Carol Yingling, a minister at the Church of Scientology of Connecticut, was walking along a street in New York recently with a friend when they were approached by two city firefighters.
"They saw us," said Yingling, a Cheshire resident, "and said, 'You're the volunteer ministers. We love those nerve massage things.' "
The technical term would be "an assist," and the people volunteering in New York through the Church of Scientology have been giving them to rescue workers and emergency personnel in lower Manhattan since Sept. 11.
In the wake of the attacks, Scientologists - as well as many others from around the country - descended on New York to offer help, and what they have been doing is giving "assists," which are techniques similar to massages and counseling that recharge the batteries of those at ground zero who are simply working on adrenaline.
"The idea is that there is a spiritual component to any trauma," Yingling said, "whether you're injured, exhausted or had a loss; and a body does not heal as readily if the spiritual component is not addressed."
A volunteer minister working with the Scientologists may provide either a touch, nerve or "locational" assist to a person under stress. These assists follow Eastern techniques that release a person's energy and reorients them. "It releases energy so they have more," Yingling said.
Yingling and a dozen or so other Scientologists from Connecticut – the church is based in New Haven - have been in New York for three weeks and are now beginning to "assist" the victims of the attacks.
"The 'loss of a person assist' is a particularly effective process for this situation," said Monica Brutsche, a volunteer minister from New Haven who spent eight days at ground zero. "It can give a child who has lost a parent the ability to face the future."
The volunteer ministers have been visible around ground zero in recent weeks as they walk around in yellow T-shirts and are stationed in places giving assists to workers. Sometimes an assist will take a few minutes, other times it can take half an hour.
"We continue until the person feels better," Yingling said.
The one-on-one interaction seems simple, the volunteer ministers say, but they have received thanks by those who are at the receiving end.
The church is running a free course to teach those unfamiliar with Scientology the basics of volunteer ministering so they can help friends and family. The church says it has put into the New York community 800 volunteer ministers since Sept. 11.
The volunteer ministers, including Yingling's 15-year-old son, Michael, have also been giving food and water to the rescue workers.
"They are working so hard to help people," Michael said, "so it feels good to help them."
Scientologists believe their religion enables them to tackle obstacles in life by helping them understand their emotional state.
As the religion's founder, L. Ron Hubbard said, "A volunteer minister does not shut his eyes to pain, evil and injustice of existence. Rather, he is trained to handle these things and help others achieve relief from them and new personal strengths as well."