All Is Well: Heal Your Body With Medicine, Affirmations, and Intuition (13 page)

to have difficulties with finances and relationships—no matter

what they do. This is partly because they don’t trust in the com-

petence or intentions of people around them. When these folks

are part of something that fails, it’s hard for them to see how their

actions played into this outcome, but they can easily identify the

fault of everyone else who was involved. After one relationship

debacle after another, when one financial crisis is followed by an-

other, these folks seize power to feel more in control. The idea of

shared decision making in relationships and money transactions

goes out the window as these people stop listening to the views or

ideas of others. In reaction to constant disappointment, they end

up feeling alone, stranded, and unable to move forward.

If you have lower-back problems and you recognize these neg-

ative thoughts and behaviors, consider what you need and how

you can get it. If what you need is to get healthy, be free of pain,

and feel strong and supported, you can reverse the effects of nega-

tive thoughts by using the affirmation “I trust the process of life.

All I need is always taken care of. I am safe.”

Specific affirmations help us take healing to the next level.

Lower-back and sciatic pain has to do with fear about money,

and hip problems have to do with fear about moving forward.

If you have lower-back or hip problems, it’s important not only

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to understand your thought patterns but also to practice the af-

firmations. So, for example, if you have hip problems that have

to do with fear of making major decisions, use the affirmation “I

am in perfect balance. I move forward in life with ease and joy

at every age.” If you have sciatica that stems from being highly

self-critical and fearful of the future, the affirmation would be

“I move into my greater good. My good is everywhere, and I am

secure and safe.”

As with the health of every body part, the important thing

to focus on here is balance. If you suffer from lower-back or hip

pain, it’s time to look at your relationship both with yourself and

with the people around you. Honestly assess your life and make

some changes. Do you get support from your family that you’re

not getting elsewhere? Notice where you are getting support and

openly acknowledge it and have gratitude for it. Do you tend to

always blame others when things go wrong? Try to see the whole

picture and see whether you are doing something that might be

contributing to the problem. Do you feel out of control when it

comes to finances? Look closely at any financial downfalls and try

to pinpoint where things shifted from good to bad.

Your goal is to adopt a new view of the world. To really figure

out what’s going wrong in your relationships and finances, you

must take a big-picture look at the reality of both. And to do this,

you need to get a grasp of your emotions, be able to identify and

address them.

The most powerful practices you can do to rebalance your life

involve meditation and mindfulness. While those who are prone

to reproductive issues need to use these practices to slow down

and recognize the beauty in the world, if you have lower-back and

hip pain, you need to get a handle on your emotions. Medita-

tion teaches you to observe and describe, but not judge, your emo-

tions while you’re experiencing them. You will come to know that

emotions are not reality, which means that they will not have so

much power over you. Eventually, after practicing mindfulness

and meditation, you will be able to detach from your feelings in a

way that will help you take a more well-rounded view of the world

and the people in your life. You will be able to interact with people

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It Takes Two

in more respectful and productive ways that will ultimately lead

to healthier finances and relationships.

Another important step you should take when it comes to

healing lower-back and hip pain is to set up time to spend with

people outside of your family or direct circle of friends. Widen

your network of support. Even if it’s only for a few hours each

week, get out and experience life from a different perspective. Per-

haps volunteer at a nonprofit organization. Offer yourself to this

group as both a leader and a part of a team. This will help you

learn how to balance your own opinions with the ideas of others.

With affirmations, a more positive mood, and some changes

in behavior, it is possible to lead a rewarding life—financially

and emotionally.

From the Clinic Files: Lower-Back

and Hip Pain Case Study

Helen came to us when she was in her early 50s, at the en-

couragement of her family. Although she worked as a paralegal

and had two healthy grown children whom she loved, both of

her marriages had ended in divorce after both men left her for

younger women. In the wake of her divorces, she found herself

alone and in huge financial debt.

Helen struggled to get her love life back on track, but no man

seemed to meet her high standards. As she watched friend after

friend find a soul mate, Helen started to panic. What was wrong

with her? Why couldn’t she succeed on this very basic level?

Helen became depressed, and one day she woke up with severe

lower-back and hip pain that made it hard for her to sit at a com-

puter or even walk more than a few steps. An orthopedic surgeon

ordered an MRI that showed a very mild lower disk bulge—noth-

ing that would cause such disability.

Helen was in a lot of pain when I talked with her and very

frustrated that her surgeon could not simply remove a disk or do a

fancy fusion surgery to cure her.

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What causes lower-back pain? Usually it’s the overuse of the

muscles, ligaments, and joints between the lower-back vertebrae

caused by excessive weight, moving the wrong way, or injury. The

repeated motion makes the soft mattresslike cushion between ver-

tebrae, the disk, herniate—or slip. With more vibration and a lack

of support from adjacent back muscles, inflammation occurs in

the joints between the vertebrae, the “facet joints.” The inflam-

mation transforms into bony arthritis fragments that compress

nerves, which in turn makes lower-back and leg muscles spasm,

go weak, and become numb.

Unfortunately, lower-back pain can be aggravated by a num-

ber of other problems. Depression, with its concomitant changes

in neurotransmitters, can make the pain worse. So can scoliosis,

a lateral curvature of the spine, or spondylothesis, a condition in

which the vertebrae slide forward. If estrogen and progesterone

levels are going down in perimenopause, the resultant changes

in neurotransmitter serotonin (estrogen) and GABA (progesterone)

can exacerbate the pain and spasms.

Once Helen knew all the factors behind her lower-back pain,

she could make a concerted effort with a treatment team to tackle her

health problems. She figured out a way to put some more move-

ment into her day. She bought an overstuffed chair with a hassock

for her office and learned to get up and down several times an

hour to keep her lower back supple and less arthritic. Next she

aggressively treated her depression. Helen began with SAMe, and

although it eased some of her back pain and depression, her mood

and back were still bad. Despite the fact that she had some resis-

tance to medication, she tried Wellbutrin and was delighted when

her mood and back pain greatly improved.

Now with more energy, she was able to go to the gym to work

out, but we made sure that she did this under the supervision of a

physical therapist. Her goal was to rehabilitate her spinal muscles.

From time to time she used Biofreeze cream to numb her sacral

area so she could get through the exercise routine. Acupuncture

and
qigong
also helped with pain control. Finally, Helen tried a

form of neuromuscular therapy called Yamuna body rolling where

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you use a small ball the size of a cantaloupe to help stop the spasm

of tendons adjacent to lower-back muscles.

Looking at other possible contributors to her back pain, we

identified her shoes as a problem. She was wearing cheap shoes

with no cushioning or support, so we recommended that she in-

vest in better shoes—FitFlops, Nike Shox, and Asics Gel all help

provide padding under the feet.

Over time, thanks to exercise and physical therapy, Helen no-

ticed that even losing 10 pounds relieved a lot of pressure in her

lower back. Surgeons note that for every 10 pounds of weight we

gain we put 40 pounds of pressure on our joints. Helen followed

her medical team’s suggestions and lost a total of 25 pounds and

could not believe the difference. Once her physician said it was

safe, she began a regular yoga practice, which helped keep her

spine flexible and strong.

We worked with her specifically to figure out what behavioral

and thought modifications could help, asking her to make a list of

all the risk factors that promote lower-back pain and put a check-

mark next to the ones that applied to her. While we couldn’t

change things like genetic heritage or age, we could focus on her

day-to-day activities and habits.

We discussed the importance of giving up smoking and keep-

ing an eye on her depression. She decided to volunteer at her

church—both as a youth group leader and a helper at the soup

kitchen. She also started to journal in an effort to bring perspec-

tive to a number of chaotic situations in her life. To address the

underlying beliefs that were making her ill, she started using the

affirmations for various back- and hip-related issues. She focused

on general back health (I know that Life always supports me);

lower-back problems (I trust the process of life. All I need is always

taken care of. I am safe); general hip health (Hip Hip Hooray—

there is joy in every day. I am balanced and free); hip problems

(I am in perfect balance. I move forward in life with ease and

with joy at every age); and slipped disk (Life supports all of my

thoughts; therefore, I love and approve of myself and all is well).

Helen worked with all of these methods, and she was able to

bring her life to a wonderful, flexible, pain-free place.

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All Is Well in the Second Emotional Center

People try to handle bladder problems, reproductive issues,

and lower-back and hip pain by taking drugs or subjecting their

bodies to surgery. In some acute cases this may turn out to be the

most prudent course of action. But with more chronic illnesses

and dysfunction, you may need to investigate other remedies.

In this chapter, we have explored the many ways you can cre-

ate health in the second emotional center using a combination of

medicine, your body’s intuition, and affirmations.

When you learn to identify and examine the messages your

body is sending you, you will be on your way to true healing.

By balancing your attention to money and love relationships,

you can remove the stressors that aggravate this health region.

Acknowledge the negative thoughts and behaviors having to do

with sexual identity, financial ability, and love and relationships.

Then use Louise’s affirmations to counter the negative thoughts in

these areas and establish new thought patterns and behaviors by

meditating on the phrases “I trust the process of life,” “I know that

Life always supports me and takes care of me,” and “I am lovable

and loved.”

You are worthy of love. All is well.

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The Third Emotional Center: Digestive

System, Weight, Adrenal Glands,

Pancreas, and Addiction

Health in the third emotional center is all about an individu-

al’s sense of self and how they fulfill responsibilities to others. In

this chapter we examine the many aspects of your third emotion-

al center. Some of the discussion focuses on particular organs such

as those that make up the digestive system, as well as the adrenal

glands and pancreas, both of which regulate sugar and important

hormones, and the kidneys, which regulate body chemistry. We

also cover the broader, related themes having to do with weight

problems and addiction. Just as with the other emotional centers,

the ailment you experience depends on the type of thought pat-

tern or behavior that underlies it.