In today’s episode of “Healing From Within” Host Sheryl Glick welcomes Laurie Beck author of” I am Living to Tell.” Laurie is a courageous and open minded woman who proves that those qualities were a great help in her living with two deadly forms of cancer, opting not to use traditional chemotherapy and following a path to alternative means of healing. During her healing journey she resolved issues that had contributed to the development of her illness. As listeners of “Healing From Within” are aware we discuss ways to understand true healing on a multi- dimensional level of mind-body and spirit. Health within the body is reflective of the development of healthy emotions, the resolution of former fears and limitations, and fostering quality interactions with others in our daily life experiences. Health like any other quality of our lives demands effort and personal responsibility to details and choices.
Laurie will describe the symptoms that led her to discover that she had lymphoma and a second form of incurable cancer and her experiences with several doctors who offered different approaches for her treatment. She will describe her decision to adopt a holistic process which included energy medicine… Reiki, acupuncture and herbal therapy, Chinese medicine, Qigong and a new approach to valuing herself and others. As Aldous Huxley said, ”Experience is not what happens to you; it what you do with what happens you. Sometimes a disease is the way to embrace a new improved lifestyle.
Laurie will share her journey from experiencing a detached and insensitive approach to her illness by the first doctor she visited, to a more comfortable bonding with her doctors at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who offered her a period of “watchful waiting” before using what this doctor felt was the last resort… the magic bullets or “The Chop” form of chemotherapy. He felt the chemo would not cure the incurable form of cancer Laurie had and might further lower her immune system. Laurie began a plan utilizing alternative healing methods for creating a wellness routine. Laurie realized that by changing her perceptions and actions towards complicated relationships in her life she could find peace. Energy healing work such as Reiki and acupuncture help to release and filter out negative toxins created by a lifetime of worries fears and negative thought patterns that do become embedded at the cellular level, ultimately resulting in illness or disease. Laurie worked with Alice a healer working with intuitive reasoning, and discovered “Thoughts and emotions create how we feel, our energy creates our health or disease. Thought is the core. Where you are putting your intention becomes a model of experience about to happen. If your thoughts tend in the direction of worry or fear then that’s what you get.”
Laurie describes her two part plan to heal herself. The first part was THE EXTERNAL TECHNIQUES.
Chinese Medicine (TCM) was the backbone of Laurie’s alternative healing practice including acupuncture and herbal therapy. Laurie describes acupuncture for those who are not totally aware of how it works as the insertion of tiny needles at specific points in the body to release blockages of energy and to open the 10 channels or meridians that flow from head to feet in our bodies. Energy points or chakras which Reiki energy healers also work with influence the various organs, neurological, lymphatic, respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, endocrine glands, and digestive and reproductive systems of the body. Herbal medicine also treats energy imbalances and can be derived from plant, animal or mineral substances. Most are root-based or powdered formulas turned into liquid form like the tea that Laurie was required to ingest as part of her treatment. Doctors who administer Chinese herbs have 7 years of training and pass a national test. These doctors determine what is best for each patient by following eight guiding principles along with tongue and pulse diagnosis. Exercise and diet are also important factors in Chinese Medicine. The Chinese look at foods as having a YIN and YANG—warming or cooling, drying, and moistening properties. Certain foods are better for you depending on your type and conditions. TCM also encourages an exercise known as Qigong. Laurie as a Pilates Instructor feels too much exercise or hard core running, aerobics, excessive weight training etc. leads to knee replacements, bad backs, hip problems etc. Qigong is an internal Chinese meditative practice that uses slow graceful movements and breathing techniques to improve the Chi in the body while gaining strength, improving health or reversing a disease, and offers a connection with Nature and the Universal source of energy or life. (Frank Gibson’s book “Age of Energy”)
The second part was INTERNAL OR SPIRITUAL TECHNIQUES
Good health requires integration at all levels that entails mind, body, and spirit as well as Western medicine and Eastern Alternative Techniques. Listening to your body (Body Scans) and letting go of preconceived judgments of right and wrong help to bring a combination of things together in harmony and balance often improving any treatment or wellness plan. Useful techniques relating to Reiki, Pilates and Yoga and Kundalini Breath or deep belly breathing allow for an increased oxygen flow for relaxation, circulation, better sleep and these conditions affect the healing process. In describing Reiki Laurie discovered these healing sessions assisted her voyage of inner discovery allowing a new sense of calm and also new awareness in regard to past traumas and helping her to create new goals for her wellbeing.
One of the main messages Laurie wishes readers to take with them after reading her book is to be open to the many ways for healing to occur and to take a cooperative part in making decisions with all the health practitioners involved in your care. Furthermore, changing or releasing imprinted fears and traumas on the body, forgiving our past mistakes and those of others is a necessary ingredient along with diet, exercise, drinking water and herbal substances, taking a multi vitamin, meditating, sleeping and appreciating what you are grateful for. Finding time consistently including Qigong, yoga, Pilates, and energy healing sessions such as Reiki, Chiropractic, Massage, Cranio- Sacral therapy along with finding time with family and friends to enjoy nature, along with music, honoring your elders, doing good deeds, volunteering, sharing love with everyone, making a good meal and taking time to be present in each moment while appreciating the gift of life allows for chemical and hormonal shifts in your body, and can help to improve your health.
Laurie also offers the Serenity Prayer which sustained her and enlarged her view of Self and others which she offers here:
God grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can:
And Wisdom to know the difference
Living one day at a time:
Enjoying one moment at a time:
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace:
Taking as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it:
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to his Will:
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the Next.
Written by Reinhold Niebhur |
