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[h1]Alternative healing helps Miami Dolphins' Ricky Williams stay fit[/h1][h3]By BARRY JACKSON[/h3][h3]bjackson@MiamiHerald.com[/h3]
As Ricky Williams was scoring three touchdowns Thursday, his ``pranic healer'' was listening to the game on the radio in California -- in between conducting a meditation session -- just in case Williams needed his help.
So can a man thousands of miles away help treat Williams' nicks and pain through deep thinking?
It doesn't matter if you or I are skeptical. For Williams, it only matters what he thinks. And he's a believer.
Williams, averaging a career-high 5.3 yards a carry, said the way he cares for his body has a lot to do with his terrific season. There's the vegetarian diet. The daily breathing and meditation, sometimes for two hours.
The acupuncture and massages. The twice-weekly yoga. The new water-based energy drink Evolv that's sold online -- he ``swears by it'' after he drank three bottles before the Saints game and then scored three touchdowns.
``He also does things you wouldn't expect,'' Ronnie Brown said.
One is pranic healing, an alternative medical treatment that originated in the Orient 4,000 years ago. Williams, 32, performs pranic healing on himself and uses a pranic healer, Daniel O'Hara.
Here's how it works: ``Ricky will send me a text message saying, for example, to work on his ankle,'' O'Hara said. O'Hara, in Orange County, Calif., will then ``visualize Ricky's ankle as if he's standing in front of me. I visualize him glowing. I make a sweeping motion over my ankle to remove the dirty energy from his ankle that's creating an abnormality and give his body fresh, revitalizing energy.''
``Ricky could be doing anything when I'm doing this -- watching TV, sleeping,'' O'Hara said. ``It's like a voodoo doll. I know it sounds strange.''
O'Hara said Williams then text messages him indicating how the body part feels. ``He says it's a four, and I'll try to get it to a 10. It takes me four minutes with Ricky because he meditates and has positive energy. It could take 25 minutes with somebody else. He's special.''
Williams, in his Charlotte, N.C., hotel, called O'Hara on Wednesday night and O'Hara said they visualized ``Ricky having three touchdowns and 184 rushing yards'' against Carolina. (He had three touchdowns and ran for 119 yards.) He also worked on Williams' slight arm numbness.
Williams, who appears on O'Hara's website, has done pranic healing since 2007 and said last week, ``Usually, I prefer to work on it myself, but for some of the little nicks I've had this season, Daniel has really helped me. I know for a fact it works. It's fascinating.''
O'Hara said when Williams sprained an ankle in the first Jets game, ``The second I saw that on TV, I started working on him, and when he got back to the sideline, he was fine. He figured I was doing something. I can feel what is going on in his body.''
Williams, held out of the last series against Carolina, had pain in a chest muscle, but coach Tony Sparano said he will be fine.
Encouraged by pranic healing and the other ways to heal his body, Williams said he hasn't ruled out playing beyond 2010. ``I'm looking forward to my plans after football,'' he said Tuesday at his new South Beach restaurant, PROOF. ``But if it's the right situation, it would be difficult to turn down.''
As Ricky Williams was scoring three touchdowns Thursday, his ``pranic healer'' was listening to the game on the radio in California -- in between conducting a meditation session -- just in case Williams needed his help.
So can a man thousands of miles away help treat Williams' nicks and pain through deep thinking?
It doesn't matter if you or I are skeptical. For Williams, it only matters what he thinks. And he's a believer.
Williams, averaging a career-high 5.3 yards a carry, said the way he cares for his body has a lot to do with his terrific season. There's the vegetarian diet. The daily breathing and meditation, sometimes for two hours.
The acupuncture and massages. The twice-weekly yoga. The new water-based energy drink Evolv that's sold online -- he ``swears by it'' after he drank three bottles before the Saints game and then scored three touchdowns.
``He also does things you wouldn't expect,'' Ronnie Brown said.
One is pranic healing, an alternative medical treatment that originated in the Orient 4,000 years ago. Williams, 32, performs pranic healing on himself and uses a pranic healer, Daniel O'Hara.
Here's how it works: ``Ricky will send me a text message saying, for example, to work on his ankle,'' O'Hara said. O'Hara, in Orange County, Calif., will then ``visualize Ricky's ankle as if he's standing in front of me. I visualize him glowing. I make a sweeping motion over my ankle to remove the dirty energy from his ankle that's creating an abnormality and give his body fresh, revitalizing energy.''
``Ricky could be doing anything when I'm doing this -- watching TV, sleeping,'' O'Hara said. ``It's like a voodoo doll. I know it sounds strange.''
O'Hara said Williams then text messages him indicating how the body part feels. ``He says it's a four, and I'll try to get it to a 10. It takes me four minutes with Ricky because he meditates and has positive energy. It could take 25 minutes with somebody else. He's special.''
Williams, in his Charlotte, N.C., hotel, called O'Hara on Wednesday night and O'Hara said they visualized ``Ricky having three touchdowns and 184 rushing yards'' against Carolina. (He had three touchdowns and ran for 119 yards.) He also worked on Williams' slight arm numbness.
Williams, who appears on O'Hara's website, has done pranic healing since 2007 and said last week, ``Usually, I prefer to work on it myself, but for some of the little nicks I've had this season, Daniel has really helped me. I know for a fact it works. It's fascinating.''
O'Hara said when Williams sprained an ankle in the first Jets game, ``The second I saw that on TV, I started working on him, and when he got back to the sideline, he was fine. He figured I was doing something. I can feel what is going on in his body.''
Williams, held out of the last series against Carolina, had pain in a chest muscle, but coach Tony Sparano said he will be fine.
Encouraged by pranic healing and the other ways to heal his body, Williams said he hasn't ruled out playing beyond 2010. ``I'm looking forward to my plans after football,'' he said Tuesday at his new South Beach restaurant, PROOF. ``But if it's the right situation, it would be difficult to turn down.''
and mushroom and assorted vegetables risotto ($1
