Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand April / May 2015 - The Health & Wellness Issue | Page 46

HEALTH & well-being

Session with
a Pranic
Healer
by Shannon Frandsen

A

s I walked down
the soi to the pranic
healing center, I worked
to keep open and calm as best
I could. But, as usual, questions
were racing through my mind:
What would the healer be able
to tell about me? Were my chakras
all out of whack? Would she think
I was a bad person or a good person? Would I feel anything? Could
I actually be healed?
At the center, I was introduced
to Saratha Ramanan. She is from
Tamil Nadu, India and has been
living in Thailand for sixteen years.
Saratha is the rare type of person
you meet for the first time
and immediately sense a warm
presence. She greeted me with
pressed hands and spoke softly
and carefully. Her smile was wide
and kind.
Before we started the healing
session, Saratha explained
the history of pranic healing,
its current global status
as a practice, and a few key terms.
First, we cleared up some
confusion. I had wrongly assumed
pranic healing had its roots in
India since some Sanskrit words
such as “chakras” and “prana”
were used. (It wasn’t helping
my misconception that Saratha
happened to be from India!)
Some principles of pranic
healing are related to aryuveda,
but it is not an Indian tradition.
The Philippines is the birthplace
of pranic healing. Master Choa
Kok Sui (1952-2007), who was
originally an engineer and

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Pranic healing
is a way of life.
Saratha
Ramanan
a businessman,
founded pranic healing after years
of studying esoteric sciences. Choa
Kok Sui’s pranic healing techniques
form a type of complementary
therapy that can help heal physical
and psychological ailments by
manipulating prana or life energy.
Pranic healing is a practice
anyone can perform.
It is not limited to people with
a special gift or power. People
from all walks of life can learn
to practice pranic healing both
on others and on themselves.
The leaders of pranic healing
believe there should be one pranic
healer per family worldwide,
and, if this goal were achieved,
there would be heaven on earth.
It is important to understand that
pranic healing is an alternative
therapy that is not meant
to replace traditional medicine
but rather to support it.
It’s catching on. Pranic
healing is now taught
and practiced in 120 countries
with expectations for continued
growth. The WHO predicts that
lifestyle will become the main

trend in health and wellness
by 2020. It’s possible that, in five
to ten years, pranic healing will
have become more accepted
and will be more commonly
practiced in conjuntion with
traditional medicine.
Now that I had a better
understanding, I was ready for my
session. Saratha placed a chair
in the center of the spacious
room where a breeze was coming
in from open windows. I sat with
my palms facing upwards, resting
on my lap. I could keep my eyes
open or closed. Saratha stretched
the palm of her right hand
towards me to evaluate my aura.
Every few seconds, she grabbed
at the aura and made a fist, then
cast the unclean parts of my aura
into a basin of salt water. The salt
water was meant as a safe place
to dispose of the bad energy.
She systematically moved
around my body, sensing the
state of my aura and asking me
questions about my health. She
asked if I was prone to headaches
and whether I had issues with
my digestive system. She sensed
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