Introducing the work of Peter Mandel: Light Therapy
Pioneer
by Dr. Rosemary Bourne, MA, Dipl. Acu,
Co-Director
Institute for Esogetics, USA
The application of light and color as a healing modality is
a rapidly developing field with roots in ancient medicine.
Color light therapy offers a pain free, noninvasive therapy
with no side effects. Light exhibits a unique capacity to
effect psychological and spiritual healing while
simultaneously supporting physical health.
The health systems of ancient cultures were based on an
understanding that light and colors heal. The Greeks,
Romans, Indians, Aztecs, Chinese all recognized the sun as a
giver of light and a healing deity. Color as a part of light
was known to have the same therapeutic effect as light
itself. The Egyptians, for example, designed temples that
split the sun's rays into different colors, allowing
patients to bathe in the appropriate color for their
particular condition.
Recently research in biophysics has confirmed the fact that
light is a "language" by which our cells communicate with
each other. German physicist and biophoton researcher,
Professor Fritz-Albert Popp, has shown that cell metabolism
and the communication between cells would be unthinkable
without light. Popp proved that the cells of all living
creatures emit biophotons or electro-magnetic vibrations.
This radiation represents a regulating power field that
surrounds the whole organism and influences all our
biochemical processes.
The balanced flow
In his studies of cell communication, Popp demonstrated that
normal living cells emit a steady stream of biophotons and
act as carriers of information in living organisms. He
observed that a cell will show an increased emission of
biophotons whenever its functions are no longer in a state
of balance. Any disruption in a cell's homeostasis can lead
to a change in the balanced flow of information (light) in
the body. This transformation from harmoniously oscillating
light eventually leads to incoherence i.e. disease. Peter
Mandel, a renowned German Naturopath and Acupuncturist,
carried Popp's observations forward and suggested that the
resultant cellular changes also eventually affect the
electrical receptivity of related zones and acupoints on the
surface of the skin.
Given that human cells exhibit energetic properties of
light, and that light and color have a modifying effect on
the body's system of energetic information, it seemed
obvious to Mandel that the informational properties of light
and color could be used to restore coherence, or health.
Impulse communication
Light waves enter through skin receptors. These receptors
respond to both light and color. According to Popp,
biophotons allow a faster means of impulse communication
than the transmission of electrical impulses along neural
pathways. With biophotons, the impulse spreads independently
of nerve conduction to the smallest components of the
organism through the atomic structure of the cells. In
keeping with the principle of resonance, the smallest
oscillation will initiate the greatest effect. Color and
light therapy utilizes this effect to address and reverse
pathological processes. Colored light can transmit
information to the inside of the body via the disturbed
zones and help restore malfunctioning systems by virtue of
their inherent resonant forces.
In the early seventies Peter Mandel began to use acupuncture
and meridian channels to introduce light into the body. His
decision to use acupuncture points and meridians was
influenced by the research being done at the Institute of
Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Nowosibirk, Russia.
The Russian physicist, Dr Sergei Pankratov, proved that our
body has a coordination system which always and without
exception transmits incoming light from point A to point B.
He demonstrated that the coordination ability of light in
the human body exists solely along meridians and is only
able to enter or exit the body on the known acupuncture
points. At the same time scientists at the Parisian Necker
Institute injected a fluid enriched with radioactive
technetium into certain acupuncture points and were able to
make visible its distribution within the body using an
electric camera .The camera recorded gamma rays radiating
from the technetium. The distribution of the fluid followed
the exact pathways described as meridians in Chinese
medicine.
Colors as pure vibrations represent the various frequencies
of visible light. Since acupuncture points are reactive to a
variety of stimuli Mandel theorized that they would also
react to stimulation by light. Through extensive
experimentation Mandel determined that certain acupuncture
points display a particular relationship to certain colors.
Moreover all acupoints corresponded to one of three
complimentary pairs of colors: red/green, orange/blue,
yellow/violet.
Yin-yang balance
Peter Mandel's color aculight instrument provides a means of
affecting yin-yang balance between complimentary pairs of
points. The three complimentary color pairs command the
entire spectrum of the cells within which their biophotons
as information carriers can transmit these vibrations to the
cells.
By the late 1980's Peter Mandel's early treatment protocols
were established. Mandel's concept of medicine is a
synthesis of key principles ancient esoteric doctrines with
the thinking of modern energetic scientists. A common theme
in many esoteric doctrines is that each human being as a
soul comes to life to manifest a unique potential or "life
path". This potential can only be discovered if the
individual accesses his inner wisdom or consciousness.
Modern scientists such as David Bohm or the biochemist
Rupert Sheldrake suggest that our physical material reality
actually exists against the backdrop of a greater order.
David Bohm speaks of an all-encompassing background to man's
experience and consciousness called the "implicate order".
Bohm feels the work of each individual is to continually
unfold his potential out of the greater implicate order into
individual material reality.
In many cases colors have the same indications on the
psychological as well as the somatic level. Green, for
example, has a detoxifying effect, it stimulates secretion
and releases spasm. Psychologically this color is soothing
and relaxing. For Peter Mandel, spirit and body are
inextricably connected. His view is that most physical
complaints have a psychosomatic cause. He feels that if we
treat the cause, then this will be the end of symptomatic
medicine. The difficulty is that the patient himself may not
be able to reach the depth of his subconscious to bring the
cause of his disease to the surface. Psychotherapeutic
treatment sometimes has the disadvantage of lack of
objectivity by the therapist and the client. Light and
colors, on the other hand, are pure information- genuine and
penetrating .The correct use of color and light can bring
deeply buried blockages, however chronic, into an acute
state. In this way they can be treated more effectively.
Hence, Peter calls his therapy a non-verbal psychotherapy.
