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JUNE 20, 2012 PAKMAN1983 18 COMMENTS
Holistic Therapies: Access Bars

This week is Access Bars, which I happen to find at random one day My New Project: The Irish
Holistic Directory
when I first discovered the directory and I was taken aback by how
ridiculous it sounded and amazed that it could ever be taken Dr. Spirograph says no to
seriously by any thinking person. Access Bars is the brain child of a Vaccines

man named Gary Douglas who can be found on his site grinning back Religious Discourse
at you with the intellectually secure, knowing look of the guru. The
website also has the inevitable links to testimonials that always
accompany pseudo scientific crap that has either been disproven by
scientific testing or is non-falsifiable. These tales, as a lot of skeptics ARCHIVES
know, unfortunately speak more to peoples daily lives than the cold
facts associated with evidence based reasoning and are more April 2013

convincing as a result. Despite the number of these testimonials and June 2012
the fact that they come from people probably convinced of their
truth, we all know that the plural of anecdote is not evidence. April 2012

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Mr Douglas humble black and white photo with

a disarming and knowing head tilt? Sign me up!!! BLOGROLL

Martin S Pribble
The core concept behind Access bars is the idea that there are 32
points on your head which, when gently touched, effortlessly and PolySkeptic
easily release anything that doesnt allow you to receive? These
Rant in A Minor
points contain all the thoughts, ideas, beliefs, emotions, and
considerations you have stored in any lifetime. This is an opportunity Science Based Medicine
for you to let go of everything! Activating these bars, it is claimed,
ScienceBit
will allow energy to flow and open new possibilities for self

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 improvement and the site poses you the question As there are
Bars for every aspect of your life do you think its possible that you
could clear limitations relating to money, healing, body, control, PAKMAN1983
awareness, creativity, communication, hopes and dreams, sadness
and joy, aging and money? (On a personal note, I love the fact that @ChipChipperson No
Movement? What are you
they mention money at the start of the list and at the end of it too. It constipated or sumtin?
gives me a warm feeling inside. Also, AGING?) The neurological #ImAfraidPeopleWillThinkThisIs
AnActualJoke
literature behind these claims is unfortunately not linked to but I
https://t.co/wQFbHuxtke
would be happy to give it a laymans look over if somebody can 1 month ago
provide it, although I doubt people will consider me cynical if I were
@GordonRamsay How'd I do?
to suspect that it doesnt exist. Tempura prawns, red pepper and
jalapeo jam, with coconut rice
and avocado, cucumber and
Something that concerns me about the majority of sites that are
twitter.com/i/web/status/8
selling the benefits of Access Bars, that I looked at during my 1 month ago
research, is that there was a surprising amount of preamble that you
@DannyJRoss It was supposed to
had to get through to find out these core beliefs. You are seduced be a new car launch. Hence the
with promises of life affirming changes and great developments using wording 1 month ago
the all too familiar sales pitch of alternative therapies that could
#RuinSciFi The Marching
easily be whittled down to something similar to Are you a person? Do #Bitofastretch 1 month ago
bad things happen that you dont like and want to fix? Have previous
#RuinSciFi The 2001 Ford
attempts at fixing these problems been bad? Well we have the solution. Odyssey 1 month ago
(NOTE: the previous sentence is to be read in the tone of a QVC Follow @Pakman1983
shopping channel presenter). The site was one of the more

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 transparent sites I found and it begins on its home page with the
promising line Arent you just a little curious what Access is all about?
and (wait for the sarcasm) follows it up with some informative,
beautifully constructed and easily intelligible sentences such as
Access consciousness is about empowering you to know what YOU know.
So that YOU have the life YOU truly desire. What if youre the creator of
your life? And if youre the creator, you can change any part of it?. The
details of what Access Bars are, however, isnt addressed on this
page so you move on to The Bars, a section on the site which gives
you the lowdown on the 32 Bars and provides you with a helpful
graph:

Reading more of the details on the site left me scratching my head

between the bars for creating life forms and money (which
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 surprisingly didnt result in any Leprechauns. Go figure?), and
ruminating on a final couple of sentences I read. At worst you feel
like you have just had the best massage of your life. At best your
whole life can change into something greater with total ease and
And if youre a healer or practitioner of any kind, how excited would
your clients be if you were to add this to your list of service?

The first sentence could apply to a lot of alternative therapies that

usually involve a hands on approach (unlike Reiki for instance) but it
was the last sentence that I dwelt on most of all. These sites are
selling to an audience, not only of prospective customers of Access
Consciousness but also practitioners who want to add to their
repertoire of alternative treatments. AccessBars.ie has a course
advertised where you can, for an investment of 160 (80 for repeats),
be guided through the first steps of Access consciousness. I can only
assume this is 160 euros as its not actually stated on the site but it
could be space hugs for all I know and Im reluctant to assume
anything when dealing with people so divorced from reality. Likewise
the access consciousness site itself has a page () with details on how
to become an access facilitator for the currency specific amount of
$100 which is to be paid on an annual basis so that you can keep your
license. Access facilitators appear, at least from my interpretation, to
be a self regulated group. I suppose doing essentially nothing, for

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 money, could hardly be seen as harmful outside of the financial costs
incurred by the credulous but it is this approach that lends a false
legitimacy to innumerable forms of quackery and helps them to
present themselves as something other than fantasy bullshit. Access
Bars appears to just be another form of magical thinking that if
believed by its proponents has no real effect outside of head
massage. For those practitioners who dont believe in its claims, it is
just a well packaged, self regulating school of crap that you can
practice with all the bells and whistles of accreditation for an annual
fee and a suppression of your moral instincts.

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Free Speech

18 THOUGHTS ON HOLISTIC THERAPIES: ACCESS BARS

gene
JUNE 26, 2012 AT 11:21 PM

I am glad u wrote this, so many people take these classes and I

find it weird that You do not see MORE & More people
practicing the BARS if they worked hmm?? I feel the same about
Richard Barlletts Matrix Energetics (ME), he also is a
chiropractor & so is Eric Pearl who started The Reconnection. I
find that these men GOT this Magical Gift from the universe and
yet they Charge Outrageous Amounts of money for people to
learn these practices and if u want 2b a facillator WOW the
charges you have to pay and all the FREE service thast u have to
give to R Barrlett to Assist him in his seminarsl WOW really???
You get a Gift 4 Free from the universe and u gouge people to get
a Healing..even tho R Bartlett does not use that word or that he
really Knows what ME is he just Charges people to Learn it .

Same thing w/ME, hundreds of people in Chicago and near

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 suburbs have taken these Expensive ME classes and you hardly
see anyone Practicing ME and those that do have mnay OTHER
modalities they use along with or do NOT even mention ME.

Now..reasoning. If these things were what they are proported 2b

would not more and more people b practicing the art?
If thes gurus want to truly seek out and help people on the planet
why charge so much money that totally knocks a whole lot of
people out of the box that are really really sick and in desperate
need to have their bodies healed???

It makes me want 2 Puke to see these folks take advantage of

others..and if this stuff reallhy worked why are they not setting
up FREE clinics all over the place to really HELP folks ??? why is
everything about Money? R Bartlett travels the world putting on
these seminars..and so do the others..how much money do they
need?

REPLY

pulchism
JULY 3, 2012 AT 9:19 PM

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 nothing in the scientific literature about these bars. Must be
pretty cutting edge..

REPLY

yaam koluu eitimi

DECEMBER 5, 2013 AT 8:14 AM

I simply could not depart your website prior to suggesting that I

actually loved the usual info an individual provide on your
guests?
Is going to be again continuously to check out new posts

REPLY

Teressa
JULY 30, 2014 AT 3:27 PM

actually, if you know anything about quantum physics, you will

know that all you need to do is believe-your thoughts are much
more powerful that you might think, and yes, there is scientific
evidence that this is true-therefore, what you believe is what is
true for you. So, if you are releasing negativity from your body,

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 then it is what is happening. A skeptic certainly cannot reap the
benefits of something like reiki or Access consciousness because
their ego is too big to allow them to heal, therefore they will
always be held back by their ego. Happy living to all! Remember,
science still doesnt know why we need sleep, why we dream and
how gravity works, and yet we know all those things exist.

REPLY

david
MARCH 29, 2015 AT 2:32 AM

yes.skeptical vigilance is refreshingprovided the vigilant

cast an eye upon their own preconceptions. science is just as
much a religion if viewed from certain article of faith angles.
but it says so in the good textbook of unexamined assertion!!
but yes.that photo of whats his face.sheesh

REPLY

pakman1983
MAY 5, 2015 AT 2:39 PM

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 Science is in complete opposition to faith. Science is trust in
ideas based on evidence and the theorys resilience to
testing and contradiction. Faith is belief in an unshakeable
truth in spite of the evidence against it.

Steven Novella put it better than I can:

What do you think science is? Theres nothing magical
about science. It is simply a systematic way for carefully and
thoroughly observing nature and using consistent logic to
evaluate results. Which part of that exactly do you disagree
with? Do you disagree with being thorough? Using careful
observation? Being systematic? Or using consistent logic?

pakman1983
MAY 5, 2015 AT 2:31 PM

Hey sorry for late reply, I havent given much consideration to

anything blog related in some time. Knowing only something
about Quantum Physics is enough for me to know you dont
really have any clue what you are talking about. You are just
one of the many credulous people taken in by quacks and woo
merchants like Deepak Chopra and his ilk. Experts in quantum
theory are never found talking about negative energy or reiki

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 because it has nothing to do with it. Deepak just takes
sciencey words to try and ad credibility to his nonsense. I
desperately hope you are just trolling because that would be
funny, if not I am pained that people like you exist.

REPLY

Adam Reeves
NOVEMBER 16, 2016 AT 10:33 AM

Im not sure if you are being ironic or not here but science
certainly does know why we sleep, dream and how gravity
works..and also knows that there is much more to learn as new
evidence arises. Its small minded to link skepticism to having
an ego too big to be open to healing A skeptical mind is
essential for anyone on any kind of spiritual/healing path the
holistic world is full tricksters and charlatans and if youre not
willing to ask some basic questions then dont be surprised if
you end up in a cult the ultimate end destination of the non-
skeptical spiritual seeker.

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 Rach
SEPTEMBER 3, 2014 AT 8:47 PM

I agree, its a bit like accupressure and accupuncture where

different points of your body can be a sore point for release of
tension, stress etc..which are all linked to our conscious and sub
conscious mind, BARS can act in the same way, the human body
is still one of the biggest medical mysteries of our time, there is
more to be discovered every day.

REPLY

vivi
JUNE 9, 2015 AT 6:02 PM

You fuckersBecause U touch few point you declare that its a

Revelation? Pure speculative and pure bussiness to dumb the
dumbs with money ofcourseGet a job! and a few morality you
Hypocrits

REPLY

pakman1983

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 JUNE 10, 2015 AT 9:28 AM

I really dont know who you are angry with. Is it me or the

people I was talking about?

REPLY

IDareYou2TryBars
JANUARY 4, 2016 AT 10:40 PM

I Dare You To Try Bars!

REPLY

pakman1983
FEBRUARY 8, 2016 AT 5:52 PM

Sorry so late to approve comment. This blog, as you can see by

the dates, is now just a relic of my deceased writing career.

REPLY

Monika22
FEBRUARY 29, 2016 AT 5:43 AM
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 What a neuroscientist has to say about Access Bars:

REPLY

pakman1983
FEBRUARY 29, 2016 AT 11:34 AM

That was awful sorry. Completely disingenuous drivel from

someone obviously with an agenda.

He said nothing about the interpretation of his nonsense

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 graphs. He didnt even mention how a sample was chosen to
determine the standard deviation for his plots.

He is just throwing out scientific sounding details and

peppering his explanations with misused statistical
terminology.

He then went on to talk about energy aligning and chakras

which excludes him from scientific discussion immediately.

REPLY

Phil
SEPTEMBER 3, 2016 AT 3:40 PM

Thanks for the vid. Still doing my own research.

REPLY

Phil
SEPTEMBER 3, 2016 AT 3:34 PM

Interesting article. I hadnt heard of it before. I was wondering if

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 you have since come across any studies on Access BAR. Thanks
for your perspective.

REPLY

paulwcannell
JANUARY 14, 2017 AT 4:08 PM

access consciousness is yet another money orientated

metaphysical placebo modality that posits a fantasy definition of
the follower seeing themselves as beyond being a human. In this
metaphysical modality the follower/believer is taught to see
themselves as .energy, space and consciousness, and even a
humanoid. This is a fascinating psuedo conclusion as invented
by those creative minds at access consciousness who are
convinced that by saying things enough times, it will come true.
All religions and metaphysical belief systems do the same.
Human minds suffering from cognitive dissonance create and
posit solid static notions of god or gods or the supernatural or
entities or the divine or oneness etc .and either think they are
that or hope to attain to that psuedo conclusion and self
definition and live in that self imposed fantasy. By actually
questioning, doubting and challenging our beliefs, we begin to

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 clear away our dependance on these metaphysical modalities
and religions and the supernatural, and develop our cognitive
and reasoning capacities as actual humans.Its never too late to
think for oneselfwether rich or notacademic or notFrom
personal experience

REPLY

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BLOGROLL

Martin S Pribble

PolySkeptic

Rant in A Minor
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 Science Based Medicine

ScienceBit

PAKMAN1983

@ChipChipperson No Movement? What are you constipated or sumtin? #ImAfraidPeopleWillThinkThisIsAnActualJoke

https://t.co/wQFbHuxtke 1 month ago

@GordonRamsay How'd I do? Tempura prawns, red pepper and jalapeo jam, with coconut rice and avocado, cucumber
and twitter.com/i/web/status/8 1 month ago

@DannyJRoss It was supposed to be a new car launch. Hence the wording 1 month ago

#RuinSciFi The Marching #Bitofastretch 1 month ago

#RuinSciFi The 2001 Ford Odyssey 1 month ago

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