Artist: Joseph Barker | It has been my experience that a so-called accident or an illness will occur to bring attention to something that is not being lovingly lived, something that needs eliminating or changing. Ignore the message and it will soon be followed by another and another until the unloving behaviour is addressed. I share my experiences to explain this further. |
In 1993 when I turned fifty, I decided that it was time to take early retirement from corporate life and pursue my own interests. As I had a wide range of contacts from the business world, academia, and government there was ample opportunity to work part-time as a private consultant. However, before I could embark on this plan, I was diagnosed with cancer. At first, I was not too concerned as I was advised that I just needed an operation to remove the affected part, which in this case could be done with a radical hysterectomy. Despite my surgeon being called Dr. Hacker, I expected to fully recover from the operation and resume my life as before.
Imagine my surprise when I came around after the operation and was told that I had a twenty-five per cent chance of living for more than two years as the cancer was also matted in numerous lymph nodes in my right groin. My first thought was “why me” but that was pointless to ask so I quickly let go of the question.
It was perhaps a week or so later when I suddenly had the realisation that my years of denying and burying my true feminine nature had caught up with me. I had developed cancer in my most female part as I had spent my whole life up to that point identifying with the male role and burying the woman within – I had held myself hard and contracted in my pelvic area, which lead to that part of my body becoming very acidic and hence an environment where cancer cells could thrive.
I knew that the medical prediction was likely to come true if I left myself solely in the hands of the medical doctors so while I was having chemotherapy and radiotherapy I read every book and research paper I could find on cancer and made some lifestyle changes.
In addition to following medical advice, I researched more about staying healthy. I also decided to try an alternative approach with a tissue cleanse. At the initial check-in interview I was shown my blood under a microscope and as to be expected after the toxic chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments, it was very unhealthy and sludgy. At the end of the tissue cleanse I again saw my blood under the microscope and could not believe the change in such a short period of time – it was very healthy and clean. Now it was up to me to keep it that way.
Having a potential death sentence linger over you provides great motivation to make lifestyle changes and not go back to the way you lived before the cancer diagnosis, which had obviously resulted in the disease taking hold in my body in the first place.
As I continued to research I discovered the importance of the acid-alkaline balance in our bodies. I read widely on this topic and had a copy of a food chart showing which foods were acid-forming and which were alkaline-forming, and I followed this regime. I learned that it is not only a matter of eating alkaline-forming foods as there are other factors which determined whether food is acid-forming or alkaline-forming in the body, such as the energy one is in while eating – eat an alkaline food in anger, anxiety or stress and it will become acidic in the body.
I was beginning to understand that all emotions, thoughts and feelings, of whatever kind, are felt in the physical body. Those that are inharmonious produce acid reactions. For example, how one responds to the demands of a career will alkalise or acidify the body – if you feel overworked, underpaid, and detest your job, acid-forming residues are being created. If you love your job and feel appreciated, you are adding to your alkaline reserves, and this applies to all areas of our lives. The truth behind this theory resonated strongly with me. Here was an explanation of how emotions and feelings (energy) could affect the physical form.
At this stage in my life I was not yet attending any Universal Medicine presentations so was not familiar with the teaching that ‘everything is energy and everything is because of energy’. Hence, although I addressed cancer on the physiological level, I was not aware that there is always an energetic component first, so I was doing nothing to change the energy that had caused the cancer in the first place. Thus, my body still needed to clear the ill-energy, and in my case it surfaced a few years later as heart attacks.
Once I started attending Universal Medicine presentations in 2004, I became aware that there was another, more loving and more truth-full way to live. I was introduced to the Gentle Breath Meditation, which, as I slowly became more adept at the practice, allowed me to reconnect to a deep stillness and then to gradually uncover and reconnect to the ‘real me’ – which I still carried deep within.
I also received regular esoteric healing sessions that supported me in releasing many old patterns that were not the true me, but that I had taken on to build the false ‘me’ – including hardening my body and identifying with male roles not just throughout this life but through many incarnations.
In addition to anything I was still carrying from a past life, the false ‘me’ that I constructed in this life was also a protection or guard I carried so that I was less likely to be hurt, harassed by men as I frequently was during my corporate career, or to feel the devastation of others as I had felt during my first two and a half years in England during the war.
As I gradually became more connected to the real ‘me’, I started to feel more, to become more sensitive to what my body was feeling, and I could no longer ignore or override what I felt was true in my body. I started to feel when my body hardened in the face of a perceived threat, or when I overrode a feeling because of an ideal or belief I carried, or when my stomach bloated if I ate a particular food.
There was another part of the ‘false me’ I needed to heal, and that was the hardness I had taken on as I played various male roles throughout my life.
Would a woman who was truly connected to the beauty and preciousness of the woman within, compete in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, one of the toughest ocean races in the world or take up paragliding at fifty?!
Reconnecting to my female side was a gradual unfolding process that started with me being more tender with my own body. It was too easy for me to give priority to other things and to not make time for self-nurturing of any kind. I gave attention to the ‘doing’ as had long been my wont, rather than to the ‘being’. So, I started to make time for ‘me’ – to not rush my morning shower but to spend time and lovingly wash and dry my body.
I became more conscious of what I asked my body to do and started to feel into how various activities felt in my body, and when my body hardened. Whereas in the past I would always do whatever was asked of me, I learned the ‘No’ word and sometimes declined if I felt that what I was being asked to help with was not honouring of an ageing female body, particularly where heavy loads were involved.
So, gradually, slowly, I began to feel the loving and nurturing woman that I truly am and from there I glimpsed the sacredness that every woman carries within. As I continue to make choices that are more honouring of my body, the sacredness is becoming a tangible thing that is deepening day by day. It is now so easy to see that ‘cancer’ was a blessing – an opportunity for true healing to begin!
Anne McR, Australia
If you enjoyed this article you may also like to read:
Self-care – Nurturing and Loving your Body
Imagine my surprise when I came around after the operation and was told that I had a twenty-five per cent chance of living for more than two years as the cancer was also matted in numerous lymph nodes in my right groin. My first thought was “why me” but that was pointless to ask so I quickly let go of the question.
It was perhaps a week or so later when I suddenly had the realisation that my years of denying and burying my true feminine nature had caught up with me. I had developed cancer in my most female part as I had spent my whole life up to that point identifying with the male role and burying the woman within – I had held myself hard and contracted in my pelvic area, which lead to that part of my body becoming very acidic and hence an environment where cancer cells could thrive.
I knew that the medical prediction was likely to come true if I left myself solely in the hands of the medical doctors so while I was having chemotherapy and radiotherapy I read every book and research paper I could find on cancer and made some lifestyle changes.
In addition to following medical advice, I researched more about staying healthy. I also decided to try an alternative approach with a tissue cleanse. At the initial check-in interview I was shown my blood under a microscope and as to be expected after the toxic chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments, it was very unhealthy and sludgy. At the end of the tissue cleanse I again saw my blood under the microscope and could not believe the change in such a short period of time – it was very healthy and clean. Now it was up to me to keep it that way.
Having a potential death sentence linger over you provides great motivation to make lifestyle changes and not go back to the way you lived before the cancer diagnosis, which had obviously resulted in the disease taking hold in my body in the first place.
As I continued to research I discovered the importance of the acid-alkaline balance in our bodies. I read widely on this topic and had a copy of a food chart showing which foods were acid-forming and which were alkaline-forming, and I followed this regime. I learned that it is not only a matter of eating alkaline-forming foods as there are other factors which determined whether food is acid-forming or alkaline-forming in the body, such as the energy one is in while eating – eat an alkaline food in anger, anxiety or stress and it will become acidic in the body.
I was beginning to understand that all emotions, thoughts and feelings, of whatever kind, are felt in the physical body. Those that are inharmonious produce acid reactions. For example, how one responds to the demands of a career will alkalise or acidify the body – if you feel overworked, underpaid, and detest your job, acid-forming residues are being created. If you love your job and feel appreciated, you are adding to your alkaline reserves, and this applies to all areas of our lives. The truth behind this theory resonated strongly with me. Here was an explanation of how emotions and feelings (energy) could affect the physical form.
At this stage in my life I was not yet attending any Universal Medicine presentations so was not familiar with the teaching that ‘everything is energy and everything is because of energy’. Hence, although I addressed cancer on the physiological level, I was not aware that there is always an energetic component first, so I was doing nothing to change the energy that had caused the cancer in the first place. Thus, my body still needed to clear the ill-energy, and in my case it surfaced a few years later as heart attacks.
Once I started attending Universal Medicine presentations in 2004, I became aware that there was another, more loving and more truth-full way to live. I was introduced to the Gentle Breath Meditation, which, as I slowly became more adept at the practice, allowed me to reconnect to a deep stillness and then to gradually uncover and reconnect to the ‘real me’ – which I still carried deep within.
I also received regular esoteric healing sessions that supported me in releasing many old patterns that were not the true me, but that I had taken on to build the false ‘me’ – including hardening my body and identifying with male roles not just throughout this life but through many incarnations.
In addition to anything I was still carrying from a past life, the false ‘me’ that I constructed in this life was also a protection or guard I carried so that I was less likely to be hurt, harassed by men as I frequently was during my corporate career, or to feel the devastation of others as I had felt during my first two and a half years in England during the war.
As I gradually became more connected to the real ‘me’, I started to feel more, to become more sensitive to what my body was feeling, and I could no longer ignore or override what I felt was true in my body. I started to feel when my body hardened in the face of a perceived threat, or when I overrode a feeling because of an ideal or belief I carried, or when my stomach bloated if I ate a particular food.
There was another part of the ‘false me’ I needed to heal, and that was the hardness I had taken on as I played various male roles throughout my life.
Would a woman who was truly connected to the beauty and preciousness of the woman within, compete in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, one of the toughest ocean races in the world or take up paragliding at fifty?!
Reconnecting to my female side was a gradual unfolding process that started with me being more tender with my own body. It was too easy for me to give priority to other things and to not make time for self-nurturing of any kind. I gave attention to the ‘doing’ as had long been my wont, rather than to the ‘being’. So, I started to make time for ‘me’ – to not rush my morning shower but to spend time and lovingly wash and dry my body.
I became more conscious of what I asked my body to do and started to feel into how various activities felt in my body, and when my body hardened. Whereas in the past I would always do whatever was asked of me, I learned the ‘No’ word and sometimes declined if I felt that what I was being asked to help with was not honouring of an ageing female body, particularly where heavy loads were involved.
So, gradually, slowly, I began to feel the loving and nurturing woman that I truly am and from there I glimpsed the sacredness that every woman carries within. As I continue to make choices that are more honouring of my body, the sacredness is becoming a tangible thing that is deepening day by day. It is now so easy to see that ‘cancer’ was a blessing – an opportunity for true healing to begin!
Anne McR, Australia
If you enjoyed this article you may also like to read:
Self-care – Nurturing and Loving your Body