Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom (17 page)

Here is a crucial point: It is completely possible for a woman to go through her entire life free from physical illness even though she was abused, beaten, or neglected as a child. Early childhood problems do not
necessarily
cause energy disturbances and physical illness. Often these problems occur only after a woman begins to develop as an individual and form her own identity and opinions separate from those of her family and her tribe. From this vantage point, she often realizes that what happened to her as a child was not acceptable. However, she is realizing this from the perspective of a mature individual, not of the child she was then.

Hurts and wounds from a woman’s past do not become potentially devastating to her, physically or emotionally, until she gets the idea that what happened to her in the past was wrong, that it shouldn’t have happened, and that she was abused purposely and consciously by her family members. No one should be abused in any way. And anyone who was abused was entitled to better. No one would disagree with this. But very few of us had idyllic, pain-free childhoods. Abuse is remarkably common in part because the human race hasn’t had much experience with allowing positive energy and joy into our lives for very long. We have a central nervous system that, for centuries, has been wired to expect and react to conflict—which we are also masters at creating until we recognize this pattern and change it. That’s where our power lies, always.

Our families and those with whom we come into contact during childhood usually do the best they can with the hand they were dealt. They pass their dysfunctional patterns on to us unconsciously, not maliciously. If each of us was truly connected to our inner beings and souls, the abuse would stop overnight. So regardless of what has happened to us in childhood, it’s our job to feel, transform, and heal our wounds. To thrive, we must become sources of health and healing so that we can break the chains of pain that run in our families. Part of thriving is avoiding toxic blame and resentment that goes on for years. Energy disturbance and subsequent illness result from past abuse only if a woman is unable to work through her emotional and psychological pain with forgiveness and understanding for herself and others—even for those who caused the abuse. Howard Brody, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Institute for the Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch, put it this way: “Suffering is produced or alleviated primarily by the meaning that one attaches to one’s experience.”

Forgiveness doesn’t preclude anger, however. Feeling rage and anger from past violations is a necessary first step toward healing. Anger mobilizes and energizes us to make long-overdue, life-enhancing changes. It’s far preferable to the stasis of depression. The key is to feel that anger and then move on. Anger and blame are a necessary stop on the road of life, but they make a lousy destination. The longer we stay in this mode, searching for a perpetrator to blame for what happened to us—be it men, our mothers, the government, or doctors—the more our bodies are energetically depleted. I’ve learned how to recognize the poisonous effects of righteous indignation in my own body. Getting stuck in this energy for a long time becomes self-destructive.

Our early family life clearly has a profound influence on our character and health. A famous prospective study by Caroline Thomas, M.D., for example, indicates that a man’s lack of closeness to his parents, or having a father who was physically and emotionally less involved, could predict early disability and death from suicide, hypertension, coronary artery disease, and tumors.
⁵
This certainly corroborates the ACE study findings discussed in chapter 2. Nevertheless, our bodies and minds are self-renewing. Writing a new script for ourselves changes our biology. We can decide to heal ourselves and move on.

EARTH’S ENERGY

Traditional Eastern philosophies describe the profound interaction between the earth’s energy and that of the physical human body, and the strong connection between female energy and the earth’s own natural pull. Understanding women’s nature, with its natural ebbs and flows, as positive and powerful gives us a chance to heal and live in a balanced, healthy way.

According to some Eastern traditions, women’s bodies are different from men’s in that the earth’s energy moves up through our bodies and inward. This female energy is “drawing-in” energy, or centripetal force. This centripetal female energy is irresistible. It is so powerful that if one lives in a family setting, most of the household will want to be around the person with the most centripetal energy—usually the mother—and will be acutely aware when she is gone. Children will save up their complaints for their mother at the end of the day if she hasn’t been around. My children always needed to know where I was in the house. If I walked out of a room, they called, “Mom, where are you?” after about one minute. When they were younger, they always had to be in the same room with me. I couldn’t take a bath alone until the older one was about nine. In contrast, when the children were small, my former husband could have been away for much longer before they’d notice. A woman’s inward-pulling energy is at work when she puts the baby to the breast, accepts the penis into the vagina (if she is heterosexual), and sends chemical signals to encourage sperm to swim toward the egg. You’ll also notice it when your dog insists on lying in the efficiency triangle of your kitchen when you’re trying to make supper.

This powerful attracting energy is present not only in our biology but also in our hearts and minds in the form of our unique dreams and desires. When a woman finds the courage to articulate her heart’s desires and share them with others, she will soon find that her irresistible drawing-in energy will help her to fulfill them. Part of the reason for this is the fact that the heart has an electromagnetic energy field that is five thousand times stronger than that of the brain.
⁶

Michio Kushi, the macrobiotic teacher who first discussed and illustrated this energy pattern for Western readers, points out that the earth’s centripetal force, coming up through the feet, is present in men as well as women, just as heaven’s force, coming downward from the sky through the head and the body (centrifugal force), is present in women as well as men. What differs is the degree to which each energy is present. In women, in general, more “earth’s energy moving up,” or centripetal force, is present. I’ve been told that Navajo women wear skirts because doing so increases the body’s access to this earth energy through the circle that the skirt creates on the earth in relationship to the body (see
figure 1
). The Lakota tradition holds that the energy of women during menstruation (called “moon time”) spirals counterclockwise and downward, into the earth. (Because of this, menstruating women don’t participate in sweat lodges because their energy conflicts with the upward-spiraling energy of the sweat lodge ceremony.)
⁷

Centripetal energy is a grounding force that affects everyone around us because women tend to be the centers of their households, taking on psychological responsibility for the well-being of other family members. Therefore, when a woman changes her life for the better, her entire family (whether or not she has children) generally benefits. She sets the tone. The well-being of the family and of society itself depends upon women becoming and remaining healthy. Part of creating health is understanding the power of female energy and its implications. The health of a woman’s loved ones is directly linked to her own personal health. So we owe it to ourselves to take the time we need to heal and to become healthy, happy, and whole. You can’t quench another’s thirst if your own cup is empty.

THE CHAKRAS

Centripetal or “drawing-in” force is only one way to characterize female energy. We also have seven specific vibrational centers in our bodies, known as
chakras
. Chakras are the primary organs of your body’s subtle energy system that correspond with and affect specific areas of your physical body. The word
chakra
derives from the Sanskrit for “wheel of light.” Cyndi Dale, the author of
The Subtle Body: An Encyclopedia of Your Energetic Anatomy
(Sounds True, 2009), refers to chakras as the “power centers that run the ‘you inside of you.’ ” Every human being, male or female, has the same chakras, and each of them is affected by specific emotional and psychological issues. These energy centers connect our nerves, hormones, and emotions. Their locations run parallel to the body’s neuroendocrine-immune system and form a link between our vibrational anatomy and our physical anatomy. Chakras act as transformers that take refined emotional and spiritual information and distribute it to the cells of the physical body.

The vibrational system of the human body is a holographic field that carries information for the growth, development, and reproduction of the physical body. This holographic field guides the unfolding of the genetic process that transforms the mole cules of our bodies into functioning organs and tissues. Though standard Western medicine has not recognized chakras yet, Eastern cultures have long appreciated them.

FIGURE 1: EARTH’S ENERGY GOING UPWARD

Female energy = centripetal or “drawing-in” force. Earth’s energy coming upward through the feet, then spiraling around the uterus, breasts, and tonsils.

Source:
Adapted from Michio Kushi

If we look at the chakras as the key areas in which emotions manifest in the physical body, we can begin to grasp how cultural experiences of wounding or affirmation may have psychological and emotional consequences that set us up either for health or for subsequent gynecological, obstetrical, or other health problems. Whether you perceive chakras as literal places in the body or as metaphoric ones, they can help you activate mind-body connections to help you heal.

Each of the seven chakras of the human body is associated with specific organ systems and specific emotional states. Each is also either enlivened or weakened by one’s beliefs and feelings. In other words, specific fears and emotions actually target specific areas of the body (see
figure 2
, page 78). The location and naming of the chakras and their functioning varies somewhat in different texts and different traditions.

The system I have used here is a compilation of my clinical observations combined with the work of Arthur Avalon, a Western authority on tantric and kundalini yoga; Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D., a neurosurgeon; and medical intuitives Caroline Myss and Mona Lisa Schulz, M.D., Ph.D.
⁸
As you learn about the chakras, listen to your own body and trust your intuition about your current situation. Try to visualize each chakra’s energy field to see if it feels healthy and whole to you or seems to need your attention and care.

Though all seven chakras are important and interlinked, I will concentrate on the ones that relate most directly to gynecological, ob stetrical, and breast health. Some spiritual traditions emphasize the upper chakras as “more important” or “holier” than the “lower” or “less-than” chakras, but I want to stress that this is a typical patriar chal misunderstanding. We cannot hope to improve our health or the circumstances of our lives if we think of our body’s lower centers—the centers involved with day-to-day living on the earth as humans—as less worthy or beneath our dignity. If humankind had collectively taken care of its lower-chakra needs and viewed them as vital parts of the whole, instead of subordinating them to “higher” spiri tual concerns, our planet and our individual lives would be flourishing today. Thinking that spiritual needs are more worthy than physical needs is doing a “spiritual bypass.” On the other hand, it is crucial to understand the connection between the soul, the mind, the emotions, and the physical body. As you work through the chakras, notice which ones you feel like avoiding and which ones feel most comfortable. Examine your feelings around each chakra’s emotions. You may want to review the issues associated with each until you become comfortable with them.

In each chakra area there are two basic polarities, or extremes, that are associated with ill health. To stay healthy or to regain our health in a certain area, we must learn how to strike a healthy balance between the two extremes of thought patterns and emotional expression represented in each area. Our inner body wisdom, through each of these emotional centers, is always leading us toward health and balance by requiring that we develop a full repertory of skills encompassing the entire range of thought and emotional expression.

One more thing: Though the energies associated with blame, guilt, rage, and loss have been associated only with certain areas of the body by other authors, a thorough search of the psychosomatic medical literature indicates that this view is incomplete. These energies affect each area of the body simultaneously, though they may be expressed as health problems in the area of your body that is most vulnerable. The same is true for the health-enhancing energies associated with love, appreciation, hope, and forgiveness.