Page 155first initials of their last names. This is probably not a serious obstacle to an
experienced healer but for an inexperienced person it might nullify their ability to
connect and provide healing. Participants were instructed to include the phrase
“for a successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications.”
It could never work done Benson’s way.
[Benson, Herbert, Dusek, Jeffery A., et. al., “Study of the Therapeutic Effects of
Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in Cardiac Bypass Patients: A Multicenter Randomized
Trial of Uncertainty and Certainty of Receiving Intercessory Prayer,” American
Heart Journal, Vol. 151, No. 4, April 2006, pp. 934-942.]
A better double-blind randomized study of distant healing on a population with
advanced AIDS was carried out by Fred Sicher, Elisabeth Targ, et. al.
Unlike the Benson study, the Sicher/Targ study selected experienced healers
from various backgrounds who chose their own techniques. The ability to sharply
focus one’s intention to affect a person at a distant location is a skill that these
individuals spent a lifetime developing.
Each healer received a packet that included a 5x7-inch color photograph of
the target. In subtle energy healing practices a full name, photograph, or DNA
sample (like a strand of hair) normally serves as an “address” for non-local
distant healing.
In contrast to relying on a word phrase, experienced healers usually focus upon
a feeling state of love and connect to the heart of the target person.
The Sicher/Targ study concluded that there were positive therapeutic effects of
distant healing. The results showed “decreased medical utilization, fewer and less
severe new illnesses, and improved mood for the treated group compared with
the controls.”
[F. Sicher, E. Targ, D. Moore, and HS Smith. A Randomized Double-Blind Study
of the Effect of Distant Healing in a Population with Advanced AIDS - Report of a
Small Scale Study; Western Journal of Medicine; December 1998; 169:356-363]
Here’s what I know:
All this emphasis on whether or not distant intercessory prayer works is irrelevant
and rather distracting. To me what matters in prayer is that the individual
focuses intently on communication with his or her God or Higher Power. The very