Letting go, Vietnamese style.

Photo by Randy Tunnell: Hands Of Magic: Viet opens the disbelieving author''s chakras.

Ann Draper''s Carmel home is the sort of place that''s naturally restorative while vibrant at the same time. Open rooms filled with interesting objects look into a large backyard, and upstairs, in a former home office, Draper''s created a sanctuary of sorts, with an eclectic mix of religious and spiritual art and icons lining a table turned into an altar.

It''s the perfect setting for Draper''s frequent hosting of friends with interests in alternative healing and spiritual development. Once a month, 15 or so guests gather at the weathered Mexican table in Draper''s brightly painted dining room to drink tea and munch on fruit while waiting for their turn with Mountain View-based energy healer Viet Nguyen, a man known simply as Viet.

When I arrive for an appointment with Viet, I''m greeted by Michelle Urban, a friendly woman who acts as his manager. She is such a believer in his ability to help people heal that she has turned her Mountain View home over to him for energy work. Urban also acts as a coach for the uninitiated. She explains to me the philosophy of his chakra opening techniques, a concept I''m vaguely familiar with from yoga class.

Urban begins by handing me a diagram with energy centers of the human body, known as the seven chakras, mapped out with the various bodily functions they correspond to. According to this schema, Chakra Seven, at the top of the head, controls the whole body, and it is through this spot that Urban asks me to focus on bringing the light of the universe into my body when Viet works on me.

As she talks, a tribe of self-professed "Viet junkies" eagerly interrupt to share their stories. One woman describes how her son gave up drugs and transformed his anger after sessions with Viet. Others relay stories of how a friend in a coma woke up when Viet visited her at the hospital. But Urban gently guides the conversation away from tales of miraculous physical transformations to emphasize the spiritual aspect of Viet''s work.

"It''s not so much a physical healing as a soul healing," she explains. "It''s up to the person''s soul to decide if they want to heal. Viet guides but doesn''t get involved in someone else''s karma."

The man of the hour, small with round glasses, comes slowly down the stairs. He takes a seat at the table and shakes my hand. Soon after, a woman follows him down the same stairs, walking gingerly, as if not to upset her balance. "Mr. Viet, you are a very talented man," she says, grinning. Her face resembles the aftereffects of a good massage--unlined and glowing.

Viet accepts a hug from her, then returns upstairs to prepare the room for me. The Viet chatter continues, as Urban gives me a little background on his1979 arrival from South Vietnam.

"At that time, Viet was living ''the other life,''" Urban says, apparently referring to a more selfish, less spiritual existence. "One day, he dusted off a book on Buddhism, read the entire thing, and realized that he understood everything in it."

Soon after, Urban continues, Viet started an apprenticeship with a healer known as Master Dang, who received an Albert Schweitzer Award last September. "It was the late ''80s, and the first time Master Dang opened Viet''s chakras he went home and meditated, and felt like he was levitating," Urban says.

With all the hype ringing in my head, I head upstairs and take off my shoes. Candles flicker on the altar above us, and Viet has me sit on a small cushion on the floor and close my eyes. He places one hand on my forehead and the other on the back of my neck. He instructs me to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth, three times slowly.

With my mind busy trying to jot down notes, it''s hard to actually let go and be in the experience. After a few minutes, Viet asks me to lie down on my back on some fluffy rugs.

It''s so quiet I can hear his stomach gurgling. I sense the presence of his hands over my torso, then he moves down to my feet. Suddenly, I''m there. I''m in a trance-like state but at the same time aware of what is happening in the room. After about 30 minutes of deep relaxation, while Viet continues to pass his hands over me, I''m alarmed by an abrupt noise in the room. The windows are rattling in their frames. Loudly.

A few minutes later, Viet leaves the room, and I manage to get myself into a seated position. I don''t know what he did to me, but I don''t really care. I feel great.

I slowly make my way downstairs, where Draper and her friends are trading stories and eating fruit and muffins. "Did you guys feel that?" I ask, hoping for confirmation of my window rattling experience. Draper looks at me blankly.

"Were the windows shaking down here too?" I ask. Draper looks at me carefully, then a big grin passes across her face. "No, the windows were not shaking!" she laughs. "You must have had a whole lot going on up there!"

I wander into the living room, where Viet is seated among other clients. "Viet, did you hear the windows rattling?" I ask. "Yes," he answers, his face implacable. "And I heard something on the roof too."

"What was that?" I ask. "I do not know," he says slowly.

"Viet, what was that?" I repeat. "I think there was a spirit leaving you," he answers, and somehow, I don''t disbelieve him. "Sometimes you pass by a spirit, and if it likes your energy field, it will stick to you," Viet clarifies.

I''m not sure about all this, but as I head out the door into rush hour traffic, I notice an immediate shift in my persona. I start practicing the chakra breathing exercise that Viet has assigned me to perform daily. And instead of battling my way onto the freeway, I patiently wait for people ahead of me. Urban''s words resonate in my psyche: "We have to heal ourselves before we can help others. How can we blame Bush and Saddam when we can''t get along with our own parents and spouses? If we have violence in ourselves, we can''t judge that outside of us."

To host a chakra-opening session with Viet, call Michelle Urban at 650-964-5750.