Dr. John L. Turner Blog

Part 1: Mokichi Okada arrives

The first type of energy healing that I would like to discuss is Johrei, which the founder, Mokichi Okada (Tokyo 1882 - 1955) called The Medical Art of Japan. This word literally means, "uplifting of the spirit."

Over many years, it evolved to its present appellation of Okada Purifying Therapy (OPT) which uplifts the spirit with a combination of a spiritual light emitted from the hand, the appreciation of art and beauty - as with flower arranging and the Japanese tea ceremony - and the growing and eating of natural foods (grown without fertilizers and pesticides).

Asakusa, Japan

Born in 1882 on Dec 23, the beginning of the light as from that day in Winter, the daylight hours progressively lengthen, Mokichi Okada was not born into wealth, but rather, was the son of a hard working merchant. This instilled high qualities and appreciation of life into Okada. He was a good student as a child and planned to become an artist. However, he developed a problem with his eyes and a degree of diplopia (double vision) and was not able to carry out this plan. He decided to switch to the production of Japanese laquerware, but before he could become proficient, he lacerated a tendon of his right index finger and could no longer exercise fine control over the while which spun gold and silver onto the wet surface. Sadly, he had to abandon this form of artwork. He was able to eventually design a hair pick for women which sold well in his unpretentious store and for a time, made his with small items designed for women.

As years progressed, he lost a wife in childbirth, faced business bankruptcy and other trials and tribulations. However, convinced that he was a good person at heart; he began a search for answers. He was certain that there was a spiritual world that would explain why he and others face such adversity in life.

It was at this point that a series of metaphysical experiences began that culminated with Okada's receiving a "4 cm sphere of light energy" that lodged within his abdomen.

I will briefly describe these strange experiences in part 2.

I want to digress for a moment and let the neuroanatomy gel, before going deeper into brain function. As I begin to network for promotion of Medicine, Miracles and Manifestations, some of my contacts have questions in their minds about energy healing and they have noticed that on one of my profile pictures at www.tbd.com, I am sporting a beard. The caption is: Reiki Master's training, Hana, Maui.

Pictured with me is the course instructor, William Rand, who has been involved with Reiki energy healing for years. A group of 10 Reiki practitioners spent three days with Mr. Rand and received the Reiki Master certificate. I didn't want William to be the only one with a beard.

Reiki is a method of directing "universal energy" to a person in need of healing. It involves intention, the use of certain "symbols (somewhat Japanese in nature), and directing the energy from the hands using a touch or no-touch technique. That is, it involves laying on of hands but can be done from a distance without physical contact.

Johrei (The Medical Art of Japan ,is another form of energy healing and three chapters of MMM mention the use of Johrei in some degree of depth. Both Reiki and Johrei involve the emission of energy from the hands. The energy of the universe in the case of Reiki, and a type of spiritual light energy in the case of Johrei, an energy directly from Mr. Mokichi Okada (1882 - 1955). No intention is involved with Johrei; the energy is directed to "key points" that were described by M. Okada for various disease states such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, etc.

This picture shows my use of Johrei in the operating room, emitting spiritual light from the palm of my hand, and combining surgery with spiritual healing:

The next few blogs will be tagged "Energy Healing." I want to discuss three types of healing that use energy, either what is known as "Universal Energy" ( zero-point of "free energy), or a type of spiritual light energy. All of us can use these modalities which are:

          1.) Reiki
          2.) Qi Gong
          3.) Johrei

The first two involve universal energy, tapping it and directing it where needed. The third, however, may use a very different form of energy, a light energy that comes from the spiritual world.

To begin, I want to paraphrase from the audio book, The Mystical Kabbalah, by Rabbi David A. Cooper. It involves tithing (from Old English teogopa "tenth" or a one-tenth part of something).

Question: Which scenario represents the highest form of giving?

Give this some thought and after I explain can Reiki and Johrei, I want to see if you will see the connection, a relationship that may say which of the two modalities is most effective.

A.) A man just left a job where he helped to hang dry wall for a fee of $100. As he walked home, came across a beggar on the street corner, a poorly dressed, unkempt and an irritated man who scowled at those that passed him, even those who dropped a donation into his hat.

Our dry-way hanger realized that this was a perfect opportunity for him to meet his obligation of tzedakah. It was his custom to 10% of his income to charity. It is taught that by Jewish law that the poor have the right to receive tzedakah. He approached the beggar and placed a $10 bill into the hat.

"Is this all?" sneered the man and spit on the sidewalk, showing his dissatisfaction.

Our man barely noticed these actions and walked on, having satisfied his obligation of tzedakah.

B.) A woman who has completed her obligatory tzedakah is also walking on the sidewalk when she encounters a lady with a small child, obviously in need of assistance and appearing to be in dire straits.

The woman stops, reaches into her bag and hands the lady a $10 bill. The child begins to weep in appreciation and the lady hugs the woman and thanks her for her unexpected kindness. They all feel a warm glow and for a moment, love permeates the three. The woman continues her walk, smiling and humming.

Clearly, it is good to give. It is also good to give when an occasion arises where it is not a requirement, but straight from the heart.

I'll repeat the question: Of the two cases, which is the highest form of giving?

What is your answer?

Lobar divisions were simple enough, so now we can go a bit more in depth. As you view the brain, there are several key landmarks that will interest you:

Looking at the brain, take note of the precentral and postcentral gyri. The convolutions are know as gyri and the dips between (the deep narrow furrows) adjacent gyri are the sulci. The precentral gyrus is the motor strip, the postcentral gyrus is the sensotry strip. Cells and connections for the muscles of the body are found along each gyrus and laid out according to body area.
There are important gyri in the temporal, frontal and occipital lobes. Looking at the left side, there is now great difference on how the brain appears but there is a significant difference in functional areas. In approximately 95% of the right-handed population, the centers for speech are in the left hemisphere as shown below:

I'm not trying to make a surgeon of you, but there is an interesting point to make here. In a person who is not a native speaker of the English language, say a Japanese speaker, reader and writer, these areas vary somewhat in location from the English-language brain, something important when considering a surgical approach to the regions involving and near the speech centers.
So here we have it, different cortical areas based upon function.

The numbers areas described by Brodmann. More details are in MMM's appendix and describe cortical areas in more detail. This is enough for our purposes as we approach the subject of how much brain is put to use.

Next will be a consideration of the deep brain structures and their special functions.

Any questions at this point?

Have a nice day!

Now that you have a grasp on the anatomy and structure of the neuron, it is time to see where the neurons reside within the brain.

The cerebral cortex is the outer thin layer of the brain. The cerebellum has a similar outer cortex. The undulations and convolutions you see as you look at the brain, allow a generous collection of nerve cells to fit within the confines of the skull.

If you have not yet reviewed the laboratory mice (see the link "Parts of the Brain"), please do so now.

This is the brain and cerebellum, right hemispheres:

 Below the brain is the cerebellum ("little brain"). Consider the major function of the cerebellum to be motor coordination. Both cerebellum and brain are divided into divisions or lobes. These compartments are shown here in a sketch provided by friend and artist, Paul Carrick:

The frontal lobes are associated with personality and social functions, speech (especially related to the left hemisphere), parts of motor movement, formation of our plans, and structured thinking processes.

 The parietal lobes deal with sensory processes, language and more.

The temporal lobes of the brain are involved with memory, audition, language and emotion (part of the older brain structure are located here).

The Occipital lobes are concerned with vision.

 This is a simple as we can make it and as you well know, there is much more going on to implement the functions described above. 

Phrenology (are you familiar?) is the out-dated theory that brain function can be determined by an examination of the scalp and underlying skull formations. Certain visible and palpable protrusions were associated with specific brain functions. Devices were constructed to fit on the head and measure them in detail. With electrical brain stimulation in awake patients, the true location of brain function was discovered (see Penfield).

Now, with PET scans, functional MRI scans, SPECT scans and magnetoencephalography, it is within our grasp to add to our knowledge of brain function and localization.

So, the questions are:

1.) Where is the seat of consciousness and the location of the soul within our "Three Pound Universe" of the brain?

2.) How much of the brain do we use?

 The first question iw addressed in the appendix of MMM and will not be repeated here. To understand how much brain is used, I need to go further into the explanation of brain structure and organization. 

Now that you have an idea of gross brain anatomy, it is time to lable the brain with functional areas.

Next: Cortical Localization of Function

Thank you and have a nice day!

 Dr. T

The Neuron: 

This is a simplified artist's concept of the nerve cell or neuron of the human brain. The cell body extrudes dendrites which make contact with other neuronal cell bodies.

The axon extends as a process from the cell body and exhibits segmental insulation with sheaths of myelin produced by specialized cells known as Schwann cells. The electrochemical signal is transmitted from cell body to axon terminal by means of salutatory conduction from node (between the segments is a space called the Node of Ranvier) to node.

The dendritic connections with other nerve cells may be very complex, forming an intertwining network. The cell body is able to adapt its receptor shape which further adds to the enormous complexity of the circuit. As new memories are formed, or new abilities are learned, neuronal connections multiply as necessary to establish the necessary patterns in the brain.

A neuron communicates with other neurons via dendritic connections (the synapse) with up to 10,000 or more connections to other neurons
The aforementioned cortex is the thin layer of the brain commonly called the grey matter. Of the 100 billion cortical neurons, half are found in the cortex of the cerebellum. Neurons are sustained by astrocytes and other glial cells which make up 90% of the brain's substance and are now known to form interconnections of their own.

These are the basics you will need to understand the next section.

 For the next blog entry, neural anatomy and physiology will be discussed.

Remember, the number of possible neural connections is a figure that is greater than all the known particles in the universe! Although the actual connections made grow at a rapid rate as an infant and slow down somewhat as we age, everything that happens, all that takes place, makes new connections and/or strengthens old connections. How could such tremendous processing power be guided and directed?

I'll begin next time with basic neural anatomy and how signals flow from dendrite to neuron, from axon to neuron and so forth.

What do you think of when you think of a nerve cell or neuron?

Have a nice day!

How much brain?

As promised, I want to begin a discussion of the often asked question, "How much of our brains do we really use?"

Before reading further, I ask you to zip to the end and leave a comment for your answer to this question:

                              "How much of your brain do you use?"

Then, read what follows and see if it changes your opinion.

 Ok, if you did that, left your answer, then please continue.

Here we go:

Part 1  

I mentioned earlier that when my first daughter Ku'ulei was three years old, I was an every-other weekend dad and in the midst of divorce number two (ouch!). One Saturday morning, I had a 35mm camera on the table when I asked her, out of the blue, "Ku'ulei, how much of your brain do you use?" She was about to take a mouthful of cereal when I posed the question and she stopped, looked at me quizzically and then with a bit of contempt in her voice, she replied, "All of it, of course!" and resumed her breakfast without a second thought.

It is not until we are told by someone of authority that we use 10% of our brains that we yield to superior knowledge and begin to repeat this oft-quoted figure.

The cortex of the human brain (the thin layer that covers the convolutions) contains at least 100 billion neurons. Half of this number is found in the cerebellar cortex, which is a surprising finding. The cerebellum (literally "little brain") is the fist-sized structure at the base of the brain, tucked in just behind the brainstem and has many connections regarding motor coordination.

The figure of 100 billion is also of interest because it roughly correlates to the number of grains of sand on all of the world's beaches, and to the estimated number of stars in our galaxy, The Milky Way. It is difficult to imagine that only 10% of the cortical neurons are put to use and only 10% of the remaining brain substance (the supporting cells, the deep grey-matter cell collections, etc.) are left unused. It is far more likely that the 10% figure has been passed down by word and may have been correct in the early days of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology during the times of Galen, but things have changed. Functional MRI, magnetoencephalography and other highly-sophisticated instrumentation have allowed brain function to be explored in great depth and are a far cry when the days of brain stimulation during surgery was the only technique available

In the coming sections, I will expound upon this topic, first starting with basic brain anatomy (also found in the appendix of MMM) and we will try to answer the question of how much brain is put to use, how it is put to use and when it is used. Could it be that abilities such as precognition, telepathy and clairvoyance, are parts of the brain that lie dormant, ready for activation? And that we must learn to use these brain functions again? This seems likely as remote viewing may be a good example of activating long-unused brain areas.

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving Day

It has been said that any day that you find yourself above ground is a good day and a day to give thanks. For me, today is different as things have changed. There is a change in world consciousness that we have waited a long time to see stirring. It has finally come. This is my thought and I know that most readers of this blog will share in my feelings:

As a youth, like most of you, I sat for the big dinners, enjoying the turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, not knowing about the smallpox virus purposely placed in the blankets that were distributed with a smile to the Indian warriors. As the years passed, I gradually, I lost all interest in this and many other holidays. People of color continued to suffer and in a way, I began to wonder about the true purpose of life. Soon, I came to the point where I completely ignored the holiday, until today. And it happened this way:

As you now realize, prior to the November 4 election, I dedicated my book, Medicine, Miracles and Manifestations to President Barack Obama. The reasons for this are explained in the first query under Questions for Dr. T.
Two days later, I went to Maui for a Reiki Master's training course given by William Rand. At the airport Alamo Rent-A-Car, a local brother was checking me in when I noticed an African-American brother, about my age, or a bit younger, at the back counter. He was not wearing the Alamo yellow shirt that the other employees were wearing. The brother was wearing an Aloha shirt.

"Who is that brother, back there talking with the other dude?" I asked.

"Oh, he is the Regional Manager," was the reply.

"Regional Manager? Why is he here?"

"He lives here!"

When I finished signing up for the car, I went to the back to speak with the man.

"Excuse me," I said, "I want to interrupt only for a quick minute. I have two things to say."

"Sure," he said.

"Ok, first, congrats on your position as Regional Manager. That's great!"

He smiled and nodded at my statement.

"Second thing, " I said, "Don't you notice something different today?"

He froze for a moment, look of amazement on his face, then he said, "Wow! That's just what I was saying to him," motioning at the other guy. "When I was in Wal-Mart this morning, suddenly I stopped. I looked down at my legs, then at my arms and I said to myself, ‘Hey! I'm standing taller today!'"

"Exactly," I said. "Think of it. People all over the world, of all races, are holding their heads higher today!" With that I left, everyone happy, including me, and made the beautiful two-hour drive to Hana, Maui.

So today, on this day and everyday from now on, I give thanks to a very special condition: The Obama family.

Peace and love,

Dr. T

Please let my know if there are any problems or questions on the web site.

Seth...