Crushed right foot, sprained rt ankle twice, dislocated rt knee 3 times, torn rt knee, shredded right thigh muscles from falling through a barn loft onto a table saw, torn and sprained back 3 times, broken rt arm, sprained rt hand, chest pains, severely angled spine, symptoms of multiple sclerosis, gall bladder pain and head concussions....are but a few of the injuries &/or illnesses I've sustained in my life from horseback riding, down hill skiing, mountain biking, running, working, my brothers (yes each one contributed an injury by some means), poor eating and on and on...... yet, here I am strong and healthy still, at 48, despite being told by doctors I had "m.s, should be paralyzed from the waist down because of my spine's angle with my spinal cord, I'd never run again from my thigh injury and on and on......." Needless to say, I discounted them all, mentally refusing the diagnosis, and determined to heal myself. I am not going to play the role as victim to my own body or to the medical establishment. As my husband and kids know, when I can no longer heal myself or when my body is truly worn out, I will do as many tribal elders use to and take the journey in to the wilderness one last time and go to sleep. It's where I belong anyway. I do not fear death for I know there is no such thing, only a rebirth into the spiritual for a while, then rebirth into the physical. It's a continuous cycle as all things are in nature. I guess it's taking control of my own quality of life, having a deep connection back to the earth and having faith in my own spirits' abilities. We all have the same abilities if you only learn how to use them.
Approximately eight years ago, after countless injuries throughout my life, I had this dream:
"I woke up in a dark underground cave like hallway. There are lit candles lining both sides of the passage way allowing me to see where I am going. I notice my odd looking shadow on the dirt walls from the flickering light. As I ponder where I am, an old white man with a gray beard and bright orange robe approaches me out of the darkness. As his piercing eyes stare into mine, he says to me "it is time for you to learn how to heal your body with your mind." I instantly woke up startled at the clarity of his message and the look in his eyes.
A few days after this dream, I flew to the Bay Area to be with my family. On the very first day of the visit my brothers and I decided to go rollerblading at Tilden Park, although I had never roller bladed before. How hard could it be anyway, since I roller skated as a kid? I had no helmet or knee pads and no idea how to stop. Almost immediately upon arriving to the park, our path took a harrowing steep descent. Since I didn't know how to stop I had to scream to all the pedestrians in front of me, to get out of the way so I didn't accidentally slam into them. Somehow, I stayed upright and survived to the bottom only to be seconds later grabbed and twisted around by my speeding brother behind me. My body went one way and my right knee stayed in the same position. The swelling from the damage began immediately. Needless to say, the rest of the day was spent in the Berkeley Emergency room with my mother. There was nothing they could do except wrap my knee and give me pain medication (which I refused to take) until I got back to Steamboat to get to an orthopedic surgeon. On the airplane trip back to Colorado, I was sitting in my seat groaning in agony at the pain in my knee. A man sitting next to me, I had not noticed before, asked me what happened. When I was through explaining, he asked me " Are you open minded because if you are I am in a group of higher learning in Long Beach and we learn how to heal our bodies with our minds. Would you be interested to know how?" After I got over my shock at hearing his words resonating after my dream, I said "yes, of course. How?" And this is what he explained to me:
"You first must learn to quiet the thoughts in your head. Start by taking a lit candle and staring at it for 5 seconds with a totally empty mind, then 10 seconds, and so on until you can do it for a minute. It's much harder than you realize. Once you can do that, visualize the injury as it is- the torn muscles, broken bones, etc. THEN, visualize the actual internal injury healing cell by cell, muscle by muscle over and over each day and see what happens. Visualize the light from the son coming in through your head and flooding your entire body, healing it and making it strong again" I thanked him sincerely for his advice and immediately began the visualization of my knee the rest of the ride home.
Within weeks, I then fell through a barn loft, 14 feet on to the table saw below with the blade in an upright position, completely tearing the muscles in my right thigh. After being told I'd probably never jog again and immediately thinking "BS, I will too," I began my second lesson in healing. I forced myself to walk on our very isolated mountain road screaming in agony as my thigh tore in pain, yet healing at the same time. Within six weeks I was jogging once again. Fifteen years later, not only do I jog, but my thighs are ridiculously strong from mountain biking.
Know that your mind in conjunction with spirit is a VERY powerful force and is capable of amazing things if you only have faith in your mind and spirit and the desire to take control of your own body with a warrior spirit. There's no guarantees you'll live to be 100, but for the days you are here, you will know you have lived and you have empowered yourself and truly showed your faith in a Higher Power.
Happy Healing to All
**On a very personal note, the only person I know other than myself, who has had this many injuries is my son Maury whose beautiful sports career went by the wayside due to excessive leg and hip injuries. Even though he has had surgeries in both hips, he still has recurring pain so I have been trying to teach this visualization concept to him as well. It is his choice on how seriously he takes it and how much he wants to heal.
(Please know, I do have many jars of herbs and plants I use for colds, flu's etc and at times use Advil, but for the life threatening stuff I have decided I either heal myself or die. If I am meant to live I will, and if I'm not, I have lived good but I will not die in a sterile, hospital environment financially destroying my family at the same time disconnected from nature.) It's just who I am though obviously not the way for most.
