Episode 1 - Edge Rider: Dave Barnett Rocket Scientist – Healer – Mystic Dave Barnett personifies what it means to be an Edge Rider: someone who lives with one foot in the physical world and one foot in the spiritual world. While every Edge Rider is unique, there are often many similarities to their journeys. Each person has been woken up or had their gifts activated, studied in order to hone their gifts so they are available on demand, received validation on their life’s purpose, and are now serving as a bridge for others while mentoring them to establish their own connections. When Dave – a left brain, analytical rocket scientist – returned home for a High School reunion, a former classmate demonstrated how he could use his energetic intention to change the output of electrical objects. This event started Dave on a journey to investigate the metaphysical world for himself – from channeling and meditation to remote healing and muscle testing. In this episode of Exploring the Spiritual Divide, host Bonnie Eaddy sits down with Dave to discuss how he identified his spiritual gifts, how he developed those gifts to assist others, and how he balances his energetic healing work with his day job as an electrical engineer. And in this Episode Guide, we bring you even more information on many of the topics Dave and Bonnie covered. What is Healing Touch? How many kinds of meditation are there? What is Muscle Testing? How can past lives impact us in the present? Some of Dave Barnett’s earliest successes in forging his own connection with the spiritual world came from taking classes on channeling at The Tibetan Foundation. The Tibetan Foundation began in June of 1982 and was based on the writings and work of Janet McClure, who channeled information from Djwal Khul - a spiritual being and Ascended Master who had been referred to as “The Tibetan.” The Foundation’s mission is to disseminate the spiritual information received by channeling and to train others to channel for themselves. Training is held at their headquarters in Youngstown, Arizona and through their affiliate centers in Colorado and California. McClure channeled for 8 years before passing away in 1990. By that time, other channelers had become associated with the Foundation. These individuals now run workshops, hold lectures, and continue to publish her books today. Ascended Masters are evolved spiritual beings who have formerly lived in physical bodies, acquired the Wisdom and Mastery needed to become Immortal and free of the cycles of reincarnation and karma, and have attained their “Ascension” which is the complete permanent union of the purified outer self with their True Identity - the unique Individualization of the spark of Almighty God residing in each person. Djwal Khul had been channeled earlier by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky from 1831-1891 and by Alice A. Bailey from 1880-1949. He is described as a spiritually evolved, Ascended Master and Tibetan disciple in the Ageless Wisdom Traditions. His purpose in being channeled, per Alice Bailey, was the revelation of esoteric teachings considered valuable for the continued training and teaching of spiritual aspirants in order to guide humanity towards the establishment of right human relations in order to prepare the way for the “Reappearance of Christ.” Ageless Wisdom Traditions are teachings handed down to describe the evolution of consciousness in man and nature, including how the universe came to exist, how it operates, and man’s place within it. It is believed that the “Reappearance of Christ” is the emergence of a World Teacher (Maitreya) who will be the head of the Spiritual Hierarchy and will act as a guide and counselor for all humanity, regardless of religious affiliation. Having fully manifested within himself the Divine Will, Love, Wisdom and Intelligence of God, this teacher will lead us to the recognition of our own divinity and our true identity as souls. Some early validations that the skills Dave had been practicing achieved results were provided through his classes in Healing Touch. Healing Touch was the creation of Janet Mentgen, RN, BSN who described herself as an energetically sensitive nurse who saw positive effects when incorporating various energy based healing modalities when caring for her patients over her 43 years of nursing. What began as a goal to deepen and expand the connection between Janet and her patients became a training workshop, which then quickly grew into the Healing Touch Worldwide Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization to encourage and advance the philosophy and techniques of Healing Touch Therapy. By 2008, the program’s extraordinary success was being used in a collaborative healing approach by hospitals, hospices, clinics, and schools of nursing all over the Americas, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia. Eventually, the certification process was moved to its own board to certify practitioners and instructors, and the ownership was transferred to Janet’s children just prior to her death in 2005. What is Healing Touch? Healing Touch is an energy therapy in which practitioners use their hands in an intentional way to impact the patient’s biofield, the magnetic field which surrounds the body, in order to rebalance the flow of this energy and to facilitate healing. How is Healing Touch Performed? The scanning and rebalancing is typically performed while the client lies on a massage table with their clothes on. The practitioner uses his/her hands to assess your biofield and proceeds to clear and balance it as needed using either off body touch (near body but no direct contact) or a gentle, static touch over various areas of the body. The practitioner’s intent is to clear, energize, and balance the human and environmental energy fields, thus affecting physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. It is based on a heart-centered, caring relationship in which the practitioner and client come together energetically to facilitate the client’s health and healing. The goal of Healing Touch is to restore balance and harmonies in the energy system, thereby placing the client in a position to self heal. Who Usually Trains in Healing Touch? Courses are offered in schools with programs for nurses, massage therapists, body therapists, counselors, psychotherapists, physicians, and other allied health care professionals. They are usually open to individuals who desire an in-depth understanding of healing work using energy-based concepts and principles, regardless of whether or not students are in a larger course program. You can learn more at https://www.healingtouchprogram.com/. As Dave progressed in his study, he found that energy work naturally lent itself to being done remotely or at a distance, thereby enabling him to assist clients who couldn’t be in direct proximity to him. Remote or Distant Healing has been practiced in the East for centuries. These practices are now being clinically studied in places such as the California Pacific Medical Center to see if their results can be validated. How Does it Work? It is interesting that, even though our Western Society believes we can pray (or in some cases curse) from a distance, most people are still quite skeptical about being able to send positive energies like love or healing remotely. This is a concept readily accepted by the Eastern world, however. At the University of Paris in 1982, a research team led by physicist Alain Aspect performed an experiment showing that subatomic particles, such as electrons, can instantaneously communicate with each other regardless of the distance separating them. In 1997, Nicolas Gisan duplicated these findings and concluded that some particles appeared to be communicating at speeds 20,000 times the speed of light. Michael Talbot, in his book “Holographic Universe,” used this research to explain remote healing methods by suggesting that subatomic particles are able to remain in contact regardless of the distance separating them. Not because they are sending a mysterious signal back and forth, but because their separateness is an illusion. His hypothesis was that all things are infinitely interconnected by the creative energy of the Universe and because there is no real separation between it and God, then there can be no separation between one spiritual being and another. He suggested that, like subatomic particles, people can communicate through our intentions and energetic focus by tying into the divine energy of all things and using that divine energy to transmit healing. What is the principle? The practitioner links into the vibratory energy signature of the client and, with the guidance of higher spiritual guides, works to shift blocks and rebalance the client’s energy fields in order to provide them with healing energy from the divine. How is Distant Healing performed? The practitioner works with the client prior to the session to set the desired intention for the session. Next, the practitioner ties into the divine flow of the Universe and pulls healing energy through their body while keeping the client’s intention in mind. Finally, the practitioner visualizes the healing energy flowing through them and being sent to the client. The intention is to assist, feed, nourish, and balance the energies of the person requesting the session and to positively impact their physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well being to facilitate the client’s health and healing. Dave mentioned that he had great difficulty with the traditional model of meditation, where the intention is to keep your mind clear, but gained very good results after working with guided meditations in just two weeks. Did you know there are dozens of different types of meditation? If you have been trying to meditate and the method you have been taught isn’t working for you, be sure to review these other methods and you may find a version that will be more beneficial.