I have read two books lately that I thought were really excellent, and coincidentally both had the same theme -- that we need to free ourself of over-reliance on doctors, and instead learn to heal ourselves.
The first was The Fertile Female, by Julia Indichova. Having overcome infertility herself after doctors told her it was impossible for her to get pregnant, she went on to start a support service for women struggling with infertility. This book contains the lessons learned from that work. It talks about key things like diet and the need to clear emotional blocks that are affecting our bodies -- what she calls "the issues in our tissues." But the main message is that you have to figure out what works for you, and take charge of your own healing process. I highly recommend for anyone who is working on their fertility.
The second was a more general book, The Healer Within. I had ordered this book a long time ago but never read it. When I picked it up this time, I thought "I've already read plenty of books about Chinese medicine, this is going to be a repeat." But instead I found it fresh and inspiring. Again, his emphasis is on how to heal yourself, and take responsibility for your own healing. He provides concrete techniques based on Chinese Qigong, self-massage, meditation and breathing techniques. They are very simple and non-intimidating techniques, and some were familiar frm other things I had read about and tried -- this book put them all into a framework, which was helpful. So in a sense it was good that I read it after other things, but on the other hand it would have been easier to have just started with this one! And the stories he tells particularly of a cancer survivor's group in Shanghai, are inspiring. It's all about figuring out how to activate the "medicine within", as he calls it, that all of us have. I recommend this for anyone interested in healing and health improvement, particularly if you are working on something as tough to deal with as fibroids. Wish I had read this when I was first diagnosed! It would have helped me get onto a good path more quickly, and would have been more empowering than some of the things I did read.
Based on this reading, and some other things I have investigated lately that I have not had time to write about yet here, I am now feeling like I really have all the tools that I need to do self-healing. My main obstacle is time -- I have a busy job that keeps me in front of the computer way too much. But if I am really going to make some progress with my self-healing, I am going to need to put more time into it. So I am setting some goals --
1. From now on, minimum 2.5 hours per day on healing activities. The healing activities will be from among the ones listed below. If I am busy at work and cannot do the 2.5 hours in a given day, then the un-done time will be carried over to the next day, and all time from the week will need to be done by the end of the day Sunday, no matter what. This could mean some Sunday evening activity blowouts, but that's ok if need be.
2. In order to keep myself honest and committed to this plan, I am going to post on this blog every day what I have done, under a header "today's activities". So you readers will all be helping me with my commitment to this plan.
3. As part of this plan, I will strive to reduce my weight and body fat percent, and my metabolic age. I just recently got a Tanita scale that measures these things, and I will post every Monday. I am aiming for 129 pounds and less than 29% body fat, and hey let's say metabolic age of 29 too (not sure if that is realistic but let's try!) Weight and body fat are of course not the main goals here, but since I can't check my fibroids myself this will at least give some measure of progress as to changes in my body.
The healing activities I will engage in will be a combination of the following (these are either things I have been doing already but not enough, some new things I learned about recently, and some things I used to do a long time ago that I am going to get started with again). Some of the ones not yet mentioned in this blog I will write about in more detail in future entries.
"Regular" exercise:
Walking
Bicycling
Weight-lifting (I plan to join a gym and get back into this after a few years hiatus)
Yard work
"Special" exercise:
Hula-hooping
Belly dancing
Yoga, especially fertility yoga and Kundalini yoga
Qi Gong, especially Fertility Qi Gong, and techniques from The Healer Within and Fertility Wisdom
Stretching
Pilates
Mini trampoline
Feldenkrais
Yamuna foot walkers
The Miracle Ball Method
Bodywork:
Acupressure, especially from The Fertility Cure, Fertility Wisdom, and Facelift at Your Fingertips
Moxibustion, from Fertility Wisdom
Abdominal massage
Castor oil packs
Energy work:
Exercises from Energy Medicine for Women
Jin Shin Jyutsu
Meditation (especially mindfulness, chakra clearing, and special ones received from advisors I have worked with)
Emotional work:
Working with various different books, many of which have been mentioned here previously
Emotional Freedom Technique
Yes this is a lot of techniques. These are the ones that I think have the most promise, based on my research and what I have noticed myself. But they are only going to be helpful if I spend more time on them! In other words, do them rather than think about doing them! A "home practice" as they say.
I am already doing really well I think being consistent and doing the right things with my diet, supplements, acupuncture, BodyTalk and BioSet treatments. What I need now is to pick up the pace on the self-care activities described above, which is what I think is really going to turbo charge my healing process!
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