Dr. Ivor von Senger, a chiropractor from South Africa, struggled with what was first diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome. However, as the months passed, his condition deteriorated to a point where he had to be fed and bathed. Losing his will to live, he eventually found his way to healing after experiencing a profound epiphany.
Here is his healing story in his own words:
“In 2005, I healed from a year-long crippling illness of undiagnosed origin via a very bizarre and powerful pathway – one that has had me questioning and researching ever since. When I was ill, I tried everything that allopathic medicine had to offer and read every alternative healing book possible.
Looking back at it now, after all the research I did – and following my intuition – I had satisfied 8 out of the 10 healing factors outlined in Radical Remission & Radical Hope. I believe that I continued to deteriorate because I was stuck with what has become, in my opinion, the most important factor: Having a strong reason for living.
The disease started with an aching in the wrists, which was first diagnosed as carpal tunnel syndrome, but as the months passed, I couldn’t use my hands at all, and my health deteriorated to a point where I had to be fed, bathed, and taken to the toilet. Suicidal thoughts flooded my brain as anxiety overrode the ability to sleep.
I deteriorated to a state where I was very close to death. I believe my brain, out of its need for survival, implanted a memory from when I was 7 years old of an intense and profound spiritual experience. I have read that one of the symptoms of a Kundalini Awakening is “Developing a Savior Complex.” However, in my case, since every other attempt at contentment had been exhausted, I believe that this was the only alternative left for my brain.
So, I believe that my brain (or perhaps soul?) implanted a grandiose, savior-type memory to give me a will to live. I believe that the body and most of my brain had started to accept death as inevitable and that this one (implanted) memory was what kept me alive. Within days of me first talking about the memory to a spiritual teacher, I felt intense burning energy, first in my heart and then in many other organs in my body.
This feeling was accompanied by intervals of physical unwinding – especially of my fingers and wrists that had been badly affected by the disease. The healing process took 5-6 months as different organs in my body (including my teeth, knees, shoulders, and internal organs) experienced what felt like fire-type transformation, as heat poured into my badly fibrosed wrists to the point that my skin had visible blisters. I believe this to have been a kundalini-type awakening.
However, the message I received [from the memory when I was 7] was incredibly lofty – along the lines of “You alone are here to save the planet. ” I realize now that the message had to be so lofty in order to motivate my brain to action instead of despair. It also needed to be implanted into my memory as though it had happened years before, to give more validity.
When recovered, I retreated to the mountains and meditated for many hours a day, and read spiritual teachings for the next 8 months. In my mind, I was preparing myself to become a great spiritual teacher and healer. What I didn’t realize I was doing was progressively secluding myself from family, friends, and enjoyment of life. One day, my wrists began to ache again and within weeks I was right back in the throes of the disease. I still felt a powerful healing presence within and around me daily, but within a few short months, I found myself close to death again.
This time, once again, at the point of complete hopelessness, there was another triggering circumstance that made me believe, once again, that what I had been told when I was 7 was true. This time, the healing took 5 hours instead of 5 months. I witnessed changes of the body in time spans that had no rational basis (in particular was an infected, bacterial skin rash that disappeared in the blink of an eye).
After these two experiences, my life was indelibly changed. I went back to work part-time as a chiropractor but was mostly invested in spiritual practices and self-experimentation, in order to see how I could tap into (and then hopefully share with others) this incredible healing power that I had witnessed.
It was only 16 years later, in January of 2021, that I got to witness that intense healing power once again. During the 2020 Covid pandemic, I knew that the economy of my beloved country, South Africa, was in dire trouble. I started working 90 hours a week with 4 different start-up businesses – alongside my Chiropractic practice – to help stimulate the economy.
After 8 months of tireless pursuit, sleeping only 5 hours a night, I started to realize the futility of my grandiose ambitions and started experiencing symptoms of burn-out. I knew that the come-down from my fear-based decision to push myself so hard would be harsh. My brain, however, had other plans. It couldn’t accept the few months of come-down and depression.
So for the next 3 weeks, I (and my patients and receptionist) stood witness as incredible events started taking place around me. At first, I felt wrinkles disappear around my eyes and my hair tingled as if new follicles were growing. These sort of things I had experienced before, so I wasn’t impressed, but then things outside of my body (and perceived reality, up until then) started to change. This brought on a sense of confusion once again: I questioned whether the implanted memory might actually be true. Maybe I was going to save the world, on my own.
What I now believe was taking place was that the part of my brain that had learned from those 2 previous episodes of repair had strengthened. Talk about neuroplasticity! Since my body was healthy, out of desperation to not experience the inevitable come-down and depression of burn-out, my brain was able to do incredible things.
I’m hesitant to talk about what we witnessed, for fear of judgment, but for a few weeks, I lived in a world where the rules of physics and thermodynamics didn’t apply. Of course, there’s the possibility that this was God, or powerful angels. To be honest, I believe it was a part of my brain that had learned, grown, and developed from the two earlier experiences. It was determined not to endure depression again, so I believe it took me into this different realm once again – out of its perceived need for survival.
Looking at it from a purely spiritual perspective, yes, maybe my spiritual potential grew from each experience. Why I doubt this is what brought about the 3rd and most powerful experience (although I am still deeply spiritual), is because I spent 10 years in relative solitude (having just enough work and social contact to survive) after the first 2 experiences, to see if I could tap into that power again. 10 years of meditation and personal development provided lots of revelations, but nothing as powerful as the 2nd (or 3rd) healing experience. I eventually gave up the pursuit in 2014 and practiced full-time to earn a decent living for 6 years until 2020, when Covid hit.
What fascinates me, though, is the similarities shared by the three events. These similarities are:
A period of depression, disease, or in the last case, impending depression, with a “no-way-out” scenario for the brain (kind of like a cat backed into a corner with no way out but to fight).
An implanted memory from childhood about a “You alone are going to save the planet” type of spiritual experience.
Incredible events that happen inside (and then on the 3rd experience, outside) the body which support the brain and get it to believe that the aforementioned spiritual experience might be true after all.
A strong will to live and a belief in a life full of purpose, which helps the brain to endure and then overcome depression and illness.
I believe, after 16 years from my first healing, that I have gained some insight into how my experience can be mimicked for others to benefit from in the future, and possibly how to tap into the true potential of the mind-body-soul experience using a similar pathway. Thankfully, the pathway or treatment I have discovered spares the patient any need for experiencing depressive events such as the ones I went through.
I have experimented on two very good friends using this technique, which employs hypnosis to achieve the same depression-to-purpose pathway (in about an hour). One was an agnostic Hindu and the other an Orthodox Christian. The results and healing changes in their bodies were spectacular. A researcher I recently spoke with recommended that I conduct a pilot study on this new technique, which I am in the process of arranging.
Of particular interest to me will be whether the person’s healing experience becomes more powerful each time, as it did for me. Once again, I must emphasize that the person doesn’t have to experience the depression that I went through, rather more of a simulated experience (in a suggestible state of hypnosis) that seems to inspire the brain to action.
If my pilot research is successful, the next challenge will be conducting a larger study sanctioned by a university. I have met with some neuroscientists already, but I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to proceed further. First, am I wrong in thinking that the pilot study should compare regular hypnosis to this new hypnotic technique? Second, how would it be possible for anything along these lines to become scientifically accepted since there is no way of double-blinding the study? (Too many studies get labeled as pseudo-science and lose credibility due to this).
In my opinion, psychotherapy had the same problem of not being double-blinded, but we all accept it now, many decades after the first patients were treated successfully. In retrospect, we now have a greater understanding of the mechanisms behind psychotherapy.
Fortunately, we also now have the assistance of technology, such as the functional MRI, which can observe the brain as it is put into different states. I believe that any future research on my new healing technique will need to incorporate such technology in order to get it sanctioned by mainstream institutions.
If anyone reading this has any advice for my research goals or has had a similar healing experience, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you. Please email me at the address below.
Sincerely, –Dr. Ivor von Senger M.C. Contact: ivorvon@gmail.com .”
EDITOR’S NOTE: As of October 2021, Ivor is thriving.
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