My Intuitive Path to Healing: Part 2
How many ways are there to say good-bye to cells gone crazy?
What choices have I made to re-establish my body from a shattered inside back into a healthy, strong integrated whole?
I have always been a firm believer in digging deep and wide for support whatever the situation may be. I do this as a parent and for those who come to me for counseling. Now I find myself naturally doing it for myself.
Before you go over my list of supports, what’s most important is listening inside to your inner voice or intuition about what is calling to you. Cancer is as individual a healing process as each of us are individually unique. Health is personal. It is tied into the very depth of who you are at your core, this is why I believe, it is so vital to deeply believe in the treatments you choose.
Open your mind, listen, respond.
You may find that treatments you thought you’d never do, you are now open to.
Before cancer, I always thought if I ever got sick I would only do alternative healing treatments. My life was so focused on staying healthy and using all natural products. However, when my body was placed in the center of life and death, it was easy for me to accept all that Western medicine could offer me. Today, I am eternally grateful for conventional medicine and have found a way to bring the ‘conventional and alternative/complimentary’ medicines together.
What especially surprised me were the health topics I was noticing that showed up in my email inbox and the thoughts that would pop into my head. Names of healers, books I’d had in the past, email groups I was part of that I no longer followed. A name would come to me out of nowhere, someone I hadn’t thought of in years, decades, and then the next day, I’d see the name in one of my emails.
I was constantly being reminded to follow my intuition so I paid attention to the little ‘pings’ that kept showing up.
A couple of significant topics had to do with Energy Psychology and Energy Medicine. This was a topic I was interested in back in the 80’s, yet wasn’t able to dive into back then as I was busy growing my life.
Now today, on my ‘forced sabbatical’ from work, life has caught up to me and I find myself with time to circle back to earlier interests. It just so happened that two online courses were being offered in Energy Healing and the Science of Energy Psychology. I thought, why not, sign up and work on it as I can. The online course gave me a focus each week and helped me get through the Fall. I have also continued to use the meditations that were shared in the course throughout my treatments.
Carolyn Myss & Norm Sheely
Sounds True called: The Science of Medical Intuition.
Furthermore, the Association of Comprehensive Energy Psychology offered an online course for learning more about the science behind how we can heal ourselves and use our mind to influence our biology. The biology of cells and how they are reproducing is a key area where cancer cells can be influenced to either thrive or die. How is the body creating molecular pathways that can promote cancer cell death? What kind of cellular influence can I have on my cancer cells? This intrigued me. So I signed up. I’m still learning.
I like to savor my books when I read. I go slowly and digest every word. A few books, have found their way into my heart that grace my bedside table.
Books
Bernie Siegel
Love, Medicine, and Miracles & Peace, Love & Healing
Saki Santorelli
Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine
Thich Nhat Hanh
The Miracle of Mindfulness-The Classic Guide
Donna Eden
Energy Medicine: Balancing your body’s energies for optiomal health, joy, and vitality
Nick Ortner
The Tapping Solution: A revolutionary system for stress free living.
Anthony William
Life Changing Foods and Secrets behind chronic and mystery illness and how to finally heal
Angela Liddon
The Oh She Glows Cookbook: Vegan Recipes to Glow from the Inside Out
Ella Woodward
Deliciously Ella 100+ Easy, Healthy, and Delicious Plant-Based, Gluten-Free Recipes
Ellen Davis
Fight Cancer with a Ketogenic Diet (ebook).
Brene Brown & Kristen Neff
Self Compassion with Kristin Neff and Brene Brown. Online course. I did this in the Spring 2016 when I was reading Kristen Neff’s books. Excellent online course.
https://www.courageworks.com/shop/classes/self-compassion-with-kristin-neff-brene-brown
Johanna Budwig
The Dr. Budwig anti-cancer food plan. A balanced diet for cancer and health.
Meditations
Kristen Neff
self-compassion.org to help me with self compassion meditations when there were long hospital stays.
Bob Stahl
A Mindfulness Based Stress Reducation Workbook. I began using this book and the meditations included some time before I was diagnosed and really connected to the Loving Kindness and Breathing meditations. https://www.mindfulnessprograms.com/mbsr-workbook
Mark Williams & Danny Penman
Finding Peace in a Frantic World. I read this book with colleagues and was practicing the meditations included with the book already for a few years. There are many wonderful mindfulness meditations. http://franticworld.com/free-meditations-from-mindfulness/
Complimentary treatments & practices
Hyperthermia, chelation infusions, ozone therapy, and infusions of specific vitamins and minerals to boost the immune system.
Nutrition
Specific, targeted nutritional health products that have been scientifically tested for the kind of cancer I have to inhibit and kill cancer cells. This is who I brought onto 'my team.'
Psychotherapy & Energy Medicine & Psychology
Weekly sessions to help me deal with all of the emotional and mental material that surfaces. These meetings are renewing, inspiring, and help to keep me centered in the fullness of my body, mind and spirit.
Physiotherapy
for bodywork such as craniosacral and massage as well as support for an ongoing and ever changing exercise program including weights and pilates.
Restorative/Contemplative Practices
Yoga, Qigong, Meditation, Walking outside in the forest. Reading & writing, including journal writing, drawing, mindful colouring.
Outdoor Pursuits
Telemark skiing and mountain biking once able to do again.
Tribal Support Circles
Pulling together my social support networks was so important for me. They seemed to naturally evolve and I found myself connected with friends all over the world who only felt a heartbeat away. With our digital world these days, it’s so easy to create groups on facebook, messenger, whats app, or anyway that fits for you. Feeling the support and love of so many people is healing in and of itself!
Western Medicine
Chemotherapy
By time I have completed my schedule of chemo infusions, it will total 6 months of 5 cycles.
Surgery
Operations on both lungs to remove cancer growths.
Liver abletion
to make sure no cancer cells remained in the original lesion in the liver.
Radiation
6 weeks of radiotherapy on the primary tumor area together with a chemo pill. This option became available instead of the operation because the tumor cells had dissipated to such an extent.
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"It's the body that heals, not the medicine. Each person's body makes use of different healing agents. You have to decide which ones are right for you."
-Dr. Bernie Siegel.