The Courage to Stand

Red.  Red marks all over my Review of Systems.  

Headaches?  Check.

Migraines?  Check.  

Blurred vision?  Slurred Speech?  Seizures?  

Check. Check. Check.  

The poor girl couldn’t even lift her head on her own.  Her family positioned her wheel chair so that her head rested on the wall behind her.   Her hands would tremor randomly.  

“When did this all start?” I asked.  

“After the Gardasil Vaccine,” her mother responded.  

“How can I help you?”  I probed.    

“I don’t know,” came the mother’s reply.  

So we continued with the Review of Systems and the Assessment.  

There was pain all the way down her neck and back.  Any touch, even the whisper of a clothing tag, was excruciating.  Movement hurt.  Stillness hurt.  She was living in a prison of hurt.   

Lists of supplements and medications doctors want her on.  

Binders full of medical reports.  

Video footage documenting the progressive weakness, the body giving way as she collapsed into a wheel chair.  

She was an active honor roll student.  Enthusiastic.  Involved.  She wanted to go to college, wanted to be a journalist.  That was before the shot.  Before she fell.  Before she couldn't walk.  Before the tremors and seizures.  

Hannah’s body was deteriorating before our very eyes.  

No one could tell her why.  No one could stop it.  

There was little hope.  How could there be?  After countless doctors tell you it was permanent.

And yet, with all the documentation and diagnosing, we did not see any reason why her body would not make a full recovery.  No explanation as to why she couldn't or wouldn’t walk again.  

We know how the body works.  We know how to cleanse and purify it.  We know that the body is self healing and self regulating when given the opportunity.  

So we gave Hannah that opportunity.  

Detox.  

Chelation. 

Cleansing. 

Liver support.

Immune support.  

All the while she was getting foot baths and adjustments.  

Baby steps.

Not all at once.  

She cannot even hold her head up on her own, why do people think her body can detox, clear her liver, boost her immune system, balance her hormones, work on gait training and build strength and stability ALL AT THE SAME TIME?  

Three weeks into the program Hannah was building strength in her lower extremities.  
Three months into the program Hannah was more stable while standing.  

Three and a half months into the program, Hannah was walking.  

And she never stopped.  

There is still much more to do.  Much to strengthen.  

But I have never seen a more determined, courageous, and joyful woman seated or standing!

Blessings, Hannah.  

Aho.  

Take Heart

My favorite story of a moment between a father and a son comes from The Reflective Life by Ken Gire.  In his book Ken writes about a fond memory that would occur when his father would come home from work, sit on the couch, and read the newspaper.  Ken would crawl right up next to his father and lean his head against his father’s chest.  Sometimes he would stare at the newsprint.  Other times he would simply close his eyes and rest.  He remembers many times just sitting there, listening to the beat of his father’s heart.  And as he rested, Ken would try to breathe in sync with his father so that when he inhaled, Ken inhaled; and when he exhaled, Ken exhaled.  Eventually, when he would breathe in rhythm with his father, their heart beats would beat in sync as well.  It was then that Ken truly felt a sense of Oneness with his Father.  

There is a Heart Math Institute in California that has been studying the intelligence of the heart.  Scientists at Heart Math have described four different ways the heart communicates with the brain.  

1. Neurological: synapses, nervous impulses
2. Biochemical: acetylchoine, norepinephrine, (hormones and neurotransmitters)
3. Biophysical: pulses and pressure waves
4. Energetically: electromagnetic field reactions

Researchers and doctors note that the pattern and quality of the energy emitted by the heart is transmitted throughout the body via the heart’s electromagnetic field.  Just as cell phones and radio stations transmit information via electromagnetic fields, so does the heart. 

Heart Math research has found that the heart’s electromagnetic field is far more powerful than the brain’s.  Approximately 5,000 times greater.  No joke.  

Additionally, the heart’s field not only permeates every cell of the body, it also radiates outside of the human form.  This field can be measured up to eight feet outside of a person. 

One research project that I am particularly fond of documents a heart that was split in two.  One section stayed at the Heart Math Institute in California.  The other half was sent to New York City.  When the scientists would increase the heart beat of the half of a heart in California, the heart tissue in New York would follow suit and remain in synchronicity ALL ON ITS OWN.  They continued to watch, alternate, and chart the heart beat of these two halves.  No matter what happened, change in stimulation or change in circumstance, the heart would always beat as one.   

Scientists then applied this phenomena to the entire human form.  Further research suggests that when a person focus their attention on their heart, the synchronization between the heart and the brain increases.  This is known as entrainment.  When a person masters entrainment, his/her heart field expands exponentially.  

Likewise, when a community masters entrainment with one another, the collective heart field of the entire community expands exponentially.  

One of the most powerful examples of a group of people effecting change was a documented experiment during the war between Lebanon and Israel that began in 1982.  

A group of people were trained in Transcendental Meditation.  At appointed times on specific days of the month, these people were positioned throughout the worn-torn areas of the Middle East.  

During the window of time when they were feeling peace and love, 

*terrorist activities CEASED

*the rate of crimes against the people went down

*the number of emergency room visits declined

*incidence of traffic accidents dropped

When the participants’ focus changed and the meditations were over, the statistics reversed.  This study confirmed their hypothesis: 

When a small percentage of the population achieved peace and love within themselves, it was reflected in the world around them.  

The data was so consistent that the researchers were able to identify how many people are needed to share the experience of peace and love before it is mirrored in the world.  The number is the square root of one percent of the population.  Using 1,000 people, that is 3.16 people.  Smaller than you would expect.  In a small business, a group of friends, a household - it only takes one person.    

That calculation is the minimum number of people needed to effect change.  The more people involved in the feeling, the faster the effect.  This study became known as the International Peace Project in the Middle East.  Its results were published in The Journal of Conflict Resolution in 1988.   

Powerful.  A community that discovers what it believes in and then becomes that belief is powerful.  

Powerful.  And it all starts with an individual recognizing his or her own heart beat.



Research and facts can be found at:
http://www.heartmath.com/

I Would

I hold space for many women.  Space to learn and discover who they are.  

I sit with them, knee to knee, and I draw out the female cycle.  I explain how it works.  Why it works.  Why it is important.  I speak with them about what they will feel in their bodies with each ovulation, with each period.  I encourage them to get to know themselves, to get to know their bodies.  

Why every women is not taught this is beyond me.  In all of our education, with all of our knowledge, why is this left unsaid?  ...But that discussion is for another day, another post.  

I was blessed with a boy to nurture and raise.  I am fully aware that one of my purposes for being his mother is to raise a man that respects, honors, and cherishes the natural order of the feminine.  

I do not have a daughter but if I did, I would:

I would let her dance in her innocence.  Dance and laugh and dance some more.  And I would smile as I watched the wind blow through her hair and carry her laugher into forever.  

I would do nothing but love her.  Love her deeply and unconditionally, so she finds comfort in love.  So she allows herself to love and be loved.  

Everyday, I would walk the ground with her.  Barefoot.  Let her absorb the energy of Mother Earth.  Let her give and release energy back to Earth Mother. 

I would show her how to be comfortable in her skin.  That I love my body.  I would teach her how to love her own.  

I would show her how to take care of herself, not out of vanity, but out of love for her Self.  I would show her the true essence of beauty.        

I would remind her that her body is a Temple.  Sacred.  That is should be honored.  

Before the tides change, I would speak with her about how she will step into her cycle.  How her body will change, grow, and develop.  We will talk about what it means to carry oneself with honor.  Not to give it all away.  Not to hide it in shame.  But to walk with confidence in who she is and who she is becoming.  

I would prepare her to bleed.  To welcome the transition into womanhood.  I would gather women, my sisters, so that we could speak of the sacredness of womanhood.  Share our stories.  Bleed together.  Be grateful for Mother Earth. 

I would encourage her to both Sun Bathe and Moon Bathe.  Take in Masculine.  Take in Feminine.  Be content and open under the Full Moon.  For just as the Moon pulls the tides of the oceans, I would acknowledge that it pulls the tides in myself.  In my daughter.  I would encourage her to be grateful and protective of her time to balance, renew, and restore.  

I would teacher her about the sacredness of her sexuality.  That sex is more than an act.  That there is a spiritual connection, an intimacy and vulnerability, a giving and receiving of energy.  

I would teach her to honor her body.  To honor her cycle.  To chart her cycle.  

I would teach her to stand in her femininity.  Her fertility.  To know herself.  And to know her Creative Power.  

PMS

PMS.

We all know of it.  We have all seen or experienced it.  Medical terminology defines it as a variety of physical, emotional and behavioral symptoms that are linked to a woman's menstrual cycle.  Typically starting 2 weeks prior to the start of a cycle and lasting 5-7 days after.  Symptoms include: 

Anxiety

Depression 

Mood Swings

Irritability or Anger

Food Cravings 

Headaches

Fatigue

Weight Gain

Fluid Retention

Abdominal Bloating

Cramping

Breast Tenderness

Acne Flare-ups

Constipation or Diarrhea

It is estimated that three out of every four menstruating women will experience some form of PMS.   Lucky us.  For three weeks out of EVERY month.  Lucky us. 

This is not the way life should go.  Women should be made to feel blissful, honored, powerful, beautiful.  Something along the lines of this:

Instead of feeling bloated, irate, depressed, dismissed.  Pretty much, like this:

Unfortunately, the "norms" of the female cycle have been accepted and expected as common place for a menstruating female.   Why wouldn’t it?  3 out of every 4 women experience them.  Of course they are our new normal.  

So, what do we do?  

< Insert Birth Control >  How wonderful for us that we can shut down the female cycle.  Prevent ovulation and suppresses those God-awful symptoms that create monsters out of maidens. 

Birth Control, while effective to prevent conception, is not the answer to aberrant or painful periods.  It is not the answer to regulate natural cycles.  It is not the answer to balance female hormones.  

The TRUTH?  (at least, my truth)

 A natural female cycle should ebb and flow with the cycles of the moon.  Naturally come, naturally go.  

No bloating.  

No irrationality.  

No acne.  

No PMS.  

None.   

In fact, all of those signs and symptoms attached with the female cycle really signify hormonal imbalance, pH imbalance, food or environmental allergens, bacteria or fungal overgrowth, or/and a chronic underlying infection.  Not typical of a cycle.  Not something we should expect.  Definitely not something we should ignore and/or shut down.

It isn't overly simple to balance the female cycle, but it isn’t rocket science either.  

It takes knowledge, discipline, attention, and time.  

We, as a socitey, have gotten too far away from our roots and the natural order of life.  Our cycles should literally follow the moon cycle.  Full moon.  New moon.  Ovulation.  Period.  Not some chart by some app on some I Phone.   

There is much to say on this topic.  We will get there.  For now,  pay attention to your bodies, women.  Pay close and loving attention.  You will be surprised by what it tells you.  

Aho.