John Ortiz, Part 1: How I Got Hooked on Crystal Methods
By John Ortiz, edited by Jonathan Atleson
Wherein I Get Energizated
I first became aware of energy about 40 years ago. At the time, I was exploring a series of yoga practices called energization exercises, developed by Paramahansa Yogananda. The idea behind them was to enhance prana—known in the Chinese culture as chi—to energize the body and mind, facilitating spiritual activities and well-being.
What struck me early on was to what extent the location influenced my experience. Doing the exercises indoors was one thing, but doing them outdoors was better. Practicing on the beach was even better, and in a particularly special or spiritual place, the effects felt profound.
This realization led me to see energy as the fuel for transformation. Einstein’s equation, E=mc2, essentially shows that energy and matter can be converted, with energy being the basic substance of life. From this perspective, I began to see energy as the differentiator between health and disease, happiness and depression, prosperity and poverty. If you could master energy, you could shift those outcomes.
I grew up in the Christian tradition, where stories of miraculous healings by Jesus fascinated me. I often wondered, How did he do that? In one scripture, Jesus says, “Verily, verily I say unto you, the things I do, ye shall also do—and greater things shall you do.” That promise planted a seed in my mind. If such healings were possible, how could we learn to facilitate them?
At first, I experimented with basic hands-on healing—think of The Karate Kid, where Mr. Miyagi rubs his hands together to generate chi for healing. Over time, I noticed that this idea wasn’t just in movies. It was present in music, films, and other art forms. Certain songs could make you cry or feel joy, just as certain films could evoke laughter or fear. It all came back to energy.
My journey eventually led me to massage therapy school, where my classmates dubbed me “Hot Hands” because people often felt heat from my hands during sessions. They reported pain relief or emotional shifts, and I became known for this in some circles. People would call me to pray and place hands on loved ones who were sick or even near death.
One story stands out: I was asked to visit a woman who was “dying.” She had a brain tumor so severe that the Catholic priest had already given her last rites. I went, placed my hands on her, and prayed. I wasn’t attached to any particular outcome—whether she transitioned peacefully or had a miraculous recovery. The next day, I received a call. She was up, walking around, and wanted to meet me.
When we met, she told me her lifelong dream was to visit Assisi, where St. Francis had lived. I encouraged her to go. She made the trip but, unfortunately, the plane ride caused complications. She fell into a coma and passed away. At first, I was devastated. I thought, Did I make a mistake encouraging her to go? But then it hit me: she fulfilled her dream. Sometimes, it’s just someone’s time to go, and we must honor that.
Over the years, I learned not to attach myself to specific outcomes. Energy healing became about sending love, focusing on intention, and channeling divine energy rather than relying on my own limited reserves.
Energy healing requires detachment from a specific outcome.
It’s about sending love, focusing on intention, and channeling divine energy.
It’s not about giving away your own energy or taking on others’ negative energy.
AKB: Accelerated Karmic Burn
I went through a period of what I call Accelerated Karmic Burn—when everything falls apart at once: finances, relationships, health. One problem seemed to lead to another one. After a time, I grew angry; I was angry at God, I was angry at myself.
I needed to process all this anger. My coping mechanism at the time was taking long, angry bike rides. Ten miles of furious pedalling, with occasional yelling and cursing. Afterwards I would quench the rage with a half-hour ocean swim at Daytona Beach. I thought, for a moment, I’m not angry anymore, I feel pretty good! I’m making progress.
I even thought I could somehow make a living off of my rage-fueled athleticism. Something built around a biking and swimming biathlon on the beach, like a lifeguard courier service.
Accelerated Karmic Burn: John’s term for a period of time when everything seems to fall apart at once; experiencing AKB isn’t the end for you, it is just more rapidly pushing you to your next phase of life (like when you suppress detox for too long and then it all comes out at once as an illness).
But eventually, I realized the anger wasn’t dissipating; I was only managing it. My sister, Kathy, sensed I needed an intervention from outside the box. She introduced me to something called Pranic Healing, a method of healing using energy alone. When I couldn’t imagine spending actual money on such a far-fetched notion, she had the family pitch in to cover the cost of my first class. In my state of anger and desperation, I told her to get the money back and just send me the check so I could pay my rent!
But Kathy knew me too well, and had an ace up her sleeve. “Would you do it for me?”, she asked. Thus outflanked by my crafty older sister, I drove 40 minutes to join her at my first class. This meant skipping my anger management workout routine, so I was not in the best of moods. I must have been the manifestation of the instructor’s worst nightmare: a skeptical student with bad attitude, slouched in his chair, arms folded, scowl on his face.
The instructor, Duane, turned out to be a really nice guy who wanted to help people, but wasn’t so keen on touching their naked bodies to do so. This led him to pursue energy work. Duane asked for a volunteer.
I mentioned my 20-year old back injury from football. He said it was a very well-established energetic pattern, and asked if he could work on me. I said something irreverant like, “Do whatever you want, I don't care if you dance on the table naked.”
So Duane took out a crystal and started waving it around. This was no ordinary crystal, but rather a magnificent chiseled wand with a mysterious gold center.
I thought the whole performance was ridiculous. I'm thinking to myself, oh my God, with all my scientific training, with all my religious studies, I have resorted to a man waving a rock around me to improve my health. I figured I must have finally found the low point right here, this might literally be “rock bottom”.
But then I started feeling these electrical sensations in my body. Within minutes, my pain was significantly reduced. Was this a magic trick? I checked for wires under the chair, but there were none. Was it the placebo effect? No, I wasn’t particularly credulous of the whole affair. How about an act of God? Well, I don’t think He would be feeling too charitable given my recent two-wheeled curse-fests.
I was hooked. Over the next several months, I dove into the training, taking class after class. One day I told Duane he had converted me, and I was ready to take the next steps. However, Duane was not to be my Pranic Guru after all. It turns out, inland central Florida was a little bit too “Bible Belt” for the likes of energy healers. Duane had to move on. I was crestfallen.
A Visit from the Master
But it turned out that Duane was not the only game in town. There was actually a crystal-swinging MD named Dr. Valerie Davis who had her practice not too far away from me. She was taking on all Duane’s clients.
Even better, she offered a free clinic for new patients. She had me at “free”. The idea was you would either sign up for treatments or training. She started by telling her story.
Dr. Davis’s story was pretty impressive. She was a New Yorker, culturally Jewish but non-religious. She went to med school and studied dermatology. Then after a while she started burning out, and began to think about ending her practice.
Then she was introduced to Pranic Healing. She began to believe in a higher power, and it began to affect her practice as a doctor. Her patients had less scarring, better surgical results.
Next, just like Duane before her, she asked if anybody was experiencing any physical pain? At this point, I wanted more. So I said something like, “With all due respect, you can work on healing the body all you want, but if you don’t take care of the mental and emotional trauma and pain, it’s just like weeding the garden; the physical pain will return. What do you do about the anger, hatred, anxiety and depression? Those are the demons I’m really fighting; the physical pain isn’t that big a deal.”
I'm sure she's thinking, Who's this guy who comes to my free healing clinic and wants some kind of deep emotional cleansing?
She said, “Well, you know, since all of you have taken the beginner class, would you mind if I whip out the crystal?” (I’m not sure, but I suspect they learned that phrase in school.) So she proceeded to pull out this crystal that looks like the exact duplicate of Duane's crystal. It was also Vogel cut and had the gold rod in it. It turns out that she bought it at the same time as Duane.
I could not contain my curiosity any longer. I asked her how much the crystal cost. She said $5,000. I think my jaw dropped to the floor, and she could see the shock in my face. Of all the things I could spend $5k on, cars, rent, food for my family…. I was pretty sure that nowhwere on that list was going to be a Vogel cut crystal wand with a gold rod down the center!
So once I get past the sticker shock of the Maserati in her hand, Dr. Davis starts working on me. She told me that the founder of Pranic Healing was a man named Master Choa Kok Sui. He was of Chinese ethnic background but was born and lived most of his life in the Philippines. I was already familiar with him due to my previous studies.
Then she tells me that Master Choa Kok Sui has showed up to work on me! This was rather confusing as I was pretty sure he made his transition off this mortal coil back in 2007. She confirmed that he had passed on. So that could only mean one thing…he was here in spirit?
Dr. Davis: Yes, he’s taken a special interest in you.
Me: Uh, tell him thanks for stopping by! **Are you sure you’re an MD? I’m gonna need to see some sort of identification.**
Right when I say this, I feel it in my solar plexus, an explosion of energy. I’m having convulsions, literally shaking in my chair. I was scared because I’ve never experienced anything like that before. I thought I was having a seizure.
But I remembered I was in the presence of a medical doctor, so that gave me some measure of relief. Until I saw her. She looked more afraid than me! The dermatologist was edging away from me slowly. I’m pretty sure this wasn’t covered in med school.
This was going on for what seemed like an eternity. Shouldn’t she put crystal down and call 911 or something? Isn’t there a protocol for making sure I don't swallow my tongue and choke? But she just kept on swinging that damn crystal.
After two minutes, it dissipated, leaving me utterly drained. Dr. Davis then provided her expert diagnosis. “Wow, Master Choa Kok Sui really cleaned you out!”
Then I took a mental inventory and I noticed that the anger and hatred had seemingly vanished, or at least been reduced by miraculous margins. I struggled to process what I had just experienced.
Excalibur
Dr. Davis said, “I don't even know your last name, but I feel called to give you a scholarship to train in Pranic Healing using crystals.”
Well, if it were anywhere outside my immediate geographical area, I already knew I wouldn’t go. But it turned out that Master Glenn Mendoza from New Jersey was coming down to Florida to do the training.
I also knew that if there were any costs involved, I wouldn’t go. But the training was free.
Except…you have to purchase your own crystal. I knew it! That’s how they get you. The printer is free but the ink will cost you dearly. So I ask her, in the history of Pranic Healing, what’s the cheapest crystal ever sold? She says, probably about a hundred bucks.
A couple of weeks later, exactly $100 cash in my pocket, I went to Master Mendoza’s training. In the lobby, there was a table set up with all shapes and sizes of crystals on display. About twenty students were eagerly poring over the wares. “Energetically tap your heart and scan each crystal…see which one speaks to you!”, exhorted the woman behind the table.
I took a closer look. I energetically tapped my heart and scanned the crystals. They spoke to me! One said $800. Another $650. This one $200. I still hadn’t heard my name though.
Then I saw, in the far back corner of the table, one sad little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree crystal that was marked…$100. Bingo. I realized I MUST have that crystal by any means necessary. I made a beeline for it, energetically shoving people out of the way. Excuse me, pardon me, pardon, excuse me. I'm like Moses parting the Red Sea, as played by Steve Martin.
I reached my target and grabbed that crystal like it was the Holy Grail. The woman said to me, “In all my days of selling crystals, I have never seen anybody go after a crystal like you just went after that one! It must have really spoken to your heart.”
I replied, “No ma'am, it didn't speak to my heart. But it did speak to my wallet! You see, all I came with was this $100 bill, and if I don’t get a crystal, this whole experiment is over.”
And that’s how a scrappy little shard of minerals in the corner became mine, and began a new life as a tool for deep, effective healing work. I named it Excalibur.
Master Mendoza was an MD as well. At this training, he said the crystal can accentuate your power 100 to 1,000 times. I raised my hand and said, “Wait, you’re talking about a double or triple exponential shift in your energy.” He concurred. “So you're telling me I have to wave my bare hands a hundred times versus only once with the crystal?” “Yes,” he said, “or a thousand times depending on the crystal.”
From that day on, I resolved to never use my bare hands again for healing. Why? Well, if I didn’t have my crystal, I would just tell the person to wait there while I went to fetch it. There was no way I was going to wave my hand 100 times when the crystal will do the work for me!
 | A guest post by
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Dear John dear Johnathan, I discovered you both via Aloe Michael :)
It is amazing to have listened to you both, as I have a very similar attitude towards life areas. It's a delight for me, as I dont know many people (yet) who are on this "path". So really enjoyed the podcasts.
It is so humorous and fun to read your stories; the images are so nice too . I jsut found your page, so I just read a couple of those; But ... awesome! I just wanted to leave you a happy comment and if you for some reason want to write me too, you can [ebrusa(a)gmx.net] Blessings Ebru