About Branches of Healing and Lance Baker

Branches of Healing is run by myself, Lance Baker. I came to be a healer by accident after a painfully long personal healing process. For as long as I can remember, I would get really painful migraines every couple of months or so. I not knowing better, thought that this was just what people called a 'headache' so I would take some aspirin, deal with the pain and got on with it.

In 2001 things started to get worse; I started getting vertigo, my left ear felt constantly like it needed to pop and the migraines became more frequent. Many doctor visits later where I was being told "There is nothing wrong", took me to 2004, when I was sent to get an MRI scan of my ear and head. The ear doctor that referred for it said (while pointing at the scans) "I don't know what this is, but that is definitely not meant to be there". He was pointing to a large dark oval taking up close to 1/4 of the space where my brain should have been, and the rest of the brain was being squished into the lesser space it now had available. It turns out that I had a rather large arachnoid cyst on my brain, and I was referred to some neurosurgeons. I was pretty freaked out by all this, then pressured into having brain surgery by conversing in online forums, talking with doctors and my own growing fear that came with this knowledge. My neurosurgeon had promised me that he could fix all my problems easily and I'd be back to normal in a couple of months after surgery. So I trusted him and followed through with it and had the brain surgery on August 5th 2004; it turns out that this was a bad idea and the operation was somehow botched.

The moment I awoke from the surgery, I had a migraine... and it never left for close to ten years! This migraine was sometimes not all that painful, but would fluctuate to intense levels of pain I'd never felt before, or would wish upon anyone. There was not a second of relief in that whole time, no matter what or how many drugs I took to combat it. I went to specialist after specialist trying to find an answer and tried everything modern medicine had to offer of a way of either healing me or giving me relief.

This went on for years, making daily life a constant struggle and continually finding a new 'Level 10 on the pain scale' until eventually I had tried everything. I had been told about Reiki from a friend, and thought maybe I could give that a try one day. Not long later, around February 2014 I met a Reiki practitioner, and decided "Why not? Its only $90 what harm can come of laying on a table and letting this hippie do her mumbo jumbo and see what happens?" So I booked a session for the following week, expecting nothing, and presuming I was throwing away my money but held a tiny sliver of hope that it would give me some relief. I'd tried everything else, why not see if these hippies are on to something.

The next week I found myself laying there on Leanda's massage table with my eyes closed while this nice lady was doing God knows what, I couldn't see, maybe she was reading a book for all I knew. My mind wandered thinking of all the better things I could be doing with my time and money... until.. I felt something move within my head! I could always feel exactly where the cyst was in my skull, and I felt it move! "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" I screamed inside my mind, Not at all expecting this reaction. Eventually the session ended, we talked for a little about what just happened, Leanda  had gasped my attention from making the cyst move so much so that I said I'd give it another try and be back next week and I went home and rested. The next day I felt better than I had in years! I was so excited, could this possibly work? The next few weeks I went back weekly and felt better and better.

Early April 2014 I had a dream that I was practicing Reiki. I had no idea what this actually looked like, since my eyes were always closed, but my dream's impression turned out to be correct. I found this odd and brushed it aside. Around this time I also started meditating and using float tanks. To gain better meditation skills, I googled 'meditation class Newcastle NSW this Saturday' Nothing came up about meditation, but a Reiki 1 class was being held in Patterson and it said that you could do Reiki on yourself. I figured that maybe these two things were a sign to do it, so hey why not I'm sure I won't be as good as the Leanda, but I can at least help top myself up in between her sessions. So I went along and learned Reiki. The next few weeks I found a massive change within myself, and I have remained pretty much pain free since then. I love that I am no longer bound to chronic pain!

Occasionally I will overwork or stress myself and a migraine will creep back in, but now I have the drug free, operation free solution, I just give myself Reiki, or go see another Reiki healer! Reiki essentially gave me my life back. I initially had no desire to share Reiki with others, but I was told that in order to lock in the ability I had to practice it on myself and others daily for a few weeks. I was diligent and did this, and realised that I'm actually pretty good at it, so I continued to learn.

Now I'm a Reiki Master teacher and I trained hypnosis for the Australian Academy of Hypnosis, across Australia and overseas, I have mentored with some of the worlds best hypnotists, I’m a best selling author on hypnosis, I'm living a pain free life, and instead of working a corporate job and just making money, I get the chance to help make people's lives better, through Branches Of Healing. I constantly find it rewarding to see the grin from ear to ear on someone when they get up from the massage table and realise they are not in pain anymore. My life took an unexpected turn and continues to surprise me, but now - I wouldn't have it any other way.

Life's golden.

Lance Baker.