by Frank Tybislawski and Victoria Lister, Brisbane Australia

It appears the recent media interest in Universal Medicine (UniMed) is the result of some rather vigorous pot stirring by a ‘disgruntled few’ – a handful of men who lay blame for the demise of their relationships at the feet of Universal Medicine. Happily, we can report the opposite is true for us: although we didn’t meet via UM, our involvement in the organisation has only strengthened our relationship and we are both the better for it – singularly, and as a couple. Here, we present a ‘his’n’hers’ version of events, in which we discuss how one of us was already a regular participant, how one of us wasn’t, how no-one felt threatened by the supposed inequity, how we both feel totally ‘gruntled’ about our relationship and UM, and how we know many others who would claim the same.

Victoria’s story:

I’m just going to provide some context – because the real heart of the story lies with Frank, as the one half of the equation who hadn’t heard of UniMed when we met and (if the media are to be believed), as a ‘vulnerable man’ in a supposedly female-dominant student body, had the most to lose.

At the time, I’d been attending Universal Medicine courses, workshops and healing sessions for about three years. I’d made some significant changes to my life and was choosing to live in a way that would soon be obvious to anyone seeking to get to know me: I was eating a gluten and dairy-free diet, I no longer drank alcohol, I went to bed at a sensible time, and so on. All the men I’d dated since making these changes had run a million miles, and while I could feel Frank was different, I couldn’t truly know how he’d react.

So one day, fairly early in the piece, I told him how I was living, and why. Thankfully, he stayed in his chair long enough to hear me out, asked sensible questions, told me he wasn’t much interested in alcohol anyway, had been thinking about eliminating gluten and all dairy from his diet (he’d already given away full cream milk and cheesy things), and didn’t think I was weird. Soon thereafter he offered to come with me to a UniMed event and I have to say, he took to it like a duck to water.

We haven’t looked back. We started living together pretty soon after, and 13 months from meeting, married with minimal fanfare in a registry. We’ve now clocked up three years, and live harmoniously and playfully together in an inner city unit so small it’d soon show up if we didn’t.

The Universal Medicine presentations we attend, and the simplicity with which we live are magical, and very much enhance the quality of our relationship. There are no ‘issues’ and we never fight; we simply have areas of our partnership that we independently and collectively explore and are open to developing. And… we’re not the only coupled students of UM who live like this – we have many amazing friends doing similarly all around us.

Indeed, I would go as far to say that there are many more couples positively impacted by their involvement in UM than not. And if I were to choose the one thing Universal Medicine might be said to stand for, it would be the truth – and if two people haven’t stayed the distance, it is simply because one, or both, have brought truth into the equation. Blaming an organisation for the end of your relationship? That doesn’t make sense to me.

Frank’s story: 

As Victoria said, I had never heard of Serge Benhayon or Universal Medicine until after I met Victoria. I do recall sitting across the dinner table with Victoria, in the early days of our relationship, where she would tell me all sorts of things about Universal Medicine, but there was certainly nothing at all to make me fear anything about her, or the organisation. Indeed, I had already discovered that certain dairy products played havoc with my digestion and had cut them from my diet. I had already planned to exclude gluten from my diet as I knew ‘something else’ wasn’t right, and knew a friend who had done the same with amazing changes in his health, which totally surprised his doctor. I was also intrigued that it could be possible to live in a very self-caring way, making very discerning choices, and that it was simple to do. Having a partner living the same way, with a similar diet, was just a win-win situation and provided a very solid and supportive framework to make that easy to accomplish.

Soon after meeting Victoria I decided to attend a Universal Medicine presentation, keen to know more, keen to meet other people who simply lived in a similar self-caring way. I also got to meet Serge, and I have to say it was like meeting an old friend; there was a feeling of equality between us, an openness. He didn’t try to sell me an idea or concept, he was just pleased to know that I was willing to listen and then make up my own mind.

Back to Victoria and I; it was perfectly clear that she was special, and I knew that the moment I looked into her eyes. There was a deep, honest reality, no false façade, no attempt to impress, just a genuinely open, kind and caring person. I thought, “Where has she been hiding for the last 30 years?”. Our meeting was amazing, our first date was lovely, but more importantly it was all so easy and simple. It was the same when I decided to move in – and soon after when we agreed to marry.

I can easily see the effect Universal Medicine has had on Victoria and I over the last few years. We take better care of ourselves than we ever have before, and we have more respect for each other as individuals. The extra weight I had been slowly gaining while working in Central Queensland just fell away with no effort at all, and my sleep quality also improved. Although I do shift-work, we live in very similar ways so it is very easy to interact together as a couple on a daily basis. Although we take this seriously we also have a lot of fun and laughs together. As I said before, the last few years has been a win-win situation for both of us, and I’m sure the same applies to many other couples who attend Universal Medicine presentations and workshops.