Cancer Fighting Foods
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Today the word ‘cancer’ is no longer synonymous with death. But it suggests its shadow. This shadow should be an occasion to think about our life, about what we want to do with it. It is the occasion to begin living in such a way that the day we die we can look back with dignity, with integrity. Doctors firmly believe in the importance of humour and optimism to stimulate the body’s natural defences. There is every reason to believe that the solitude, the seriously ill impose on themselves when they don’t talk about their fear of dying, contributes to making their condition worse. In fact, the studies show that the connection between social isolation and the risk of death is as great as the link between cholesterol or tobacco and the risk of death. Anything that prevents us from having a genuine connection to others is in itself a step towards death. It is thus the realists’ credo (statement of belief); “What is important is to always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst”.
Managing Stress through Yoga and Meditation
Stressful reactions to everyday challenges (ups and downs) induce changes in physiology. These changes, in turn can lower the defences against cancer and other diseases. Avoiding stress at any cost would be impossible. But what can be done is to relieve tensions regularly through yoga, meditation, deep breathing exercise and other relaxation techniques. The great Shamanic traditions and ancestral systems of medicine have always targetted the mind’s ability and capacity to revive the deep latent healing powers of the body.
The oldest discipline of inner awareness is yoga. In Sanskrit the term “yoga” denotes a set of practices aiming at the merging of body and mind for the sake of unity and inner peace — a path to each person’s innate “superior being”. This tradition sets out the principle that there is not one single pathway. On the contrary, every culture and every individual must find the path that suits them best. The central point common to these practices is the temporary diversion of attention from the outside world and the refocusing of that attention on the chosen subject of meditation such as healing.
The subject of meditation varies, depending on the different schools. It may involve the body and its sensations, as in ‘hatha yoga’, which works on postures and breathing. Hypnosis, which concentrates the attention in a particularly powerful way, also mobilizes the profound forces of the body. It is possible also to concentrate on the flame of a candle, a sacred image, a word (like “love”, “peace”, “Om”, “Wahguru”, “Shalom”), a prayer or a landscape (like the picture of a lake, mountain or a beautiful tree). What matters most is neither one particular technique nor one particular application. There is no secret or magic password that can cure cancer. What seems essential to the mobilisation of the body’s natural forces is to renew contact every day — with sincerity, benevolence and calm — with the life-force that vibrates constantly within our bodies. And to bow to it. Healing will follow.
Benefits of Yogic Breathing
Spending time every day alone with oneself is a “radical act of love”. This reflective “solitude” is the essential pre-condition to harmonising the inner healing forces of the body through meditation or yoga in which the gateway to innerself is the technique of yogic breathing.
