Two years ago, I heard the words no one ever wants to hear. Thousands of women here those same words EVERYDAY! 1 in 8 women to be specific 1 IN 8! While I thought I was at my healthiest, my body clearly was being invaded and wasn’t at its strongest. Since then, I have become a research nerd and love learning about how the body work even more than before- from nutrition to chemicals and toxins to how important holistic health is. Its not just what we put in or on our bodies its our thoughts, energy, and how we handle life and the stressors that come along with it.
It has slowly become a passion of mine to become an advocate for Holistic Health for preventative care and more importantly helping women going through their cancer journey as well. Healing and Health is not a one-dimensional platform, its actually like a 10-dimension journey. HAHA We always hear Mind Body Soul but what does that really entail? There is so much healing that is necessary on all three levels, however, our medical system only tries to heal the body. There is a pill for everything but in order to create a life in Harmony you must heal all three. Let’s take a deeper look……..
The Mind-
Did you know the average person has over 6000 thoughts a day! 6000! And I can guarantee most of those are full of judgement, toxicity, comparison, and self-doubt! At the end of the day, we weigh ourselves down with all that negativity. Imagine what that does to your body! It puts stress and pressure on the body and can create a breeding ground for rogue cancer cells to come together and form masses and tumors. NO BUENO! Toxic thoughts take away the opportunity to really be present and experience life. They either keep us in the past- increasing depression or sadness or they create anxiety by thinking about the future and what’s to come. Both scenarios are robbing you of living in the moment and enjoying the gift of Presence. Awareness is key, noticing the thoughts as they arise and being able to shift them with a mantra, positive word, or simply by not attaching to the thoughts- like clouds in the sky let them keep going without giving them more meaning and attention! The mind is a VERY powerful tool, and it can either hurt you, keeping you stuck in fear with low level vibes, or you can SOAR- staying positive, high vibin, and enjoying life! Which sounds better to you? I know I know it sounds easier said than done, right? Or is it? Again, Awareness is key……. Below are some tools to interject and keep you present….
1. Have a go to word or mantra to play on repeat in your mind as you notice the toxic thoughts escalating. Just say it over and over in your head until it passes
2. Go outside and enjoy nature for a moment. If you can redirect your awareness from the thought to nature, noticing the trees, sounds of the birds, or the clouds passing by your mind literally cannot think about anything else. It physically cannot do two things at once.
3. Stop, close your eyes (of course not while you are driving) and BREATH! By breathing deeply, you activate your Parasympathetic nervous system which moves you from the stress of Fight or Flight to Rest and Digest, immediately calming you down and increasing presence.
Now there are a ton more, but these are quick, easy, and a great place to start!
The Body- (this one is probably the most accessible in terms of how you can bring balance into the body)
Everyone knows that exercise is important. Just by moving your body for 30 minutes a day you not only feel better and can strengthen the body externally, but more importantly internally as well. By moving, you increase circulation which helps to move toxins from the lymph channels to your heart to pump through the digestive system for elimination. THIS IS SOOOOOO IMPORTANT. When a person is stagnant not only are they storing fat (which cancer loves) but they are not eliminating toxins from their bodies daily. Destruction will happen if our bodies are not working in unison and toxins are left to float around in the body. For instance, most Breast Cancers are formed because Estrogen (and the bad kind of Estrogen) are not being eliminated, allowing cancer to feed off those cells to form and spread throughout the breast and possibly to the lymph nodes. So, ladies…… GET MOVING and assist your body’s elimination process.
Coming back to the Toxins topic……. Toxins are found everywhere-from the foods we eat, to the products we put on our skin, to the air pollution. This puts a lot of strain on our liver. So, reducing the amount of “known” toxins we take in is essential to assist our livers to work properly. Do your research, be your own advocate! Buy organic foods when you can, if you eat meat or chicken buy grass fed, if you eat soy products be sure to buy organic, Non-GMO to reduce chemicals and toxins. Switch up your beauty products! So many skin care lines and hair products have 100’s of chemicals in them which can put a lot of strain on the liver slowing it down, decreasing its power. Same goes for Household products- think about all the chemicals in disinfectant wipes, floor cleaners, windex etc etc. There are so many natural, clean, chemical free products out there which can be overwhelming so instead of changing everything all at once, start to slowly switch out the old with the new! Also, download the Environmental Working Group- EWF app. You can easily scan products while in your grocery store to see the amount of chemicals and ratings of toxicity. Again, awareness is key, when you know better you do better.
The Soul, Spirit, or Energy- whatever you want to call it!
Believing in something higher than you is an act of surrender. Who or whatever that is! It can be God, Buddha, Allah, or Universe……just by having Faith can bring a sense of peace into your world just by believing and most definitely helps in healing. So, for some praying brings them closer to spirit and maybe for others meditation may be their go to. Personally, meditation was and continues to be a daily practice for grounding, a deeper sense of connection, clarity, and healing. You can do it for 5 minutes or 30 minutes it is all beneficial. If you are new to meditation, I recommend doing a guided meditation through You Tube or download the Calm app. Simply by closing your eyes, slowing down, and becoming STILL you can be transformed. It allows the body to move from chaos to harmony. Give it a try!
Ever since my 200 Yoga Teacher Training, I have been intrigued by the Chakras and how balancing the energy centers in our bodies can really bring a sense of balance in life and how we feel and how our bodies perform. I have always been told I have great energy, but it wasn’t until recently that I truly embrace and understand what that means. I was lucky enough to have been gifted the opportunity to have my friend and Energy Healer, Faryl Moore, work her magic on me when I was going through my cancer journey. She helped to balance my chakras and release stagnant energy built up from stress, crazy emotions, and toxins from chemo. It truly helped me remain clear minded, positive, and experience everything with grace and ease. There are a lot of people who may not understand this way of healing but there is a lot of science behind the energetic movement. You may not be able to “SEE” the energy healing, but you can most definitely FEEL it! Energy is everywhere just slow down and I bet you will be able to feel it!
So, as you can see there are many facets to healing the Mind, Body, and Soul. I only listed a few but there are so many more holistic ways of healing to compliment conventional care. While it may not be a “quick fix” like just taking a pill, a holistic approach to healing creates harmony in the body so that you can live your best life and your body can perform the way that it is designed to. We are meant to feel good- we are not meant to feel tired all the time or have aches and pains all the time so if you are one that is constantly in pain, or you don’t feel you are at your best……. try incorporating some healing on all three levels- Mind, Body, AND Soul! There is so much out there for you to learn, you just be open and willing to start your journey towards a Harmonious Life!
