a memoir with Sylvia Fraser about his healing experiences and research entitled The Energy Cure : Unraveling the Mystery of Hands-On Healing. A CD audio instruction program, Hands On Healing: A Training Course in the Energy Cure, is also available from Sounds True.