Often with even the best breast care, it is commonly accepted that cysts in the body are not dangerous, even when they feel like a lump. On many occasions, with further examination the lump is found to be a small, generally harmless sac filled with fluid, rather than a cancerous or benign lump of cells – there may even be one cyst or many cysts appearing together that end up being benign.
Some years ago in my left breast nine cysts were diagnosed, small ones but nine of them! I was shocked to hear that but the doctor said that it was not a problem and that there was no risk. This was a relief, but for me it also showed that there was something not healthy going on in my body because I had nine small bulges in my breast that really should not be there. Even though they had been found to be medically harmless it made me aware that there is so much more to know about our breasts than we are currently inclined or encouraged to consider when it comes to our own health care.
I started to get some support from a great Esoteric Breast Massage practitioner and this helped me become more deeply aware about how I was living and the impact this was having on my body. I was always in motion to get things done, with a lot of hardness and roughness to my movements, even though I always felt deep down that I was, and am, a very delicate woman.
Slowly I started to make small changes that helped to bring a more loving quality to things I did in my day and to my general movements. The way I drove my car, the way I was eating, walking and talking etc., I did with much more care and gentleness. I started to like the way that it felt when I took the time with myself and in time, this became more and more natural for me to do so.
My life began to feel different, more joyful, less draining and fractured, and my connection, that is, the way I felt that I was with myself, became stronger and more my chosen way to be.
A year later I had another ultrasound of my breasts with the same doctor performing the examination. She diagnosed that all nine of the cysts were gone. And not only that, she mentioned that the tissue in my left breast was looking so different, so calm and so still which was not how it was before. I was stunned because this was exactly how my life was feeling.
It was such a confirmation of the effect of treating myself with true, loving choices and living proof of how the quality in our breasts is not random but related to how we are living and treating ourselves.
Back to science, cysts are regarded as harmless water-filled sacs, but from my experience I have found that there is something more here to ponder on:
- What if those benign cysts are a very important signal inviting us to take a deeper look into our lives and the way we live?
- Can it be that if we miss or misinterpret the benign signals our body gives us, we end up further down the track with more serious and longer-term problems in our breasts or other parts of our body?
It is known that stress for example can generate ill conditions for our body such as hypertension, and so from this point of view we can regard the so-called ‘innocent’ cysts as messengers, and a condition that flags that something is out of balance in the body. Cysts can happen but whatever we’re doing or are exposed to, that generates them, if left unchecked, may lead to more serious conditions later on.
When it comes to caring for ourselves and taking tender responsibility for our bodies, having cysts is not a sign to ignore.
Instead, it is an invitation for us as women to look deeper at unraveling what we may be doing every day that is coming between us and the healthy, vibrant, joyful body and state of being, we and our families so richly deserve.
by Sylvia Brinkmann, People Manager in Cleaning/Health Industry, The Netherlands
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I have recently experienced one of these lumps and by no means have I ignored it. It’s gone now but if how I live doesn’t change no doubt it or more will return.
The medical profession proffers that benign cysts are harmless and do nothing. However, as you offer Sylvia we know that the body is always trying to heal and gives us these ‘benign’ messages for us to take a pause and make different daily living choices.
Thank you Sylvia, I feel it’s very good advice what you have shared here, that our bodies are naturally seeking balance and healthy function. When things go wrong with our health we can look more deeply at our life and choices and begin to see where we can support our body by making changes to be more loving and gentle with ourselves. Gorgeous photo of you!
I would presume that anything that is not natural for the body is harmful – I remember when I had a hernia my doctor couldn’t detect it at first so his explanation was “Don’t worry, the body does weird things sometimes”. That’s alarming – i personally don’t think that the body “does weird things sometimes” – just because we are not interested enough to investigate why these “weird” things pop up, it doesn’t mean that it is natural for the body to do them. They’re all tell tell signs that something weird is going on in the way we’re living life. So if we call it “weird” and leave it as that, we’ll never understand the root, never get to the bottom of it and continue to live our lives as meere human not knowing anything.
Very true Viktorya. I wouldn’t want any symptom that my body offers to be dismissed as ‘weird’ and nothing done about it. In over sixty years of my life I have only once been offered lifestyle advice my a GP – and that was this year. When I shared how I lived he said ‘well you obviously don’t need my advice…’. Hopefully the medical profession are waking up to the fact that our lifestyle affects us more than most realise.
It is amazing to hear that the quality of how you lived and moved affected the quality of the connective tissue in your body. Stress offers us messengers – we should be prepared to listen. Cysts should not be ignored.
We look at our health through the prism of what will kill us which is such a reduction of what true health is.
So very true Lucy. Observing the level of health and vitality in many students of Universal Medicine is a research programme in waiting. I know of no other community where simple lifestyle changes have made such a huge difference to our daily well-being. People may be living longer – and this is touted as a ‘good thing’, but what is their quality of life?
There are so many testimonials via these blogs how our lifestyle choices determine our health and how changing our choices changes our health. These are real and practical applications of self-responsibility.
Esoteric breast massage is an amazing modality, the integrity of the practitioners is out of this world. I have always felt super supported and amazingingly respected. For the benefit of all women and society this modality needs to be out there for masses.
I find this super inspiring, that the changes you made to your life were just to live in a more gentle, loving way: not to push through and rush around. Very simple choices that we can all make- and all based on what our own bodies are telling us, not copying or following any other idea.
It is amazing but not surprising that your breast tissue reflected the growing stillness in your life. Our bodies are impacted by everything we do or don’t do to and for ourselves and when we choose to take more loving care of ourselves our bodies have the space to heal.
I found that interesting as well, Sylvia’s body reflected the quality of energy she was living in both with the cysts and after they were gone.
It is very confirming how seriously we can take what our body is communicating to us. It reflects such a level of self care and self love that we may not have been living before.
Our standards of what is healthy as a society have dropped, your article Sylvia is a great reminder to look deeply at the way we are living before anything unwanted can occur.
And if something does occur to look back at ourselves rather than blaming outside factors such as the microwave or our parents.
Inspiring, you are your own amazing experiment into love and the power of self care and nurturing “She diagnosed that all nine of the cysts were gone. And not only that, she mentioned that the tissue in my left breast was looking so different, so calm and so still which was not how it was before. I was stunned because this was exactly how my life was feeling” This is profound evidence that there is a shift in the body, I love what you say about ‘calm and so still’ our body can have a lot of inflammation, it is something we often do not consider much, in our emotions and diet etc, but how we treat our body, shows in the body and it is something to really take seriously.
“it made me aware that there is so much more to know about our breasts than we are currently inclined or encouraged to consider when it comes to our own health care.” A beautiful example of the wisdom of listening to the messages from our body.
I just find this blog so inspiring! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and the remarkable changes to your body from being more gentle with your touch.
The way we live can alter our bodies. This isn’t new news as shaping the body is well known and practiced. Yet blame outside factors when illness occurs. We can shape our bodies into ill-fashions and ill states. We can also shape our bodies out of ill conditions with love and care in our movements carried out with the body.
Yes they are two very different approaches to our own health – blame, feel at the mercy of unknowns, or take responsibility for what is in your control such as the quality of your movements. One is disempowering and the other empowering.
Yes, how we live and treat ourselves has a huge impact on our health and well-being, ‘It was such a confirmation of the effect of treating myself with true, loving choices and living proof of how the quality in our breasts is not random but related to how we are living and treating ourselves.’
Inspiring to read Sylvia how you renounced old patterns of hardness and drive and instead replaced them with gentleness and appreciation..with amazing results for your body and your life. When we are caring towards our body it supports us and feeds us back in so many ways.
We would be so much more empowered if we were brought up to consider what it means to have something appear in the body that doesn’t belong there, even if it is benign. I have leant over time to observe my body and the exact location of an ache or disease as it gives me clues to what needs to change in my life.
We can take these messages and choose to act upon them, or ignore and ignore until the unignorable comes clashing down in our world. How long can we pretend?
Way too long in many cases but what this blog reveals is that when we are willing to listen to the body’s messages amazing transformations can take place.
Self-nurturing is not a science taught at the latest self-development course. It Is an art we learn from our bodies, our most honest friends.
Fantastic observation, yes our bodies, humble, honest and raw, there with all the signs and signals we could require, do we respond, do we listen, do we feel, observe, do we choose different…we berate them, scorn them, dismiss them and yet they still remain steady, and make it clear when things are disharmonious. I say Thank you True Friend, the body for showing me the truth of how I am living.