OMG the tube of deep rich paint is missing… It’s one of those extra concentrated ones. Deep purple.
I’ve searched everywhere. What did she do with it… that new fluffy puppy Zara who invaded my studio four weeks ago.
She hides things in her “nest”: an ever-growing collection of toys, blankets, stuffies and every single loose mat in my studio.
The white paint tube has been found thankfully. But the floor in the kitchen has become an abstract masterpiece of white paint and paw prints. Yet the purple paint tube remains carefully hidden.
Zara (I’ve come to realize) is a direct messaging (D.M.) dog. Pay attention to me or watch out. Walking into my office just now she announces her water dish needs filling (there’s an empty water bowl in her mouth). Definitely a D.M. dog…
This dog reminds me of how chronic diseases or other unexplained health issues arise. Just like a loud fearful siren yelling at us to stop, these are direct messages from the body forcing us to pay attention, be it a sudden onset of rheumatoid arthritis, Lyme disease, chronic fatigue, etc.
But stop what? And how? Often Western medicine is baffled. In my case (with Lyme disease) I was told by Western medical specialists it was all in my head (mostly) or the onset of Parkinsons’ disease. Another well-intentioned doctor gave me steroids to quell the disaster that was happening within my failing body and mind.
Only one truly great medical doctor got me:
A non-traditional M.D. in her 70s whose daughter-in-law had gotten Lyme years previously. Firsthand she saw the disaster it wreaked on her family. This Lyme-literate doctor believed me (we have very few Lyme-literate doctors in Canada). She believed that I had those crazy unexplainable and out-of-control symptoms. She took action and gave me a drug that moved the Lyme disease into latency. I’ll talk more about latency in a wee bit.
Then she retired. No more drug to keep the disease latent.
So I looked to Eastern medicine. I discovered Classical Chinese Medicine (Chinese Medicine as it was taught prior to the 1950s.) It is the medicine of the Jade Purity Lineage and the wonderful work of Dr. Jeffrey Yuen. This ancient medicine with its wise understanding of how the body works and thrives burrows deeper into the body and can elicit change at the level of matter and energy and spirit. A place of miracles. A place of hope. For me.
The first thing I learned about my chronic debilitating disease through this Classical Chinese Medicine lens is that I could not get better, could not shift nor hope to get rid of this pathogenic factor, without me changing.
My body had created the “perfect storm” fostering this disease, allowing it to thrive within.
I eventually came to realize that those direct messages my body was issuing could be soothed by holding acupressure points, changing my diet, upping hydration and quelling my out-of-control emotions.
Ann Cecil-Sterman (photo at left) became my guide and teacher. I am ever so grateful. Ann had studied with Dr. Yuen for decades.
Slowly the Lyme disease loosened its grip. I started sleeping again. I lost 25 pounds as I fed my body foods that it could digest. The brain confusion and my ability to analyze returned. The years of 1000s of ants running up and down my spinal cord and wrecking my central nervous system (that’s what it felt like) disappeared.
Without medication. Just fingers touching acupressure points… Different foods. A quelling of my spirit. And then my soul re-ignited. A body healing.
What have I learned through this marvelous adventure? Every body can heal his or herself.
We can reverse the original state of dis-ease with the right help, the will to change and focussing on rebuilding the body’s constitutional energy.
I used the word, ‘latency’ earlier. Let me explain. The body does everything it can to protect the vital organs. It cleverly moves the pathogenic factor (or chronic dis-ease) to a divergent channel (like Zara’s instinct to hide the purple paint.)
Think of latency (divergent channels) as a cupboard with the door closed…a temporary holding place where the dis-ease or pathogen can be safely stored. Usually in the joints. The pathogenic factor (or whatever caused the issue in the first place) sits there awaiting the body’s re-strengthening/rebalancing.
If the body cannot strengthen, the dis-ease progresses. But it is reversible if you rebuild the body’s intake of healthy fluids and nourishing foods, combined with rest, calming emotions and a guide who understands this deeper medicine.
Then, once the body is strong enough, it can, hopefully, rid itself of the pathogenic factor that created the mess in the first place.
It might sound complicated but simply put: your body is a miracle and so very wise.
A few tips to help:
- Find ways to calm your emotions. They are key factors, not only in recovery, but in locking you and the dis-ease into place. Invite change into your life.
- Start looking at foods and removing all that add inflammation to the body: coffee, chocolate, hot spices, gluten, sugar, dairy, etc. The full list of inflammatory foods is in the sidebar below. Try to eliminate a few of these at a time or ditch the lot… whatever you can handle.
- Up hydration by eating more soups, stews and congees (breakfast congee recipe to follow).
- Remove all cold and raw foods from your diet. Cold creates stagnation in the body. We are looking for fluid movement of all kinds.
- Take up Qigong or do Donna Eden’s Daily Energy Routine… daily.
- Simplify your life, create beautiful things, know that your body does have the power to heal.
- A personal tip from Zara: Thank your body for its Direct Messaging.
- Finally, know that you are not alone. This is a journey of change and growth and self-love.
With love from Wakefield Quebec Canada
Helene Anne (& Zara the thief)
Sidebar: List of Inflammatory Foods
Foods that raise heat, deplete fluids, overstimulate your autoimmunity (wei qi), increase phlegm or disrupt the relationship between nourishment and immunity:
onions, garlic, hot peppers alcohol, coffee, chocolate, sugar and sweetened foods, dairy (especially cheese), nightshades (peppers, tomatoes, white potatoes, eggplant), fried foods, processed or GMO foods, allergens, often including wheat, skipping breakfast/eating late into night, avoiding water…
Congee – A Food for Life & Healing
Andrew Sterman has also played a major role in my healing through teaching me about foods from a Chinese Medicine perspective. He is the author of Welcoming Food (Diet as Medicine for Home Cooks and Other Healers) and has kindly allowed me to share his Congee recipe with you. This is a savoury dish, filled with all you need to gently heal. Note: Use organic ingredients if you can.
Congee provides what’s needed to support the stomach’s protective lining. It is so easy to digest that it effectively rests and resets digestion. I highly recommend Andrew’s books, Welcoming Food (Volumes 1 & 2).
Helene Anne Fortin • kind mentor 