Barbara O’Neill.
Credit: Facebook/Barbara O'Neill
Bengaluru: International health educator and author Barbara O’Neill hosted a wellness session at the JN Tata Auditorium, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on Thursday.
Titled ‘Healing Blueprint’, it included two lectures — on gut health and hormonal balance. It explored key aspects of preventive health, natural healing principles, detoxification, nutrition and sustainable lifestyle practices.
Barbara brought to the city a philosophy that deliberately distances itself from the idea of the ‘healer’.
“I am constantly saying to people, I cannot heal you, but your body can,” O’Neill said in an interview ahead of the session.
“No man can heal another man, but we can teach people how to give their body the right conditions for healing.” This distinction has been central to her work in natural health, spread across 4 decades.
Barbara, who has previously given similar lectures across the globe, is known for questioning the authority often claimed by wellness practitioners.
In a country like India, where alternative health figures are sometimes revered, she shared how the culture made her uncomfortable. Gratitude for recovery, she added, should not translate into reverence for individuals.
At the heart of Barbara’s work is the belief in the body’s innate capacity to heal — a position that has also attracted criticism for potentially encouraging people to delay medical intervention.
She rejects the idea of quick fixes. “With natural healing, there’s no quick fix. It takes time. It might take 20 years to get sick, but it won’t take 20 years to get well. But you have to remain patient for at least one year,” she said.
Asked about Bengaluru’s growing alternative healing culture, while Barbara acknowledged India’s traditions of water therapies and herbal practices, she warned against reductionism. “I’m very cautious to label one thing as a wonder cure,” she said.
“The responsibility teachers have is that what they present should be true. I don’t present anything unless I know that it is true, because I’ve looked at the science and I’ve also tried it,” she added, stressing on accountability in an era when wellness advice circulates widely on social media.
Barbara has authored two books, ‘Sustain Me: A Handbook of Natural Remedies’ and ‘Self-Heal by Design’.