Even as a child, Judith A. Swack, Ph.D., possessed a scientist’s mind, always wanting to know, “What, why and how?” Early on, she decided to be a medical doctor when she grew up. After studying pre-med in college, her professors told her that with her gift of a research mind, she should become a biomedical scientist rather than an M.D. So, after she was denied admittance to medical school, she secured a position as a biochemical technician and fell in love with doing research. This set her on an alternate path that would eventually pilot the inception of Healing from the Body Level Up (HBLU), an innovative, rapid and powerful mind/body/spirit healing methodology.

HBLU integrates biomedical science, psychology, hypnosis, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), applied kinesiology, spirituality and energy psychology techniques with original research on the structure of complex damage patterns. “The HBLU philosophy is that we all have a soul in a body, and the reason that we are in a body is to do our soul mission and live a full life,” says Swack, who is also a biochemist, immunologist, master NLP practitioner and leader in the field of energy psychology. “If we are not getting results in some area of our life there must be something blocking us,” she explains.

This reasoning prompted Swack more than 30 years ago to dig deeper into why she kept attracting and dating emotionally unavailable men. In a self-help workshop she discovered the unconscious mind. She says, “I realized that my problems were in my unconscious mind, not my intellect. In order to have better control over my life, I had to learn how to communicate with and heal other levels of my being that my rational mind had no control over.”

So, she took NLP practitioner training. Recognizing her innate talent, fellow classmates approached her about working with them outside the class. By this time, Swack was doing research in DNA replication at the National Cancer Institute and working toward her Ph.D. in biochemistry at George Washington University. Although she considered herself a biomedical scientist first, she nonetheless found a small office and began seeing clients. Referrals followed as her clients got positive results.

In 1985, she moved to Boston for post-doctoral training in immunology. When her research grant wasn’t renewed, she took a job at a medical diagnostics company, got married and had a baby, all the while seeing clients in the evenings and on weekends. When her baby was born she realized that she couldn’t do it all, quit her laboratory job, and opened her mind-body healing practice full time. “Looking back,” she said, “I realized that it took being hit over the head several times with a two-by-four to realize that mind/body/spirit healing was my true calling.”

With her scientific skill and talent in research, Swack developed a mind-body healing methodology that would eventually become HBLU. “I started out curing phobias and traumas. As more people came to me with other problems, I discovered ways to help them, too,” she states, having since mapped patterns for binge-eating, post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), dysfunctional family systems, addictions and other self-sabotaging behaviors that are the result of unwanted, interference patterns from life experience (including past life and ancestral patterns), personality structure (using the Enneagram model of personality), and external interference (including supernatural patterns and cultural and religious brainwashing).

“HBLU helps people get unstuck and eliminate struggle by teaching the conscious mind how to communicate with the unconscious mind, body and soul to find and clear the patterns that block them so that they can live happy, rewarding lives,” she explains.

Swack says one of the reasons HBLU is so effective is because the client’s deepest wisdom guides the healing, setting priorities so the mind and body can collaborate and work together in alignment to heal. She stresses, “I’m not going to teach you to cope; we are going to clear the unwanted patterns, so you can heal.”

Most people begin to feel better after five to six sessions, but it typically takes eight to 12 sessions to achieve a specific goal or completely resolve a particular problem. HBLU is complementary with many types of medical and psychotherapeutic treatments, including medication. In fact, clients’ bodies can be tested to determine what and how much medication is right for them, and many doctors have respectfully collaborated with Swack to get the right medications and dosages for individuals.

Even in people with genetic problems such as high blood pressure or depression that are compounded by stress, Swack maintains, “I frequently find that with HBLU, they are able to decrease their dose or switch to a milder medication.”

Having spent years developing the work with her clients and colleagues, “HBLU is now a robust, reproducible and extensive body of work,” she says. Swack is now focused on making it readily available to all mental health and healing professionals. An upcoming HBLU Level I Training will take place from August 3 to 6, in Needham. Early bird discount rates apply until July 8. Visit HBLUTraining.com for more information and to register.

Healing From The Body Level Up, Inc. is located at 56 Pickering St., Needham. For private sessions or to register for trainings, call 800-310-6549, email [email protected] or visit HBLU.org.

Nancy Somera is managing editor for the Boston and Rhode Island editions of Natural Awakenings.