Bioenergy and Faith: How Bioenergy Fits into the Life of a Believer

Faith and care for the body go together

For many people faith is the foundation of life and a source of peace, and caring for the body is part of gratitude for the gift of life. That is why it is entirely natural to wonder how bioenergy fits into the life of a believer. We want to reassure you: bioenergy asks nothing of you that would go against your faith. It is gentle work with the body’s natural energy, open to everyone and always carried out with respect for the person.

Believers of different faiths, Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Muslims, come with this question, and the answer is equally warm for all of them: bioenergy is not tied to any religion and respectfully accepts every person’s beliefs.

What bioenergy is

Bioenergy is work with the natural energy of the human body. The practitioner works with their hands in the person’s energy field and helps the body release tension and return to balance. During the treatment the person sits or stands and stays dressed, and the treatment is calm and pleasant. This is what makes bioenergy close to believers:

• It is open to everyone. The treatment is the same for everyone, regardless of faith or belief.
• It is simple and without rites. There are no prayers, invocations or formulas, only calm work with the body’s energy.
• It respects your faith. It offers no other teaching and does not ask you to change anything in what you believe.
• It is honest. A serious practitioner does not promise miracles, only support for the body.
• It goes hand in hand with the doctor. Bioenergy complements conventional medicine.

Bioenergy and the Catholic Church’s teaching on health

The Catholic Church teaches that life and health are gifts from God that we should take reasonable care of (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2288). Rest, care for the body and seeking help when we do not feel well are a beautiful expression of that care. The Church has no official document devoted specifically to bioenergy.

The Church rightly calls on believers to keep away from magic and superstition (Catechism, nos. 2116 and 2117) and to be cautious of anyone who claims supernatural powers or turns people away from doctors. We fully respect and share that caution: serious bioenergy does not speak of powers, brings no spiritual teaching and always goes together with conventional medicine. That is why many believers, with a clear conscience, accept bioenergy as part of caring for the health entrusted to them. Read how to recognize this approach in the article how to recognize a genuine bioenergy practitioner.

A beautiful tradition: priests and care for health

Care for the health of the body has a long and beautiful tradition among Catholic priests as well. Some of them are remembered precisely for helping people take care of their health in a natural way:

• Sebastian Kneipp (1821 to 1897), a Bavarian priest, developed a method of strengthening health with water, herbs, movement and a balanced way of life that is still used in Europe under his name today.
• Andrzej Czesław Klimuszko (1905 to 1980), a Polish Franciscan friar, was one of the best known herbalists in Poland. He also studied how trees affect people and divided tree species into those with a favorable, neutral and unfavorable influence. In 2004 the city of Elbląg made him an honorary citizen, and the Franciscans still cherish his memory today.

Neither of them was a bioenergy practitioner in today’s sense of the word, but their example shows warmly that faith and natural approaches to health have gone hand in hand throughout history. Many people first heard about the healing power of water, herbs and a calm way of life from a priest.

Bioenergy and different faiths

Since bioenergy is not tied to any religion, the treatment is the same for everyone: for Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Muslims and those who do not consider themselves believers. Nobody has to talk about their faith if they do not want to, and everyone’s beliefs are met with respect and warmth.

Many believers see bioenergy as gentle, practical help for the body, while continuing to live their spiritual life joyfully within their own community.

Peace of body and peace of soul

Bioenergy does not replace prayer or the sacraments and does not enter into spiritual life; it respectfully deals with the body and its balance. A person who prays can pray as always, before the treatment, after it or whenever they wish.

Many people feel calm and relaxed after a treatment. A body that has settled finds moments of stillness more easily, so for believers this calm can be a lovely foundation for prayer and recollection.

How to begin with a clear conscience

• If you wish, talk about bioenergy with your spiritual director in confidence.
• Before the treatment, feel free to ask anything you would like to know. Vlasta will gladly and patiently explain every step.
• The treatment always takes place at your pace, with your consent and with respect for your faith.
• Use bioenergy alongside conventional medicine. Read more in the article bioenergy and conventional medicine.

What a treatment with Vlasta Jašćur looks like

Vlasta Jašćur has been working with bioenergy for 38 years and is one of the most experienced bioenergy practitioners in Croatia. Every treatment begins with a calm conversation about how you feel and what brings you. During the treatment you sit or stand while Vlasta works with her hands in your energy field. There are no rites or prayers, only calm, attention and respect.

Treatments take place in a calm space in Zagreb, and for those who cannot come in person there is also distance bioenergy therapy. Read more about the method on the page Bioenergy: what it is, how it works and what a treatment looks like, and about the experiences of people who have had a treatment in the article bioenergy experiences.