Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

in Svaneti may not have been permanent?"
"I have not seen him again, but on later occasions I have found that my laying on of
hands produced only temporary relief. I now use it only very rarely. If I try to give a name to the
healing procedure you witnessed in St. Petersburg I would call it superposition.
"Healing by superposition requires a drastic dissociation of the healer. Part of me leaves
my body and envelops the ill person. This dissociation is the dangerous moment in the
process, and its control requires careful preparation."
She described how she sat cross-legged on the floor and the patient in a chair with a
newspaper.
"In the beginning I quiet the noise in my head and attempt to empty my mind completely.
This requires practice. We constantly talk to ourselves. For this purpose I use breath-counting,
one of the simplest meditation exercises. I concentrate on counting my exhalations from one to
six and again from one. This exercise now takes me five minutes.
"In control of my inner chatter and completely relaxed, I turn my attention onto the
patient. Gocha and other shamans describe the process of dissociation which now follows as
flying. I find this description highly appropriate. I read some recent investigations by Siberian
shamans. Like Gocha, some of them talk of two souls a shadow-soul and a breath-soul. The
shadow-soul carries all emotions and powers of the shaman. It can separate from the body and
can fly. It effects the healing. The breath-soul stays with the healers physical body. If it leaves,
the healer dies."
Dahl interrupted her. "I find this comment new. The term flying and the distinction
between shadow-soul and breath-soul are not used by any of the faith healers whom I have
interviewed. You say these are common shamanic terms. I do not know the literature of
shamanism. Are the shamanic investigations you used scientific and generally available?"
"The newest is an exhaustive review in English of the extensive Russian research of the
past years. I read it in manuscript. Written by a Polish anthropologist, Marie A. Czaplicka, it will
appear early next year at Oxford University Press. I also talked with my mother and Aunt
Sophia about my experiences in Svaneti, and they used very similar Georgian terms. Flying
has nothing to do with healing, it is just a means to an end. I first experienced flying during
Otto’s birth, long before I knew how to heal. Claudia must have told you of this experience."
"No," injected Claudia, "I mentioned that you had such an experience, but I did not
describe your birth experience to father. I felt that this was your very personal secret which only
you should reveal."
Alexandra briefly described her visions during delivery. "Later I learned that a male
friend who had been very close to death had very similar experiences. Apparently ‘flying’ also
accompanies dying."
Dahl put his glasses, which he had continued to play with, back on and peering over
Claudia’s shoulder at the transcript asked, "So you believe that meditative exercises are the
prerequisite for healing?"
Alexandra waited silently until he once again faced her. "Yes, and I would teach my
students intense meditation first. Meditation opens a treasure of existential insights, which
suddenly surface from one’s subconscious and which we cannot normally hear or see because
of the verbal noise in our head."
Dahl peered over his reading glasses at Alexandra and slowly took them off. She saw
that he was annoyed at this new diversion from the course of his investigation.
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