Curable from within

With the lifestyle we follow, we live in a constant threat of chronic illness. We eat wrong, live wrong, don’t exercise, breathe polluted air, eat chemically infused foods, drown in stress and angst, and when illness strikes, be it a cold, a stomach ache or a fever, we take a pill and return to action. Over time, such abuse of our bodies often results in a cold that morphs into asthma, stomach upset that becomes colitis or IBS, and a range of ailments for which modern science has no answer — arthritis, lupus, Parkinsons, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and of course the biggie, cancer. All these and more, are considered to be incurable.

In the alternative circles, though, there is another definition for incurable. It means, curable from within. Pills do not fix ailments, because they are a symptom that something is wrong with the way we are living. When we fix the symptom, and not the problem, it grows into a more serious malaise that soon refuses to react to the pills.

Traditional therapies such as ayurveda, homeopathy,  unani, naturopathy, as well as a range of New Age approaches such as Reiki, Pranic healing and so on, recognise that an ailment requires a more concerted approach and that the body, mind and spirit are linked. The state of minds and spirit impact our body. Thus, the more we experience negative emotions such as stress, anger, resentment, fear and guilt, the more they block the free flow of energy or prana that are vital for good health. Cutting off from the Divine often causes the body to convulse into ailment. Thus, the poor body is an index of our state of mind and spirit. Of course, wrong intake of food and lack of exercise add to the burden on the body.

So here’s the good news, we can heal from almost everything, including cancer, paralysis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and so on, if we are willing to work on ourselves and cure ourselves from within. I have known of hundreds of people who have cured themselves of cancer even without going in for chemo, radiation or surgery simply by changing their diets, introducing exercise, meditation, and more importantly by changing their thought patterns, behaviours and habits, while healing the psychological wounds that trapped them in anger, fear or resentment, and by forgiving.

An ex-colleague of mine, Jamuna Rangachari, recovered from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) through acupuncture and working on herself. I have  even healed myself of a range of ailments including rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, IBS and so on, simply through alternative therapies such as ayurveda, acupuncture and the willingness to learn the lessons the ailments hold for me. The moment I learnt my lessons — eating right and in moderation, freeing myself of fear and guilt — the ailments either left me or allowed me to manage them.

Louise L. Hay, the celebrated author of the book, You Can Heal Your Life, enumerates the metaphysical reason behind each ailment in her book. Cancer, she says, is born of resentment. Dean Ornish, a famed US heart specialist, began to heal people of heart ailments by changing their diets, introducing meditation, and even more important, group therapies that enabled people to open up and share their emotional and psychological issues that were behind the problem. Often the cure to a blocked heart can be to unlock your feelings and permit yourself to feel. So when doctors pass the verdict, incurable, just tune in and cure yourself!

The writer is former editor-in-chief of Life Positive magazine and founder, facilitator of the Zen of Good Writing Course. Contact her at sumavarughese@gmail.com