Using the word “shaman” with “New Age healers” is somewhat redundant since New Age healing is related to shamanism, which is essentially sorcery ( the use of plants for altered states and spirit contact in order to heal). Popular chiropractors Gregg Braden, Brad Nelson, Josh Axe, and Joe Dispenza dispense New Age pseudo-science (Axe is also a naturopath). Neither chiropractic nor naturopathy are medically valid for diagnosing or treating illness. This article looks at the beliefs and practices of these four men.
A Side Trip Into Chiropractic
Chiropractic was started by David Daniel Palmer (1846-1913) who practiced spiritualism (contact with the dead) and “magnetic healing,” a teaching of Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), one of the forerunners of New Thought. Magnetic healing was essentially a form of energy healing; Mesmer thought he was channeling an energy that flows through all living things (similar to Vitalism, chi, and prana).
“He [Palmer] maintained that the notion and basic principles of chiropractic treatment were passed along to him during a seance by a long-dead doctor.” (Source)
“Palmer acknowledged a special debt to magnetic healing when he wrote, ‘chiropractic was not evolved from medicine or any other method, except that of magnetic. Derived from Anton Mesmer’s investigations into the supposed curative effects of animal magnetism, practitioners of magnetic healing identified the unimpeded flow of energy with health and defined illness as obstruction. For 9 years before his discovery of chiropractic, Palmer was one of a small army of healers who routinely “magnetized” their patients. Palmer’s major revision of traditional magnetism was to call it “innate intelligence” and to claim that its pathway was the human nervous system, especially the spinal cord. Misaligned spinal vertebrae (the redefined bonesetters’ ;subluxation;) impinge on this beneficent flow and cause illness.” (Source)
Palmers’ subluxations have been debunked. See links at end for further information.
Bradley Nelson
I have received numerous messages from Christians whose spouse, relative, or friend has read Bradley Nelson’s book, The Emotion Code, and became a follower of Nelson. In all cases, these people apparently believe Nelson is a Christian. Yet I know of three people who left the church (and in two cases, also their spouse) and started adopting New Age beliefs after exposure to Nelson and his Emotion Code. Nelson seems to have been raised Mormon; whether he is still Mormon or not, he has embraced New Age beliefs.
Nelson believes that the spirits of dead ancestors can cause physical problems and he calls on them during a healing session. Contact with the dead and spiritism is strongly denounced by God. (Since Mormons seem to be okay with hearing from dead ancestors, this has made Nelson more appealing to Mormons although the LDS Church has warned Mormons about Nelson).
Nelson’s Energy Healing
Nelson claims “trapped emotions” in the subconscious mind are the cause of at least 90% of pain and discomfort. The subconscious mind is “tuned into Universal Intelligence” (a New Thought and New Age concept).
Nelson introduces himself in one video as a “specialist in energy healing” stating “everything is energy.” His statements about energy could be said at a New Age seminar. Energy healing is nothing more than sorcery, the attempted summoning or channeling of, and/or manipulation of an unquantifiable energy. Energy medicine allegedly “balances the energies” of the body and releases “trapped emotional energy.” (This is what The Emotion Code is about).
Nelson states that we are “beings of pure energy” (this is said in The Secret and is a core belief in the New Age). He states that emotions trapped in the body are actual balls of energy that distort the “energy field” of the body.
When one does not have actual knowledge to physically heal based on facts, it is convenient and easy to preach that illness and pain are caused by the past or by unseen energy imbalances. In this way, such healers can make up almost anything they want, and the New Age accommodates this quite well.
Energy Healing as Sorcery
Nelson talks about energy healing as the “oldest form of energy on the planet.” Well, maybe not the oldest but yes, it goes back to Shamanism and animism, which are pagan beliefs and practices which include sorcery and contact with spirits. Energyhealing is also New Age and witchcraft healing. A practice being old or “ancient” does not mean it is good or valid.
Applied Kinesiology is a big part of Nelson’s practice and advice (as it is with many chiropractors), and that in itself should scare people away since it is phony and New Age.
Energy healing always involves spirit contact because it is an occult practice that is closest to the category of sorcery. Energy healers have spirit guides and these spirits are fallen angels, and “healing” is a disguise that is seductive.
In an eye-opening and deeply disturbing video demonstrating of his “emotion code” modality , Nelson does Muscle Testing, asking if the woman’s dead ancestors are present in the room. He apparently believes one can have emotions from ancestors in their body that need to be released. It is an unusual combination of New Age healing with spiritism.
Nelson talks in the video about meridians, which are alleged invisible channels for “chi” (also ki/qi), a supposed universal life force energy. Meridians and chi are part of the Chinese belief system of Taoism but mirror pagan views of energy and the “life force” found in all pagan healing beliefs.
In the video, Nelson discusses how he can feel the presence of the ancestors during these healing sessions. Whatever label Nelson may have, his views are New Thought and New Age to the core, along with spirit contact and what could be called witchcraft healing or sorcery.
Nelson’s Red Flag Words
Some Red Flag words on Nelson’s site and in this video include:
* Pure energy
* Unseen energies
* Energy medicine
* Energy Field
* Energy Balancing
* Balls of energy
* Holistic Healer
* Craniopathy
* Balance
* Muscle Testing
* “Ancient healing wisdom”
Those words are thoroughly New Age and occultic and practices using those concepts have no validity.
The Heart Wall and Body Code
Nelson also teaches something called the Heart Wall and the Body Code (he wrote a 2023 book called The Body Code). His promotion on the Body Code sounds suspiciously like the teachings of The Secret. He mentions abundance, having your dreams, health, wealth, prosperity, and other topics of The Secret.
“Healers” such as Nelson and his ilk are flooding the Internet. They have access to tens of thousands of people this way because so many New Age concepts have become accepted in the culture, including the church at large. Popular osteopath Joseph Mercola promotes Nelson, which is another mark against Mercola’s views.
Nelson claims to have uncovered “ancient wisdom” about healing, calls on the dead, and promotes energy healing, an occult art. This should be enough information for anyone to realize Nelson’s teachings should be avoided.
Gregg Braden and Kryon, the Channeled Alien
Gregg Braden, author of Beyond Zero Point, The God Code, The Divine Matrix, Fractal Time, The Turning Point, Awakening the Power of a Modern God, The Lost Language of God, and more, like many followers of New Age beliefs, wants you to think his New Age ideas are scientific. This type of fake science has a name: it is called pseudo-science.
The Kabbalah vs. the True God
Braden uses content from the Bible and talks about God, but it is not the God of the Bible. For example, he illegitimately links Hebrew characters to DNA:
“His more recent work includes The God Code, where he claims our DNA sequence, when read by assigning Hebrew characters to the base sequence, spells out God’s signature in Hebrew. He justifies this with quotes from a Kabbalah text, and heavy use of numerology combined with biased data selection.“
Nelson uses the Kabbalah for this idea in The God Code, as well the occult divinatory practice of numerology. The Kabbalah is an esoteric Gnostic text from the Middle Ages. Kabbalah beliefs are not uncommon in the New Age.
Using the Kabbalah and numerology with the Bible is a stark testimony to the fact that not only are Nelson’s views false, but they are an offense to God.
“Secret” Groups With Hidden Knowledge
On the Amazon page for Braden’s book, The Isaiah Effect, we read this:
“Seventeen hundred years ago, key elements of our ancient heritage were lost, relegated to the esoteric traditions of mystery schools and sacred orders. Among the most empowering of the forgotten elements are references to a science with the power to bring everlasting healing to our bodies and initiate an unprecedented era of peace and cooperation between governments and nations.”
The idea that there are ancient secrets held by esoteric groups is one of the hallmarks of the New Age. There is no evidence of these secrets nor has Braden proven anything with his pseudoscientific theories. It does add a mystique to Braden’s claims and gives him special status to his followers as a Revealer of Big Ancient Secrets.
Hay House, Another Red Flag
Most of Braden’s books are published by Hay House, a New Age publisher founded by New Thought follower Louise Hay, another red flag.
Kryon
Perhaps the most incredible thing about Braden is that he works with New Ager Todd Ovokaitys, a medical doctor who has gone from medicine to New Age beliefs and follows the advice of a channeled being called Kryon. One might think one is reading a science fiction book, but this is about “Dr. Todd” on a New Age radio program website:
“In recent years, Dr. Todd has also been working with the healing power of sound. Kryon the Earth’s Magnetic Master, channeled by Lee Carroll has said that Dr Todd was the architect of the Lemurian Temples of Rejuvenation. He also said that Dr Todd did not use the DNA Rejuvenation Temples, but lived to be hundreds of years old just by using his pineal toning technique. Kryon asked Dr Todd to recreate the Lemurian Choir to facilitate a profound shift in planetary energies.”
One cannot make this stuff up; this is real life in the New Age. “Dr. Todd” would fit well in the companion CANA article on “New Age Shaman Doctors.”
Kryon is channeled through a man named Lee Carroll. The beliefs are centered on Lemuria, a mythical place in New Age beliefs where sound was allegedly used for healing. (Full disclosure: I learned about the alleged Lemuria when I was in the New Age and I did believe in it).
Lemuria and Kryon
An island called Lemuria allegedly existed back in the early mists of time whose inhabitants had discovered how to heal with sound. This is based on the idea of everything being a vibration and so certain sounds can “tune in” to your body or mind to heal it.
Lemuria never existed, of course. It has the same status as Atlantis where the Atlanteans, who were advanced in many ways beyond us, supposedly healed with crystals. Many myths about Lemuria and Atlantis are part of New Age lore, an influence from the New Thought “sleeping prophet,” Edgar Cayce. (There is a view that a place like Atlantis existed but not that there was healing with crystals).
Channeling is a type of psychic activity when a person allows a disembodied entity to speak through them. The person may or may not be conscious of what the entity is saying and may not remember anything that was said. This was true for Edgar Cayce and for writer Jane Roberts (d. 1984), who channeled an entity calling itself Seth and wrote books referred to as “The Seth Material” (I read three of those books while in the New Age).
The person who channels is giving control over to this entity, who is always a fallen angel (demon) if the person is not doing it falsely. There are many channeled teachings and books in the New Age.
Direct spirit contact done by channelers, mediums, and some who practice sorcery and witchcraft, invites fallen angels to manipulate and potentially destroy the mind and body, not to mention the spiritual deception that is ensnaring many.
Braden and Lipton and Kryon
Gregg Braden and New Age biologist Bruce Lipton were at a 2018 Science & Spirituality conference featuring messages from Kryon. If Braden’s enthusiastic participation in a conference for a channeled being is not evidence enough that one should avoid anything from Braden, I don’t know what would be.
A video shows Lee Carroll (who channels Kryon) with New Ager “Dr.” Amber Wolf (she is not a medical doctor) promoting the January 2020 Annual Kryon Conference featuring Gregg Braden. They mention the fact that Braden has joined with them four previous times. Carroll calls Braden “my good spiritual brother” in the video. Braden is also featured at the October 10-12, 2025 Quantum Convergence Event along with Lee Carroll and Bruce Lipton.
Although Carroll calls Braden a scientist, and Braden calls himself a scientist, Braden is NOT a scientist. To add to the bizarre nature of all this, Amber Wolf started the Lemurian Sisterhood Global. One cannot get more New Age than that.
Joe Dispenza and Quantum Quackery
“The Quantum Field responds not to what we want; it responds to who we are being.” —– Joe Dispenza, chiropractor
“What the Bleep Do We Know?”
Dispenza took part in “What the BLEEP Do We Know,” a film produced by a New Age cult headed by J Z Knight who allegedly channels a 35,000 year old warrior named Ramptha. The film expresses a New Age worldview trying to use quantum physics as a way to support those beliefs. The sad attempt at this has been soundly refuted.
As of December, 2019, it seems Dispenza has changed the statements found on his site and no longer refers to his role in “What the BLEEP Do We Know, ” probably because the film has been so completely discredited.
Dispenza: No Credible Degrees
Dispenza’s site states:
“Joe Dispenza, D.C. is an international lecturer, researcher, corporate consultant, author, and educator who has been invited to speak in more than 32 countries on five continents. As a lecturer and educator, he is driven by the conviction that each of us has the potential for greatness and unlimited abilities.”
Odd to say he’s an educator when there is no evidence he even has a Bachelor’s degree. I saw one site where Dispenza is described as a neuroscientist. Yet there is no record of even a bachelor’s degree for Dispenza much less one in neuroscience.
Regarding the claims that Dispenza attended Evergreen University and Rutgers University, I received this information from Andy Green on Nov. 9, 2017:
“Evergreen University only offer degrees in Liberal Arts, they do not teach neuroscience specifically, but rather they have a general science type route that distinguishes BAs form BScs. As for his study at Rutgers here’s what their registrar office had to say:
‘Our records indicate that Joseph M. Dispenza attended Cook College at Rutgers University form September 1980 through December 1981 and majored in biology. He did not earn a degree. Thank you, Ellen English,
Transcript Supervisor.’”
Many students at and graduates of Life University in Atlanta were my astrological clients when I was in the New Age and was a professional astrologer.
Dispenza, New Ager
Dispenza offers meditations for numerous situations, such as “Blessing the Energy Center,” both on his site and off.
Dispenza has sold himself to the public as an expert in something he has no credentials in, and tosses words around like “quantum” and “neuroscience” to blind people into thinking he knows what he is talking about.
Dispenza also teaches at the very New Age Omega institute.
Josh Axe: Astrology, Enneagram, Energy Healing, and More
Josh Axe supports astrology and energy healing, as well as a variety of New Age practices that are cornerstones of the occult and the New Age, as well as the Enneagram. For example, Axe teaches the New Thought/New Age practice of visualization. He also has a Vision Board and promotes its use on his website. Astoundedly, Axe even has the figure of a cross on his vision board.
Axe on Astrology: It is an “Ancient System of Wisdom”
Axe has featured on his program Chris Motley, a New Age healer who also does astrology.
Axe urges his audience to follow Motley. Recommendations are offered for certain protocols according to one’s zodiac sign.
In the podcast, Axe states that he thinks that zodiac signs are “wisdom from God” so that we can use the zodiac to know ourselves and to better interact with others (he includes the Enneagram with this). Axe then invites Motley to expand on the zodiac signs and how to relate that to health for the rest of the podcast. Both Axe and Motley combine astrology zodiac signs with Enneagram numbers to make several supposed health and nutritional declarations.
I cannot begin to express the horror and revulsion I felt as a former astrologer at Axe’s calm and unbiblical acceptance of astrology. Axe admits he consults Motley himself.
Chris Motley is not a medical doctor. He is “a Chiropractic Physician who is certified in Applied Kinesiology, Clinical Kinesiology, Acupuncture, and Craniosacrcral” . The use of the word “physician” with “chiropractic” is illegitimate and misleading. All of these practices are invalid New Age/Eastern practices. He is simply a New Age healer, the type repeatedly warned about by this ministry.
Axe is totally supportive of Motley. I could not recommend against someone more strongly than either of these – Axe or Motley.
Astrology not only cannot be used in any valid way to treat illness, but is also certainly not ancient “wisdom.” Axe tries to justify it as coming from God but he is going against God’s word which condemns it. And when Axe tries to justify astrology as being from God by referring to the Magi, it is a bad witness for Christ and dishonors God. Astrology is an ancient deception, one that continues to this day. There are CANA articles and interviews on the Magi issue demonstrating that this account does not endorse astrology.
Axe and Energy Healing
An article on Axe’s website promotes Reiki , Sound Energy, and Healing Touch among others. Listed as forms of energy healing, the article validates acupuncture and acupressure as energy healing. However, those are are based on spiritual beliefs in Taoism, not on biology or objective facts.
The article itself could not be more New Age and occultic. Energy healing is a form of occultism and always involves spirit contact, knowingly or not.
Axe in Rebellion Against God
Axe also supports the use of vision boards. There is an article (not by Axe but on his website) about how to make one. In a video, Axe demonstrates his own Vision Board and refers favorably to the book Sun Stand Still by controversial pastor Steve Furtick. Furtick, an ardent follower and promoter of modalist (anti-Trinitarian) preacher T. D. Jakes and pseudo-scientist New Thought-influenced Caroline Leaf, is nobody anyone should consult for theology. Ironically, Axe has the image of a large cross on his vision board.
My impression is that Axe appears to be a follower of a form of New Thought/New Age syncretized Christianity which is appearing in churches influenced by the mainstreaming of the New Age in society and by its infiltration into the church. But Axe goes further than many in his fervent promotions of astrology, the Enneagram, energy healing, visualiztion, and Vision Boards.
If Axe is a Christian, he is an extremely deceived one who supports New Age and occult beliefs and practices. He is not just doing this for himself but is openly teaching and guiding others to follow these ideas forbidden by God, which makes him that much more dangerous and more responsible to God.
This advice is coming from someone in active rebellion against God while appearing to be a Christian. For a Christian to listen to someone like this is compromising to one’s faith.
Why It Matters
Many rationalize that taking advice from Nelson, Braden, Dispenza, and/or Axe does not mean they agree with the spiritual ideas from these men. The problems with this are:
- The views of these men on health include their spiritual beliefs. You cannot separate their spirituality from ideas on health or the body, especially since the ideas are New Age. New Age beliefs permeate everything, from how one sees the bathroom sponge to the cosmos. This article has demonstrated their deeply faulty views of healing.
- It is a bad influence on new Christians or non-Christians and can mislead or confuse others
- It is a bad witness for Christ to follow any of these men or the many like them because they either hold to beliefs opposed to God or are in rebellion against God
- These mean are acting against God’s denunciation of occult practices
The word “healing” is serving as a disguise for occultism, sorcery, and a false god and false Jesus. People flock to these men to get their advice but the spirit energizing these “healers” is the enemy. Their blatant non-Christian beliefs and use of practices God has forbidden should be a warning. Is your health worth the spiritual cost?
Addendum
There are so many like the men described in this article that is impossible for anyone to cover even a small percentage of them. They are in every town and city and, of course, online.
“Natural healer” and “holistic healer,” often used interchangeably, are terms referring to the use of practices based on spiritual views mixed with pseudoscience. Such healers view what they do as natural, even if it involves the use of energy healing. Shamanism is viewed as natural, as is witchcraft healing, although both use energy healing and even spirit contact. The New Age has successfully marketed “natural,” “holistic,” and “wellness” as words referring to healthy and wholesome lifestyles when, in actuality, these words represent ideas that are spiritual poison. It is an exquisite example of First Corinthians 11:14-15:
No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
Every natural and holistic healer examined by CANA over many years has some New Age or occult practice along with pseudoscience views about health. Although some of their advice might be helpful, it is risky because one cannot know what is valid and what is not. Also, since there is a spiritual dimension, there can be a spiritual cost.
One such person I have been asked about is the late Barbara O’Neill (d. January 2025), an Australian who advocated unsupported health practices described as misinformation and as a risk to health and safety by the New South Wales Health Care Commission. She had no recognized qualifications and did not finish nursing training. She advocated unsafe practices such as telling those with cancer to forgo prescribed treatments and to take baking soda, and to give infants unpasteurized goat’s milk. I consider such people to be going against God by putting vulnerable people in danger. She was basing ideas on New Age and pseudoscience and possibly conspiracy theories.
Naturopathy and chiropractic are not medical practices. Both are based on spiritual and occult views mixed with pseudoscience. That such “healers” use the title Doctor is deceptive and harmful.
Former Naturopath, Britt Hermes, who left Naturopathy, has been speaking out to warn people. She has called the practice of Naturopathy “witchcraft.” She makes these points about what she describes as the deceptive and unscientific nature of the profession.
- Pseudoscience: She calls naturopathic methods, such as homeopathy and detoxes, “pseudoscience” and “witchcraft,” arguing they are not based on scientific evidence.
- Misleading education: Hermes contends that naturopathic education is inadequate compared to the training of medical doctors and that naturopathic organizations make misleading claims about their curricula.
- Patient harm: She documents instances of patients being harmed or dying due to naturopathic treatments, often because they delayed or avoided conventional, evidence-based medicine.
- Deceptive lobbying: Hermes argues that naturopaths aggressively lobby for medical licenses by misrepresenting their qualifications and training. — From “‘Essentially witchcraft’: A former Naturopath takes on her colleagues“
Hermes points out that Naturopaths use homeopathy, detox regimens, energy medicine, healing touch (an energy healing), untested alternative cancer therapies, and extensive use of unregulated supplements (which can damage the liver).
More Information
Warning on the Wellness Industry from Dave Jenkins of Servants of Grace
Bradley Nelson
Warning from Women of Grace: an excellent summary of Nelson’s past and expose of his “healing” beliefs
Critique of the Emotion Code: This expose shows Nelson getting information using the false methods of energy healing, Kirlian photography, AK (Applied Kinesiology, aka (Muscle Testing), and magnet therapy, all of which reveal him as a New Age pseudoscientist. He has a chart listing emotions and asks the person where the emotion (cause) is on the chart using AK (Muscle Testing):
“Nelson claims to have gained his healing knowledge from a ‘higher power’ through some sort of silent prayer. He begins his webinars and healing sessions with 15 seconds of silence to invoke the help of something ‘upstairs.’ He claims his healing crosses many borders. He can heal depression, relationships, and bodies–all with one magical system that can take place in just a few minutes and can be done at a distance.”
Warning on and exposes of Applied Kinesiology/Muscle Testing
From Christian Janice Lyons
From Christian Lyndon Unger
Articles explaining why AK is not scientifically or medically valid here and here
Critiques of Braden
From Women of Grace
“The New Age Conspiratorial World of Gregg Braden”
A Critique of Gregg Braden by Morten Tollboll
From Critique of “The God Code”:
“The crux of The God Code is that our DNA sequence, when read by assigning Hebrew characters to the base sequence, spells out the words of our Creator. His mystical justification for this comes from the Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Creation) which is one of the central texts in the Kabala tradition. Braden gives us a quote from this mystical text which says, “Within the letter is a great, concealed mystical exalted secret… from which everything was created.”
“Braden is typical of a lot of New age authors in that he starts with science but distorts it to draw unwarranted conclusions. Braden also makes up stuff and says it is science too. In this book, Braden starts with the Schumann Resonance, a low frequency radio signal caused by lightning strikes in the upper atmosphere. How many times do radio waves travel around the globe in a second? 7.8 times. This frequency, 7.8 times per second (7.8 Hz), is the Schumann Resonance frequency. Braden says it’s speeding up (it isn’t). To justify this he quotes a range of Schumann harmonic frequencies: 14, 20, 26, 33, 39. But anyone who has ever strummed a guitar will know what harmonic frequencies are. And they do not mean the base frequency is changing.” From “Zero Point to Gregg Braden”
Braden’s partnership with so many New Agers should put the last nail in the coffin for any shred of credibility for Braden that anyone may be hanging onto. Braden’s alleged cloak of science and healing is not only in tatters but is disintegrated by this information.
Josh Axe
Debunking Axe’s Liver Cleanse
Fact Check on Axe
Chiropractic
“Chiropractic is an alternative system of healthcare and healing based on manipulation of the spine. Its founder, Canadian grocer DD Palmer, believed that maladjusted or displaced vertebra pressed on nerves, interfering with the flow of ‘Innate Intelligence’ and resulting in defective function and poor health which could be alleviated by chiropractic adjustment. Consistency and reliability of specific chiropractic diagnostic methods, and a credible and verifiable scientific basis have not been shown, and in controlled trials results are inconsistent for back pain, and not demonstrable for other disease. Its basis in a non-Christian belief system and safety factors raise additional concerns…..a full participant in chiropractic, acupuncture or homeopathy is having more than their spine adjusted with hands, their meridians opened with acupuncture needles and their spiritualised life force finally connected to its dematerialised counterpart’. Or as Oths said, ‘…in essence, the chiropractor first manipulates a patient’s belief structure before manipulating his or her physical structure’.” From Christian Medical Fellowship but no longer online
The Metaphysical Story of Chiropractic by Livia Gershon; (i.e., The Ungodly Origins and Principles of Chiropractic)
Acupuncture
“Acupuncture Points and Meridians Do Not Exist” by David W. Ramey
Responses to “What the Bleep Do We Know?” and Quantum Physics Misuse in the New Age
What the Bleep Were They Thinking?
Critique of film “What the Bleep Do We Know?”
What the Bleep Are They On About?
Pseudoscience
Image by Ferrando Elias on Unsplash
Short link; https://tinyurl.com/mpb8fdum
Disclaimer: Links to websites do not constitute an endorsement. I use pagan, New Age, and occult sources to support my points. I do not recommend any such sites.