With our gifted paper and borrowed pencil, we now sat close to the side wall with the other English speaking attendees of the Domancic Method Level 1 Seminar. Filling the majority of the seminar area were Polish speaking attendees with Martyna standing at the front translating Croatian – Polish – Croatian. Our rather talented Croatian – English – Croatian translator was Bostjan, the therapist who had treated me earlier that day. I hadn’t intended getting treatment for myself but on the night before our departure from the UK I stepped from the camper. Carrying a drill, I found to my dismay that I had left a large piece of wood close to the door. As my heel hit the wood, though square in section, it began to roll abruptly sending me from upright to prone in the blink of an eye. I cracked my little toe on the tarmac which swelled somewhat but was easily ignored when wearing flip-flops and gained a minor craze to my right knee. But it was not these minor bumps for which Bostjan had treated me. As I landed, my lowest rib had met the corner of a tool box which, like a crocodile, had been waiting silently in the dark for an unsuspecting, rather tired and slightly stupid victim. A loud crack echoed through my chest as I landed and my intercostal muscles along with the rest my back had gone into spasm. As I got up and made my way to side of the camper for support, I realised that I hadn’t taken a breath for some time but it took a while longer to understand that I couldn’t take a breath. Having cracked ribs before, I knew how sore they could be and how long they take to mend properly. Back in 2002, shortly before I departed to Australia and New Zealand with a friend for a year, my sternum had been involved in an argument with the arm of a cast iron bench seat in the early hours of the morning following a nice quite farewell drink with friends. Though I don’t really recall the event, I understand that I fallen over a knee high wall and, upon jumping up to figure out what had happened, had fallen back over the same wall, spinning round in the process with my sternum acting as a rather poorly conceived airbag with my ribs taking the part of equally poor crumple zones. Some months later in Australia, I still felt the twinge of that night each time I coughed, rolled over in bed or carelessly bumped into an inanimate object.
Standing by the camper on the night before departure to Slovenia, I had no assistance with the pain from Jack Daniel’s and his sour mash magic or any other of the multitude of beverages that had graced my lips during my pre-Aus bash. Gradually, I began to take shallow breaths, becoming slowly deeper until I was no longer short of breath but still in pain. This pain would soon subside but be replaced by terrible spasms around the ribs. The drive to Slovenia was fine but at night the spasms would be very painful and left me once again short of breath. Bostjan had treated this area and now writing this, just 2 weeks after the incident I can sleep on my front, back or either side with only very minor discomfort and no spasms at all.
Zdenko Domancic now sat confidently in front of his audience and began to speak. His role here today was not to teach us of his methods but to discuss the philosophy and background to the treatment, to inform us how and why it worked and to demonstrate to those who hadn’t opened their own eyes just what wool had been pulled over them and who had done the pulling. He spoke of the various inequalities and conventions that led to our dissatisfaction with our lives and ultimately our physical condition and illnesses. Some nodded in agreement, some looked personally insulted and others simply confused. Domancic senior now took his leave and invited his son, Stipe, to take over. Stipe, possessing the same confidence and control of the room as his father, looked briefly across the faces of the attendees and spoke in a clear, penetrating voice. “Treatment”, Bostjan echoed.
It was then explained that all diseases were treated using a combination of 7 techniques which, used in varying amounts and in a specific combination could treat anything from tennis elbow to brain tumour. The techniques were then explained and demonstrated one at a time and in isolation with questions being asked in Polish or English with the responses being translated from Croatian. The words of Zdenko were now repeated by Stipe that therapists, and indeed doctors, do not heal the body, only the individual can heal themselves and that our role as biotherapists can be thought of as mechanics working on an energetic, rather than a physical, level. By helping in this way, the body is then able to return to it’s natural state of health.
We then broke for the afternoon with the other attendees asked to return at 18:45.
Walking around the lovely Bled, we decided to find a supermarket to buy some lunch. It seems that all food shops here in Bled are from the same franchise, namely Mercator. We enjoyed yoghurt, cereal bars and some fine sausages by the lake before heading back once again to the fourth floor of Hotel Lovec. Given that we were here for treatment for little Ilya, we got back early at around 17:30 after the clinic had begun it’s second session of the day at 17:00.
Sitting for some time, legs uncrossed and palms upwards as is the convention, we realised that everyone from the morning’s clinic had returned and that these were not different patients. Eventually, Stipe came over, nodded and called Ilya’s name once again. The enormous array of patients from all over the world waited patiently until being seen one at a time for their second treatment of the day. All were greeted upon arrival by Tanja in one of her many languages. Croatian, English, Italian, German and Slovenian – most impressive.
Finally, the last of the patients left and the doors were closed behind them. Domancic senior now took centre stage once again and continued where he had left off. He spoke of science and scientists and recalled being under scrutiny by the University of Zagreb. They had asked him to take part in experiments to qualify this strange method and during the experiment Zdenko Domancic and his therapists exposed aqueous solutions of calcium salts to bioenergy. The results were incredible – to the scientists, at least. The usual crystalline pattern was transformed, as verified by electron microscopy, into a variety of forms – the most stunning of which closely resembles a flower. Now, having shown us all copies of the electron micrographs, this confident, assertive man posed the question, “Do you think YOU could do this?” The blank faces and nervous insecurities of many in the audience were a contrast to those who already understood what was coming. “Of course you can”, he said with a smile, his face now softer and with a look of reassurance in his eyes.
Soon it was time for Stipe to once again take over and we continued with the techniques of this extraordinary method. We learned how the body responds to the 7 techniques and when they should and shouldn’t be used. It was incredible to see the utter simplicity of this treatment demonstrated step-by-step with the assistance of our “guinea pigs”, namely two of the therapists that were not otherwise taking part in the seminar.
With the conclusion of the remainder of the techniques, we were asked to come back in the morning at 10:00 but this time to meet in the reception of Hotel Kompass, the hotel next door to Hotel Lovec where the attendees, with the exception of the Duffin family, were all staying.
As we walked 45 minutes back to the campsite around the lake in the cool, damp air, we were thankful to all the people who had made our visit here possible and to those who had shown us such generosity now that we had arrived. Tomorrow would be a good day.




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