Many children are pushed into careers. Many follow in their parents’ footsteps. But for 32-year-old Alla Svirinskaya, a Russian bioenergy healer with a flourishing private practice in Central London, her career chose her. When she was a schoolgirl in Russia she claims to have experienced unpleasant sensations when near people with illnesses. Her mother concluded that her daughter had inherited the family gift of healing — and began to teach her how to use it.
“She made me learn how to listen to my hands and read the ‘braille’ of the body,” says Svirinskaya. “Each organ has its own frequency and vibration. If an organ is inflamed, my hands will register extreme changes of temperature.”It may sound far-fetched but Svirinskaya is used to the doubters. “How do you explain to a blind man how you see?” she says. “I’m not here to convince the sceptics. ”
But not everyone is sceptical. Over the past ten years Svirinskaya has attracted attention on account of an A-list clientele that includes the fashion designer Donna Karan, the cricketer Dennis Lillee, Simon Callow the actor and pop princess Kylie Minogue. Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, is a regular. She attributes her healthy look to Svirinskaya’s treatment and has written the foreword to Svirinskaya’s forthcoming book, Energy Secrets: The Ultimate Well-Being Plan , a guide to healthy living in accordance with the principles of bioenergy.
But what is it that she actually does? Bioenergy healing is based on ancient Chinese therapy: the idea that we all have energy passing around and through us. The Chinese call this “chi”; Westerners call it aura or life force. The belief is that illness, injury or stress all start in the energy field first before affecting the physical body. After qualifying as a medical doctor in Moscow, Svirinskaya studied acupuncture at the Open International University for Complementary Medicine in Sri Lanka.
The world of alternative therapy — where prevention is as important as cure — was a revelation to her. “I knew then that I would never practise conventional medicine,” she says. “I went back to Moscow to learn as much as possible from my mother and from whatever other healers I could find.”
She rarely touches her patients during her sessions. When she runs her hands over their bodies she says that she can sense the seven layers that make up their “aura”.
If the patient is well, she says, she can feel their energy loud and clear. If they are ill, their energy feels like a badly-tuned radio. During treatment many patients report a tingling sensation, a hot or cold wave, or a magnetic pull. Everyone, according to Svirinskaya, feels a sense of relaxation. By adjusting a person’s aura, she says that she can harmonise their energy. She claims this improves blood circulation in the affected organ and increases blood-oxygen levels. She even claims that she can detect ulcers, thyroid problems, disc and joint disintegration, the early stages of cancer, and psychosomatic illness.
While the results of studies carried out in Russia appear to substantiate these claims, the research is not considered valid by the scientific community. But there is no shortage of former patients willing to testify otherwise.
Said Jabr, the son of a former Iraqi Prime Minister, who has been living in exile in London for the past 35 years, saw Svirinskaya after enduring persistent hiccups for more than a year. “The first time I met her, I told her, ‘I don’t believe in your sort of thing’. She answered, ‘You don’t have to believe in aspirin to take them’.” Visits to a conventional doctor hadn’t helped. But after a few treatments from Svirinskaya, he says that his hiccups were cured and that his general health improved immeasurably. “How she did it, I don’t know,” he says. “And I don’t want to know as long as she fixed it.”
George Xanthis, 51, had been unable to breathe through one of his nostrils since he was 19. The condition caused him discomfort and meant that he snored heavily at night. He also had a form of ME (chronic fatigue syndrome) and was finding life impossible. After seeing Svirinskaya he found that he was able to breathe properly through both nostrils: his life was transformed.
Her treatment also had an unexpected benefit. Xanthis had been in the early stages of glaucoma, but after Svirinskaya’s treatment, his ophthalmologist, a Harley Street specialist, was astonished to discover that the high pressure within the eyeball associated with the condition had actually dropped. Xanthis no longer even needs to take eye drops.
“She makes your body function better, removes blockages and improves your circulation so that your body can heal itself. I was totally sceptical in the beginning,” he says.
Svirinskaya also claims to have had great success in treating people with fertility problems and she works in conjunction with gynaecologists and fertility experts. None, however, was willing to be interviewed for this article.
Although there is no scientific proof to back up Svirinskaya’s bioenergy healing claims, she feels that, over time, will become a common adjunct to conventional medicine. The experts, however, are split. Conrad Lichtenstein, professor of molecular biology at Queen Mary, University of London, thinks it’s all nonsense. “There’s no mechanism for it. The world is mysterious enough without having to invent magic. I don’t believe in any supposed magic unless I ’ve experienced its alleged powers and they are amenable to scientific investigation.”
Jonathan Waxman, professor of oncology at Imperial College London, disagrees. “There’s something in what conventional doctors do that has an essence of the shamanic. So much of our interaction with our patients is indefinable and the doctor-patient relationship has something of the magic of the alternative healers’ trade,” he says.
“I’m all for healers; I’ve seen my patients look and feel better as a result. Who cares how it works as long as it does?” When I saw Svirinskaya, I had just come out of plaster after an operation to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon. My foot and ankle were swollen and painfully tight inside a plimsoll. After treatment, the plimsoll was positively flapping off my foot.
Treatments start from £100 for an initial one-hour session. For further details, e-mail Alla Svirinskaya’s London practice at alla.s@virgin.net. Her book, Energy Secrets: The Ultimate Well-Being Plan, will be published by Hay House next year
