This is a recurring line throughout Soul Healing Miracles, the new book of New York Times best-selling author Dr Zhi Gang Sha.

Sha, who was recently in Australia offering ''soul healings'', is an anomaly.

I am speaking with him over the phone and he intermittently breaks into song. He also tells me how he ''soul heals'' himself when he has a sore throat.

"I say 'Dear soul mind body of throat, I love you. You have the power to heal yourself. Do a good job. Thank you.' And the funny feeling disappears."

To say my eyebrow is raised is an understatement. There are plenty of shonky ''healers'' around the world praying on the vulnerable.

Yet, Sha's credentials are far from shonky.

He is a doctor of Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. He is also a grandmaster of Tai Chi, was the lead acupuncturist for the World Health Organisation, has been named Qigong Master of the Year and in 2006 was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Commission Award for his humanitarian efforts.

And as far as his very unusual approach to healing goes, he has even conducted a (small) randomised, double-blind study to test its efficacy.

The study, from 2006, which was backed by a panel including a neurosurgeon, psychologist and professor of psychiatry, explored how his blessings could affect the mental and emotional states of recipients.

They found "statistically significant differences [in emotional and mental wellbeing] between blessed and control groups".

Neurologist Dr Peter Hudoba, who left his hospital post to work at the Sha Institute, was one of the doctors who supported the study.

"A patient might need surgery, but techniques like prayer and healing blessing can also facilitate healing," he explained to Wired in 2007. "Fragmenting the healing process is not beneficial to the patient."

Sha explains that his methods "intergrate modern medicine with traditional Chinese medicine and 5000 years of traditional Chinese art ... together to create soul, mind, body, medicine".

He believes the integration is important and currently missing from most approaches. "Modern medicine is very important," he says.

"It's good for early diagnosis and if you have a heart attack, you're not going to take herbs, you're going to call 911 and go to hospital.

"It's great for emergencies, it's great for diagnosis. Its weakness is for chronic conditions and long-term conditions."

In his book, he says: "The cause of all sickness is soul, mind, body blockages. Soul blockages are negative karma. Mind blockages include negative mindsets, negative attitudes, negative beliefs, ego, attachments and more. Body blockages are energy and matter blockages."

His notion is that by "saying hello" via various mantras (whch sound dangerously close to positive affirmations), the soul has the power to heal itself.

"Your own soul has power beyond comprehension," he says.

Power perhaps, but it is not foolproof.

"Soul healing is not 100 per cent," says Sha, who also says you can receive 'divine' soul healing 'downloads' just by reading his book. "Not everybody can be saved in hospital, not everybody can be saved by soul healing.

"There are some people I could not offer healing to, [their] blockage was so heavy."

Indeed, Dr Malcolm Ing, an ophthalmologist who researched patients with severe eye problems treated by Sha, told Wired: "As an objective scientist, you have to look at the real results. Frankly, none of the patients got any improvement. But they all appreciate his efforts."

Whether his efforts are seen as benign, malignant or helpful, Sha is used to critics.

"For the sceptics, I say first of all, I love you, I am honoured to have the opportunity to [share], I have spent more than 10 years serving 100,000 people. There are some people I could not help.

"I wish you open the heart and soul. Let the experience to serve you."

You can only tell if the pear is sweet, as he says, if you taste it.