It may (or may not) come as a surprise to hear that someone with as 'academic' a background as mine does not consider 'spiritual' healing to be bunkum.
This is a broad 'church', so to speak, and I do concur with
tellner that 'psychic surgery' (i.e. phantom hands reaching in and removing tissue) is fraudulent. However, those aspects of this 'New Age' approach to medicine that call upon the bodies own resources to solve a health problem are very real.
Of any group of individuals, I would expect martial artists, who almost prosaically call upon mental 'powers' to augment the physical, to be open minded about such things.
To be balanced, I have to be honest and admit that one personal reason why I'm less sceptical than average about this issue is that practically every woman I've been close friends with or been in a relationship with has had some 'contact' with either 'white witchcraft' or healing (my missus being an exception to this rule).
In England, at least, it
does tend to be a 'feminine' trait. I'm not saying anything negative with regard to
Shads friend here, but I can't think of one bloke I know who professes 'psychic/spiritual' healing abilities that hasn't got some counterveiling cause to claim such.
I think the female bias devolves from a long tradition of wise women/herbalists rooted in an even more ancient, Celtic, tradition of 'magic' and that men 'tapping' into this mythology (for want of a better term) are more often seeking status augmentation than anything else.
Of course, other cultures have a different bias, where it has been the male that has been the 'keeper' of the 'secrets', so all is relative
.
Anyhow, wandering off topic (as ever as I do at this time of the morning) - time to shut up :blush:.