CANCER MIND THERAPIES

Be realistic - expect a miracle!

by Walter Last

Our mind is the most important healing factor in cancer therapy. With the mind we decide which therapy we want to adopt, how much effort we put into it and how strongly we believe in our ultimate success. With our mind we can mobilize deep inner resources and open ourselves to healing energies and spiritual guidance. Clinical studies have shown that mind therapies are more effective in cancer therapy than any other properly evaluated conventional therapy.

There are a number of useful steps and mind tools, such as a spiritual philosophy, prayer and affirmations, visualization or guided imagery, meditation, and emotional therapy. Key aspects for overcoming cancer are forgiveness and defusing fear and emotional shocks.

Emotional Therapy

Many cancer individuals are inhibited in their emotional expression. Often they are unselfish, quiet and dependable, the caring and enduring partner in a relationship. However they also tend to harbor resentments as they hold back in expressing their anger or their own needs. For them, family and partner come first, while they sacrifice their own desires and dreams. This then inhibits their life force, their inner drive and vitality. This type of behavior has been called the ‘Type C Personality’ as compared to the Type A Personality with the opposite character traits, and a susceptibility to heart disease.

These emotional cancer causes need to be rectified in order to give any additional therapies a chance to work. If you have the opportunity and financial resources, see someone who specializes in emotional therapies, otherwise just work with your partner or a friend.

Sit down and write in as much detail as possible about ‘the worst experience of your life’. Get into the emotional side of it. Then preferably share it with a trusted person. Also search your mind and write and talk to someone about your other resentments, hurts, disappointments, losses and shattered dreams.

If you are unable to write, use a tape recorder.

Practice expressing yourself forcefully; even exaggerate gestures and body movements. Remember incidents that you did not like and induce and release anger by kicking and punching something, cry, scream if possible. Afterwards formally forgive yourself as well as everyone else for past hurts and mistakes.

Practice expressing emotions and feelings with your body. Read poetry aloud and with feeling, express feelings through dancing and arm and hand movements, also through pantomime. Find another dream, something worthwhile and exciting to do after you have recovered from your disease.

Be assertive, especially with medical and other authorities; make sure that your emotional needs are being met. Preferably get together with other cancer sufferers in weekly sessions for emotional group therapy and support as well as sharing information and meditating and visualizing together. Inform yourself and take control of your therapy program. Your emotional transformation, learning to express your needs and emotions, is the part of winning the battle with cancer.

To sum up:

In addition to any of the other therapies:

1. Learn to feel your negative emotions and express them appropriately
2. Learn to feel your emotional needs and move towards fulfilling them
3. Uncover and release all resentments
4. Forgive yourself and others for anything you or they may have done
5. Learn to speak out, become assertive, trusting your own knowledge and intuition
6. Find a dream that you would love to make come true in coming years
7. Become enthusiastic about your future and your present life.

Keep these points in mind and move towards changing your behavior in small steps in your daily life whenever an opportunity presents itself. In addition, use mind improvement methods, such as meditation, affirmations and guided imagery or visualization to help you shape yourself and your future, as you want it to be.

Overcoming Fear

We attract what we fear. One of the most basic forms of fear is the fear of dying. You may overcome this by seeing yourself as an immortal soul that temporarily inhabits and operates a biological body to gain certain experiences. Numerous near-death experiences show that death, or shedding the biological form, is generally a liberating and pleasant event for the consciousness, and you may even have similar experiences during meditation.

Another aspect is a fear of pain and dependence on others, and especially in an impersonal and technological hospital setting. However, by using a holistic program you remain in charge. There is hardly any pain on raw foods, except from radiation and chemotherapy. If death is inevitable, then holistic therapy lets you spend your last days in a dignified way. Instead of trying to cling to the body, or being drugged semi-conscious, this can become the spiritual high point of your life as you prepare in prayer and meditation for the liberation of your soul.

After the shock revelation that you have cancer, you must gradually progress to hope, belief and faith - faith in your spiritual guidance and that all will be well. You just do your best and the rest is in God's hands: 'whatever will be will be', there is nothing to be afraid of. This inner transformation can be achieved with the indicated mind tools. Preferably develop a daily routine, which includes prayer, affirmations, relaxation, guided imagery and meditation.

Forgiveness

The key and cornerstone of emotional healing is forgiveness. As long as we cannot unconditionally forgive, ourselves as well all others, we remain trapped in past negative emotions. This prevents us from fully loving ourselves as well as all others. Even worse, resentment that has become bitterness seems to be one of the key cancer-causing emotions. It seems to be especially associated with cancer of the pancreas and liver.

Start by writing a list of everyone that you feel has hurt you in the past or whom you may have hurt. Recall especially your relationships with each one of your parents, with your siblings, other relatives and partners. Think of incidents that may have caused anger, resentment, disappointment, sadness, fear or insecurity.

Then mentally go through each incidence and feel into yourself to see if there is still any trace of that old hurt feeling within you. If there is, then go more deeply into it, try to reach the bottom of it. Examine that hurt feeling from all sides. It may then just evaporate so that you cannot find it anymore. However, if there is still some or even a lot remaining, then you just make a mental decision to free yourself of this ballast. Do some deep breathing, and with each exhalation you imagine blowing it into a balloon. When you have transferred all the hurt into the balloon, close it up and let it float off into the blue sky for the universe to take care of.

Now you imagine being in the presence of the one that had hurt you and you formally and lovingly forgive this person. A very important person to forgive in this way is you. Forgive yourself for all the distress and hurt that you caused other people. If you are not quite ready to forgive everyone unconditionally, then come back to this step after you have worked some more on your belief systems and adopted a spiritual philosophy of life. Basically, you need to realize that you are not doing a favor to others by forgiving them, but to yourself by freeing yourself from destructive emotional toxins.

This is not different to cleaning your biological body of chemical toxins. An alternative possibility is to write a letter to everyone against whom you still feel a residual resentment and therefore, are not able to fully forgive. Write down in detail what exactly was it the other one did and how it affected you. Then formally forgive and express your love and appreciation. Finally you may either give or mail this letter to the recipient or you may just burn it and hand it over to the universe.

The New Medicine of Dr Hamer

The fundamental emotional cause of cancer is an unexpected emotional shock. This may be the loss of a partner or close relative, a job, business, financial security, or it may be a betrayal, or sexual assault. Dr Hamer has shown that emotional shock may trigger tumor growth; the location of the tumor depends on the emotional content of the shock. To cure cancer, it is essential to discover and neutralize this emotional trigger.

Commonly it takes one to two years after an unresolved emotional shock for a tumor to be discovered. Therefore, go back in your mind to this timeframe and carefully investigate it. Sometimes it is necessary to go further back in time. If you cannot find anything, use relaxation, prayer, meditation, and especially regression.

When you discover the emotional cause, you need to release the emotional energy associated with it, and then you take steps to repair the damage. Assuming that your shock stems from an unexpected loss, get down to feeling the sadness, grief or anger as deeply as you can. Cry, scream, kick, sob, whatever is required to empty yourself. It may take hours, days or weeks, each time try going deeper to release more.

Then investigate ways of repairing the damage. If you lost a partner, take steps to find a new one, if you lost financial security or your job, take steps to replace what you lost. If you lost a child, consider becoming a parent again, or adopt a child, or buy a pet. If you have been assaulted or betrayed, try to understand the spiritual reason for this, and from the bottom of your heart forgive the one who did this to you, try helping others in a similar situation. For more details see The New Medicine of Dr Hamer.

Regression

Regression is a very useful tool for exploring the subconscious level to discover the emotional conflict shock that caused our cancer.

Basically, regression is guided imagery led by a therapist. It is easy to learn, and you may experiment with a suitable friend. The patient lies relaxed on the back, while the therapist gives instructions in a soothing voice. The initial aim is to induce deep relaxation, which may be done with the methods previously described.

Then it is suggested that the patient move mentally back in time, and scan his life for the event that triggered the emotional shock. When he has arrived at a significant event, let him describe it in detail, but suggest that initially it is only experienced at the mental level as an impartial observer. If it appears to be the genuine trigger, suggest that the patient gradually starts feeling the emotional impact. If the emotions become too strong, suggest that the patient withdraw from the emotional level and move again back into mental observer mode. Move back and forth between observer mode and emotional experience until the full emotional impact has been re-experienced. End each session with positive suggestions.

Repeated regressions may probe deeper into the emotional content of the shock experience, or explore different situations to see if there are other unresolved emotional shocks. Finally ask the patient to re-invent the shock experience with an emotionally satisfying ending. The patient can also continue to work on unearthed problems with affirmations and guided imagery.

Affirmations

While prayer is addressed to a higher or guiding consciousness, affirmation is used to re-program our subconscious mind. To be successful, we must make a believable statement of how we want to be and then repeat it daily for a considerable period. Our subconscious is not impressed with intellectual or left-brain statements, which are generally ineffective.

There are, however, several ways of making affirmations acceptable to our subconscious. One possibility is by creating an emotional carrier wave, as explained for prayer, which can then be modulated with mental statements. We can also support an affirmation by trying to feel or visualize it at the same time. Our subconscious will like a statement phrased in poetic language, spoken rhythmically, or in rhyme, or melodically, even singing it. Finally, we may sedate our left brain with relaxation exercises while using affirmations, or say them in a meditative state. Experiment to find out what suits you.

Carefully choose the best affirmations for your condition, then write them down, and say them several times daily, either aloud or just in your mind; best both. Also ask your subconscious for a comment on your chosen affirmations. Repeat each one slowly and feel into yourself whether it sounds genuine and believable, or if there is any resistance, or a suggested change comes to your mind.

When you are sick, it may sound phony if you assert: 'I am happy, healthy and fit.' Easier to accept is the affirmation, made famous by Emile Coue: 'With every day in every way I am better and better.' Remember that your affirmation is a statement of your goal, not a description of your present condition. Therefore, your subconscious is only asked to accept the chosen affirmation as a goal. It may, however, suggest to say instead: 'We are happy, healthy and fit' to feel accepted as a partner of the conscious part of your mind. Make it a habit to say some affirmations shortly after waking up and before falling asleep.

In addition to such general affirmations, select also a set of affirmations that are specific for your condition. You may, for instance, say: 'My liver is healthy, the thyroid is strong, my nervous system is balanced, my immune system is in charge, it kills all cancer cells and microbes, the tumor is shrinking, all toxins leave my body' and so forth.

At the same time, while saying an affirmation, focus on the mentioned part of the body and see it ‘light up’ or get warm.

As a daily body-mind tonic, I like the system of affirmations used by John Diamond in his book, 'Life Energy'. With muscle testing he found that specific affirmations and their related attitudes and emotions are linked to specific organs via the acupuncture meridians.

•  For the thymus gland you may say: 'I trust, I have faith, I have courage, I am grateful, I feel love'.
•  For the lungs: 'I am tolerant, humble and modest'.
•  For the liver: 'I am cheerful and happy' while the gall bladder is strengthened if you say 'I reach out with love.'
•  For the spleen and pancreas you affirm your faith and confidence in your future and say that you are secure
•  The kidneys respond to the suggestions of balanced sexual energies. For the large intestines you affirm being worthy of being
    loved and that you are basically clean and good.
•  For the blood circulation, which is also related to the sexual organs and functions you state that you are relaxed and generous
   and renounce all past conditioning and negativity.
•  The heart responds to feeling forgiveness in the heart, while the stomach wants to be content and tranquil.
•  The thyroid needs to feel light and buoyed with hope and the small intestine wants to jump with joy. The bladder likes peace
    and harmony.

Two well-known books about affirmations are: 'You Can Heal Your Life' by Louise Hay and 'I Deserve Love' by Sondra Ray. Also many other good affirmation books and tapes are available. Experiment and change your affirmations from time to time to suit your changing circumstances.

Emotional Freedom Technique

The EFT technique, mainly developed by Gary Craig, is very effective for overcoming negative emotions and disturbing memories, and their harmful effects on body and mind. The basic principle of this method is to combine consciousness with energy flows. The fundamental discovery of this therapy is stated as: "The cause of all negative emotions is a disruption of the body’s energy system."

It is claimed that single aspect problems, such as fear of public speaking, of heights, of snakes or spiders, can often be overcome within minutes. Also many health problems seem to yield to the same formula. In addition we can expect a direct beneficial effect on the physical body by balancing the energy system, especially if this is combined with conscious awareness.

You may select a health problem or a memory that still evokes a negative emotion when you think of it or feel into it. Gary Craig used the following formula: "Even though I have this ___________, I deeply and completely love and accept myself." For instance, if you have been negatively affected by the diagnosis of cancer, then you may say: "Even though I have this fear of cancer, I deeply and completely love and accept myself." You may also try variations such as: “Despite my fear of cancer, I fully expect to overcome it.” Therefore, you first state the problem that you want to overcome and then your expected goal or solution.

However, the more specific you can be in selecting this statement, the more effective it will be. Your fear of cancer may be a composite of multiple aspects, such as the fear of dying, a fear of pain or suffering, a fear of having to leave your family behind, perhaps just fear of the unknown, the emotional impact of the original diagnosis, apprehension of financial hardship, of becoming incapacitated and a burden on your family and many others. You need to address each of these different aspects separately and say, for instance, "In spite of my fear of dying ..." or "Although I am shocked by my cancer diagnosis ...".

In order to make the selected affirmation effective, you tap on selected acupuncture points. This temporarily normalizes the energy flow of the tapped meridian. Each time, while saying your affirmation you tap each selected point about 7 times. Do this firmly with the tips of the index and middle fingers, preferably on both sides of the body.

These meridian points are:

1. At the top of the head
2. At the inner end of each eyebrow
3. On the bony ridge at the outside of the eyes
4. On the bone under the eyes
5. Between the bottom of the nose and the top of the upper lip
6. Midway between the point of the chin and the lower lip
7. Where the breastbone, collarbone and first rib meet
8. On the side of the body level with the nipple of a men or the bra strap
9. On the inside of each wrist.

At the beginning of the procedure and again after a series of tapping assess the emotional intensity of the stressful memory or fear by imagining the corresponding situation. Assign to it a number from 0 to 10 whereby you do not feel any emotional content at 0 but it is overwhelming at 10. If the intensity has lessened but not returned to 0, repeat it with an adjusted affirmation. Now you may say, for instance: "Although I still have some of this fear of cancer, I deeply and completely love and accept myself." Later you may adjust this still further and say: "Even though I still have some of this remaining fear of cancer …."

If your negative memory is not easily put into words, then you may just imagine a movie scene lasting for several seconds and repeat this when tapping each point. This may be suitable in abuse situation with many different aspects to address. In addition to performing the tapping on yourself, you may also work on a friend or relative. If you do not get results, then you may need to re-formulate your affirmation to address a different aspect of the problem, or make your affirmation more specific.

With some problems, especially of a physical nature, it may help to repeat the procedure many times during the day for an extended period. To overcome a strong addiction, such as for drugs or smoking, it may need to be repeated every half waking hour for several days.

Some individuals may also be blocked by what has been called "Energy Toxins". This may be electromagnetic pollution, chemical sensitivity, food allergy or medical drugs. If no progress can be made with different affirmations, then try to perform EFT in a different and preferably unpolluted place. If this does not help, clean yourself thoroughly in a bath or shower without any soap, and then test before putting any cloths on. Stand on a tiled or hardwood floor instead of a carpet. If that does not help either, you may need to go on an elimination diet as described elsewhere.

The most common energy toxins are often the foods that we love most, in addition to perfume, herbs and spices, wheat, corn, sugar, coffee, tea, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine and dairy products. You may also try muscle testing to find the source of your problem.

While you may experiment with these instructions and achieve good results, I suggest that you visit Gary Craig’s website www.emofree.com. From here you can get much more information, case histories, a free instruction manual, and more. In addition, you may visit www.emotionalrelief.org for similar techniques. A good EFT protocol for beginners is on www.mercola.com.

As an extension of this method, after freeing yourself of negative memories, you may experiment with positive affirmations, especially for improving body conditions. While you may start out formulating your phrase as given above and say: "Even though I still have some remaining weakness in my immune system, I deeply and completely love and accept myself", you may eventually rephrase it to: "Every day in every way my immune system is stronger and stronger". In the same way you may augment any other positive affirmations.

Relaxation

Relaxation is a pre-requisite for successful visualization and meditation, and also affirmations are much more effective if used in a state of deep relaxation.

An easy method is slow, rhythmical breathing. Inhale for a slow count of eight, hold for two, exhale for eight, hold for two, and so forth. Then focus your attention on your breath, how it quietly flows in and out, and forget counting. In addition, you may imagine and feel how you drift lower and lower in a long tunnel, or towards the bottom of the sea, or walking down a shaded path to the bottom of a waterfall, or contract your consciousness into your abdomen.

Very successful, too, is progressive muscle relaxation. Lie comfortably with closed eyes. Focus your attention for a while on one foot, feel it becoming heavy and warm. Then shift your attention in turn to the ankle, the calf, the knee and the thigh. After this start with the other foot and work your way upward. Now move gradually up the back and the front of the trunk. Pay attention to the shoulders, the neck, the jaw, the eyes, the forehead and the back and top of the head. With continued practice a whole leg or arm or the torso may be relaxed at the same time.

When fully relaxed, let your affirmations casually drift into your mind, and hold them leisurely for a while. In the same leisurely way keep your attention on feeling the various body areas associated with any affirmations. You are in the correct state of mind if you startle at an unexpected noise.

Before opening the eyes when finishing your relaxation or meditation, or after awakening, give yourself a positive suggestion, such as: 'When I count to five I will open my eyes and feel refreshed, energetic and joyful'.

With your consent, a friend or relative may also give you a pre-arranged suggestion in your sleep, or you may use a tape-recorded message with automatic timing. Sleep suggestions are especially recommended for sick children. Also commercial tapes are available for relaxation and guided imagery.

Autogenic Training

This is the most thorough body and mind relaxation technique. It requires diligent practice for several weeks or even months to master, but it is worth the effort, especially for those who are tense, or who have difficulties contacting their body.

Lie comfortably on your back, arms loosely alongside the body, palms down, or hands folded over the abdomen. Close your eyes and breathe slowly into the abdomen for a few minutes. At the same time focus your mind on the formula: "I am peaceful".

Afterwards repeat slowly in your mind: "My right arm feels very heavy". Feel your arm becoming limp and heavy like a leaden weight. If you are left-handed use the left arm. After a few minutes bend and stretch the arm energetically and repeat mentally: "Arm moves firm and free". When you can readily feel the heaviness after several days of practice, include the other arm, and finally also the legs and the torso. At the end of each session give the suggestion that the whole body is now light and free.

For the next step add the focus: "My right arm is streaming warm". After you can easily feel the warmth in the arm, include also the other arm, the legs and the torso. The warmth does not need to be taken back at the end of a session, only the heaviness.

For beginners in mind-body work it may take about three weeks until the heaviness and warmth can be readily felt together. Now you can move to the next step. Support your right elbow with a pillow so that your right hand lies over your heart. Feel it beating and hold the mental focus: "My heart is peaceful and strong". When you can experience your heart, you may later keep the right arm in the usual position.

During further practice, add the focus: "It breathes me". Feel the breath flowing in and out without mental control. After a week or two include the solar plexus (inside the upper abdomen):"My solar plexus radiates warmth" or "My solar plexus is streaming warm".

While exhaling imagine the warmth of the breath accumulating in the stomach and abdomen and heating them up. The final focus is: "My forehead is light an cool". You may mentally transfer the coolness felt in the throat from the incoming breath onto the forehead.

Each time go first through all the previous steps, such as heaviness, warmth, peaceful heart, and then focus on the next step you want to learn. Practice each new step until you can readily feel it. Eventually it will be easy to relax the body completely within a very short time. Body and mind will be still and peaceful, with the body feeling warm and heavy, and the head cool and light. You may be in an altered state of consciousness but should be inwardly alert and definitely not drowsy. This is an excellent preparation to follow up with guided imagery to strengthen the immune system and destroy any tumors.

Prayer

Prayer can be a powerful healing tool. However effective prayer is not easy. In a dangerous situation it tends to be much more effective than in everyday life. This is because of the spontaneous outpouring of emotional energy at a time of great need. Like a carrier wave, this energy easily succeeds in catapulting our prayer into the highest spiritual realms.

A normal prayer, on the other hand, without emotional charge, is like an earth-bound rocket, it just remains within our mind like an affirmation or simply wishful thinking. Therefore, the first requirement for a successful prayer is an emotional opening and outpouring that can be achieved in so-called higher states of consciousness, as in devotional services or meditative states, or just as a feeling of unconditional love or compassion.

Furthermore, I do not believe in prayer as a means of receiving a free gift. I believe we generally have to pay for what we may receive in answer to our prayer by our willingness and effort to change, trying to understand what God or our spiritual guidance wants us to do, and then do it. The details may be different, but I believe the general terms are the same for all of us: learning complete forgiveness, acting out of love instead of fear, and developing a child-like trust and faith in our higher or divine guidance.

When we are prepared to take these steps towards God, then our daily prayer should mainly be concerned with asking for guidance and strength on this, our spiritual path. When in this way we become gradually healed on the spiritual level, our prayers for healing our biological body will become much more effective.

A final requirement for a successful prayer is faith that it will be answered. You can be confident of that by asking that the will of God be done. I am sure God does not want you to suffer and will grant you all the health and happiness that you deserve. You just need to remove your own fear and resistance that prevent you from receiving these gifts. Conclude with giving thanks.

Guided Imagery

Guided imagery is one of the most powerful tools in cancer therapy. Visualization is a specific form of guided imagery. The most effective way is to visualize as well as feel what you want to achieve. At the beginning and end of each period of guided imagery you may visualize and feel the following affirmations: 'All cancer cells are now being destroyed, all toxins leave the body, the immune system is powerful, and the metabolism is normal in every way'. Visualizations or affirmations work best if they are immersed in positive feeling energy. Therefore, combine guided imagery with an exercise that arouses feeling energy, such as autogenic training, the love cure or chakra meditation. Surround the tumor with love, and see and feel it melting and convert to normal tissue.

You may visualize the tumor as a black or gray mass. With each inhalation see and feel a flood of white, blue or golden-yellow energy entering your lungs and spreading from there to the tumor site. See the healing energy gradually dissolving the tumor. This generates discolored healing energy that you exhale. With the next slow breath, fresh healing energy flows in and dissolves more of the tumor, and so forth until after 5-15 minutes it has completely disappeared, and only pure healing energy remains in the formerly diseased organ. See yourself as being already healed.

As an alternative picture, you may see and feel a golden or white healing energy flow in through the top of your head, wash away at the tumor, and carry the discolored energy down to the feet and out of the soles as a stream of dirty-gray energy, which gradually becomes clearer as the tumor gets smaller.

Finally, visualize the white healing light in the affected organ becoming brighter and brighter, until it is a brilliant white light that fills the whole body. At the same time feel the body being filled with love and joy.

You may also visualize your immune cells (B-cells and T-cells) in any shape or form charging into the tumor and destroying cancer cells. You may see the tumor as a big cheese and the immune cells as white mice nibbling away at it. Repeat this tumor destroying visualization several times for a total of 15-20 minutes at a time, and in serious conditions several times daily.

With leukemia send the healing energy through your bone marrow and through the lymphatic system, cleaning out any discolored obstructions and normalizing the functions of bone marrow, liver and spleen. Also feel the healing energy as a warm, tingling presence in these organs, bones and lymph glands.

Body Talk

Guided imagery is even more effective if you combine it with talking to your body. Imagine that the body has many different layers or levels of consciousness. Your mind usually works at the mental level, while your subconscious mind is in charge of the emotional level. Below that is the life-force level, and that is where your body-self operates. Even organs and cells have their own distinct consciousness. Imagine that you can talk to all of these levels, and that they are willing and eager to comply with your wishes.

In a relaxed way talk to any organ that you want to improve. First talk to the body self that is charge of all the different organs. Give it a name, such as your unused middle name, and talk to it as you would to a child with a problem. Tell it repeatedly what you want it to do, such as shrinking a tumor, putting on weight, strengthening the immune system, removing toxins, and so forth. Give it enthusiastic encouragement and convince it that it is able to do it.

Then in the same way talk to the affected organ. Tell it what you want it to do. Tell it that it is strong enough to heal the tumor and any lesions. Ask it to turn to the body self for help. Assure the organ that you love it, and promise frequently to send it love energy and any other support that it may need. Then do not forget to do as you said. Tell you body self, as well as the affected organ, to let you know what else you can do to support them, and in a relaxed state listen for an answer. A helpful idea may unexpectedly cross your mind.

Talk audibly to your body, and frequently repeat talking to it. After the initial contact you may not need to be in a relaxed state, but talk whenever you feel like it. You may find it effective talking in front of a mirror. You may also directly talk to your army of immune cells, giving it a pep talk as their commander in chief, or ask the red blood cells to carry more oxygen, or the lymph fluid to remove waste products more efficiently.

Meditation

There are many different forms of meditation. A healing meditation aims to raise our consciousness to become more closely aligned with our spiritual self or the Divine Will from where all healing originates.

During meditation we should be wide-awake. If you feel tired beforehand, do a few minutes of deep, fast breathing, possibly while rebounding, or shaking the limbs or the whole body. Then you may either do the full sequence of relaxation, affirmations, visualization, prayer and meditation, or just a short relaxation followed by a prayer or affirmation in which you state the goal or theme of your meditation, and ask for guidance before you still your mind with slow rhythmical breathing.

Assume a comfortable position in which your spine is straight for an extended period. You may sit erect in a chair with good back support and both feet on the ground, or cross-legged on the floor, or sit Japanese-style on your heels, or lie flat on your back if you can remain wide-awake in this position.

The aim is to reach a meditative state in which breathing becomes slow and shallow, almost imperceptible, and the body sensations fade away. You feel as if you are in your spiritual home: content, safe, with a warm inner glow and no inclination to think. You may not notice the passage of time. After the meditation you may retain, or be able to recall, that warm inner glow for a considerable time.

It may be several weeks or months of daily meditations before you reach this meditative state, but even the initial pre-meditative states are already of considerable benefit. In these, the mind is occupied with a structured activity, such as following the breath, or trying to feel and radiate love.

For me the easiest way to reach the meditative state is by intentionally changing my breathing to a shallow 8-2 rhythm, focusing my closed eyes and awareness behind the middle of the forehead.

Others may find it easier to start by concentrating on the heart center behind the middle of the breastbone. You can keep your attention there by imagining that with each inhalation the breath energy or prana moves from the outside through the middle of your breastbone towards your spine, while during exhalation you imagine that it moves out again through the same point. After a while you may feel some pressure or warmth in that area and then you concentrate on this feeling and intensify it.

When thoughts arise, just let them drift past like small white clouds on a blue sky without paying any attention to them; the same with outside noises, just ignore them. Initially meditate for only 5-10 minutes but gradually extend this to 30 and even 60 minutes, as long as it feels good doing it. Preferably make meditation a regular habit at the same time and the same location each day. The following is an example of a meditation using guided imagery.

Healing and Love Meditation

Sit or lie relaxed but with a straight spine. Take some slow, full breaths; mentally follow each breath as it continues to flow quietly in and out on its own. Feel how your body gradually becomes immersed in cozy warmth - you may imagine being in a warm bath.

Then concentrate on the idea that with each inhalation vital energy or prana begins to fill the body. Direct this energy into your abdomen and feel it becoming very warm. After this, you direct the pleasant feeling energy stream to those areas of the body that are especially in need of healing.

Finally, you concentrate on the middle of the chest where you create a feeling of intense love and compassion. You may initiate this feeling by remembering an actual situation or person that invoked such feelings in you previously. After a while you forget the actual memory and feel love and compassion in an abstract way.

Now imagine that you radiate these feelings, like being a sun, just radiating love and compassion instead of light and warmth. You radiate these to all your body areas in need of healing as well as to the outside, filling the room, the house and finally all the world. Realize that you are not the originator of this powerful energy flow, but just a channel through which it emerges from higher dimensions.

Chakra Meditation

Instead of or in addition to conventional meditation, try the exercises described in The Love Cure. In particular, focus on the energy center or chakra that dominates the region where the cancer is located. With cancer of the breast and lungs, for instance, focus on the heart center, with cancer of the liver, pancreas, stomach or upper abdomen on the solar plexus, with cancer of the sexual organs or glands on the sacral center, and with cancer of the lower bowel also on the base center. With brain tumors activate the head chakras, and with throat cancer the throat center. For more information see The Chakra System.

Centering

Frequently during the day try to recall the feeling of love and warm contentment enjoyed during meditation. If you are not yet able to do this, try to keep part of your attention focused on your forehead or heart center, or just on your breath while performing your daily activities.

Initially you may just repeat an affirmation over and over in your mind, this is called a mantra. You may inwardly say: 'I am healed' or 'God loves me' or 'Jesus Christ', preferably in a very short but highly meaningful statement. Even more helpful than repeating a mantra in your head, is to project it into your heart center and repeat it there.

A highly recommended exercise is to feel and send love from your heart. Whenever you meet someone or think of someone, smile and silently say: "God bless you" while feeling a wave of love or joy or compassion radiating from your heart center. Another exercise is to think of someone and extend your arms with palms forward in the so-called Madonna gesture. Again, smile and feel the love, joy or compassion in your heart. During the day remember this feeling of love in your heart and focus on it.

Initially you may forget a hundred times a day to center, but a hundred times something inside you causes you to remember, until gradually you can remain centered most of the time, except during concentrated mental activities. Being centered allows us to gather our energies and gives us strength, poise and serenity; we are more alert, intuitive, mentally and emotionally balanced.

Karezza

Most cancer patients are emotionally rather fragile, and benefit greatly from a close-bonding loving relationship. With a suitable partner Karezza can provide this in an easy and pleasant way; with Karezza we can be in love everyday. When we radiate love, we feel invincible, and disease processes cannot touch us.

High levels of testosterone are a negative factor with prostate cancer, while high estrogen levels are detrimental with most breast cancers. It has now been shown that when we are in love (or create a feeling of love as with Karezza), hormone levels in both genders become more like each other. In males testosterone levels fall to make them less aggressive, gentler and more spiritual. Females, on the other hand, produce more testosterone, which makes them bolder, and helps to balance excessive estrogen levels.

In Karezza the emphasis is on the inner feeling awareness as well as on the feeling of complete union with the partner. Orgasm is avoided or at least minimized. Caresses and slow controlled movements during intercourse generate a steady stream of sexual energy that is consciously converted into feelings of sublime joy and love. Typically, this may continue for an hour or more. It is not necessary for the penis to be erect or even inside to enjoy this type of lovemaking. Part or all of the time the tip of the penis may just touch the entrance of the vagina, or the sexual organs may not touch at all.

Initially concentrate awareness on the sensations at the point of contact with the partner, especially in the genital area but also wherever the skin or a caressing hand touches. This generates pleasant sensations, which can now easily be converted into a loving feeling. Open your heart and radiate this love out to your partner, and also envelop both of you in a cloud of love. You may also lie quietly connected, just to relax and feel close, cared for and protected, without attempting to generate any specific effects. Preferably do this daily. For more information see www.reuniting.info.

A Spiritual Philosophy

A spiritual philosophy is our basic belief system about the nature and purpose of our existence. Everyone has a philosophy of life that forms the basis of their decisions and actions, even if they are not consciously aware of it. With a spiritual philosophy of life we try to understand our relationship with any higher or guiding forces. It gives us guidance and support in our daily interactions.

I suggest that you contemplate the following outline of a spiritual philosophy as a basis for your healing efforts, suitably modified according to your present religious and spiritual beliefs.

Our existence is meaningful and has purpose. This purpose can be expressed in different ways, such as learning to do the will of God, following Christ, becoming one with our Source or just learning to lead a spiritual life, and manifesting the spiritual attributes of love and faith.

Whatever it is, it requires a conscious effort, and our health problems show us what we need to learn and provide the opportunity to advance spiritually. Disease cannot continue to exist if we learn to live in harmony with the natural and divine laws that govern our existence.

Our individual life-stream is more or less eternal, our consciousness continues to grow and expand. It does not need a physical body for this. We can live in an etheric body, an astral body, a light body, gaining experiences on many different levels of consciousness. Our present personality is only a small part of our whole Self, and the goal of our spiritual journey is to become aware of all of ourselves. Therefore, there is nothing to fear, nothing to lose, we can only gain in experience and expanded consciousness.

Attitude

I regard attitude as the most important single factor in cancer therapy. But what is the right attitude?

The key features are self-responsibility, taking responsibility for our life, and a willingness to learn, improve ourselves, and do whatever needs to be done.

Regard your disease as an opportunity to learn and grow, not as a punishment. Whatever the final outcome, we can greatly advance on all levels of our being by seeing our therapy as a great learning and healing adventure, something exciting that stirs us up to bring all of our inner resources to the surface.

Do not focus on fighting your cancer. Do what needs to be done but focus instead on improving your health.

The main goal is not to save our body, but our soul. Healing the body is just a side effect of healing our soul. We have a willingness to learn, to change, to do whatever is required to become whole in body, mind and spirit. We will have succeeded when we can fill our daily lives with love, joy, peace and serenity, regardless of what happens ultimately with our body. But having transformed yourself in this way, you are much less likely to die of cancer.

Changing Reality

Your reality is that you have been diagnosed as having cancer, and you may have various physical signs and symptoms to prove it. However, the crucial point is that you cannot change reality by focusing on what is. This is so because we create our own reality by what we focus on. If we focus on having and fighting cancer, then we reinforce cancer as our reality. The harder we fight it, the harder it fights back. Resist and it will persist.

Therefore, to change your reality you need to change your focus. You need to focus on what you want instead of what is. That is real magic. You focus on what you want your reality to be, and fill it with your mental and emotional energy. To do this, you may use various mind tools such as affirmation, visualization, guided imagery, prayer and meditation. But most importantly, you must live in harmony with the new reality that you want to manifest. You must live as if - as if your healthier and more joyful reality has already started to manifest. It is not enough to expect tomorrow to be better, or on awakening in the morning to expect having a better day. It is good to expect that but expectation is not enough. During the day you actually need to act according to your new reality by embracing life to the fullest.

Do whatever you need to do to improve your health. You may have a cleansing period; you may take certain supplements, make juices and eat certain foods, but do it with the focus of improving your health rather than fighting the cancer and, whatever you do, do it willingly and joyfully. Make your day as interesting and joyful as you can. The more you succeed in this, the more you will forget that you have cancer, and the less you will have it, and the less it will have you.

Change your focus, deny your present reality your emotional and mental energy, and it will gradually vanish, allowing your new reality to manifest to the degree that you invest it with your energies. But in our physical reality that takes time. You need to be persistent with your new focus. Any period of doubt or negativity may invalidate a long effort of positive refocusing, and you may have to start all over again. Therefore, avoid people and situations, mainly of a medical nature, that tend to generate doubt and negativity. Train your mind to see only the good in everyone and everything. Even your cancer may be good by helping you to refocus on a new and better life.

On Death and Dying

Here, I offer some of my own views, hoping that they may be helpful, but without intending to convince you that I am correct. Coming to terms with our biological mortality is important to anyone, but especially to the elderly, and those with cancer and other serious diseases.

Our emotional reaction towards death depends largely on our beliefs about the purpose of life and the afterlife. Taking into consideration my own experiences, inner knowledge, and studies of Near Death Experiences, I have no doubt that our individuality, as a part of our soul, survives the death of the biological body, and also that existence without a biological body is generally much more enjoyable than life in a deteriorating body.

Furthermore, the actual dying is pain-free and an exhilarating experience. Therefore, the only regrets about the approaching death would be the separation from loved ones, and leaving parts of our dreams and intentions for this life unfulfilled. This will be offset by the possibility to visit and help our loved ones from the other side, and the chance of fulfilling our dreams in another life under more suitable circumstances. Also, while separating from family and friends here, we will meet previous family and friends on the other side.

Finally, I believe that we will not die accidentally just because we used the wrong remedies or healing methods. Our personality is just a tool or instrument of our soul to gain certain experiences, and the soul decides if the personality is still suitable for its purpose. The personality is most useful to the soul when it starts traveling the spiritual path, and while I regard this as an important factor in surviving cancer, it is not a guarantee for a cure. Perhaps it is best to say, as Jesus did: "Father, your will be done", and be confident that everything will be well, not only for ourselves but also for out loved ones. If and when we should lose our body, we can expect to get something better in return.

When children die young, they will try to be reborn in the same family.

Embrace Life

As an essential factor in overcoming cancer make a conscious and formal decision to choose life rather than death. Fully and joyfully embrace life with all its ups and downs by seeing it as an exciting adventure, rather than a struggle of life and death. See yourself as an actor and producer in a play that is still being written. You write it yourself. The goal is not to keep your body for as long as possible, but rather to lead an interesting life in which you learn and grow. If you adopt a spiritual philosophy, then you realize that you have nothing to lose, nothing to fear, you can only gain from your experiences as your individual life-stream carries on with or without a biological body.

If you truly realize this, then it will set you free to enjoy your life without fear, you are willing to take risks just to see where they lead you.

Even if you have to endure temporary hardships, see them as an athlete does who is training for the Olympics, or a mountaineer who climbs Mount Everest. They ache with pain much of the time, but they still push on. You do not need to push all the time. Give yourself frequent rewards or treats for following a restricted diet or enduring other hardships. You may occasionally break the diet and nourish your inner child. Listen to it and try to keep it happy by giving it little surprises, going to the movies or dancing, or a gentle massage, or beauty treatment, whatever your inner child fancies and what is in your ability to do.

After your early morning meditation, affirmation and visualization get out of bed with the rhythms of some lively music. On a sunny day admire the beauty of whatever you can see from your open window, even if it is just the sky. On a dull day expose yourself to bright yellow, golden or orange lights and colors indoors. Try to be in nature as much as you can. Look at the bright site of any event. The more pleasure you can discover and create in your life, the more your body and mind will relax, the more energy and the less pain you will experience.

Dream about what you would like to do, the next hour, the next day, the next year. Try to have dreams that are possible to come true, and then start planning to make them come true. Do not postpone work on manifesting your big dream until you are healed, working on your dream is part of the healing process.