Seeking Perfect Health

Vata-Pitta-Kapha Oils for balance.

The definition of perfect health is the absence of physical, emotional, and phycological abnormalities. Components of perfect health are creativity, vitality, passion, peace, harmony, happiness and love.  A quality of life must be recognized through the identification process of negative physiological responses such as anger, frustration, loneliness, despair, and grief or fear. These negative emotions are compressed into an unwell human being.

The best years of my life have been the fourteen years that I have been living in Sebastopol. Subjectively the first couple of years were riddled with challenges beyond body and mind.  Though these years were not easy, I had to begin with identification, and reclaiming the sense of spirit that I had unintentionally buried beneath the surface of my emotions and physicality. When I moved to Sebastopol in 1997, I was considered terminal and in treatment for metastasis of cancer to my scapula and sacrum.  I was filled with the thought that I was dying.  Honestly, I figured this was the perfect place to pass from this earth.

The people in Sebastopol are mostly farmers, and simple folk. The environment was free from noxious city noises, and there was a huge focus on health and spirituality.  When I first walked through Sebastopol a sense of symbolism overwhelmed my clouded mind, as I looked at the town with new eyes.  It was as if the sky had opened up as I read a “for sale” sign on a quaint little townhouse smack in the middle of town.  The  townhouse was walking distance to all stores, my sons school was 1/2 block away and on top of that;  across the street there was a market with a huge sign that read “SAFEWAY” with a beautiful 1900′s church on the corner.  A deep state of consciousness told me that this was the town to reclaim a sense of perfect health, and so I bought that townhouse and nourished new seeds of opportunity.

Healing has happened since my move to Sebastopol.  I’ve had no more metastasis since the early days upon my arrival here in this lovely town.  I can’t say health returned exclusively as a result of the move, but I can say that I experienced a new kind of willingness to want to heal as I yearned to find my perfect health.  I remember that when I first moved here I thought that everything moved so slowly….the lines in the bank, the lines in the market, even the walking trails went on forever. It was here that I learned to really improve the quality of my life and became a conscious choice maker beginning with the foods I ate, and the people I surrounded myself with.  Oh, I made a few big mistakes when it came time to character identification, and food choices, but I know this is how we learn.

When I moved to this small town, I was, in a sense gambling with the intelligence of others. I was told that I was unplugging from all of city living and society at large. The move was mostly unapproved as I followed my intrinsic nature.  I had complete confidence that I would get better.   No longer was I seeking the approval from others, I was Seeking Perfect Health.  Through the recognition and the security of new manageable boundaries, it’s as if sickness became non existent.  The hardest part was re-patterning my brain.  Living in Sebastopol has taught me to become less reactive, and to slow down as I desired to become a productive vital part of community.  Quality of life was my motivation, not quantity.

What I have learned is that in mind-body medicine, our immune system is weakened by negative mental chatter.  The interaction of the mind and the immune system is so fluid that doctors cannot actually pinpoint the critical moment when negative thoughts compromise the body’s white cells.  In order to stop further disease, I had to pay attention to the conversations that I engaged myself in. Yes, I had to pay attention to my repetitive thoughts.  I had to choose to let go of patterning behaviors and at the same time create a whole new dialogue with myself.   I will pass on some of the information that I learned a long the way with the intention of helping you to seek your perfect health.

According to Ayurveda and the ancient texts, the disease process has six distinct phases or steps.  The first three are invisible and can be tied to either the body or the mind, the last three carry overt symptoms that can be detected by both the patient and the doctor.

They are according to Ayurveda:

1. Accumulation, the process and buildup of being out of balance.

2. Aggravation, the excess imbalance spreads beyond it’s boundaries.

3. Dissemination, the disease begins to move throughout the body.

4. Localization, the wandering of disease settles in the body, head, skin.

5. Manifestation, physical symptoms arise where the disease has settled.

6. Disruption, a full blown disease erupts.

Therefore, it is important to listen to the body so disease does not get a foothold.  Your spirit is a field of infinite possibilities that connects to everything else.  Let your spirit, your intuition, and physicality guide you.  My theory is that your emotions take you into the past, and your feelings take you into the present moment.  Pay attention to your feelings, you are responsible for the way your body is, only you can seek perfect health for your mind, body and spirit.  Choose wisely, and try not to worry about what others think.

The road to perfect health is a journey, not a destination.  Let the light of your soul guide you, only you know.

Perfectly healthy,

Deborah Shemesh