Atlas›Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements›Guide 138
Guide XIV-138

Braco's silent-gaze gatherings

Braco (Josip Jelavić)2002Zagreb, Croatia
A 33 · L 55 · M 1212 interventions in the Trinity explorer
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: the organisation's current English FAQ on braco.me, the World Religions and Spirituality Project (WRSP) profile by Bromley and Edelman (2012), and press reports of in-person and livestreamed gatherings from 2015 to 2019. Where these differ (for example on gaze length or the pregnancy rule), both versions are given.

What it is. This is a healing movement, not a therapy. It centres on Braco, a Croatian man (WRSP gives his birth name as Josip Jelavić, "also spelled Grbavac"; born Zagreb 1967) who appears before groups and gazes at them in silence. There are no words, no touch and no doctrine. WRSP reports that he worked from 1993 with Ivica Prokić, a Serbian-born man who said he could heal and who used a thirteen-ray sun symbol. Prokić gave him the name "Braco" ("little brother"). After Prokić died in 1995, followers say Braco's "gift" emerged. The first large gazing session took place in 2002. [source: WRSP] The organisation is based at a centre at Srebrnjak 1 in Zagreb, and Braco tours abroad by invitation. [source: WRSP; Index.hr 2019] Since 2004 he has not spoken at sessions. [source: Index.hr 2019, citing Der Standard] In 2010 he was quoted as saying he is "not a guru or leader or any sect". [source: WRSP, citing Remez 2010]

Core idea of change, as the movement states it. The FAQ says that no one fully knows how the gaze works, and that Braco does not explain what some call "the energy". Some participants report that obstacles fade and that their lives change, including physically. [source: braco.me FAQ] WRSP reports that Braco calls himself a conduit, not the source, and attributes the energy to the sun. Healing claims are made by staff and devotees rather than by Braco himself, and his website has listed conditions said to have improved. [source: WRSP] The FAQ states that attending is not a substitute for medical care, that people should keep following their doctor's advice, and that Braco does not diagnose or treat. [source: braco.me FAQ]

Evidence status (one line). No controlled study supports a healing effect of the gaze [uncertain: not verified]. A skeptic investigator (Stollznow 2011, as summarised by WRSP) concluded there is no evidence of benefit, and a Croatian psychiatrist who has written books on Braco told Index.hr that he attributes the effects to autosuggestion. [source: WRSP; Index.hr 2018]

What the psychotherapist does. The therapist does not run, imitate or endorse gazing. The work is with clients (and families) who attend gatherings or livestreams: understanding what the gatherings mean in the client's life, cultural formulation, assessing strong reactions without pathologising belief, protecting the client's medical care, and addressing cost, dependence, family conflict and grief. [synthesis]

2. Framework

A. The movement's own formats (as published and reported).

  • In-person gatherings. Groups ranging from about 50 to over 1,000 people. Braco stands silently on a platform and meets the audience's gaze for a few minutes, then leaves. WRSP gives 5–10 minutes. One Miami report gives about five minutes, and an Austrian report (via Index.hr) gives 3 minutes 47 seconds. [source: WRSP; Miami New Times; Index.hr 2019] Before the gaze, reports describe an introductory talk by a presenter about Braco and Ivica, merchandise announcements and a video montage. Afterwards come testimonials and a DVD sales announcement. [source: Miami New Times; Index.hr 2018] WRSP reports that a pre-recorded speech in Croatian ("The Voice") is played after sessions, and that staff called "guardians" assist people who have intense emotional reactions. [source: WRSP]
  • Livestreams. These are offered on an ongoing basis at braco.me and described as free, funded by voluntary contributions. Recording or photographing them is not allowed. [source: braco.me FAQ; Gizmodo 2015] WRSP reports that viewers of video sessions were told to limit eye contact to seven seconds. [source: WRSP]
  • Photos of others. Participants may hold one or two photos of loved ones who cannot attend, including children and pregnant women. Photos should not be posted to the organisation. [source: braco.me FAQ]
  • Media and objects. DVDs (short gaze segments only), a book by a long-time presenter that includes a transcript of "The Voice", and the sun symbol, which the FAQ says helps visitors recall positive feelings. Sun jewellery is sold only at live events. [source: braco.me FAQ]
  • Eligibility. Adults only (18+). The FAQ says pregnant women past their third month should not gaze. Some press reports give a blanket no-pregnancy rule. [source: braco.me FAQ; Miami New Times; WRSP]
  • Costs reported. Livestreams are free. Zagreb sessions were free during a 2018 visit, where followers brought flowers. [source: Index.hr 2018] Touring events have charged entry: $8 in Miami and €10 in Austria in 2019. [source: Miami New Times; Index.hr 2019] Jewellery has been reported at $1,580–7,000 (Miami) and about $6,000 for a diamond "Golden Sun" pendant, described as giving a lasting "connection" to his energy. [source: Miami New Times; Gizmodo 2015] WRSP states that Braco does not charge for his work and that the entry fee covers costs. [source: WRSP]

B. The psychotherapist's work (all phases [synthesis]; no source gives session counts, so none are stated).

  1. Engagement and meaning. Goal: understand what the gatherings mean to the client without judgement. Move on when the client can describe their experience and hopes and feels safe being honest about them.
  2. Cultural and clinical assessment. Goal: complete the CFI core and the spirituality module, map the client's health care, screen strong reactions and differentials, and check for risk. Move on when you have a shared formulation of the problem in the client's terms and know whether a medical or psychiatric referral is needed.
  3. Protecting medical care and decision support. Goal: confirm the client's medical care continues as the doctor directs and support autonomous decisions. Move on when there is a coordinated plan (with consent) and no unaddressed gap in treatment.
  4. Ongoing work. Goal: address the client's own therapy goals and the themes the gatherings bring up: hope, cost, frequency and dependence, family conflict, proxy healing for others, and grief when hoped-for change does not come. This phase is reviewed periodically.
  5. Ending or referral. Goal: consolidate the client's own sources of support, both religious or community and medical. Use specialist referral as needed.

3. Guiding principles

  • Describe, don't adjudicate. Use the movement's terms ("gaze", "energy", "the sun") as the client's terms. In practice, never argue for or against the gift. [synthesis]
  • Respect for self-determination and religious difference. The client decides what the gatherings mean and whether to attend. In practice, explore; don't steer. [source: APA Ethics Code, Principle E]
  • Competence. Where spirituality is central to the problem, get training or consultation, or refer. In practice, use the CFI and consult colleagues familiar with Central-European and Balkan healing traditions. [synthesis]
  • Medical care is the doctor's domain. Never advise starting, stopping or changing a medicine, and never present the gaze as treating any illness. In practice, route every medical question to the treating physician. The movement's own FAQ also says to keep following the doctor. [source: braco.me FAQ; synthesis]
  • Avoid harm. Watch for delayed care, financial strain and dependence, and act early. In practice, include these in routine review. [synthesis]
  • No dual roles. The therapist is never gazer, healer, companion at sessions or seller of objects. In practice, do no gazing exercises in session, don't accompany the client to sessions, and keep any personal involvement in such movements out of the therapy. [source: APA Ethics Code 3.05; synthesis]
  • Informed consent about therapy, not about the gaze. Explain what therapy offers and its limits. In practice, collaborate with the doctor only with consent. [synthesis]
  • Don't pathologise belief; do assess symptoms. Strong emotion, trembling or crying at gatherings is reported as common. Distinguish expected experience within the community from symptoms needing care. [source: Index.hr 2019; Miami New Times; synthesis]
  • Safeguard third parties. Children and dependent adults may be "included" by photo without their say. In practice, keep their medical needs in view. [synthesis]
  • Name the organisation accurately. Avoid labels such as "sect". Describe specific behaviours (spending, pressure, isolation) instead. [synthesis]

4. Intervention inventory

These are the psychotherapist's procedures for clients involved with the gatherings. None of them reproduces, teaches or simulates the gaze. All are [synthesis] unless a source is tagged.

4.1 Client-led exploration of the gathering experience

  • Purpose / when: At first mention of Braco, gatherings, livestreams or the sun symbol, and whenever the client returns from a session.
  • Steps: (1) Ask permission to talk about it. (2) Invite a concrete account: how they came to it (friend, family, online), what happened before, during and after, and what they felt in their body and mind. (3) Ask what it means: hope, peace, belonging, relief from illness or loneliness. (4) Reflect back in the client's words ("the gaze", "the energy"). (5) Link it to the client's own therapy goals only if the client makes the link.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You mentioned the gathering last weekend. Would you be willing to tell me what it was like for you, from the moment you arrived?" / "When you say you felt lighter, what was lighter?"
  • Watch for: Your own urge to debunk or to endorse. Shame or secrecy ("my family laughs at me"). It is working when the client talks openly, including about doubts and costs.

4.2 Cultural Formulation Interview with the spirituality module

  • Purpose / when: Early in assessment, when the gatherings or related beliefs bear on the presenting problem or on help-seeking.
  • Steps: (1) Use the DSM-5-TR CFI core interview: the cultural definition of the problem, perceived causes, cultural stressors and supports, the role of cultural identity, and help-seeking. (2) Add the Spirituality, Religion, and Moral Traditions module. Use the client's own name for the tradition (for example "Braco's gatherings", or the client's church if they combine both). Explore identification and involvement, its role in daily and family life, whether it helps them cope, and whether it has caused distress, discrimination or conflict. (3) Explore each tradition separately if there is more than one. Many attendees also hold a church affiliation, and some describe feeling "the love of Jesus Christ" in the gaze. (4) Consider the Explanatory Model, Coping and Help-Seeking, and Social Network modules, and the Informant version if family are involved. [source: APA CFI Supplementary Modules; Index.hr 2019]
  • Example language (illustrative): "What do you call what happens at the gatherings?" / "How does going fit with your faith and your family's?"
  • Watch for: Paraphrase the questions in your own words and don't read items like a checklist. It is working when you can write down the client's explanatory model in their words.

4.3 Health-care map and doctor coordination

  • Purpose / when: For any client with a physical or psychiatric illness who attends hoping for improvement, or who attends for a family member.
  • Steps: (1) List the client's diagnoses, treating clinicians, current treatments and upcoming appointments, as the client reports them. (2) Ask neutrally whether attending has changed anything about their treatment: missed appointments, stopped medicines, postponed tests or surgery. (3) Share that the organisation's own FAQ asks people to keep following their doctor's advice and treatment. Many clients find that this removes a false choice. [source: braco.me FAQ] (4) With written consent, contact the treating physician to coordinate. Never advise on medicines. (5) If treatment has stopped against medical advice, explore the reasons (fear, side effects, cost, hope), encourage the client to talk to the doctor, and document. If there is serious risk and the person lacks capacity, follow local law on disclosure. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Many people use the gatherings alongside their medical care, and the organisation itself asks people to keep following their doctor. How has that worked for you?" / "Would it help if I spoke with Dr. X, with your permission, so we're all pulling in the same direction?"
  • Watch for: Hidden discontinuation, and "waiting to see if the gaze works" before tests. It is working when the medical plan is intact and the client feels no need to hide either path.

4.4 Assessing strong reactions without pathologising

  • Purpose / when: The client reports, or family describe, crying, trembling, near-fainting, convulsing, heat, visions or altered states during or after a gaze. All of these are reported at gatherings. [source: Index.hr 2019; Miami New Times; WRSP]
  • Steps: (1) Normalise that intense emotion is commonly reported in the setting. (2) Ask about the timeline, duration, recovery, loss of awareness, injury, incontinence, tongue-biting and any previous similar episodes. (3) Route any convulsive episode, collapse or loss of consciousness to a medical evaluation. This includes distinguishing epileptic from functional or dissociative seizures and syncope. (4) Screen for dissociation (derealisation, depersonalisation, amnesia), panic, and psychotic or manic features (new grandiose beliefs about a personal mission, special messages from the gaze, reduced need for sleep, distress spreading beyond the setting). (5) Distinguish belief shared with the community from idiosyncratic, fixed, impairing beliefs. Use family and community informants with consent. (6) Ask about grief or trauma that the session stirred up.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Lots of people describe strong feelings in the room. I'd like to understand exactly what your body did, so we can make sure it's looked after."
  • Watch for: Symptoms persisting days after a session, sleep loss, or messages experienced as commands. These call for psychiatric referral. It is working when episodes are explained medically and the client's experience is respected.

4.5 Proxy and photo-healing conversations

  • Purpose / when: The client holds photos of others (an ill parent, a child, a partner) at gatherings or livestreams, or attends on someone's behalf. [source: braco.me FAQ]
  • Steps: (1) Explore whom they bring and why, and what they hope for. (2) Ask whether the person in the photo knows and agrees, and how that person feels about it. (3) For a child or a dependent adult, confirm that medical assessment and treatment are going ahead. Hope placed in a photo must not replace care (see 4.9). (4) Work on the client's helplessness, caregiving load and anticipatory grief.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Bringing your son's photo sounds like a way of doing something when so much feels out of your hands. What else is happening for his care right now?"
  • Watch for: Conflict with the person in the photo, and guilt if they do not improve. It is working when the client's caring is honoured and practical care continues.

4.6 Spending review

  • Purpose / when: Repeated travel to gatherings abroad, ticketed events, donations to livestreams, or jewellery purchases. Reported prices run from about $8–€10 entry up to thousands of dollars for pendants. [source: Miami New Times; Index.hr 2019; Gizmodo 2015]
  • Steps: (1) Ask the client to estimate their spending on travel, tickets, DVDs, books, jewellery and donations over the past year. (2) Compare it with their income and household obligations, without moralising. (3) Explore what each purchase means (connection, protection, hope). (4) Agree on a limit if the client wants one, and identify triggers such as sales after sessions or announcements of new items. [source: Index.hr 2018 reports sales announcements after sessions] (5) Bring in a financial counselling referral if there is debt.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Would it help to sit down and look at what the gatherings have cost this year, just so you have the whole picture?"
  • Watch for: Debt, borrowing from family, or concealment. It is working when spending is chosen and affordable.

4.7 Frequency and dependence review (in-person and livestream)

  • Purpose / when: The client attends many sessions, watches livestreams daily, or feels unable to cope without them. One attendee in Miami described his eighth session. Livestreams are offered on an ongoing basis. [source: Miami New Times; braco.me FAQ]
  • Steps: (1) Map how often they attend or watch, the amount of time involved, and what prompts each session (pain, fear, low mood, loneliness). (2) Ask what happens when they miss one. (3) Explore the function: soothing, hope, routine, community. (4) Build additional coping routes alongside it without demanding they stop: medical symptom management, social contact, evidence-based therapy for anxiety or depression, and the client's own faith community. (5) If attendance works like reassurance-seeking for health anxiety or OCD (compulsive checking for "protection", fear of harm if a session is missed), treat it within an ERP formulation, with the client's consent. Respect the practice and target only its compulsive function.
  • Example language (illustrative): "What would a week without a livestream feel like? What would you be worried might happen?"
  • Watch for: Withdrawal from other relationships, distress when sessions are unavailable, and sleep disruption from streams at night. It is working when the gatherings are one support among several.

4.8 Family conflict work

  • Purpose / when: Relatives object (ridicule, fears of exploitation) or press an ill relative to attend, or the client is in conflict with them about either.
  • Steps: (1) Hear each position separately, with consent. (2) Separate the facts relatives can verify (published free livestreams, entry fees, medical advice to continue care) from fears. (3) Agree on concrete shared concerns, such as continuing medical care, affordable spending and contact with family, rather than arguing about belief. (4) Coach relatives to stay curious and non-shaming, and to avoid ultimatums. (5) Offer a joint session if wanted.
  • Example language (illustrative), to a relative: "Arguing about whether the gaze works tends to push people further in. What matters most to you here: her treatment, the money, or feeling shut out?"
  • Watch for: Secrecy and triangulation. It is working when conversations shift from "is it real?" to shared practical goals.

4.9 Child and dependent-adult safeguarding

  • Purpose / when: A child or dependent adult has a health need, and caregivers are relying on photo-healing or on hope from gatherings. The organisation bars under-18s from gazing and directs that a photo be held instead. [source: braco.me FAQ; WRSP]
  • Steps: (1) Ask what medical assessment and treatment the child is receiving. (2) Check whether any care has been delayed or refused. (3) If necessary treatment is being withheld, follow your jurisdiction's child-protection reporting duties and your service's safeguarding procedure, and consult your safeguarding lead. (4) Where appropriate, involve the child's own clinicians. (5) Give developmental and behavioural concerns proper assessment and referral, rather than spiritual explanation alone. Court, regulator or major-news reports of medical neglect or child-protection proceedings linked to the gatherings: none found in the sources consulted [uncertain: not verified].
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'm glad she has so many people hoping for her. Alongside that, I need to make sure her medical care is on track. Who is her doctor at the moment?"
  • Watch for: Missed appointments or refused treatment. It is working when the child's care is documented as continuing.

4.10 Hope, disappointment and grief work

  • Purpose / when: The hoped-for improvement does not come, an illness progresses, or someone "brought by photo" dies.
  • Steps: (1) Make room for disappointment, anger, self-blame ("I didn't believe enough") or blame of others. (2) Explore the client's meaning-making in their own frame, and do not use the moment to discredit the movement. (3) Address guilt directly: illness outcomes are not the result of the strength of their faith or the number of sessions they attended. (4) Provide grief support and refer to bereavement services as needed. (5) Screen for depression and suicidal thinking using standard risk assessment.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You went for him every month. That says how much you love him. It doesn't say that you failed him."
  • Watch for: Searching for a new healer under despair, and isolation. It is working when grief can be expressed without self-blame.

4.11 Role and consent conversation

  • Purpose / when: At intake, or when the client asks the therapist to attend, watch a livestream together, comment on Braco's power, or buy an object.
  • Steps: (1) Explain what therapy offers, including its limits and confidentiality. (2) State that you will not take part in or judge their practice. (3) Decline joint attendance, gazing in session and gifts of sun objects. (4) Keep any personal spiritual involvement out of the room. (5) Document the conversation. [source: APA Ethics Code 3.05; synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "I won't come along, and I won't tell you what to believe about it. My part is to help with what you came here for, and that includes whatever the gatherings bring up."
  • Watch for: The client feeling rejected. If so, repair it (see 5). It is working when the boundary is clear and the alliance holds.

4.12 Referral and community linkage

  • Purpose / when: Medical red flags, psychiatric symptoms, unmanageable debt, child-protection concerns, or the client's wish to involve their faith community.
  • Steps: (1) Medical: refer to the GP or treating specialist, or to emergency care for collapse or convulsions. (2) Psychiatric: refer for psychosis, mania or severe dissociation. (3) Financial counselling. (4) If the client wants it, involve a priest, pastor or other community figure they trust. (5) If the client wishes to step back from the movement, support them as they rebuild routines and relationships.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Would it help to bring someone from your parish into this, or would you rather keep it separate?"
  • Watch for: Referrals the client experiences as a judgement on their belief. Frame them as additional support. It is working when the client takes up the referral and stays in therapy.

5. Handling problems

All guidance in this section is [synthesis] unless a source is tagged. The sources on the movement do not address therapy.

  • The client fears the therapist will mock them, and stays guarded. Name it: "Some people worry I'll think less of them for going. I won't." Then return to their experience (4.1). Don't volunteer your view of the evidence. If asked directly, answer briefly and honestly: there is no research evidence of a healing effect, and many people still find the gatherings meaningful. Then move back to their goals.
  • Medical treatment has stopped or been postponed. Avoid confrontation. Use 4.3: explore the reasons, point out that the organisation's own guidance asks people to continue care, encourage contact with the doctor, and coordinate with consent. Escalate under your local law only when there is serious risk and the person lacks capacity, or when a child is involved (4.9). [source: braco.me FAQ; synthesis]
  • Overwhelm after a session (shaking, crying, derealisation). Ground the client in the present (orientation to the room, slow ordinary breathing at the client's own pace, naming objects), then do the 4.4 assessment. Route convulsive episodes or collapse to medical care. Postpone deep trauma processing until the client is stable.
  • Persistent grandiosity or special messages. Assess for mania or psychosis (4.4), involve the psychiatrist, and use family and community informants (with consent) to tell community-typical belief apart from change.
  • Spending keeps rising. Revisit 4.6, ask whether a trusted person could help with budgeting, and refer for debt advice. Avoid shaming. Name the pattern (sales after sessions, new objects) without attributing motive.
  • Non-adherence to therapy tasks. Check whether the task conflicts with the client's beliefs (for example, "keeping a symptom diary feels like doubting"). Adapt the task so it sits within their frame.
  • Rupture: the client feels judged after a referral or boundary (4.11, 4.12). Acknowledge it, validate their feeling, restate your respect for their choice, and explain your reason (their safety and care). Invite feedback ("How did that land?").
  • Stuck: "Nothing helps except Braco." Explore what the gatherings give them (peace, attention, belonging, hope) and look for other sources of those same experiences in daily life, alongside the gatherings. Review the treatment plan with the doctor.
  • Family wants the therapist to "get her out". Decline the role. The client is the client. Offer relatives support (4.8) or refer them to their own therapist. Do not run any exit-style intervention.
  • The client invites the therapist to watch a livestream in session. Decline warmly. Offer instead to hear what they experience when they watch (4.11).
  • The therapist's own pull, sceptical or enthusiastic. Use supervision. Where spirituality is central and you lack competence, consult or refer. [synthesis] Clinicians who also practise spiritual healing keep that work entirely separate from therapy. [source: APA Ethics Code 3.05]
  • Grief after hoped-for healing fails. Use 4.10, screen for suicide risk using standard practice, and refer to bereavement services.
  • Formal diagnosis. Where distress centres on spiritual or religious questions without a mental disorder, ICD-10-CM Z65.8 lists "religious or spiritual problem" as an inclusion term. [source: Unbound Medicine ICD-10-CM] DSM-5-TR wording for the corresponding condition [uncertain: not verified].

Sources

Pages:

Cited via the WRSP profile [uncertain: not verified]: Stollznow, K. (2011), "Braco the Gazer", Skeptical Inquirer (special article); Remez (2010), Maui Weekly; braco.net (the earlier official site); CESNUR (2008), Il movimento di Braco.

Book mentioned: Whitecliff, A., 21 Days with Braco (named in the braco.me FAQ).

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