Healthy Breasts

I am sorry. I will not wear a pink ribbon. I do not want to have anything to do with Breast Cancer. I refuse to pollute my consciousness with Breast Cancer Awareness. I believe we are not helping to "Save the Tatas" by posting ads everywhere with huge letters that highlight Breast Cancer. We are told there is no cure. I do admit it is a devastating disease. And many courageous women do survive it. I have seen women who have had one breast removed, and were left disfigured, because they did not have the resources to get implants. I also have friends who survived, and reluctantly hold up their new "shields", which protect their emotional scars.

My big problem with the whole Breast Cancer Awareness proposition is that the main sponsors behind it all is the medical establishment. The medical establishment which has, for the most part, focused its efforts on its bottom line. Unfortunately, medicine is now a big business in treating symptoms. Mammograms are also big business. Women are told to get mammograms, in some instances every year starting at age 22. Most doctors recommend starting baseline mammograms at age 40. I am not a doctor, but to me, it doesn't make sense to be subjecting our most sensitive tissues to radiation. Is it possible that the radiation is increasing our risk? Depending on the technique used, some studies show that our risk increases 1-3% per year, which means that in 10 years, we have actually increased our risk by 10-30%. I prefer to lower my odds.

I was raised in a household which preached preventative medicine. As a Medical Doctor  for the World Health Organization, my father brainwashed me about preventing disease by reducing risk factors. He was one of the pioneers who fought (and won) to make restaurants and public spaces smoke free. Smoking, is one of the risk factors associated with breast cancer, according to the Mayo Clinic. So is being overweight, drinking alcohol, and guess what! Exposure to radiation. According to the Mayo Clinic, "Medical imaging methods, such as computerized tomography, uses high doses of radiation, which have been linked with breast cancer risk. Reduce your exposure by having such tests only when absolutely necessary." I had one mammogram once, at the request of my doctor, as a baseline. Perhaps it was psychosomatic, but I remember feeling strange energy when I was "zapped". Never again. 

Are mammograms our only option? I think the most important option is to get educated, take our own health in our hands, and stop making excuses. We need to take charge of our own health. Become more aggressive in our own self control. Environmental factors and pollution may play a role in our wellbeing. But what about toxic environments? When our system is in an environment of criticism, anxiety, and high emotional stress, we lower our immune system's ability to defend itself. We create a weakened body, that then goes on to soothe itself with unhealthy comfort foods, such as sugar, alcohol, and or drugs. Sugar is the preferred nourishment for cancer cells to thrive. If we live in fear of developing breast, or any other form of disease, we are inviting that kind of energy into our world. 

I believe in health and wellbeing. We can never be certain, and for about 1% of the population, breast cancer is genetic. But we can do our part to lower our risk factors by eliminating sugar, white flours and alcohol from our diets. Dr. Myron Wentz, internationally recognized microbiologist, immunologist, and pioneer in the development of human cell culture technology, found that cancer cells can actually be fought with antioxidants. Dr. Russell Blaylock, world re-known neurosurgeon, not only says that cancer is preventative, but also treatable. Of course no one has ever heard of these doctors, because they are touting something as simple as an organic, healthy diet. That will not create millions of dollars for the medical establishment, as opposed to fear, and a faulty system that does not integrate the whole being. 

We are not only our bodies, but environmental, nutritional, emotional, and spiritual factors make us each very unique individuals. Doctors of Osteopathy take that into consideration. (D.O.'s) The founder of Osteopathy, Dr. Andrew Taylor Still's theory was that a disordered musculoskeletal system leads to disease, but that every properly maintained living organism possesses the capacity to produce all the necessary chemicals and materials to cure itself of ailments. 

This is the same premise that yogis have known for thousands of years. If your physical, mental, and spiritual bodies are all functioning harmoniously, optimal health is achieved. BKS Iyengar, living yoga master, has also created innovations in the practice of yoga, by making yoga accessible to everyone, regardless of physical condition. Iyengar Yoga teaches proper alignment of the body in yoga poses not only to reduce injury, but as a way to bathe and to bring health to our internal organs. I have witnessed numerous women regain their range of motion and sense of joy for living, with the healing techniques of Iyengar Yoga. Women who after surviving breast cancer couldn't raise their arms above shoulder height. Who were depressed from the experience they endured. All of whom have transformed their way of eating, and their ways of dealing with the trials of life. Not only have they taught me about strength, and courage, but they have also confessed to me about what they thought was the real cause of the cancer. Anger, resentment, guilt. And not being able to express it. But our bodies talk to us. They tell us how we are doing on an emotional level.

I have witnessed students who had suffered years of back pain. The day they got a divorce, their back pain disappeared mysteriously. Even if we try to suppress emotions, our bodies will manifest what we are feeling. This is the work of Louise Hay, metaphysical lecturer and author of "You can Heal your Life". According to Hay, she noticed a pattern in women with breast cancer. Their inability to say no. The breasts, she says represent nourishment. When we encounter breast problems, it is an indication of our inability to nourish our own self because we are too busy nourishing others. (This is how I learned about Louise Hay, someone gave me her book when I got a breast infection from breastfeeding. As per her book: Nourishing others before nourishing the self. I got it-more on that in my next blog.)

I believe in preventative health. Let's focus and visualize on Healthy Breasts. Let's make ourselves healthy by not allowing stress to create blockages in our bodies. It is these blockages where disease can fester. Let's take time out for ourselves. Nourish ourselves by moving. Let's stretch our tissues with backbends and yoga poses that keep our tissues elastic and with good circulation. Let's eat lots of organic and natural foods, that come from the source instead of eating artificial stuff from boxes for convenience. Let's pledge to raise our little girls to grow up as women who respect and love themselves enough to nurture themselves, and to teach them to create loving and nurturing environments around them. Let's do better ourselves, ladies, so that we are much more than our "Tatas".  Let's be role models to our future generation by forgiving and letting go of past hurts. Let's clear up our mental bodies of destructive chatter that poison us. And lets change all the fear into power that we have the strength and capacity to fight our own battle for wellbeing. Not just for our breasts, but for the greater Cosmic Consciousness. Let's say no to that which no longer serves us and a big YES to our own SELF!