The Passing of a Friend and Beliefs

Dr. Alexander R. Lees

I was halfway through writing an article for this month's Reflections when I received the news from Canada.  A long time friend had passed away.  Remembering him fondly, and the many interesting and sometimes irritating conversations we shared, prompted me to switch gears and write about Tony  I changed the name to protect the family's privacy even though his son had suggested that I write about his dad because it might help others.

As some of you know, I am now 66 years old, and, about 15 years ago, was diagnosed with leukemia.  

"We're twins!!" were the first words I heard after picking up the phone and mumbling "Hello," so many years ago.

"I just heard the test results," he went on, "And I now officially have the same issue you do;    leukemia.  What are you up to?" "Waiting for you to get over here," I replied, and about ten minutes later, Tony arrived and sat down in the overstuffed chair (situated near the fireplace) his favourite spot in my office.

"Before we start," he began, "You still haven't had any medical intervention whatsoever, have you?" I looked at him, simply shook my head, and, in order to let him continue in whatever direction he wanted to go, I simply waited.

"Marty and I had a long talk," he began talking to the flames.  "We compromised.  I'm going to follow, to the letter, everything my oncologist recommends, but, as a concession to Marty, I'll try to be as open as I can to what you have to say."

It's useful to understand that Tony, the man slouched in the overstuffed chair was coming from the medical model, with all its pros and cons, but primarily steeped in science - what you could see under the microscope - so if I was going to entrain him in a discussion of the mind (an abstract) I knew I'd best start with science.

To pace him, I began with, "Tony, do you remember we once talked about filters (mental filters) and their effect on any conversation?"  "Yes" he replied, "And I think you're going to tell me that a big one for me is medical training.  I've already told you, I made a deal with Marty."  The projected body language and voice tone suggested this wasn't exactly a fait accompli, but I decided to continue along the same lines anyway.

"Great!" I said.  "Have you read anything about the following?  An experiment, repeated in several hospitals, where careful measurements were recorded, that is, as the patient was dying, the weight of the bed and patient was recorded, both moments before, and immediately after death.  And, there was a difference in weight?"

"So, you're telling me something left the body at the moment of death, and therefore: A. It's the soul, and B. it has weight?"

"Something like that" I responded and waited to see what he would do with that information.

"So, air obviously has weight," he stated.  "What's that got to do with cancer?"

"Well, an intangible - a soul if you like - may in fact have substance, and in a like and similar way, thoughts - classified as intangible, or at least an abstract - we now know are transduced by the brain into something quite tangible - chemistry."

After a few moments of silence, Tony came back with, "What you are saying is we now have science telling us that thought can in fact influence matter - in this case the body - and someone has developed the science to prove it.  Is that where we're going with this discussion?" he fired back.

I checked with the remaining twenty or so gray cells still functioning in my brain, and finding they all agreed with my choice of responses, looked him in the eye and said, "Yes.  There now is enough science to validate the concept of mind influencing the body.  Granted, we're in the toddler stage of development when one considers where this knowledge will take us in the future; how it will affect an MD's approach to future health care, for instance.  None the less, I'm comfortable saying the mind should have a say in the treatment of the disease."

Tony's attention once again returned to the fire, and after a while he said, "You know, what we are about to embark upon, this concept of using my mind as part of the treatment, goes against everything I've learned.  I can just see me in a conversation with my colleagues about this.  They'd laugh me right out of the room, tell me to get real, and to stay with the medical facts."

I sat silently for a while, watching the external indicators of the struggle Tony was having within the private recesses of his mind, and tried to appreciate the strength it must have taken to try and come to terms with this new possibility.

"Any guarantees?" he asked finally.

"Nope.  Not a one," I replied.  "But, I can tell you this.  For you, it may seem as if it's a struggle between all your training and experience, and

airy fairy land

, whereas what I'm proposing is you make a decision to be open to the possibility of the information I will share with you becoming a supplement to what you already know, and giving you a leg up on influencing the outcome.  You've already stated you will do whatever the Cancer Clinic recommends.  I have no issue with that, nor do I have a right to interfere.  What I'm proposing is suppose you were an expert canoeist, and the canoe develops a leak.  Your expertise in canoeing will be a definite advantage in terms of you getting to shore.  What I'm suggesting is that finding a way to slow the leak enhances that possibility even more."

Many years have passed since that talk between us, and to his credit, Tony did pop in once in a while to talk about the mind, and to explore some of the techniques I had recommended.

"He never really integrated what you had to say," his son reported.  "We pleaded, we argued, but he couldn't get himself to go beyond the medical model that he devoted his life to." 

Would Tony have made it if he could have embraced the emerging knowledge, learned the techniques and applied them?  I think it impossible to know for sure, but at the same time, I've now had the benefit of my own experience with the same disease and have met many others who have won their respective health battles by complementing the power of the mind, and I'm content with that.

I'll continue to miss Tony being in my life for some time to come, none the less.

"This is terrible news," Berit said when I got off the phone.  Tony meant a lot to you.  Are you going to be okay?"  "I suppose," I said, "in time."

"Well, think of it this way," she said.  "I know Tony meant a lot to you, and try as you might, he wouldn't really let you help him,  What does that tell you?"

"I need to learn how to present the information better," I responded.

"You can think that if you want," she said, "but at the same time, you always believed you would meet people to pass the information on to, and they will take it from there.  Don't you still believe that?" she finished.

"No wonder I still think of you as my favourite therapist." I smiled, and I went outside into the sunlight with her to have a cup of tea. 

Contributing Columnist Susan Stone is a licensed acupuncturist, certified in Eden Energy Medicine and Eden Energy Medicine for Women. In addition she is a Registered Bach Flower practitioner, an Acutonics practitioner, with a BS degree in Nutrition and Dietetics, and has been in private practice since 1977. Susan's other interests include a passion for dressage, mountain climbing, and life. Contact Susan at her clinic in the Boston, MA area.  Visit Susan's website

A Spiritual Journey
By Susan Stone

For quite a while I've been writing monthly for Reflections and as 2011 has opened its door I can't help but reflect upon the path I've walked and what lies ahead.  What lies ahead is determined in part upon destiny but a lot of what happens is my responsibility.  If you're reading this newsletter, you probably already have the awareness of what it means to create.  Creating your reality and your health are a reflection of your inner state of being.  Our inner state is mirrored to us or reflected to us by our perception of our outer world.

One of the major keys (I chose the word key because keys open doors) to a more positive state of well-being is gratitude.  Gratitude is created and cultivated by a daily practice of awareness of the gifts of Spirit.  In working with the energy of life, which we all do just by the fact that we are, I've realized that every positive attitude moment cultivates and nurtures more positive experiences. 

I'll share a story.... Many years ago, I was feeling very down.  Inwardly I saw a funnel of darkness and I was caught in this downward spiral and I was plummeting into darkness very quickly.  My inner vision saw this momentum and my inner voice told me that I alone had to save myself.  I asked, "How do I get out of this hole I had dug for myself?"  The answer came to me very quickly, "Do not allow your mind to misbehave, you are not your mind.  You are Soul, and your physical body has a mind.  It's your responsibility to be conscious of how your mind is behaving."

I decided at that moment to become more aware of what my mind was doing.  I created (was given inwardly) an exercise to help eliminate the negative affects my mind was having in my life.  I'll share it with you now.
 
    Step 1.  Be aware of your thoughts.
    Step 2.  When you catch yourself thinking a negative thought, say the words either out-loud or to yourself "cancel, cancel".  Visualize a stop sign in your mind's eye. 
    Step 3.  Rewind that thought in your mind as if it were a VCR tape back to the point prior to when you launched into that negative tirade. 
    Step 4.  Sing the ancient name for God, which is "HU" (pronounced like the name Hugh") in a long drawn out breath.  Singing HU will open your heart to love and gratitude when you allow your heart to feel the love of God.  Love is our greatest healer!!!  Continue to sing "HU" until you feel that all of your negative emotions have been erased and you feel your heart fill with love.  This can take a few seconds or five minutes.  To speed up this process, if you are able to do so at the time, place your fingertips on the frontal neurovascular main stress points.  These are the energy points that are located on your forehead between your eyebrows and your hairline.  Holding these points lightly will calm you down very rapidly.  Hold them until you feel a gentle pulse under your fingertips.
   
Now that you are feeling love, gratitude and joy you can allow your mind to continue on its merry way!

 

This is the village of Polop and it's one of our favourites.  It's ten minutes from our house which is down the hill on the right. 

Contributing Columnist Tom Dorzab is a retired biologist from Kansas and now lives with his wife in Spain. Tom followed his passion and is now an energy medicine practitioner specializing in Eden Energy Medicine.  Contact Tom here

The Head Bone's Connected to the Toe Bone
by Tom Dorzab

What's that? The head bone's connected to the toe bone? Not in your anatomy book you say. OK, I'll give you that one. It's true that they are separated by a fairly considerable distance with bunches of bones in-between. However, there is plenty of evidence to show that, not only are there connections between the head and feet, there are also many other spatially separated body parts with close associations.

In the world of energy medicine, it's very common to effect a change in one part of the body by stimulating another part. For instance, working with the Kidney Meridian can have a profound effect on multiple parts of the body. The eyes and ears, for instance, can be affected by a Kidney Meridian imbalance. And, in accordance with the head bone/toe bone theory above, by holding specific acupressure points on the feet, positive changes can be realized in the head. Possibly even more specific to the theory, by holding these same points, the head bone itself can be strengthened. In fact, since the Kidney Meridian is closely associated with the bones of the body, all the bones of the body can be strengthened by appropriate manipulations of the Kidney Meridian. Are any of you osteoporosis people out there listening? I hope so.

Speaking of head bones, does anybody out there have migraines? If you do, then there's a good chance that you could get relief by holding points on the lower leg and wrist. Do you have anxiety? You may have a blockage on your baby toe. Does one side of your body act differently than the other? It could be the result of a blockage of energy on the bottom of your foot. There are twelve different meridians in the body. All of them affect many parts of the body so we could continue with this game all night.

I recently had a client who was experiencing pain in both of her index fingers and was also very nervous. I went to work on her following wherever the energy trail led me. An hour and forty-five minutes later I finally saw her begin to relax. Whew! Normally it happens much earlier. I was beginning to think I had met my match (at least for that day) and would not be able to help her. What a relief to see her fidgeting stop and the tension flow from her face. At the end of our two hour session, she commented on the fact that she was feeling much better. As she was leaving, she noted with surprise that the pain in her index fingers was gone. Again going back to our head bone/toe bone theory, it's interesting to note that I never worked directly on her index fingers at all. Energy medicine clients often experience positive changes such as this when it seems to them that nothing was directly done to the area of their discomfort.

This brings us to a very important point. Have you ever noticed the signs in hospitals? There are signs for all kinds of different doctors. There are doctors specifically trained to treat foot problems. There are others who specialize in the nose and throat region. There are still others who only work on the chest. Keeping our now well documented head bone/toe bone theory in mind, does anything seem a little bit out of kilter with the idea of specializing in only one part of the body?

It seems modern medicine has adapted the idea of auto mechanics when dealing with diseases. Got a bad tire there? I can replace that tire for you tomorrow. Looks like you've got a bad liver. We can replace that for you. How about that oil? Need an oil change? You have problems with your blood. Let's change it. Obviously, if your car needs a new head light, your mechanic wouldn't think of working on the transmission. If he did, it would be time to look for another mechanic.

At the same time, based on our head bone/toe bone theory, if your doctor doesn't consider the possibility of working on your feet when you have a head problem, it may be time to start looking for another doctor.

Medical care is, and always should be, a personal choice. There are a wide variety of possibilities out there. For my money, I want my doctor to first do no harm. That involves trying all of the "low impact" choices first before bringing out the big hammer. That could mean working on my feet for a head problem.

When you have a health problem, look carefully into the choices you have. Your best choice may well be an operation for that eye problem. Or, you may be able to regain your health by simply tweaking your transmission a bit.

 The beautiful beach in the town of Albir.  We live up in the hills

less than ten minutes behind the high rise hotel.