'India is in my DNA'

In Transit

Her life has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride, albeit one that led her to the path of self-discovery.

Best-selling author, speaker and mind-body-healing expert Brandon Bays has been telling her incredible story through her book ‘The Journey’, the reading of which was held in the City. While self-help books get dismissed off a tad too easily, this one has been described as a welcome change, with all its case studies.

 Brandon is no stranger to India, she has been coming here since the 80s. “India is in my DNA, it is my spiritual home and the home of ancient wisdom,” she says. Raised in an abusive home, “I was always a spiritual child. I had the thirst to find out what makes us what we are. So, in the university, I studied psychology, philosophy and comparative religion,” she says. Not content with that, she started attending seminars. “I went on to study kinesiology, acupressure, massage, nutrition and neuro-linguistic programming. I came to India on a spiritual search, where I met my spiritual gurus,” she adds.

“After about 10 years of study, I opened a free-of-charge healing centre in New York City.” But the tides turned against her. “I was diagnosed with a tumour, the size of a basketball, in my stomach. I’ve been meditating, doing ‘yoga’, eating only organic food. I was leading the ultimate healthy lifestyle. Still I got the disease. It was a wake-up call,” she smiles.

Brandon was advised to undergo surgery. “I told the doctor, ‘Give me time to heal myself’. I got a month after which I had to come back for the surgery.” Meanwhile, the alternate healing process was on. “More than that, I tried to uncover the emotional root causing the disease. Six-and-half weeks later, I was pronounced perfect,” she says.

That also led her to pioneer ‘The Journey’, an emotional and physical healing process at a cellular level. “According to the Centers for Disease Control in America, 85 per cent of all illnesses appear to have an emotional element,” she informs.

In the last two years, she has travelled to 38 countries, worked with doctors, psychologists and school teachers. In Israel, she worked with the Ministry of Education and in Australia, with the aborigines. Brandon, who was also a guest speaker at the UN peace conference in Dublin, says there is skepticism about the process as it is with everything else. “I am a New Yorker and a sceptical person too. But what I say is one does not have to believe in faith, god, or even science. Do your own experiment. ‘Journey’ is not the only way, it is one of the ways.”

Bangalore’s greenery has charmed her, no doubt. And she will be back here holding workshops from February 24 to 26. India, she says, never ceases to amaze her. “I bring Westerners here for their spiritual growth. I work with orphanages here. I want to give back to India what India has given me,” she smiles.