[su_tabs]

[su_tab title=”Cancer Journey”]

Cancer Journey

[/su_tab]

[su_tab title=”Immunity & Illness”]

Immunity & Illness

[/su_tab]

[su_tab title=”Psychology”]

Psychology

[/su_tab]

[su_tab title=”Death & Mortality”]

Death & Mortality

[/su_tab]

[su_tab title=”Diet & Nutrition”]

Diet & Nutrition

[/su_tab]

[/su_tabs]

You could be a thriver too

Ian Gawler was a young Australian vet and athlete who developed bone cancer and had one leg amputated in 1975. Later that year the cancer returned.

Ian then developed an effective self-help program with the key principles: healthy diet, positive attitude, meditation and loving support. Ian made a remarkable recovery. Considered a modern-day miracle, he is widely recognised and quoted around the world.

He shares his personal experience as a cancer ‘thriver’ in this practical and inspiring guide for recovery and healing. Regarded as a revolutionary book when first published in 1984, it has become a classic the subject of cancer prevention and management.

Gawler’s ideas, which were described as ‘mumbo-jumbo’ by a skeptical media at the time of publication have since received substantial scientific recognition and validation.

Meditation is as important as medication

Ian emphasizes the importance of regular meditation to support healing. Through step-by-step activities that can easily be incorporated into our daily routine, he shows us how meditation can lead to better health, both mental and physical.

The Need for a Healthy Diet

Beyond just talking about the importance of a balanced diet, Gawler provides an elaborate diet chart and guidelines that can be customised to your needs.

“A healthy diet is the gateway to recovery”

Ian Gawler’s personal experience, coupled with his tremendous wisdom gained from running cancer support groups,  gives this book a rare depth and richness that is sure to enrich the lives of survivors and care givers alike.

In 1987, Ian was awarded the Order Of Australia medal in recognition of his services to the community … he is a real inspiration to us all!

Reflection

• What negative thoughts come to your mind every time there is an obstacle or setback during your cancer journey?
• How can transform the negativity to hope?
• Where can complementary therapies like meditation, yoga, diet etc. come in to support medical treatment?
• What lifestyle changes can you make to aid healing?

Source

Book: “You Can Conquer Cancer” by  Ian Gawler (This link is for your information only. We do not earn any commissions/ fees when you click it and/or when you purchase the book.)

Author

Bushra Shariff is a student of Communications at Mount Carmel College Bangalore. She is keenly interested in paranormal phenomena and what she calls the ‘collective unconscience’.

More from this series

My experience working with near-death patients

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die with various deathbed regrets. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives, when some incredibly special times were shared.

People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance.

Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them. When questioned about any deathbed regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

 2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this as one of the deathbed regrets.

But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years.

There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away.

People also want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called ‘comfort’ of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives.

Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed facing your deathbed regrets, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Reflection 

• If the top 5 regrets of dying people resonate with you, why wait until it is too late? What can you do, to address these issues NOW, when you are alive and well? Consider the possibility that your life may take a dramatic turn for the better if you did.
• Look back at your life and list down all the things that you always wished to do but haven’t been able to complete – your ‘bucket list’. What can you do about making it happen, without putting it off again?
• Some things in your life just happened and you can’t turn the clock back. How can you ‘let-go’ the regrets you may be carrying? What if you remind yourself that you did your very best under the circumstances and accept the outcome?

Source

Website: www.bronnieware.com
Blog: www.inspirationandchai.com
Book: ‘The Top 5 Regrets Of The Dying‘ by Bronnie Ware

More from this series

Caring for someone who is dying

When a mother becomes incontinent and her son must clean and change her; when a husband can no longer swallow and his wife must moisten his dry, sticky mouth; when a person is in unbearable pain and the family members can at best reduce it a little; these occasions can evoke great love and at the same time, generate great pain. When someone you love is dying, you will always feel deep sorrow, because you remember the person as healthy and active.

In their beautiful and profoundly moving book Final Gifts, hospice nurses Maggie Callahan and Patricia Kelley share their years of experience of caring for terminally ill patients. They provide useful insights for care-givers and family members on what actually happens just prior to and up to the time of death, so you know which signs to pay attention to.

Physical signs of impending death

1. A dying person’s most common symptoms are weakness and fatigue. Most people weaken to the point where they can’t do much for themselves. They may not be able to walk, to turn themselves in bed, to concentrate on a conversation or even to open their eyes.
2. Another sign is difficulty in swallowing and the resulting dehydration. No appetite may be more than just a lack of interest in food and water.
3. Sometimes mucus gathers in the mouth, throat or lungs, and air flowing past it makes a rattling sound. This does not mean the person is having difficulty breathing; turning the patient onto his side often clears the air passages and reduces the rattling.
4. As death nears, a person’s breathing may change: become irregular, speeding up for a while, then slowing down, even pausing for several seconds before starting again. Or the breathing can be loud for a while, then very faint and quiet.
5. The body’s temperature may rise, while at the same time their hands and feet may feel cool, perhaps turning blue or becoming mottled. Sometimes the lips and nails turn blue.
6. The person may sweat profusely and require frequent sponging.
7. Output of urine and stool usually drops, with the urine becoming darker. Increased weakness may lead to incontinence.
8. A few people may have involuntary, twitching movements.

Communications of the dying

1. As the person gets weaker and sleepier, communication with others becomes more subtle. Many individuals ask for the company of one or two people who are particularly close or important to them.
2. They may say they know they are dying, often by making reference to travel or change. Some people tell of talking with, or sensing the presence of people whom others cannot see, but who are accompanying them on their journeys. Still others refer to the peace and beauty of another place, invisible to those around them.
3. When dying people begin to have these experiences, they often seem preoccupied, distracted, perhaps even a little puzzled. They may ask questions out of context, seem glassy-eyed or appear to be looking through others, as if focused on something beyond.

The final goodbye

1. When the time of death nears, their attention drops and sometimes their eyes remain half open, whether they are awake or asleep. But even when they are too weak to speak or have lost consciousness, then can hear; hearing is the last sense to fade.
2. Provided pain and discomfort have been well managed, the actual moment of death can be peaceful. Sometimes the last few breaths sound like sighs. If the dying person is alert, you may see a slight smile or a look of farewell or notice the eyes lose focus, then close. If the person is asleep or unconscious, you may not even realise it has happened.

Reflection

• Being a caregiver to a dying person can be very difficult. How can you make the last days physically and mentally easier and peaceful for your loved one?
• A person can continue the process of ‘healing’ until his/ her last breath. What ‘unfinished business’ remains to be dealt with, so your loved one can pass on without regrets?
• How are you – the caregiver – coping with the approaching and inevitable loss. Who is helping you … and how?

Source

Excerpts from the classic book Final Gifts by hospice nurses Maggie Callahan and Patricia Kelley.

Connection between diet food and breast cancer

Research findings about food and breast cancer

Campbell also shares the findings from a Canadian study, which shows a clear correlation between total fat intake and breast cancer deaths

• Netherlands, Denmark, UK and New Zealand show the highest fat intake and the most number of deaths due to breast cancer.
• Conversely, countries like Thailand, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Japan show the lowest fat intake and the least number of deaths due to breast cancer.
• Further, the correlation between fat intake and breast cancer deaths was even stronger when animal fat was considered and much more diffused when plant fat was considered.

Reference

‘The China Study‘ by T. Colin Campbell & Thomas M. Campbell.

More from this series

“You are equivalent to being five months pregnant; with a tumour the size of a basketball,” said the doctor looking into the eyes of Brandon Bays. This ‘pelvic mass’ has grown from your abdomen way up to your rib-cage and is pressing against your diaphragm, making it hard for you to breathe.”

Brandon felt as if someone had knocked the air out of her. She began trembling.

Trying to digest the news, she asked the doctor what exactly it meant and what her options were. The doctor replied that “Surgery is your only option and it has to be immediate. It’s not just the size of the tumor but also the amount of blood you are losing.”

But I’m a Holistic Health practitioner!

Brandon felt really embarrassed because for over 15 years she had been in the holistic healing field, learning and practicing all she could about healing the body and mind. She had lost count of the health seminars and workshops she had attended … and now this!

She tried to walk-her-talk and finally broke the silence by saying

“How much time will you give me to try and stop the internal bleeding through medical hypnosis or something like that?”

Most reluctantly, the doctor gave her a month’s time.  And thus began Brandon’s extraordinary journey of healing!

The Breakthrough

Her breakthrough (or “drop-through” as she calls it) came when she let go of all her emotional issues, which she had carried from childhood and which had manifested as physical ailments. Brandon describes the whole process very vividly, so it is well worth reading the book!

Six-and-a-half weeks later the size of the tumor came down from the size of a basketball to a six-inch cantaloupe! Her doctor was shocked, but remained skeptical and in spite of this, she continued her healing process, until she was fully cured.

A roller-coaster yet highly inspirational ride

The book suggests a step-by-step approach to let go of lifelong emotional and physical blocks, and discovering the best in oneself. This is at the core of healing.

Today, workshops and trained facilitators in ‘The Journey’ are helping thousands of people to heal themselves by experiencing the boundless joy within.

For more informartion, please browse www.thejourney.com

Reflection

• What emotional wounds – regret, guilt, loneliness, betrayal, abuse etc. – are you carrying? How can you let them go?
• It is quite natural to have doubts and suspicions about holistic healing approaches. Who can you discuss them with?
• How can you use the power of your mind to support your body to heal?

Source

“The Journey” by Brandon Bays

Author

Written by Anisha Peter, a first year student of Mass Communications from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.

More from this series

Is Cancer Inevitable?

Weinberg proposes that the extraordinary complexity of the human body dictates the inevitability of cancer. He sees cancer as a disease of damaged genes and shows conclusively that the appearance of a tumour requires many successive genetic mutations.

These clever mutations must bypass the complex proteins that determine how a cell behaves and override the cell-cycle clock which governs decisions on when a cell grows, differentiates or dies.

He reveals 5 key natural ‘barriers’ that the malignant cell must overcome, for the body to develop cancer.

Barrier no. 1 – Body’s first line of defence 

A dormant (proto) onco-gene needs to be bio-chemically transformed into an active onco-gene, by a mutagen (genetic or environmental carcinogen).

Simultaneously, the body’s first line of defence – a corresponding tumour-suppressor gene – needs to be deactivated. Both these destabilizing processes are resisted by the in-built circuit-breakers of the cell. .

Barrier no. 2 : Growth factors produced by the body that neutralise cancer cells

To bypass this internal set of controls, the cell releases ‘growth-factors’ into its immediate surroundings, flooding it with unrelenting growth-stimulating signals.

To neutralise these, the body also produces growth-inhibiting h2 factors, which some tumour cells manage to escape.

Barrier no. 3 : Natural death cycle of each cell

A normal cell is endowed with a limited number of ‘doublings’, which naturally caps uncontrolled growth. Every cell contains a ‘generational clock’ i.e. a counting device which registers and records each time the cell passes through growth and division.

When the cell reaches its pre-determined limit of allotted doublings, the clock sounds a ‘telomerase alarm’ which tells the cell to stop growing, turn senescent and ultimately die.

Tumour cells not only learn to ignore this telomerase alarm, they actually resurrect telomerase, by accessing hidden information in their DNA and using it to make telomerase. Now they are able to regenerate indefinitely and bypass the generational clock.

Barrier no. 4 : Self-destruct program of every cell

The more drastic way is to induce a damaged cell to commit suicide. Apoptosis (a Greek word that describes a tree shedding its leaves) is a self-destruct program wired into every human cell.

When the cell senses serious DNA damage to itself, its p-53 protein acts as an emergency brake and activates its repair mechanism. However, should the DNA damage be massive, the p-53 protein will also activate the apoptosis program and instead of attempting repair, the cell will kill itself.

Tumour cells avoid or subvert apoptosis by undergoing a second mutation which somehow inactivates the p-53 protein. With its damage-response mechanism crippled, the cell can race ahead and replicate its damaged DNA, passing it on to descendent cells.

The absence of p-53 can amplify and enhance the rate of replication almost a thousand-fold. Worse still, if p-53 is knocked out by the mutation, such cells can survive for extended periods without oxygen or nutrients.

Barrier no. 5 : Immune system’s additional defence

The immune system erects various additional lines of defence, including for example, natural killer (NK) cells and many others.

The book beautifully outlines how the errant cell successfully counters these 5 barriers … and how modern scientists are tantalisingly close to finding a lasting cure to the disease!

If all these hurdles are overcome, yet other difficulties loom.

How The Primary Tumour Grows

Once the clump of cells reaches the one millimeter size, the normal process of diffusion no longer provides adequate nutrition or waste removal. Soon the cells starve (anoxis) and begin to choke on their own wastes. Once again, apoptosis can kick in and the cells may die.

Tumour cells respond by inventing a better way to access nutrients and remove wastes: they develop their own blood circulation system. By aping the surrounding normal cells, they secrete (angiogenic) growth factors and induce capillaries to grow into the clump of cancer cells. Finally, the tumour cells have direct access to oxygen-rich and nutrient-rich blood and their numbers begin to increase explosively.

How Metastasis Takes Place

1. The process of metastasis is also very complex, with the odds stacked against its success.
2. To begin with, cells in the primary tumour must breach surrounding physical barriers. They release enzymes (called proteases) which break and dissolve the membrane-like meshwork of proteins.
3. Protease enzymes are used by normal cells during the formation and repair of normal tissue. As they enter other types of tissue, the tumour cells learn how to subvert, exploit and misuse normal protease enzymes; rather than releasing them selectively and in small doses, they flood their surroundings with them.
4. As the tumour grows (a 1-cm tumour can contain a billion cells), individual or small clumps of cells may break off from the primary mass. Using the blood vessels or the lymphatic system, they can end up in distant locations. The journey is fraught with risk.
5. They must survive the swim through the circulation system, to which they are not adapted. They must reattach and cling to the wall of the blood or lymph vessel using ‘anchoring receptors’. They must push aside endothelial cells and burrow through the sheathing around the vessel into the adjacent or underlying tissue.
6. Each new site is a foreign environment that represents a major challenge to the tumour cells; they must confront physical structures and growth factors to which they are unaccustomed.
7. By this time, the tumour cells themselves have become unstable. In continuously adapting their own genes to such different demands and environments, very few actually survive and a great many simply die.
8. However, what keeps the process going is simple arithmetic. The primary tumour may have grown quite large and can dispatch a large, continuous stream of cells to the distant sites. At any given time, more tumour cells are being produced compared to those dying.

How Death Occurs

Sooner or later, these distant colonies of tumour cells begin to compromise the functioning of the host tissues and organs. Only then does the overall system begin to break down and the patient placed at death’s door. It is truly a ‘fight-to-the-finish’.

Reference

‘One Renegade Cell‘ By Robert Weinberg
(This link is for your information only. We do not stand to earn and fees/ commissions when you click it and/or purchase the book.)

More from this series

In simple language and a fluid writing style the authors have captured the emotions that run through the person who is about to cross-over and the ones who are near and dear to them. Through first-person stories, they explain the various ways in which patients and care-givers can cope with the inevitable, by embracing, rather than fighting death.

Nearing Death Awareness

The authors have discovered what they call “Nearing Death Awareness” (NDA), a phenomenon in  which the patients try to communicate by either describing the experience or requesting for something that he or she needs for a peaceful death.  They have documented that NDA often includes visions of loved ones or spiritual beings, although they don’t necessarily signal death’s imminence.

Other common experiences that patients have described are seeing and speaking to religious figures; feeling warm , peaceful and loved; a bright light or another place that they believe they see; a flash-back of their lives which helps them come to a fuller understanding of life’s meaning.

Imminent death does not often seem to instill fear, instead the patients generally worry about the ones that they will be leaving behind.

Difference between Nearing Death Experience and Near Death Experience

The authors describe NDA as encapsulating a host of psychological, physical, and metaphysical traits that are exhibited by terminally ill patients in the weeks and days preceding death. It is a phenomenon that every care giver, patient and human being must know about.

NDA is similar to Near Death Experience, a more widely known phenomenon, yet different from it in many levels. In NDA, patients typically display about 4 unique behaviours:

• They prepare to travel to another location;
• They perceive the presence of non-physical beings;
• They perceive the existence of a non-physical destination;
• The demonstrate prescience about the date, and often time, of their death.

These generalized behaviours appear to span multiple religious, racial, social and cultural groups and are experienced equally by both genders and all age groups.

Dealing with Physical Pain

The authors say that many people assume that terminal patients, especially those with cancer, will undergo tremendous pain, which is not always true. Different patients undergo different degrees of pain and many have no pain at all.

They soothe the reader by describing the moment of dying as falling into a deep slumber where the sleeper slips into unconsciousness; gradually the breathing slows and stops.

The authors offer suggestions on how to help, what to do, and what to say when someone we love is dying. Particularly important is “decoding” the symbols , dreams and “confused talk” of the dying, for their last wishes to be well met.

Reflection

• What have you observed about a loved one who is nearing the end of life? What they are trying to communicate?
• How can you make their remaining days happy, peaceful and dignified?
• If you were in their shoes, what regrets would you have … and how would you make peace with yourself and with others?

References

“Final Gifts” by Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley

Author

Bushra Shariff is a student of Communications at Mount Carmel College Bangalore. She is keenly interested in paranormal phenomena and what she calls the ‘collective unconscience’.

Ask Dr Carl Simonton and Dr Stephanie Simonton, they will take you on a tour of their unique and powerful therapeutic approach to Cancer. In the four decades after setting up the Simonton Cancer Center in 1972, they have received international recognition from countries such as Japan, Poland, Germany and Switzerland. Carl was also honoured by the American Medical Association in 1997 for his film “Affirmations for Getting Well Again”.

“No matter how sick you are, it is possible to get well” has been his mantra, which has lit up thousands of devastated souls by them showing a ray of hope.

The Role of Attitude & Emotion

The Simontons were early proponents of the hypothesis that a person’s attitude played a major role in his/her response to treatment and also in the course of the disease.

“Anyone who has had extensive experience in the treatment of cancer is aware that there are great differences, among patients. I personally have observed cancer patients who have undergone successful treatment and were living and well for years. Then, an emotional stress such as the death of a son in World War II, the infidelity of a daughter-in-law, or the burden of long unemployment seemed to have been precipitating factors in the reactivation of their disease, which then resulted in death. There is some evidence that the course of disease in general is affected by emotional stress. It is my sincere hope that we can widen the quest to include the distinct possibility that within one’s mind is a power capable of exerting forces which can either enhance or inhibit the progress of this disease.”

An extensive study of psychiatric literature from several journals from the American Cancer Society, National Cancer Institute, etc. convinced them of the direct correlation between a cancer patient’s psyche/emotional state and their healing response.

Shifting Orientation: From Loss To Expectancy

The Simontons’ focus on an attribute called “expectancy” as the means to shift the individual’s life orientation.

When a patient starts to say “I know I have participated in the development and the progress of my disease. I know there are some deeper factors at work and I need help in dealing with them”, that’s the moment they start to heal

In this way, the individuals themselves begin to take responsibility for the problem as well as for the solution, this change of orientation is the key to healing.

The perspective of “giving up” gives way to the “horizons of hope”.

Reflection

• Your reactions to stress and other emotional factors can contribute to the onset and progress of cancer. How are you dealing with your emotional stressors?
• Positive expectations, self-awareness, and self-care can contribute to survival. What steps are you taking to get over any negativity and remain in the positive space?
• What self-help techniques would you like to try:  learning positive attitudes, relaxation, visualization, goal setting, managing pain, exercise, and building an emotional support system?

Source

Book: “Getting Well Again” by Carl Simonton, Stephanie Matthews-Simonton

Author

This article was written by Deepakshi Mishra, a student pursuing her Mass Communications degree at Mt. Carmel College, Bangalore.

More from this series

Cancer As A Turning Point

As the title indicates, this landmark book is about making fundamental changes and living life in a more meaningful way. Because when ‘quality’ of life improves, so does ‘quantity’!

Lawrence LeShan is considered the father of cancer psycho-therapy. His practice and research over 40 years shows how changing our approach to life together with medical treatment mobilises a compromised immune system for healing.

LeShan’s methods get very impressive results: Over 50 per cent of his patients with poor prognoses have experienced long-term remission and nearly 100 per cent dramatically improved their emotional state and quality of life!

LeShan has observed that that a large number of his cancer patients appear to

• Have suffered some kind of loss (either of a loved one or a job or a relationship or indeed of a certain familiar context or routine).
• Have low self-esteem on account of living on someone else’s terms and therefore living an unfulfilled life.

Despair can turn into cancer

This is the key insight of LeShan’s work. Cancer patients experience a loss of hope which turns into a deep despair and which may ultimately turn into cancer.

“In some cases, the despair runs so deep and is so much a part of them that even the appearance of cancer made no difference to their lives. In fact they saw their cancer as nothing new, only the latest and maybe final example of the hopelessness of their existence.”

Developing a positive mindset

From this perspective, cancer can be seen as the physical manifestation of the inner futility the patient feels and has adopted as a life stance. This is what requires re-orientation.

At the core of LeShan’s approach are two questions that he helps his patients answer

• What would your life be like if you adjusted the world to yourself instead of – like most patients do – adjusting yourself to the world?
• What kind of life and lifestyle will make you glad to jump out of bed in the morning and glad to go to bed at night?

Throughout the book you will find successful case histories where people have been motivated to believe that they are important, unique and special and are worth fighting for and taking care of.

“What’s Right”, not “What’s Wrong”

While the book covers a wide range of useful topics, what stood out for me was LeShan’s simple and powerful concept: Ask not “what is wrong with me?” but “what is right within me?”

Instead of the usual questions that many doctors may ask: “What is wrong with this person? How did he/she get that way? And what can be done to eliminate the disease?” LeShan’s therapeutic approach is based on entirely different questions like

• What is right with this person?
• How is he/she unique?
• What kind of life would give him/her zest, enthusiasm and involvement?
• How can we work together to give him/her a sense of deep  fulfillment?

The Workbook

The book’s second edition includes a workbook with a series of 29 pen and paper activities. Involving reflection, discussion and writing, these exercises are designed to help you define your goals and questions and come to terms with your fears.

Reflection

• What loss have I faced recently and how have I dealt with this particular ‘ending’?
• What is my deepest unfulfilled wish for myself and what steps can I take in this direction?

Source

“Cancer as a Turning Point- A Handbook for People with Cancer, Their Families, and Health Professionals” by Lawrence LeShan. (This link is for your information only. We do not earn any commissions/ fees when you click it and/or when you purchase the book.)

Author

Stephanie Browne is a student of Communication at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore

More from this series

Illness is symbolic of a deeper problem

Thorwald Dethlefsen (born in Germany) is best known as a spiritual psychologist, while Rudiger Dahlke is a doctor of medicine. They have been working together for many years and have co-authored another fine book: The Face Of Consciousness.

Essentially, Dethlefsen and Dahlke show us that illness is a physical manifestation of our unresolved problems or unhealthy lifestyle. In other words, they propose that the patient is not always the innocent victim of some quirk of nature or random event, but actually may have triggered his or her own sickness, disability or health problem.

In this way, the book brings the symbolic aspect of illness to the fore. From this viewpoint, symptoms are seen to be bodily expressions of psychological or spiritual conflicts, able through their symbolism to reveal the patients real and deeper problems.

On one hand, the core hypothesis is very uncomfortable, while on the other, it opens us up to hope, inspiration, new approaches and a fresh look at ourselves drawing on the signposts of our physical symptoms. Many lessons can be learned and doors opened if we only care to look deeply within!

A Symbolic View Of Cancer

While the authors spell out their approach vis-a-vis various illnesses, their insights about cancer are particularly fascinating!

To understand cancer, it is important to first understand the relationship between an entity (the cell) and the system within which that entity exists (the host organ or the whole body). Equilibrium occurs when the cell fulfils two exquisitely balanced responsibilities:

• To itself, for its own survival and development
• And to the system, for its survival and development.

When this balance is maintained (i.e. homeostasis), we are in a state of health. A disturbed balance is expressed as an illness until the body’s self-regulating and corrective mechanisms restore the balance and return us to health.

How the cancer process differs

Dethlefsen and Dahlke argue that the cancer process is fundamentally different. When one cell changes its normal life cycle and begins to replicate continuously, the body’s balancing systems merely look on. After all, the cancer cell is not an external agent (like a bacteria, virus or toxin).

In fact, that cell has so far fulfilled its responsibilities just fine, both to itself and to the organ/ organism as a whole. Yet it abandons its common identification and begins to put its own needs above those of the larger system. It no longer behaves as a collaborative part of a multi-cellular system. Instead, it replicates rapidly, ignores normal boundaries, feeds on its host and establishes footholds wherever it can.

Their symbolic interpretation is that for this previously dutiful cell, the larger organism has lost its attraction as a context for the cell’s own development and the previous symbiotic relationship breaks down. The cell decides to break away from its host, to revert to its primitive and independent state, where it can do as it likes, subordinate others to its own needs and bypass its stable existence and programmed mortality.

“The cell wants to be immortal, at any cost.”

‘I’ Vs. ‘We’

Dethlefsen and Dahlke see cancer as an expression of the conflict between the need for unrestricted individual freedom on one hand and the need for belonging and interdependent, but limited co-existence on the other. The core issue of cancer may, therefore, be understood as ‘I’ versus ‘We’.

Ironically, however, the cell fails to recognise the inherent flaw in this reckless and short-sighted line of reasoning. To declare independence (or to secede) from the community is also to realise too late, how necessary it really is, for one’s own long-term survival. Ultimately, in its longing for independent immortality, the cancer cell inevitably accelerates its own death, by destroying from inside the larger organism/ system in which it was born and in which it is sustained.

Reflection

Pursuing this line of reasoning, we can introspect on the following questions

• At the most tangible level, how can I eliminate the cancerous cells without hating them? They are after all our own (misguided) cells!
• Going deeper, how can I dialogue these cells? Can I understand their needs and motives?  What common-ground will help us to return to collaboration and interdependence?
• Even further, what message is the cell’s rebellious action sending me? If I accept the idea “As inside, so outside”, what is going on in my life which may mirror this central conflict between Freedom/ To Be and Responsibility/ To Serve?

Source

Book: “The Healing Power Of Illness” by Thorwald Dethlefsen and Rudiger Dahlke (This link is for your information only. We do not earn any fees/ commissions when you click it and/or purchase the book.)

Author

Written by Aditi Nayar, a student of Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.

More from this series

Spontaneous Healing

Andrew T. Weil is a well-known American author and physician in the field of holistic health. He is the founder and Program Director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, which he started in 1994 at the University of Arizona. Weil published his first book, The Natural Mind, in 1972. His early works explored altered states of consciousness, but he has since expanded his scope to encompass healthy lifestyles and health care in general.

Health, Healing and Medicine

Dr. Weil wrote Spontaneous Healing in an effort to change people’s attitudes toward health, healing, and the practice of medicine itself. Subtitled “How to Discover and Enhance Your Body’s Natural Ability to Maintain and Heal Itself,” this book presents Dr. Weil’s thoughts and suggestions combined with true stories of ‘spontaneous healing’ experiences.

Weil states that ‘spontaneous healing’ is a natural result of putting all the body’s systems back in harmony. He focuses on the body’s healing system, suggesting that it is both in-built and invaluable. He also outlines how to optimize this healing system, giving helpful advice on diet, toxins, tonics, and other aspects.

The power of the mind

The book also reiterates how our mind plays a key role in both causing and healing illness and Dr. Weil gives us a few anecdotes on how little precautions and altered mindsets that have changed peoples’ lives.

As Winston Churchill once said, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference”

A Remarkable Story of a Cancer Thriver

Diagnosed with the critical “empty marrow syndrome”

Kristin Killops shouldn’t be alive today and definitely not with children of her own. Her doctors had sent her home to die and were quite clear that her aggressive treatments had destroyed her reproductive capacity.

Her journey began when she was nineteen years old in Hawaii, when she had unexplainable bruises all over her body. Her doctor asked her to take iron supplements but there was no improvement. Further blood tests revealed aplastic anemia.  “Aplastic” means “without form”: it wipes out the normal components of bone marrow, leading to “empty marrow syndrome”, where empty space and fat replace normal blood-forming cells!

Aggressive treatments for the aggressive illness

In Kristin’s case, there was identifiable cause but there was a suspicion of toxic exposure. She arrived at Santa Barbara, California, desperately ill with almost no functioning marrow.

The hospital had to keep Kristin in a protective “reverse isolation” environment to minimize contact with germs and she was given washes with disinfectants. Absence of platelets creates the risk of abnormal bleeding, internally and externally.

Her doctors tried everything possible. They put her on steroids but thought she was too ill to survive and sent her to UCLA Medical center in LA for a bone-marrow transplant, which Kristin decided against.

Instead, Kristin found a healer and she also started taking lots of vitamins and other dietary supplements, but by then the doctors had given up all hope.

A new lease of life through alternative therapy

But Kristin sure didn’t. She tried every kind of alternative therapy, in spite of being terribly weak. She experimented with psychic healing and visualization based on the hospital psychologist’s referral to a UCLA researcher who was studying psychic healing.

Through him she found a healer who used hypnotherapy as well as the laying of hands. She met the healer twice a week while she was in a critical condition in hospital and dramatically, after two weeks, she saw a rise in marrow and blood count. Medically, this was unheard of and the same doctors who had said that they had no hope, decided to send her back home!

Kristin battled on. She found another healer to do the hands-on treatments and maintained a strict diet. Her medical results miraculously improved, but she was still weak.

In all, Kristin spent over 6 months in hospital. One year after the onset of her illness, she knew she was going to live.

The doctors had also told Kristin she would never have children due to the high hormone doses that had stopped her cycle as well. But one psychic healer put her hand on her pelvis, told her it was dark in there and asked her to fast for one week. Lo and behold, her period began once more!

And the best part?

Twenty years later, Kristin is completely healthy and the proud mother of four healthy children. Her recovery was so unusual from the medical point of view that one of her doctors presented her case at an international conference on aplastic anemia.

This is what Kristin tells others facing grave medical crisis :

“There may be different ways to healing for different people, but there is always a way for you. Keep searching!”

Reflection

• In your own life, when did you think something is impossible, then actually achieved it?
• How can you bring that mental/ emotional power to your cancer journey?
• What can you do to aid the body’s natural function of healing?
• Alongside medical treatments, what holistic practices can you incorporate?

Source

Book: “Spontaneous Healing” By Andrew Thomas Weil
(This link is for your information only. We do not stand to make money when you click it)

Author

Written by Aditi Nayar, a student of Communications at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.

More from this series

“It’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln

Complementing this idea is the book “Anatomy of the Spirit”, written by internationally acclaimed medical intuitive Dr. Caroline Myss.

Take charge of your recovery with positive energy healing

Dr. Myss highlights a common failing: that we converse in what she calls “woundology”. She asserts that we tend to play the victim and develop relationships on the basis of the pain we have suffered. It becomes a “who suffered more” contest. Do you ever use emotional wounds to control people or situations? It’s something to think about.

As she says “I am responsible for the creation of my health. I can participate in the healing of any illness by simultaneously healing my emotional, psychological, physical and spiritual being.”

Conventional Vs Holistic

We often veer between conventional and holistic treatments – it’s a never-ending debate that plays on our minds.

• Conventional treatment is a passive process, which helps “cure” the disease i.e. the patient might recover from the symptoms, but may never fully deal with the source of the disease, which might result in its recurrence.
• Holistic treatment is an active process that helps “heal” the person. It requires the active involvement of the patient, along with introspection into one’s outlook, memories and way of life. This changed attitude can help develop a range of possibilities to live life, along with cancer, king size!

Is all this feasible? Most certainly. The book has numerous examples of real-life patients who have been “awakened” and changed their approach, adopted a radically different lifestyle in some cases, and healed themselves.

Resignation Vs. Surrender

Myss also emphasizes the importance of “surrendering personal will to Divine Will”. This does not mean resigning yourself to your fate, rather, it means surrendering yourself – your dreams, desires, needs – to God. We can all use His guidance to work through the challenges life brings us.

The worst thing in life often contains the seeds of the best!

Can all illnesses be healed? Yes, but there is no guarantee that every illness will necessarily be healed. Sometimes an illness has to be endured to help the person confront his or her own fears or negativity, or to resolve the soul’s unfinished business.

As Joel Siegel said, “Cancer changes your life, often for the better. You learn what’s important, you learn to prioritize, and you learn not to waste your time. You tell people you love them. If it wasn’t for the downside, having cancer would be the best thing and everyone would want it.”

Reflection

• How likely are you to blame others for your suffering? Rather than slipping into victimhood, what can you do to take charge of your situation?
• Balancing mainstream treatments and holistic approaches can be confusing? Can you consult a holistic cancer coach or another expert to create a healing plan for yourself?
• How often do you stress over things that our beyond your control? How can you ‘do your best and leave the rest to God’?
• Cancer is devastating experience and it can also have meaning. What life lessons you have learnt from your cancer journey?

Source

Book: Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss (This link is for your information only. We do not stand to make money when you click it)

Author

Written by Aditi Kapoor, an undergraduate in Communication Studies at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.

More from this series

I often find myself wondering about a few instances when I thought of something and it ACTUALLY happened! I also sometimes wonder about the powerful effect that a sincere prayer or strong faith has. Now I know there is well-established science behind all this.

The beginning of a new era of healing

In this intriguing book, the author Larry Dossey writes about how modern medicine is evolving, in three overlapping phases:

Era 1 medicine: Where the world as well as the human body is viewed and treated as a (mindless) machine. Consciousness is seen as limited to human brain activity.

Era 2 medicine: Where the paradigm has shifted to what we today call “mind-body medicine”. Based on the (re)discovery that our mind has a profound effect on one’s body/ health, medical practice now involves the ‘whole-person’, at all levels of their being, to participate in the healing process.

Era 3 medicine: The new era of healing, through what the author calls the“non-local mind”. This is based on the ancient (spiritual) wisdom that:

• Consciousness exists independently of one’s body & mind (rather than within it)
• It can act not just locally on one’s body-mind, but also non-locally on distant things, events, and people, even if they are unaware of being influenced (because they all exist in that very same consciousness.)

The author shares both anecdotal as well as scientific evidence for this “non-local mind”. He explores these experiences and evidence, arguing convincingly that Era 3 medicine is already being successfully practiced in many parts of the world … and that it is spreading fast!

Source

Book: ‘Reinventing Medicine: Beyond Mind-Body to a New Era of Healing‘ By Larry Dossey.

More from this series

You can heal your life

World renowned holistic healer Louise Hay, in her landmark book provides specific affirmations for a range of illnesses as well as different types of cancer.

She throws light on the specific correlations between certain beliefs and certain illnesses, with the empowering insight that if we can change our beliefs, we can also heal ourselves.

Our body, like everything else in life is a reflection of our inner thoughts and beliefs.

Louise Hay believes that we are responsible for the ‘dis-eases’ in our bodies. We all have set mental patterns that are formed due to our past experiences and which we refuse to let go of.

The probable cause of cancer

Louise Hay proposes that cancer is caused by deep resentment held for a long time until it literally ‘eats away’ at the body. Something happens in childhood that destroys our sense of trust and this experience is never forgotten.

We then find it hard to develop and maintain long-term, meaningful relationships. A feeling of hopelessness and loss permeates the thinking and it becomes easy to blame others for all our problems. Being overtly self-critical is another factor in cancer.

How to begin your healing process

1. Begin with mending your relationships. Sondra Ray claims that every major relationship we have is a reflection of the relationship we have with one of our parents. This is true in case of your boss, colleagues, friends, lover etc.

2. Use specific affirmations: Every time you feel low or lose hope, tell yourself “I lovingly forgive and release all of the past. I choose to fill my world with joy. I love and approve of myself.”

3. Self-belief is the key: Most importantly, believe in yourself and in the Universe’s plan for you. It will conspire to give you what you truly desire for.

As Deepak Chopra says “Before the art of medicine comes the art of belief.”

Reflection

• More than external factors, what internal stressors may be at work in triggering cancer?
• Emotional baggage – such as carrying resentment or constantly blaming others – have been correlated with cancer. How will you let your baggage drop?
• Where can you find help to heal your emotional wounds and thereby aid physical healing?

Author

Written by Anisha Peter, who currently pursuing her B.A. in Communication Studies from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.

References

“You Can Heal Your Life” by Louise L. Hay (This link is for your information only. We do not earn any fees/ commissions when you click it and/or purchase the book.)

More from this series