Posts Tagged ‘yoga’

Look at all your labels and see how many times you see high fructose corn syrup………….  When I was healing and started learning about what causes our bodies to break down, I naturally had to look at what I was putting into my body.  I found out that most of the foods and drinks I consumed were altered in some way so there was little or no nutritional value.

One of the first products I became aware of was processed and refined sugar.  It is everywhere, in everything.  We don’t even stop and consider what these processes are doing to our food before we put it into our body.  We are trusting others that they are safe.  I found that I could not feed myself or my kids water and refined sugar. Most of the drinks and juices available for our kids have no nutritional value and we have no idea the harm they are causing to their little brains and bodies from all the chemicals and processing. 

 Toxic overload and cancer go hand and hand.  Our bodies are exposed to so many chemicals and toxins each day we are unable to process and get rid of them.  Then our cells and organs take on the toxins and store them in our bodies.  Imagine all these foreign invaders attacking our children and ourselves.  For many years we really didn’t know we were eating, smelling, breathing, and living in all these chemicals.  For years authorities have limited information on the harm these toxins are causing.  Now in 2008, every day we are given more information and data on the toxins we are all exposed to all the time and the potential impact on our health, families, environment and world.  We can choose more healthy options.  To be a cancer survivor I had to choose more healthy options.  (I still choose nonhealthy too……..!!!)

Now it is our choice, what do we want to do about it!!

Often when we are faced with a cancer diagnosis or any crisis in our life it shocks and rocks our world.  All of a sudden everything about our lives we begin to question. We question why, who, what, where, and how………………………..

We wonder how we have gotten to this place.  It as if something just carried us to this point and now we woke up and said, “how did I get here?”

Through my cancer support I hear stories of individuals and how cancer rock their lives, but also how cancer woke them up to a new life.

I am gathering stories of cancer and lessons learned and how people took the lessons to their new life.

Please send me your stories or email me at sheila@sheilaulrich.com

You can write your stories in the comments right here too.  I look forward to sharing.

And HOPE is all I needed to take the next step in my healing journey.  Hope really was a big contributor to me being a cancer survivor. 

Hope is your wish or your desire with expectancy that it will come true.  So we always have hope.  Even when all the doctors thought I was going to die, a piece of me knew there was always hope.  Some times that piece that knew hope was buried so deep I couldn’t find it or feel it.  This is when I experienced the most pain and lonliness.  This is when I didn’t know if I could do it another day.

Then miraculously I would hear or feel the buried me again.  I felt the hope, the infinite possibilities available.  But as I brought those to light in the physical world, it always seemed ridiculous.  How did something so real seem so ridiculous when it examined from our physical perspective?  Looking for cancer support, I would share what I felt or heard or learned.  Some times I think they thought I was an alien.  Some times I think I thought I was an alien. 

Good quality food is essential to the health of our bodies and minds.  When I learned about the quality of food I was eating while trying to heal my body, I was devastated.  I didn’t even want to eat any food.  What was the point? 

Now look at the following article about our food supply and the potential harm for all of us.

FDA Unleashes Mass Irradiation of Spinach, Lettuce and Other Vegetables
by Mike Adams

(NaturalNews) The FDA has announced that beginning today, spinach and lettuce sold across the United States may now be secretly irradiated before it reaches grocery store shelves. What’s “secret” about it? The FDA previously decided that irradiation warning stickers would not be required on any food items because it would be “too confusing to consumers.” (The word IRRADIATION apparently has too many letters to be understood to food buyers.) Thus, irradiated foods will not be labeled as such, and consumers are going to be left in the dark about all this (except for those who actually eat the irradiated food, in which case they will glow in the dark).

Many natural cancer treatments can be used by everyone…..like LAUGHTER!!!!

I have talked about how I used yoga in my cancer survivor journey to heal body mind and spirit and find myself again.  Yoga is a tool to help us connect to our true self.  Yoga helps us quiet our mind and integrate all aspects of our being.

Now there is Laughter Yoga!!!!

Laughter Yoga is a unique concept developed by Indian physician, Dr. Madan Kataria. It is fast sweeping the world and is truly a life changing experience. It combines laughter exercises with yoga breathing which brings more oxygen to the body and brain making one feel more energetic and healthy.  The concept is based on a scientific fact that the body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter. One gets the same physiological and psychological benefits. Safe, easy and scientifically proven, Laughter Yoga is a lot of fun. Started with just five people in 1995, today it is a global phenomenon with over 6000 clubs in 60 countries.
 

My trip to Tulum, Mexico was an incredible transformational experience and truly a gift. It was a natural healing of body, mind and spirit. 

Little did I know where this journey would end.  I guess I still don’t, and it doesn’t matter.  I am learning to enjoy the adventure.  Resting in the knowingness that the perfect experience will happen today or NOW.

This new year began with a knowingness from within to start cleansing my physical body.  I followed my heart and had no idea where this journey would take me.  At the time, I had no plans for a trip to Tulum.  I only felt a need to clean out the old and begin putting clean, healthy nutrients back in a clean body.

Then a nudging from within was felt and I knew I could drop
the fear I was experiencing.   It was my choice!

As they were closing the door for the second time, I said, “I am ready!  I am going back in!”

I saw who I was, the being beyond the mind and the fear. This recognition was part of my healing and was part of my purpose there at that moment.

Confidently I enter the lodge and centered myself within.  I began to breathe and focussed on the energy within my body.  I focussed only on the moment and the experience I was having.  I allowed my mind to be still with no thought whatsoever.

As part of the adventure in Tulum, we were going to experience a sweat lodge temazcal, which they are traditionally called in Mexico.

Many North American and Central American Indian tribes have traditionally used the sweat lodge for purification, cleansing and healing of mind, body, emotions and spirit.

I knew the sweat ceremony was another opportunity for cleansing and healing for me and I was so excited to participate. Only six of the ten women chose to participate. We began with a ceremony outside standing around a fire. Together we chanted and offered prayers. Although I don’t think any of us really understood one thing said or done. Our leader was a shaman in his thirties who had grown up with the tradition in Mexico. Each of us then left our hand print in the sand around the fire and then proceeded to the sweat lodge.

With each experience in Tulum, I became quieter in my thoughts and more aware. It is a feeling of calm and centeredness.  Although I was active in my physical being all day on the beach, in the water, in healing sessions or exercise sessions, I was still in  my mental being. With this came an awareness of life around me. People’s words and actions became more alive. The sounds were more alive and colors more vivid.
 
With my senses engaged, an inner knowingness is revealed. I guess it’s always there; we usually can’t hear or feel it because we are distracted by our physical and mental worlds. The chatter of our minds and the motions of our bodies cover up our connection to the inner world and our true self. Then we lose our source of natural wisdom.
 
I felt it was time for a cleansing and healing session with a local healer. A non-English speaking woman led me through the woods to a quaint, open cabana. I was welcomed by the smell of incense and the flickering of candles in the night. She caressed every point of my body; artfully  massaging and dislodging blocked energy. I could feel her pulling junk
out of my hands and feet. It felt as if old emotional baggage was pulled  from my body. A release of energy long carried is freeing. I felt completely  relaxed, peaceful and renewed. I was ready to face the world.
 
With the release and renewal, awareness increases and I began to “see” my life more clearly. I saw how I created experiences in my life to suffer. Why do I keep reenacting the same thing over and over? It seemed so clear  and simple. Let it GO!!!!
 
Lesson four was felt deep within… Choose what I want to experience and create what I want NOW!!
 
Use these lessons NOW!
 
Next time….The PANIC within the Sweat Lodge Ceremony!