COURTESY OF BRACO.NET
THE
GAZER
AN EXTRAORDINARY TALENT
No definitive study on energy
healing exists. The biggest so far
turned into an anvil around the
New Age community’s neck: a
1999 experiment by psychiatrist
Elisabeth Targ that seemed to
show that a diffuse team of healers stalled the deaths of AIDS patients. The data was later found to
be flawed, and, in a surreal twist,
Targ herself died of a brain tumor
under the watch of an army of
healers. At the time, it was popu-
HUFFINGTON
06.23.13
lar to call her the most prayed-for
person in the world.
Hope lives on though. Each
year, national grants fund the
study of qigong, tai chi, acupuncture, acupressure, meditation and
Reiki, a palm-healing technique
now offered at more than 800
American hospitals. Solo healers
are becoming stars. These aren’t
the faith healers of old, who lay
hands on writhing bodies in private homes and churches. The
new generation are more akin to
celebrity fitness trainers, their
products and regimens open to
anyone willing to pay. The op-
A crowd
gathers in
the Grand
Ballroom
of the New
Yorker Hotel
for one of
Braco’s
gazing
sessions in
2012.