All Is Well: Heal Your Body With Medicine, Affirmations, and Intuition (22 page)

likely want to do the same thing for you. And when they get

upset, you tolerate and even understand their outbursts. Is it really

wrong to assume that they will reciprocate when you show anger

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or frustration? Your friends will not discard you for not always

being chipper. In fact, opening up and expressing your full range

of emotions will help make your relationships deeper and more

solid.

As for the emotional midwife, what we mean by this is to find

someone—a friend, a therapist—who will provide you with a safe

haven as you learn how to express negativity. Let them know that

this is something you’re working on, and ask for their help. Ask

them to hold you accountable. If you can learn to speak about

your sadness, anger, and disappointments in this environment,

you will become much more comfortable using this language in

the greater world.

And just remember: expressing negative emotions doesn’t

mean that you are nurturing a negative attitude. You aren’t going

to turn into a whiny old fuddy-duddy if you discuss legitimate

complaints with those around you.

So work to incorporate this healthy affirmation into your life:

“I express all of my emotions openly, willingly, and skillfully.”

Give your emotions a voice, and experience better health in the

fourth emotional center.

From the Clinic Files: Breast Problems Case Study

Nina was a 33-year-old woman who was a mother to everyone

who needed one. She could always be counted on to whip up a

full meal for unexpected visitors or bake a delicious dessert when

a friend was going through a rough time. She didn’t just mother

those closest to her. She volunteered her time helping the poor,

counseling children and women in need, and teaching English

to recent immigrants. Nina was upbeat and positive, even when

faced with grim or dispiriting situations.

Long before the days of social media, Nina managed to stay

in touch with friends from all phases of her life. In addition, Nina

was married and had four children. People marveled at how she

was able to juggle all the aspects of her life with little apparent

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Sweet Emotion

effort. Then during a routine physical, Nina’s doctor found a lump

in her breast and diagnosed it as benign fibrocystic breast disease.

Fibrocystic breast disease is not breast cancer. In this condition

certain areas in the breast have denser connective tissue. Many

people think it’s not a disease at all, but even with this consider-

ation, it got Nina worried. Her mother had died of breast cancer,

and she wanted us to help her create healthier breasts.

The first thing we did was refer her to our great friend and col-

league Christiane Northrup’s book
Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom

because it has a whole section on how to create breast health. How-

ever, we also wanted to give her a program that was unique to her.

The first thing we discussed was her tendency to mother ev-

eryone around her. The lump in her breast was a sign that her

life was out of balance. Her intuitive body was telling her that it

was time for her to stop overcommitting herself to everyone and

everything. Nina’s lifestyle often led to adrenal gland stress and

an imbalance in hormones that leans toward estrogen domi-

nance. This hormonal state promotes cell overgrowth—including

cancer cells.

Nina also needed to structure her diet in a way that would cre-

ate the least estrogen possible. She had to minimize the amount

of animal fat she ate since this may be connected to the body’s

ability to produce more estrogen. She moved to a high-fiber diet

to help her body excrete estrogen through bowel movements. And

she ate a great deal more broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and dark leafy

greens, which, via Indole-3-Carbinol, change how your body me-

tabolizes estrogen.

Her diet also needed to focus on losing excess fat, so in addition

to the estrogen-focused eating changes, we instructed her to eat

healthy protein (such as seafood, chicken, and low-fat dairy prod-

ucts) at every meal. She was also to set up an eating pattern that

included a large breakfast and lunch and a tiny, carbohydrate-free

dinner. And we limited her alcohol intake to one drink per day.

In further efforts toward weight loss, we helped her identify

some aerobic activities that she could take part in for 30 minutes a

day five to six times a week. She decided to alternate the elliptical

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machine and stationary bike at the gym with walks around the

lake near her home.

We recommended that she take the antioxidants selenium

and coenzyme Q10 to promote healthy cell function that would

help prevent breast cancer.

Nina also needed to aggressively treat her depression and learn

how to express the negative feelings she had. She started jour-

naling and enlisted the help of a therapist to work through her

grief. She also asked her best friend to be an additional emotional

midwife.

To correct the imbalance in how Nina nurtured herself and

others, she used the affirmations for breast health (I take in and

give out nourishment in perfect balance); breast problems (I am

important. I count. I now care for and nourish myself with love

and with joy. I allow others the freedom to be who they are. We

are all safe and free); and depression (I now go beyond other peo-

ple’s fears and limitations. I create my life).

After changing her lifestyle and thoughts, Nina managed to

drop 20 pounds and is on the path of caring for herself and oth-

ers while expressing all of her emotions—not just the happy ones.

All Is Well in the Fourth Emotional Center

When it comes to creating healthier hearts, breasts, and lungs,

recognize that man (and woman) cannot depend upon medicine

or nutritional and herbal supplements alone. Of course, it is im-

portant that you address acute health problems medically and

under the supervision of a doctor. But for more long-term health

in the area of the fourth emotional center, we recommend that

you turn your attention to how well you balance your own needs

with those of the other people in your life.

You are emotionally strong. All is well.

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The Fifth Emotional Center:

Mouth, Neck, and Thyroid

The health of the fifth emotional center indicates how well

you communicate in your life. If you struggle to communicate—

whether the difficulty is not listening to others or not express-

ing yourself effectively—you likely have health issues in the areas

of the mouth, neck, and thyroid. The key to health in the fifth

emotional center is finding a balance in how you communicate in

your day-to-day interactions.

Remember, communication is a two-way street. Listening and

talking both need to happen. Effective communication is about

hearing and being heard. You have to be able to get your point

across while also taking in the knowledge and opinions of others

so you can alter your actions accordingly.

The area of your body that is affected by poor communica-

tion skills depends on the thought patterns and behaviors that

create the problem. There are three communication problems

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that often lead to illness in this emotional center. Problems in

the mouth—including the teeth, jaw, and gums—are often found

in people who have a hard time expressing and dealing with per-

sonal disappointments. Problems of the neck are often found in

people who—even if they have flawless communication skills on

a regular basis—become inflexible and frustrated when they are

unable to control the outcome of a situation. And finally, people

with thyroid problems are frequently very intuitive but are unable

to voice what they see because they too often struggle to keep

the peace or win people’s approval. We will discuss the specifics

of each tendency as we work through the body parts later in this

chapter. Just keep this in mind: if you have thyroid, jaw, neck,

throat, and mouth problems, your body is telling you to examine

your communication skills.

Fifth Emotional Center Affirmation Theory and Science

According to Louise Hay’s affirmation theory, the health of

the neck, jaw, thyroid, and mouth depends on having a voice.

Specifically, throat problems have to do with an inability to speak

up and a feeling that creativity is being stifled, while a peritonsil-

lar abscess (an infection of the throat that grows near the tonsils)

is related to a strong belief that you can’t speak up for yourself or

ask for what you need. Having a “lump in the throat” is associated

with fear of expressing yourself.

Moving down to the neck, problems with the cervical spine

have to do with being set in your opinion and having a closed

mind. Refusing to see another’s point of view can also set the

scene for stiff neck and other cervical spine problems.

According to affirmation theory, thyroid disorders tend to

occur when people are humiliated and don’t get to do what they

want to do. Not being able to assert your will can make you sus-

ceptible to hypothyroidism. People who feel “hopelessly stifled”

have an increased risk for suffering from this disorder.

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Something to Talk About

What does medical science have to say when it comes to the

mind-body connection underlying fifth emotional center disor-

ders such as neck, thyroid, and mouth problems?

The thyroid, one of the body’s largest endocrine glands, is

exquisitely reactive to all your hormones—and it’s drastically af-

fected by your ability to communicate.1

Women are much more likely to have thyroid problems than

men—especially after menopause.2 Studies done to figure out

why often point to the difference in biology between the genders.

Since thyroid problems often first kick in around puberty—when

our bodies are flooded with new levels of testosterone, estrogen,

and progesterone—and again when hormones in women’s bodies

are at their lowest around menopause, scientists have posited that

difference in hormones correlates to thyroid function.3

However, hormones can’t fully explain the different rates of

thyroid problems between the genders. Speaking in general terms,

men have higher levels of testosterone, which makes them perhaps

biologically and socially predisposed to higher levels of assertive-

ness, especially when it comes to speaking.4 Overassertiveness or

an inability to skillfully speak up for yourself increase your chance

of thyroid ailments.5 Before women go through menopause, they

have higher levels of estrogen and progesterone in their bodies.

But there are other factors at play as well. These hormone levels,

combined with a brain style that more constantly mixes emotion

with language, lead to a tendency toward self-reflection. Women

who have not yet gone through menopause innately tend to be

less aggressive and impulsive in their communication, meaning

they are more likely to not say what they really think in an ef-

fort to preserve relationships and family ties. This communication

style often settles a tense situation but it doesn’t necessarily ad-

dress the personal needs of the woman involved, which can lead

to thyroid problems at a young age.6

Women’s communication styles—and their incidence of thy-

roid problems—change a great deal after menopause. In fact, the

number of postmenopausal women with thyroid problems is

higher than the number of men or younger women. As women

enter into menopause, the ratio of estrogen, progesterone, and

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testosterone shifts, with the first two falling and the last one ris-

ing. At this point, women become more impulsive and less re-

flective, and this new communication style often creates new

problems within their relationships and family. Then their in-

cidence of thyroid disorders escalates. Women are then biologi-

cally predisposed to assert themselves by reacting, moving, and

expressing more after menopause.7 Whether it is a matter of not

stating what you need or ineffectively expressing your desires, the

inability to communicate well leads to thyroid problems. If you

can’t assert yourself effectively and you feel hopelessly stifled or