Local Healer Adds Modern Science to Ancient Wisdom

If you're feeling stressed but can't quite pinpoint the source of your ailment, there's help, right in the heart of Katonah.

A Native American healer named Bear Walker offers healing services that can improve general health and well-being by measuring and assessing bio-electromagnetic fields of the body.

If it sounds like rocket science, well, it is. Sort of.

The technique is performed with a space-age device known as BioTracker and has been used to improve the performance of NASA astronauts. Walker spent two years doing clinical research on the device at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Walker said that findings can reveal which parts of your body are doing well and which ones aren't. For instance, if you are feeling overwhelmed and have difficulty sleeping, BioTracker might find that your adrenals are not functioning properly.

"By measuring resistance to minute electrical currents, BioTracker can pinpoint stressful imbalances that a typical blood test might miss," he said.

Up to 35,000 bits of data can emerge from 30 different body systems with BioTracker, according to Walker. During an assessment, an individual holds electrode probes, which send a tiny electrical current through a specific part of the body and measures the resistance to that current.

Walker says that the results can give athletes a much needed edge. He's worked with numerous professional and high school athletes, and said that the data helps him recommend changes in diet, sleep and other behavoirs that can lead to 10 percent positive impact on performance.

For example BioTracker may spot a problem with neurotransmitters that play a key part in mood; Walker may suggest vitamin B to balance serotonin levels.

As a holistic practioner he said he's treated over 50,000 patients in the last twenty years, but his ways with plants, stones, herbs and traditional wisdom started at age two with his grandfather, according to Walker.

"I was born a Bear on a reservation in Michigan, and became a person when they made me go to kindergarten," he said.

In addition to the research at Walter Reed, he trained in Clinical Ecology at the University of Pittsburgh and did extensive alzheimer's research with Pfizer Pharmaceutical. He now offers his services at Awakenings, at 215 Katonah Avenue.

For all the technological gizmos available to him, Walker believes that simple principles go a long way toward a healthy life. He applies his expertise to intervene nutritionally, with herbal medicine or other homeopathic modalities. And, he said, modern environmental stresses like work and lack of sleep can also be addressed through proper exercise.

Walker works in conjunction with area physicians, and with an extensive referral base of doctors, he doesn't shy away from recognizing the limitations of his services. "I direct them to a specialist when my tests warrant further medical investigation," he said.

Walker's approach leaves room for a dose of spiritual guidance, too. He said he helps people put aside superficial stresses in search of a healthier life.

"That's the authentic life that makes you whole," he said.