Going the Distance: Celebrating 10 Years of Healing: It's All In Your Head

Facebook reminded me that two years ago today I watched, "What the bleep do we know...". It was recommended to me by Dr. Ryan.

Early on when I first started experiencing this array of symptoms that was eventually diagnosed as Post-Polio Syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease by Western Medicine standards, my primary care physician at the time told me it was all in my head. He prescribed Paxil which I quickly flushed down the toilet and told me to see a psychiatrist. He could not find anything wrong with me by objective internal medicine tests and so deduced that it was a psychiatric problem.

When I went to the Spaulding Rehab's International Rehab Center for Polio and Post-Polio, they focused solely on my physicality.

Truth is what was happening to me was a result of having contracted paralytic polio at the age of 5 followed by 9 years of unrelenting violence against me mind, body and soul.

Candace Pert, Ph.D., one of the teachers in What the bleep do we know... who, coincidentally Dr. Ryan met while studying chiropractic medicine tells us that it was all in my head and that the mind is everywhere in the body. Our thoughts create our biology.

I had dissociated, despised and ignored my body in order to survive. However, I paid a terrible price for that survival coping mechanism.

As I wound and wielded my way through 8 years of my healing odyssey I was desperately trying to find a way to heal mind, body and soul. Writing inspirational poetry sparked my imagination to see myself as healthy and whole and certainly took me far - 26.2 miles to be exact in being able to run the 2009 Boston Marathon.

Once I met Dr. Ryan, he reopened my mind, body and soul to the world of quantum healing. I'd experienced the power of the mind/body connection with Dr. Bernie Siegel.

Bernie knew the power of the subconscious mind and what happens when we get out of the way and allow our subconscious mind to take over. He would use the power of positive suggestion while his patients were under anesthesia. I was blessed to find an anesthesiologist who knew about Bernie's work.

From "Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility":
I knew the power of suggestion and visualization. I was diagnosed with endometriosis in the 1980’s. I would always get sick after anesthesia. I talked with my anesthesiologist before yet another gynecological surgery to repair my reproductive organs. I asked him if he heard of the work of Bernie and if he would be willing to give me the suggestion “You will wake up comfortable and hungry and pain free,” while I was under anesthesia. He was on board.

I woke up in the recovery room after the procedure. I felt a wave of nausea wash over me and then in the middle of the wave of nausea, it stopped. I suddenly had a craving for a barbequed hamburger.

“Can I have a barbequed hamburger?” I asked through the haze of general anesthesia.

Everyone in the recovery room laughed. They knew what the anesthesiologist had said to me while I was under anesthesia.

With the compilation of stress and trauma in my life coupled with the unhealed effects of paralytic polio and trauma, I wasn't able to get traction on my healing journey.

Once I had the power of therapeutic touch, healers who could join with MY intention to heal, and infused myself with the works of Dr. Joe Dispenza, Dr. Candace Pert and allowed the teachings from "What the bleep..." to settle into my cells, I was able to experience a quantum leap in my healing journey. I experienced the physical manifestation of the transformation, mind, body and soul I had written about for years in my poetry.

Tomorrow marks 10 years since I left my 20 year award winning career as a VA social worker to heal my life. If ever you wonder about the mind/body connection, I'd like you to do a simple little exercise. Take a moment to think about the menu at your favorite restaurant. Think about your favorite dish on the menu. Do you feel your mouth salivate and have a sensation of anticipating the delicious food you are about to savor? That's the power of the mind/body connection! Remember - it's all in your head!

Tomorrow I officially celebrate 10 years of healing and am so excited to see what the next 10 years will bring!

To going the distance with strength and courage!
~Mary

Be sure to visit my website by following this link.

My books are available on Amazon.

Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life


Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:


And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):