When Cancer Returns

My breast cancer returned after 10 years. That is why I have been neglecting my blog. You might conclude it is because I am struggling physically and emotionally. This is not the case. (I am not claiming things are perfect but my life is very manageable.) 

I haven't been writing because as a person who lives what I advocate and l advocate for alternative, and healthy lifestyle interventions, I was torn mentally; I want to be a responsible person. Am I advocating to others interventions that don't work? I am now completely convinced that alternative interventions and healthy lifestyle are essential to successful healing and maintaining good health. So, I feel free to write again. 

Basically, I have learned that some types of cancer are a chronic disease and my health choices were working up to this point. The unfortunate truth is aging has a negative effect on the immune system, as does living in an increasingly polluted environment, and so do unresolved fears/angers (stress chemicals are released into the body.) I do not like the idea of describing myself as a person with a chronic disease because I view that as giving in, defeatist. Rather, I view myself as a person on a journey toward excellent health.

I had a consultation with an oncologist, he said in effect, after 10 years and cancer returns, this is just bad luck. He stated the seeds of cancer are always with us hiding in places that even chemotherapy can't get to. Some might find this a negative, fatalistic statement. But what it said to me was chemotherapy is not a cure for everything. And the body's immune system is everywhere so I need to put my focus there. I had gotten lax about following through with my healthy lifestyle and lazy about food choices. I need to be mindful and consistent in healthy living choices.

My functional medicine doctor said she found it impressive that after reading my case history I had no cancer reoccurrence for ten years. My personal belief system is to not over invest in the details of my diagnosis. Because I have studied psychology and hypnosis I know the power of the mind. In the end, it is the mind that heals, or the mind that kills. For the scientifically inclined we call it stress reaction. 

The stages of cancer are irrelevant to me. It's more important to know that refined sugar, dairy products, alcohol, and red meat are acidic, inflammatory foods that create a cancer prone environment in the body (blood). While vitamin C, iodine, turmeric, fresh fruit and vegetables, and managing your glucose levels through the day, along with good sleep create an anticancer environment in the body. 

I am very angry to have to deal with cancer again. I recently read a book where the author explained that individuals with chronic pain or chronic diseases feel betrayed by their bodies. I gave this a lot of thought and realized this was true for me. Accepting my anger is essential to the healing process. Most of the time I can move past it but sometimes not so much. It is important not to live in anger because it creates stress and the biochemical conditions of stress feed cancer cells. 

The doctors of 10 years ago treated cancer like an automatic death sentence. I am sure that is part of why I rejected the allopathic standard of care. Now the approach seems to be that cancer is a chronic disease that can be dealt with and lived with. The body's immune system always has had the ability to identify and destroy mutated cancer cells. Why does the body lose that ability? Many researchers think the problem is caused by viruses, or our polluted food and water. For example, sometimes the body can’t recognize virus mutated cells because they have the DNA of the body itself. When it comes to things like mercury (found in fish), the body has no process for eliminating it from the body so it accumulates in the organs.

I first started writing my blog in response to having breast cancer. I wanted to share what I had learned with others so they could make informed choices. I chose to do a mixture of interventions including surgery, as well as, complementary and alternative treatments. I did not do chemotherapy or radiation treatments. 

When I tell people my beliefs about chemotherapy I am always surprised how many get personally offended. I am not criticizing anyone; I'm talking about me. However, anyone who chooses chemotherapy should be honest enough with themselves to accept the fact that you are poisoning every cell in your body and will have future effects that doctors tend not to mention. Even surgery has long term after effects. 

For those who need to know specifically what my interventions are, I see an oncologist for hormone therapy. I work with a D.O. at a health and wellness clinic on stress and receive vitamin C infusions. I take a variety of researched supplements daily. I eat a diet I personalized for myself based on Anthony William's books...lots of fruit, and a potato and bone broth soup every day, also Reishi mushroom coffee. I get 8 hours of sleep, drink lots of water, avoid stress, and visit friends. I get massages, see a chiropractor, and have a body talk session (energy work) with a friend. I also try to swim often and am taking up an exercise program called MELT. I pray a lot, have my name on prayer lists, and have a bottle of sacred water from Lourdes. I feel very good now. I did not realize how bad I felt previous to my recent diagnosis. I just thought it was old age, extreme allergies, or maybe pneumonia. I've been on this healing program three months and I feel really good. Please do not think of me as “battling cancer.” I don’t like that mental approach; to me it implies winners and losers. I prefer to view myself on a life journey to reveal excellent health, Mind/Body and Spirit.

I believe every person must choose a course of action that they believe in because the belief in one’s ability to heal is absolutely essential to the process. Every person is worthy of healing. If you don't know this to the core of your being, then you need to start there. The energy of the Spirit is the energy that empowers healing. Mind, Body and Spirit, it all works together.

Creating Healing Miracles

The Mind, Body and Spirit is each persons sacred trinity. For us to effect healing miracles in our life we must strive to master the wholeness of self. Lewis Mehl-Madrona's book Coyote Healing: Miracles in Native Medicine shows us one path to healing.

Image by: Bryan Harry - NPS

Often we turn aspects of our being over to authority figures outside of self. This puts us in a disempowered state. We put physicians in charge of the physical body, priests or imams in charge of the spirit, and society/culture or governing elites in charge of the mind. When a crisis confronts us we find self in a state of shock because we have no internal resource or strength.

Life often bestows upon us healing crises. We are confronted by physical illness, loss of loved ones, moments where our work or work product is assaulted and insulted, trusted and treasured relationships dissolve, love seems decimated, or we feel abandoned by all that is Good.

It is difficult to believe these crises are meant for our good/evolution. But when you make Spiritual and Mental peace with the crises/challenges healing begins and unrealized opportunities are revealed. Your inner strength and conviction emerge and you are no longer mentally storm-tossed.

Under these conditions we must see the healing crisis for what it truly is opportunity---while

stagnation is death. Life is change, evolution, and growth---the process of reclaiming the wholeness of self—the initial sacred trinity Mind, Body, Spirit. Our own existence, Life, is a miracle. It is essential to remember only the body can heal the body. (I break my arm—the miracle of my body knits the bone back together.)

Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D., in his book Coyote Healing: Miracles in Native Medicine, helps us realize how we can create healing miracles in our life. He advocates that disharmony in Mind, Body, or spirit limits our potential for the healing we seek.

Mehl-Madrona's life story is that of a Native American-European hybrid (his word choice) searching for his ancestral roots. His story is that of seeking of mind, body, spirit, and community integration within a framework of Christianization, colonization, and assimilation. He rejected the traditional medical school thinking in which "life was a relentless progression toward death, disease, and decay. [And] the physician's job is to slow the rate of decline."

This approach was unacceptable and he has stated that by the weekend, he had found a Cherokee healer with whom to study. That was 1973 and he hasn't stopped his studying with [Native American] elders.

Lewis Mehl-Madrona, M.D is a board-certified family physician, psychiatrist, and geriatrician with a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. He worked for over twenty-five years in emergency medicine in both rural and academic settings. Currently he is the Coordinator of Integrative Psychiatry and Systems Medicine for the University of Arizona’s Program in Integrative Medicine. When he entered Stanford University School of Medicine in California, in 1973, Lewis realized that his culture had much to offer mainstream society - through its understanding of the power of story and through its understanding of healing and transformation. (http://www.mehl-madrona.com)

Mehl-Madrona asks why should we be surprised when cancer patients die on the schedules predicted by our studies---how much do we program people to have the outcomes we expect by convincing them what to expect? I agree with Mehl-Madrona and wonder how much of the increasing cancer rate is due to subtle subconscious programming and a stressed mindset eroding our biochemical immune system.

Mehl-Madrona believes "It is difficult to locate the inner healing because it is a state of mind body Spirit rather then a thing, and is different for each of us in accordance with our beliefs, values, history, and culture."

Mehl-Madrona’s focus is to rekindle “The fire of hope in all aspects of our lives... we cannot wait any longer to eat the food of hope we…rather we must find our sustenance in the present moment.”

He views hope as essential “to the power of our inner healing which is responsible for so-called spontaneous remission [when] the inner healer is missing… people die of simple treatable illness is despite good medical care…. it is difficult to locate the inner healing because it is a state of mind body Spirit rather than a thing…it is different for each of us. We must find that multi dimensional self, Mind, Body and Spirit, and confront the embodiment of your illness.

Mehl-Madrona states “Native American healers expect miracles and prepare in all ways possible for them to occur.” In contrast when modern allopathic medicine sees miraculous recoveries, these recoveries are discarded from studies as anomalous cases. Miraculous recoveries are viewed as tainting the otherwise orderly results. Mehl-Madrona’s believes this small group of “miracle” patients has everything to teach us about healing and survival. 

The book Coyote Healing distills the common elements in miracle cures to help people start their own healing journey. Dr. Mehl-Madrona reviewed hundreds of cases where individuals experienced miracle cures. By examining the energies, attributes, and teachings implicit within Native American healing and how these relate to body-mind healing, he reveals that survivors found purpose and meaning in their life-threatening illness. Peaceful acceptance was key to their healing. Peaceful acceptance does not mean giving up. It means the miracle of finding faith, hope, and serenity, which empower life energy even when a cure seems impossible. 

Native American healers teach us that healing requires self-awareness in 1. The importance of relationship; 2. The importance of acceptance and surrender; 3. Focus on the present; 4. The importance of community; 5. Transcending blame; 6.The importance of the spiritual dimension; and the need for 7. Profound change. 

Book Chapters:

What is a miracle?

The miracle of peacefulness 

Finding the inner healer

The healing journey: Medicine Wheel 

The East: Discovering spirit

The south: Discovering emotion

The west: Discovering the body ate

The north: Discovering the mind and community 

The power of ceremony

Hearing stories and changing stories

(The reference to the cardinal directions are places on the Native American Medicine wheel for in depth examination see this website

http://www.sixcrows.org/library/TheMeaningandUseOfTheMedicineWheelByRoyDudgeon.pdf)

Be sure to read the foreword and introduction. Larry Dossey M.D. writes the foreword. Dossey, a physician and medical reformer, investigates the compelling medical, scientific, and spiritual evidence for a universal consciousness. He is also known for presenting convincing evidence for a nonlocalized, holistic view of the mind and reality that accounts for the power of prayer and transcendental experiences.

Book Reviews

“We all delight in reading about medical miracles. Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona, a highly trained practitioner of integrative medicine and Native American healing, gives us inspiring stories along with insightful analyses of them so that we can apply their lessons to our own lives.” (ANDREW WEIL, M.D., author of 8 Weeks to Optimum Health)

“Lewis Mehl-Madrona has deconstructed the mechanisms of miracle cures and true healing in a way that is sensible, coherent, and shockingly enlightening. Your view of life and wellness will be forever transformed!” (Thom Hartmann, author of Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight)

“If ever there was a time to be open to miracles, the time is now. Coyote Healing provides a blueprint for celebrating the miracle of healing in all aspects of life.” (GARY SWARTZ, PH.D., author of Living Energy Universe)

                       

Lewis Mehl-Madrona can be contacted at the Coyote Institute -- East, P.O. Box 9309, S. Burlington, VT 05407, USA 

Mehl-Madrona, Lewis . Coyote Healing: Miracles in Native, (March 25, 2003) Bear and Company: ISBN-10: 1591430100

‪www.healing-arts.org/mehl-madrona‬

‪www.mehl-madrona.com‬

http://www.amazon.com/Coyote-Healing-Miracles-Native-Medicine/

Mind/Body/Spirit Well-Being: Self-acceptance

Self-acceptance is a key construct to Mind/Body/Spirit well being. How do you approach life? Each of us is created with a valid, honorable personality. Making the most of our abilities creates a path of personal success. Success is meeting your own potential.

Understanding your personal thinking style can change your life. Have you found yourself in a group where your ideas and methods were discounted, or ignored? This causes personal stress and friction in the work group.

Each of us has a preferred thinking style that organizes how we interact with information, learn, and act in problem solving work groups. Educators and psychologists use concepts of thinking style to design lessons and understand human behavior. 

The theoretical model created by Anthony Gregorc is useful for understanding our different ways of thinking and is described in his book An Adult's Guide To Style.

According to Gregorc, there are two main preferred types--Perceptual (abstract vs. concrete thought) and Ordering (sequential vs. random thought). Perceptual thinking style describes a preferred way of working with information.

Although we have a preferred “a thinking style”, we are able to understand and use other approaches. When we become overly committed to one style, the “one and only perfect way,” we develop rigid thinking patterns. Being able to choose a mind style that suits the task creates efficient, effective learners and workers.

Value judgments should not be placed on one’s preferred thinking style as representing high or low intelligence, or naiveté/sophistication. The inherent characteristics of Perceptual and Ordering abilities should be flexible to the study or task to be efficient practical.

What is your Perceptual Thinking Style? Concrete, or Abstract

A Concrete Approach is a preference for taking in information directly through the five senses: sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. A concrete approach is working with the obvious, the “here and now, or what is.” The concrete person is not looking for hidden meanings and does not see relationships between ideas or concepts. For example, the occupation of financial accounting typically takes a Concrete Approach.

Those with a natural strength in the concrete style will communicate in a direct, literal, no-nonsense manner.  (Examples for US TV watchers. There is a range from Forest Gump to Temperance Brennan “Bones”)

An Abstract Approach is to visualize, creating ideas, to understand, or imagine that which cannot actually be seen. When you use the abstract quality to work, you use intuition, imagination, and look beyond “what is” to the more subtle implications.

For example the occupations of novelist, or researcher, take an Abstract Approach. The person whose natural strength is the abstract style may use more subtle ways to get a point across. (If this quote has meaning to you, you are thinking abstractly. “The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.” ― William Blake)

Work and learning tasks often require us to shift back and forth from abstract to concrete. Although we have both concrete and abstract perceptual abilities to some extent, each person typically has a preferred style. Some of us shift between thinking styles more easily. My hypothesis is that thinking style reflects our biochemistry as well as one’s genetic code---wow, interesting research topic!

What is your Ordering Ability preference? Sequential, or Random

Ordering Ability is how you organize information. A sequential approach allows the mind to organize information in a linear, step-by-step manner, as if following a set of directions, a computer application, or a recipe.

A sequential approach is to follow the model, a logical train of thought, or a traditional approach. You may prefer to follow a plan, rather than relying on impulse. When I plan a vacation I have a step by step plan as I do not like to get lost, or waste time in a an unknown city.

Random approach, ordering ability, lets the mind organize information by chunks, and in no particular order. Random thinking often allows us to skip steps in a procedure and still produce the desired result. We may even start in the middle, or at the end, and work backwards. Random thinkers may prefer life to be more impulsive or spur of the moment rather than planned.

Thinking Style Characteristics

Concrete Sequential worker/learner

• Likes order, logical sequence, following directions, predictability, and working with facts
• Learns best in a structured environment, where they can rely on others to complete this task, situations are predictable situations, and ideas have practical use
• Has stress and difficulty working in groups and with unpredictable people

The concrete thinker is stressed when discussions have no specific point, in an unorganized work environment, and when following incomplete or unclear directions.  Dealing with abstract ideas, being asked to "use your imagination," and questions with no right or wrong answers are difficult and stressful for those with a concrete thinking preference. Concrete-sequential individuals are very stressed when things are not conventionally correct, or when others are too emotional, or too academic.

Abstract Sequential worker/learner

·      Likes for his/her point to be heard, analyzing situations before making a decision or acting, or applying logic when solving or finding solutions to problems

·      Works best when they have access to experts or references, prefer stimulating environments, and are able to work alone. They are

·      Has stress when working with multiple differing views, if there is too little time to work thoroughly, by repeating the same tasks over and over, and when boxed in by lots of specific rules and regulations.

Abstract Sequential people are stressed by "sentimental" thinking, by being asked to express their emotions, or by being diplomatic when convincing others. The abstract-sequential person may have a tendency to monopolizing a conversation.

Concrete Random worker/learner

• Likes experimenting to find answers, taking risks, using their intuition, and solving problems independently
• Learns best when able to use trial-and-error approaches, to compete with others, when given the opportunity to work through the problems by themselves
• Is stressed by restrictions and limitations, formal reports, routines, re-doing anything once it is done, keeping detailed records, showing how they got an answer, choosing only one answer, and having no options.

The Concrete Random individual finds it difficult to work with fuzzy headed thinking, being told to seek hard data, and working with those unwilling to consider various options.

Abstract Random worker/learner

• Likes to listen to others, bring harmony to group situations, establishing healthy relationships with others, and focusing on the issues at hand. They
• Learns best in a personalized environment, when given broad or general guidelines, able to maintain friendly relationships, able to participate in group activities
• Stressed when to explain or justify feelings, competition, working with dictatorial/authoritarian personalities, a restrictive environment, emotionally cold environment, concentrating on one thing at a time, giving exact details, negative or positive criticism.

Abstract/Random individuals are stressed by being told to be realistic, working in restrictive environments, and dealing with non-caring unemotional people.

How to Use this Information to De-Stress

1. Understand and accept your style and abilities
2. Understand and accept your spouse, children, family, friends, coworkers
3. Build on strengths (you can’t change your preferred abilities but you can consciously develop new abilities)
4. Honor what you like
5. Honor how you learn
6. Honor what creates stress in you
7. Know that your preferred style and abilities are most efficient, but you can train yourself to use other thinking styles for specific tasks (flexible thinking)
8. Choose a career that is consistent with your thinking style and life will be less stressful
9. Give yourself permission “to be” yourself
10. Choose work environments consistent with your thinking style and ordering ability (there is a right place for every one) 

http://www.ehow.com/about_5449795_anthony-gregorc-learning-styles.html#ixzz2wAYQZDS5

http://www.aspminds.com/abstractthinking.html

http://sciencehouse.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/is-abstract-thinking-necessary/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaget's_theory_of_cognitive_development

http://www.projectlearnet.org/tutorials/concrete_vs_abstract_thinking.html

http://philosophy.about.com/od/Major-Philosophers/

Thinking About: self-empowerment

I realize my thinking has been programmed by the politics of power. Powerful groups telling me they know the right answers. In the US these power brokers are governmental institutions, religious institutions, corporate industrial institutions and the media that programs our thinking and manipulates us to buy toxic products.

We do not really admit it in the US because we believe in “free speech and freedom of the press,” but often the media is nothing but a bought and paid for propaganda tool. This is sad, very sad because the media can unconsciously program us with beliefs that are counter to a positive, effective, healthy life. We feel we must have a particular medical screening, medication, or treatment because everyone is doing it--and we do not want to be denied anything. We believe if we fall in line with the program we will not be alone in our fear and misery and we just might get the cure we are promised.

My strategy to discern the truth is to ask---who profits from my decision? Does the action enhance my life? Or does it make profits for others at my expense? What happens to us when we abdicate our self-responsibility to governmental institutions, religious institutions, corporate-medical institutions? We have surrendered our life energy to fear. In a harmonious world all individuals are respected and there are no losers---you would not be asked by the physician and hospital to sign a waiver absolving them of responsibility. 

When governance, the corporate-medical establishment, and religion are used to dominate and control our thinking, the common person is victimized. It is true, society or culture cannot be sustained without shared beliefs and the US was founded on a concept of shared secular values and beliefs. The hope was that the separation of State governance from Religion would give the individual freedom to practice their Spiritual and religious beliefs without fear. This high level of freedom requires tolerance, acceptance and at times insecurity. 

This essay is actually about the insecurity that lies at the heart of free-will. (Free-will [belief in the right of personal choice] is a spiritual tenant of many religions) It is the feeling of insecurity that creates a lack of faith, which leads to doubt, which leads to hopelessness. How can anyone of us be empowered when in an emotional state of hopelessness? How can we create a healthy body when we feel hopeless? 

Can the individual live a healthy life in a constant state of disequilibrium, disharmony? The empowering principle enlivening one’s Mind/Body and Spirit is faith. It is the spiritual tension between Free-will and the choice to act on Faith that creates the opportunity for personal growth and evolution. If we abdidicate our self-responcibility to others we cannot demonstrate faith. All healing is faith healing. You can have faith in a medical model or particular treatment, faith in Nature and a natural life, faith in Self, faith in God. It is the choice to act on empowered, free-will that empowers Mind/Body Spirit healing, and Spiritual evolution.

Recently life challenges reminded me that making life decisions based on faith is a moment by moment commitment. There is no one point where I can say I will never be insecure, I will never question if my decision was the right, perfect, good choice. I can only make the best choice for me in the moment. But to be at peace with my choice--for me to feel empowered--I need to seek information, meditate with my guidance, review my belief system and accept the consequences of my decision in the moment. This process centers and balances me--it is a demonstration of the respect I have for myself. Self-respect is a demonstration of love for self. Where there is Love, fear cannot exist. 

Using Mantras for Healing

I, like Edgar Cayce, believe that the good things that are given to us from Spirit should be freely shared. That is an ethical discussion for another day.

Because I believe Spirit gives us information to be freely shared, I will tell you the mantra meditation I was given on self-healing.

My intuitive understanding is that a component of disease is encapsulated fear and anger in one’s body. To remove this encapsulated fear, anger and bodily symptoms of the disease, the fear and anger must be identified, acknowledged and owned as real. Then the disease/fear/anger can be transmuted in a Violet Flame. The Violet Flame is identified in esoteric knowledge as an energy quality of the Creator.

Esoteric means hidden, deep, buried. The true meaning of the end of the Mayan calendar was not the end of the world—it was the end of secret knowledge. Spirit will make knowing available if we choose to know.

The Violet Flame can be used to transmute energy. It is essential to realize that a disease is idea energy, or thought form, that one has created or materialized in the body. It may represent a current life stressor, or it may represent a karmic lesson or shock. To learn more about the Violet Flame, also known as the Violet Ray see the web link directly below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_rays

Cayce often prescribes a therapy that makes use of an actual violet light. My intuitive understanding has led me to know that we can meditate on the Violet flame to transmute the disease. The disease idea, or thought form resides in unconscious, subconscious, and conscious aspects of our Mind. These layers of Mind and Spirit are where the roots of the disease reside. We can use treatments and therapies at the body level where the disease symptoms reside, but until we address the roots of the diseases at the Mind and Spirit level, as well, we are vulnerable.  The original disease/fear/anger may return or manifest as another disease. The role of the disease is to motivate us toward Spiritual enlightenment and Mind evolution.

As an example, in the case of a tumor or scar tissue, one starts the healing process when the fear and anger are identified, acknowledged and owned as real. The one repeats the Violet flame mantra with an attitude of faith. After one has asked for the tissue to be transmuted in the Violet Flame, the tissue will be broken down by natural body processes, reabsorbed, and eliminated. Once the disease energy is transmuted and released, your personal life energy is no longer feeding the disease and can be used to rebuild your body.

My guidance tells me, we tend not to give up disease because we fear that we will be isolated and left unseen by our fellow man because people have given up on Love and Joy. We tend only to recognize fear and anger. Love is the opposite of Fear, and Joy is the opposite of Anger—these energies cannot coexist.

 I understand what the guidance is saying but I recommend meditating on this statement to find your inner truth. As a counselor, part of our ethic is to warn clients that change has consequences--relationships and family dynamics will change, if you know this before hand you can compensate for it.

My Guidance intuitively gave me this technique for working with the Violet Flame.

1.  First:

Accept that you need to forgive yourself and others for..................................that lead to manifesting this disease. Put into the blank the name of what it is you are angry about ---the whole idea, clearly review it in your mind.

2. Next say this mantra:

Father, Mother, God, Goddess I AM, All that Is, please send a Violet Flame of transmutation to surround and permeate all energies of ................name the disease.............all times, places, spaces, events, participants, and energies are cleansed and healed and brought into alignment with Gods will for humanity at this time. So be it. Amen.

3. Say the mantra 3 times.

Many diseases are the result of accidental occurrences, or exposures to germs and toxins that unintentionally get overlaid with emotional shocks--life happens. It is essential to remember that disease becomes a habit pattern, an energy habit pattern in mind, body, and Spirit. To overcome the disease you must break the energy, the body memory, by doing therapies at all levels of self--Mind, Body, and Spirit. We are a threefold being. Successful healing therapies must address the physical Body, the Mind and the Spirit. (In other words if you may need to forgive yourself---for forgetting to wash your hands, or forgive your child for dropping a hammer on your toe.)

It is also essential to remember you, and those you love, have a life plan. No one lives forever. The Christ demonstrated to us that he was a Being that embraced his Life Plan and saw death as a doorway to the next adventure.

http://www.edgarcayce.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Joseph_Sugrue