Tuesday, August 27, 2013

The Woos are Everywhere

When my husband and I were on Kauai many years ago, we learned that metaphysically-inclined people are called "Woos" there.  Perhaps it was derived from "all that woo-woo stuff." 

Here is an article from The Wall  Street Journal that really got my attention.


LOS ANGELES—Kenneth Klee's longtime law partner had spent weeks in the summer of 2010 typing up a voluminous report on the Tribune Co. TRBAA -0.41% bankruptcy, and his hands ached.

The 64-year-old Mr. Klee, who is described by peers as one of the most respected bankruptcy lawyers in the U.S., closed his eyes, peered through his "third eye" and waved his "energy hand" above his colleague's outstretched arms. Almost immediately, the hurt was gone.

"All I know is that I was in pain and he did his thing and I felt better," said Lee Bogdanoff, the lawyer treated by Mr. Klee.

By day, Mr. Klee inhabits the world of high-stakes bankruptcy cases, charging clients such as Jefferson County, Ala., about $1,000 an hour for legal advice. At night, Mr. Klee holds energy healings in a small room of his elegant, one-story home in the leafy Brentwood section of Los Angeles.

Mr. Klee said he can talk to spirits, mend broken bodies and wounded souls and, if necessary, perform exorcisms. The suggested donation for a two-hour session is $300.

Alternative medicine and other New Age practices and philosophies have many followers in the corporate world, particularly in Southern California. But it is unusual to find a white-shoe lawyer like Mr. Klee who so publicly embraces his connections to the metaphysical.

"I am just a vessel," said Mr. Klee, sitting in his office on the top floor of a 39-story skyscraper with panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. "I just bring through this energy.''

Mr. Klee said he heals some people by removing bad energy and infusing them with better vibrations. To do this, he uses a combination of oils, crystals, a tuning fork and other objects, such as a fish fossil. He infused his law partner, who was the principal author of the bankruptcy examiner's report on Tribune in 2010, with "liquid living crystal."

At a recent healing, Mr. Klee told an electrical contractor that the man's sorrow came from his past life as a woman who had lost a baby in childbirth. Mr. Klee placed a tray of crystals on the floor to cut off the dark energy flowing up through the man's bare feet and then hurried them out to his backyard so as to not contaminate the room.

Healing clients said Mr. Klee has helped them overcome the direst of illnesses. But medical professionals say while these kinds of alternative procedures might make people feel better temporarily, there is no proof that they provide cures.

"There is a difference between anecdotes and evidence,'' said Richard Sloan, a professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. "The real issue is whether there is any evidence of therapeutic efficacy. As far as I can tell the answer to that is no."

A principal draftsman of the U.S. bankruptcy code in the 1970s, who is described as a "dean of the bar" in a recent international ranking of restructuring lawyers, Mr. Klee said he tries to separate his healing and law practices. But sometimes his metaphysical and legal skills overlap. During Texaco Inc.'s bankruptcy case in the late-1980s, Mr. Klee said he had the ability to predict what was going to happen.

His client, Pennzoil Co., agreed to a $3 billion settlement. As a show of gratitude, his legal colleagues gave him a letter opener engraved with the words "The Oracle."

In the corner of a conference room at his law firm, Klee, Tuchin, Bogdanoff & Stern LLP, sits a white crystal that is meant to help harmonize opposing sides in a negotiation.

Another large crystal on a window sill of a young lawyer assigned to the Jefferson County case protects the office from bad vibes. Mr. Klee believes they emanate from a nearby condominium building. He declined to elaborate.

"How are you feeling today, Marisela?" asked Mr. Klee, as he passed the firm's office services manager one recent morning.

Marisela Atrian mentioned how her shoulder still hurt after a fall from her bike. Mr. Klee waved his hand above her shoulder and then flicked his fingers toward the floor as if he were shaking off water.

"I know her energy,'' said Mr. Klee, who has worked on Ms. Atrian before, mostly over the phone. "I can do it remotely."

Mr. Klee became interested in healing in 1997 when he signed up for a massage at a law-firm retreat and experienced the "radiance technique," in which he said a therapist "activated" energy within him. Since then, he has studied various forms of alternative healing from teachers in the Philippines and St. Petersburg, Fla.

Even his wife, Doreen, used to be skeptical at times about whether his healings had any real effect.

But he overcame her doubts when, he said, she was "possessed by an earthbound spirit and I did an exorcism to get it out of her."

After a bad car accident in late 2004, Mrs. Klee developed a rash. She agreed to lie on Mr. Klee's table in his healing room, while he placed discs called "pulsors" on her. After a while, she went limp and had to be helped into bed. The next day, she said, the rash was gone. The spirit was gone, too, Mr. Klee said.

"There are these spirits, and they look for warm bodies,'' Mr. Klee explained over dinner with his wife. "Some of them want to go to the light…This one went to the Astral plane. It was a really lowlife type of spirit."

"It still freaks me out,'' said Mrs. Klee.

Mr. Klee doesn't attempt to hide his healing work from legal clients. In Jefferson County, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2011, a local newspaper and a blogger picked up on Mr. Klee's healing hobby, but the writers praised Mr. Klee's legal work as Tribune bankruptcy examiner and the county's lead bankruptcy lawyer. Earlier this year, Mr. Klee helped strike a deal with creditors that could help the county exit bankruptcy.

"Say what you will. This guy has his finger on the pulse—or waving somewhere above the pulse—of what ails this county,'' wrote Birmingham News columnist John Archibald.

Still, some clients tell Mr. Klee that rival lawyers vying for business have tried to use his healing work against him.

"I've never had a client turn us down,'' because of the healing work, said Mr. Klee, whose firm vied unsuccessfully to represent the city of Detroit in its bankruptcy case.

When he retires from his legal practice, Mr. Klee says, he wants to help develop an apparatus that could measure the energy contained in people and objects. That device, he says, would convince skeptics that the energy he feels through his hands is real. "It would change the world,'' he said.

Taimie Bryant doesn't need to be won over. A law professor at University of California, Los Angeles, Ms. Bryant recalls losing her patience at some students for arriving late to class. Mr. Klee, who also teaches at the law school, agreed to harmonize the class and their professor.
"The next day, there was so much ease in the classroom,'' said Ms. Bryant. "It was eerie."

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

How Very Unfortunate

Dear New Client:

I'm very sorry that you changed your mind about keeping your appointment with me this afternoon.  Little do you know that you are the third new client in the past two weeks who has flaked-out on me just like this:  no notice or response to my calls.  Did you have an accident? Are you okay?  My gut tells me that you -- and the others -- are only suffering from cold feet.

Generally, I'm a deeply compassionate and understanding person.  But frankly, right now I'm just an angry person.  This morning I had to tell someone who's really having a hard time that no, I did not have any last-minute cancellations today.  That person would have been thrilled to take the spot you did not want.

I'm sorely tempted to start requiring a credit card number to reserve first appointments.  Would that have prompted a call from  you when you changed your mind?

Yes, I'm taking a deep breath.  Lots of them, in fact.

May we all be filled with loving-kindness.
May we be well.
May we be peaceful and at ease.
May we be happy.

Thank goodness for that.

Sincerely,
Lucy  Grace Yaldezian, CHT, CHC, TAT
A Higher Perspective

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Preparing for a Tranformational Adventure!




I just finished a Skype visit with my longtime, cherished friend, Lilo Selven Ccoyllor.  Boy have I got an adventure to share with you!

Most unexpectedly, I find myself planning a group trip to one of the strongest power centers on the planet:  Peru.  The home base for this transformative journey will be Lilo's Casa de Serenidad in Cusco and will include a trip to Machu Picchu, a World Heritage Site.  Details are still being worked out, but if all goes according to the plans Lilo and I put into motion today, the November full moon on the 17th will be at the heart of an extraordinary adventure for any of you who are called to participate.

I first met Lilo when we were both students at The Palo Alto School of Hypnotherapy in 1992.  A former runway and photographers' model, Lilo was born in Switzerland and was then living in Saratoga, CA.  Visually the two of us made an incongruous pair:  she, tall and slim; me, short and round.  But our heart-to-heart, spirit-to-spirit connection created a bond that has endured through many significant life changes.  She and I created and facilitated several workshops together that formed the foundation of many of the classes and workshops I have offered solo over the years.  We were "L & L."

In 1998, Lilo went to Peru for what was supposed to be a three-month visit and ended up answering an inner voice calling her to shamanism.  You can read more about Lilo's remarkable life and healing gifts at http://www.shamanspirit.net/lilo-ccoyllor-morningstar/.

So, over the next couple of weeks, I shall be posting more information about this Journey.  There is no doubt in my mind that this is going to be a life-changing experience for me and any of you who, reading this, is drawn to participate.  We want to keep the group very small so that we can give each participant individual attention.  Lilo and I will be working together and separately with the group members. 

I am so excited!