Secrets of Your Cells: Discovering Your Body's Inner Intelligence (26 page)

EXPLORATION

Journey to the Unknown

Let’s stop here a moment to reflect on our own death. In Western culture, death is often seen as a failure rather than a natural result of living. In fact, it’s the only thing we can be sure of—life as we know it has a beginning, middle, and an end. We may fear death, yet if we understand it as an inevitable, gentle, and natural process, is it possible we could face that stage of life with more ease and less fear?

As someone who worked with children facing death, I had to look at my own fears, expectations, and beliefs around death. And much of my education in this area came from working shamanically. In 1989 in San Francisco,
I taught a course with my shaman teacher, Tom Pinkson. My responsibility was to teach the science of body-mind; his was to bring in ancient indigenous practices. One such practice was the death journey, something I had experienced with him many times. He prepared the class by warning them a week ahead of time what we were going to do—most were less than enthusiastic about the prospect.

Then a big earthquake struck the Bay Area, throwing off our class schedule, and I had to lead the class on the death journey—a first for me. After we completed the exercise, the discussion was profound. An HIV-positive man admitted he hadn’t wanted to do this at all, thinking he was likely the one in the class who was closest to death. But instead of experiencing fear or dread, he found his imaginary death a tremendous relief. Another person said it gave her the opportunity to plan her life celebration party. I offer the exploration to you here, to be done at a time when you can take about a half hour to go deeply into yourself. Though this is typically done accompanied by the beat of a drum, you can do it without in this simplified version.

As with all the inner exercises, put yourself in a safe place where you will be undisturbed. Have writing or drawing materials handy to capture any insights when you’re through. Remember: whatever you experience will do no harm.

Sit or lie down, close your eyes, and let yourself tend to your breathing, the rise and fall of your belly and chest, the in-and-out movement of your breath. Feel safe and at peace. Imagine you are in the last few minutes of your life. Where are you, and who is with you? Create this in your mind’s eye as you would like it to be. Let yourself be in this place for a few moments.

Your breathing stops. Your heartbeat disappears. Your soul and spirit leave your body. Your consciousness rises up and, looking down, you see yourself and your loved ones with you. You can stay here watching and listening to what happens.

When you feel ready you can move on to your funeral or memorial service. Float into the room and hover above those who are gathered. Where is this, who is there, and what are they saying? Now see your obituary—what does
it say? Allow as much time as you need to experience these impressions. When you are ready, bring your awareness back to your breath, your heartbeat, feeling relaxed and full of life. Draw or write what you feel.

If you choose not to go through this whole process, another option is to write your obituary as you would like it to read. Take steps in the present to do what’s needed to live as your obituary says you have.

Once I discovered that I could lead people in this journey, I began including it in many of my classes. One student, on reading her imaginary obituary, saw that she was described as a writer. She had not been writing at the time and saw that this was something she had to do. Since then she has written two books.

This death journey is an extension in our lives of the lessons contained in our trillion cellular sanctuaries. They can teach us to live in more whole, holy ways, and we can honor them with how we choose to live.

Cellular Glitches

As you increase your knowledge of the cellular world within, you also discover that every normal process has its glitches and that cancer is one such glitch. It’s interesting that cancer cells are often called
transformed
cells, yet from the standpoint of consciousness, transformation is generally thought of as something positive. The transformation some people with cancer experience is to make each day count, to reprioritize life to include what’s most important. Perhaps transforming cells hold the message to change how we are living.

So how do normal cells transform themselves into cancer cells? Some make a new protein called telomerase that protects the “string of pearls” by adding onto the chromosome tips the repetitive DNA sequence we discussed earlier that “marks time,” tracking the age of the cell: those cells then become immortal, relying on telomerase to keep their cellular clocks ticking, no longer shortening their lives (and chromosome tips). The good news about finding an abnormal protein such as telomerase
only in cancer cells is that specific therapies can be directed exclusively to cells containing this protein.

Eluding Detection

Cancer starts when something goes awry inside the cell, such as an error introduced into the genetic code, which can occur during normal cell division when DNA is being duplicated. Genetic errors may also be caused by a toxic chemical, radiation from the sun, X-rays, viruses, free radicals, cigarette smoke, or other carcinogenic agents. Altered genetic messages can cause abnormal growth, malignant transformation, and eternal life for the chaotic tumor cells.

A single genetic mutation doesn’t turn a normal cell into a cancer cell. Most human cancers develop following multiple genetic errors.
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The development of cancer over a lifetime results from a series of gene mutations in regulatory genes; regulatory genes include oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, which stimulate cell growth and inhibit proliferation. Mutations acquired throughout our lifetimes can alter regulatory and communication functions of the cells. This is one reason the cause of cancer is so difficult to determine—it may take decades to generate the number of genetic deviations necessary for cancer to develop. Very few cancers are inherited. Keep in mind that cancer genes, such as BRCA1 in breast cancer, indicate increased vulnerability, but cause and effect are not 100 percent certain.
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In order for most breast cancers to develop, multiple genetic errors must occur. Likewise, in colon cancer, four separate genetic errors to regulatory genes—in this case, tumor suppressor genes—have been implicated.

In cancer, even though genetic information may be altered, the cell’s self-identity markers may remain unchanged. Remember that the physical identity of a cell, its “face,” is what stimulates an immune response
only if it is recognized
as an enemy. The immune system can recognize an altered cell or a tumor cell provided there are chemical clues that say
“different—not self.” And herein lies a problem. The “not self” signals that are so effective at alerting the immune system to act are located on the cell’s outer surface; genetic identity, by contrast, resides in codes protected in the inner sanctum of the nucleus. If there are no surface changes or chemical clues, the immune system is not alerted to the danger of impending cellular anarchy. Therefore, the immune system is not the primary defense against most cancer cells; the gene repair system is. Yet in many cancers, it is the DNA repair mechanism that has failed.

Mutations in the structure of p53 can negate its surveillance capability, allowing abnormal cells to develop. In fact, mutant p53 has been detected in more than half of human cancers.
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Cancer cells that contain mutant p53 have a less favorable prognosis and require more aggressive treatment.
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Besides making the repair mechanism much less effective, mutant p53 can prevent cancer cells from being killed. Agents that can experimentally push p53 into mutant status include cigarette smoke; smokers who develop lung cancer show changes in p53 not seen in nonsmokers.
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Yet there is hope here as well. In people who started smoking as adults and then stop, abnormal p53 disappears. In other words, the damage from smoking is reversible, provided they were over twenty years old when they started to smoke. If they started smoking as adolescents or younger, the gene damage appears permanent.

Many cancer cells won’t die; these may have faulty communication or inadequate repair systems or may not be identified as dangerous. Is it possible within the new biology and body-mind wisdom to harness inner healing resources to allay these problems? Can we intervene before too many gene errors are made? One thing we know we can do to protect our genes is alleviate stress.

DNA Repair Rates Revamped

The rate of DNA repair—how quickly errors can be fixed—influences our vulnerability to cancer and other illnesses affected by genetic
mutations. Long-term stress slows down DNA repair, as does cancer. In China, a study on improving the rate of DNA repair offers tantalizing and hopeful results.
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Researchers found that the DNA repair rate of people with cancer in remission compared to healthy people was much slower. The patients in remission were then taught qigong stress-reducing techniques. Following three months of practice, their cell repair rate had nearly doubled.

It is conceivable that the “new” energy medicines of qigong and vibrational sound can affect the erratic energy of DNA.
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Ancient qigong, tai chi, yoga, and the dance of the whirling dervishes all use spiral movements as part of their energy healing exercises—do they help realign our DNA? Prolonged stress damages the immune system, reproduction, digestion, memory, and even our bones. That is why stress reduction practices, which include the practices just mentioned as well as meditation and imagery, are important to our health at every level.

Imagine That!

The use of guided visualization and imagery is growing in acceptance as a complementary healing modality, particularly in stress reduction, and easing pain, suffering, and other consequences of cancer and its treatment.
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Significant data indicate that the miserable feelings associated with a cancer diagnosis and the side effects of treatment can be minimized in some people who practice imagery. Many of the first popularized imagery scripts had people visualizing their immune cells coming to the rescue and killing cancer cells. What we have learned since is that the immune cells are not the primary removers of “demon” cells. So what if we instead base our imagery on a new, spiral model of fixing genetic errors? Here I offer two different suggestions for eliminating any abnormal cells in your body. They are only suggestions; feel free to use your imagination.

EXPLORATION

Eliminating Unhealthy Cells

Take some time to relax and pay attention to your breath. Feel all the places your body touches: the chair, floor, or other surface you rest upon. Allow your breathing to be peaceful.