Artie Egendorf
Artie Egendorf | |
|---|---|
| Residence | Bronx, NY, United States |
| Known for | energy healing cosmometry cosmology, Pranic Healing |
Arthur "Artie" Egendorf is an American clinical psychologist, author, and energy-healing teacher. A Vietnam War veteran, he became known for his research on the war's psychological effects on returning soldiers and for his book Healing from the War: Trauma and Transformation After Vietnam. In later decades he turned to energy healing and consciousness work, developing a practice he calls "Energy's Way".
Biography
Egendorf served in Vietnam in a U.S. Army intelligence unit. After returning home he earned a doctorate in clinical psychology from Harvard University and helped coordinate some of the first veteran "rap groups" in New York, informal gatherings in which former soldiers spoke openly about their combat experiences as a means of recovery.
He organized a national study of the war's impact on Vietnam veterans, an effort backed first by the National Council of Churches and subsequently by the United States Congress. He was one of the principal authors of the resulting 1981 Congressional study Legacies of Vietnam: Comparative Adjustment of Veterans and Their Peers. The findings, widely reported as "the Egendorf study", received front-page coverage in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, as well as in Time and Newsweek, and contributed to the establishment of federal outreach programs for Vietnam veterans.
Beginning in the late 1970s, Egendorf combined his clinical training with a range of contemplative and body-oriented disciplines, including focusing, the Feldenkrais Method, Reiki, and Tibetan, Anthroposophical, and Kabbalistic forms of meditation. He later relocated to the Bronx, New York, and devoted himself to teaching energy healing.
Work
Egendorf's early work centered on the psychology of trauma and recovery among combat veterans. In Healing from the War (1985) he describes stages of healing through which many Vietnam veterans moved beyond the pain of war, emphasizing open discussion of war experiences and the redirection of "warrior" qualities such as courage, commitment, and care toward constructive ends. He also encouraged veterans to become providers rather than recipients of care as a way of addressing self-doubt and estrangement.
In his later work Egendorf developed "Energy's Way", a practice that combines movement, energy work, vocalization, prayer, and meditation. He teaches methods drawn in part from Pranic Healing, including the use of the hands to sense subtle energy. He holds credentials as a Certified Associate Pranic Healer and an Arhatic Yogi, and studied the Feldenkrais Method with teachers including Anat Baniel.
Honors
Healing from the War was recognized by the Christophers with a Christopher Award for a work "affirming the highest human values".