“When my mother died, I not only had to take care of my family, my business, but also my father, who had a mental breakdown and just sat and cried for days. Mother was the person who guided her life, and now I have to replace her. I lasted about a quarter of a year before I collapsed,” the former kindergarten teacher described the critical and turning point in her life.

Even the five types of antibiotics he received over two months did not help with the endless sore throat and fever in his forties.

“The doctor told me that I had the EB virus, something similar to fatigue syndrome and combined mononucleosis. They said goodbye that I had to accept the fact that one day I would be fine and then worse again for a while. I contacted a healer from a friend, and within a month I was fine,” said the thirty-six-year-old woman, adding that the most helpful thing for her was the opening of a gap where energy flows inward. body.

“I knew at that time the healer was cleaning my aura and chakras (energy centers in the body) which were very closed. He just sat and connected with me in his thoughts. Soothing music was playing and I was resting. Positive energy starts working at that moment and negative energy disappears. “I was advised to drink a lot so that the body could be cleaned more quickly through the kidneys,” Jana Slunečková explains how she has been working with her clients on the ground floor of her family’s house in Roudnice nad Labem for almost three years.

For an alternative approach to life, she also got a husband who first laughed before he placed his hand on her husband’s forehead after undergoing his first reiki (healing method based on Eastern philosophy). “He felt the warmth and flow of energy, and within a month he was on his own course!”

The family did not use any medicine for five years and brewed herbal tea at temperatures above thirty-nine. In addition, meditation, herbal concoctions and some types of energy replenishment effectively keep them fit from diseases.

“Apart from a cold twice a year, we are mostly healthy. Some time ago, when I was with my son for a mandatory check-up at the age of nine, the nurse was very surprised because she didn’t know us at all.”

General practitioner Rudolf Mikeska, who studied classical medicine but also recommends certain types of herbs to people in his office, believes that no extreme approach is good for health.

“These people are usually the unfortunate exception, where classical medicine has repeatedly failed to help the way it works in the majority of patients. But by refusing to see a doctor first, they may ignore serious illnesses, permanently damaging their liver or heart, especially if symptoms such as fever reappear.”

In this context, Dr. Mikeska explained the basic differences between doctors and healers. While the first method tries to eliminate the cause of the disease, the second method only treats the symptoms. According to him, herbalists are the ones who can help patients with alternative medicine.

“No one minds his work, because some plants often contain the same active substances as the doctor’s pills. A cranial neurosurgeon also treats basic fractures with tea and rest, but he must be sure from the CT scan that surgery is not necessary.”

When health problems arise, the energy image helps the Slunečky family. “It occurred to me that I could use automatic drawing to draw my eyes, because I wear two and a half diopters. I put them under my pillow, I occasionally clear my energy pathways related to vision problems, and after six months I put my glasses away,” said Ms Jana, who won over both children for their art.

Jana Slunečková also wanted to test her healing abilities on her father, but he was only open to herbal plants. “I never do anything against someone’s wishes. Even my aunt, who had suffered from leukemia for fifteen years, had long resisted it, but now in the final stages, when she needed relief from her pain, she accepted my help.”

At first glance, magical stories are increasing. It’s as if people have stopped relying on conventional medicine. Either he directly disappointed them, or they did not trust him in principle. But it always sounded like hype to me: an acquaintance who struggled with facial acne for years cut out dairy after seeing a healer and the problem went away. On the other hand, a person endowed with higher powers will reach out and free him from migraines and chronic bladder problems.

“I don’t like going to the doctor and swallowing pills reluctantly. It draws me to nature, thanks to which a person can help himself, he just needs advice on how. I didn’t want to just take a pill and wait to see the effect,” explains Irena Maren from Ostrava, why she sought alternative treatment.

If you look around, you will find that there are probably more people like that than those who are treated classically. This may be because non-conventional healers and treatments are popular nowadays. But if it really doesn’t work, will their circle of regular customers grow?

Psychologist Slavomil Hubálek admits that meditation has some kind of therapeutic effect, but he is generally skeptical of healers.

“In 1990 to 1992, I attended alternative medicine commission meetings of the Ministry of Health. That wasn’t our intention at all, but it turns out the best way to get rid of healers is to stack multiple healers together. They do not recognize each other, attack and report. I note that I did not include treatments from other civilizations, such as yoga, acupuncture, herbalism and the like.’

“When I started using contraceptives fifteen years ago, I gained more than sixteen kilograms in a month and a half and started having health problems, especially with my back. I sneezed and kept hunched over because I couldn’t stand straight,” said Irena Maren, mother of two-and-a-half-year-old Beatka. Frequent injections and rehabilitation didn’t help, so he made an appointment with a healer on his uncle’s recommendation.

“I come to him regularly every month to buy herbal medicine, of which he has a full bowl. Every time he does it intuitively and knows what I need to put together. Apart from tea, he advised me on what exercise to do and gave me energy with meditation. I left it as if I had poured refreshing nectar into myself,” said the thirty-five-year-old, adding that she felt at peace since getting out of trouble after just one year.

Opava herbalists were sought three years ago by a thirty-eight year old businessman from Opava, Dušan Kružberský, who had suffered knee injuries from football and athletics running. Now he has torn ligaments and severe osteoarthritis.

“I had seven operations and had to undergo painful injections every six months,” said the man who underwent four hirudotherapy, leech treatments, over six months. “I had two on one knee, and then three on the right knee – which was more worn, and more on the heart and spleen area. I read something about them, that they can find bad things circulating in a person and they suck it out. And really. I felt like I was floating, and was pain free for a year.”

Michal Janošec recommends leeches to his clients only as a last resort after classical and herbal remedies have failed. However, there are many who, instead of holding the title MUDr. before his name, he believed in the healing power of nature or something between heaven and earth, he simply avoided surgery.

“When I wanted to go to the doctor because of colitis, he had a one month appointment and I had to undergo an unpleasant examination, and I also had to wait a while, so everything dragged on. Additionally, the medication didn’t work for me for two months and I had to keep increasing the dose. Now I look for a doctor only as a last resort,” said the twenty-eight-year-old office worker from Prague, who was finally convinced by Chinese medicine.

“Recently, due to stress at work, my health problems returned. On the advice of my friends, I found an alternative treatment and after two weeks I felt progress,” said the young woman, adding that although she paid six hundred for each session, she could not praise the effects of the treatment.

Doctors have long-standing disputes with healers. While the first group accuses the second of carrying out treatment without rules and responsibility, supporters of alternative medicine blame doctors for unnecessarily injecting people with chemicals that have side effects and not paying attention to the human body with everything, namely also the soul, which can cause disease. often many diseases come from it. Jana Slunečková believes that it would be ideal to connect both camps for the benefit of patients.

“I know several nurses who have nothing against herbs, and there are several clients who come to me based on a doctor’s recommendation.”

“The patient should be free to decide, but if he chooses a healer, he may have to abandon traditional medicine, because the costs of treating him in classical ways are unnecessary,” warns Jozef Kubinyi, head of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine at the Institute of Nuclear Health. General University Hospital in Prague.

However, in the case of healers working closely with doctors, this is more lenient and perhaps even more optimistic. “It’s primarily about the healer asking the doctor what he can give to his patient, and not the other way around. Then the healer can be useful in things that the doctor does not have time for – in psychotherapy, support, perhaps in belief in something and much more in the placebo effect.”