by Francene Cartaar, Australia
I recently suffered a shock – the shock of being informed that at the age of 54 I had osteoporosis in my back and also bone weakness in my hips. My reaction to the news from my GP was to ask myself: ‘How could this have happened to me?’
I realised that I held a perception that osteoporosis only occurred in ‘older’ women who did not look after themselves. As I regarded myself as a ‘healthy’ person, this diagnosis did not fit in with the image I held of myself. My GP explained that bones could regenerate with weight bearing exercise and that vitamin and mineral supplements were also beneficial. The diagnosis and explanation left me feeling unsettled and upset.
I subsequently decided that I wanted to understand this diagnosis from an energetic perspective so I decided to consult an Exercise Physiologist who also had a deeper understanding of the body on an energetic level from her studies with Universal Medicine.
What then transpired was truly inspiring! I was shown a simple standing movement to connect firstly to my body and at the same time more deeply with my hip area. Next were hand and ankle weights for strengthening and feeling how to move with connection and gentleness in my body.
My exercise routine in recent years had been caring – gentle walks, stretching and relaxation. These provided great benefits to my body, but during my appointment I realised that my body was now requiring a different type of exercise.
I was offered an explanation that osteoporosis, on an energetic level, was related to disregard. This initially left me with a heavy sinking feeling, because in that instant I knew it was true – that I had pushed myself over many years. Also that osteoporosis didn’t just ‘happen to me’, that I had played a part in this with my choices. For example, putting others before myself, undervaluing myself, overriding my own instincts, ignoring when I was tired or even not dressing to be warm enough.
The next morning I decided to exercise with ‘regard’ for myself and see what this felt like. I started by walking down stairs with intention and focusing on the soles of my feet. I felt an amazing surge of energy up my legs and spine. Next was the introduction of hand and ankle weights. At the end of a few sets of movements I had a renewed sense of vitality and strength that I later noticed lasted throughout the day, together with a feeling of steadiness within my body.
I am truly grateful for being able to consult with an Exercise Physiologist who could offer all the knowledge from her formal training and experience, but equally important, combined this with training in energetic awareness. We discussed this during my appointment and I could see how making choices that went against the natural and easy flow of the energy in my body could have an impact.
The diagnosis of osteoporosis inspired me to have a more caring regard for myself and for my body, and also to appreciate how conventional medicine and an understanding that our bodies are energy can work together for the benefit of us all.
Read more:
Medicine and Serge Benhayon 
It feels very complete the treatment you received. Indeed if we are energy first, the fact of considering the energetic factor should be a basic in medicine. With time we’ll see it for sure.
Gosh this makes so much sense to me having read your blog Francene
‘I was offered an explanation that osteoporosis, on an energetic level, was related to disregard.’
A very dear friend of mine suffered in their later years from osteoporosis it seems that the lower part of their back was just crumbling away. They had been in the armed forces when young, had survived 2 tours of duty as a rear gunner which is considered to be the worst position in a bomber aircraft the stresses and strains this must have put not just on their body but anyone who has been involved in any war must be putting inconceivable strains on their bodies. The experience of the war was horrific for my friend. And it makes sense to me from the bodies point of view what happened was complete and utter disregard. The effects of war last for many generations well after the war has finished.
This is a great read for everyone as it shows that it is possible to combine Western Medicine with Esoteric Medicine. Illness doesn’t just happen to us if we are in disregard with ourselves our bodies have a myriad of ways to let us know it is in trouble and needs support. How many of us override what our bodies are communicating to us at our own expense by ignoring the symptoms and pushing on regardless. When we are young we feel invincible when we get older we realise we are anything but.
Francene, what I loved about your sharing is the love you had for your body, you took the responsibility to do something about it instead of expecting someone to fix you. Conditions, ailments or any thing that shows up in our body, doesn’t just happen over night, there is a lead up to it.
Thank you for the inspiration, that everything is everything, and nothing happens for no reason, a beautiful confirmation that our bodies are always communicating to us.
I absolutely love going to the gym and exercising and have recently discovered the joy of walking on the treadmill. I take something that Serge Benhayon once said in a ‘walking therapies’ session into my walk, not just on the treadmill but everywhere I go and that is ‘let the energy lead you’. When I connect to this sentence I invariably connect with a sense of being lead and have found that it has a profound effect on the way that I walk and really makes me feel very purposeful and connected whilst I’m walking.
I find it incredible Francene just how blinding our pictures of ourselves and our health can be. I was absolutely convinced that my health was not only good but that it was great and that I was in amazing shape. I held onto this picture (or maybe it’s more accurate to say that this picture held onto me) until one day my supposed ‘great health’ crumbled over night and I was left in a body that felt completely depleted wondering what the hell had happened. It was then that many of my pictures about me and life started to come down and I am still continuing to take them down years later. I think that pictures about life should come with a health warning ‘warning, pictures about you and your life can seriously damage your health and your relationship with the truth’.
Alexis I loved your comment, these pictures really ruin our lives and once I had an image of what my body should look like. And I worked hard at to keep that image going, often smashing my body along the way. It takes a stop moment and an offering to look inwards and review our lives with a fine tooth comb. It’s what we do with the findings is the question we need to ponder over; some awaken and some do not want the responsibility and hope that it will go away with pills and potions.
I LOVED this statement, ‘warning: pictures about you and your life can seriously damage your health and your relationship with truth’.
When we look at a disease as something that only happens to a specific group of people, it’s really hard to relate to it happening to ourselves, but with an energetic understanding, it helps us to stop and review how we are living, and if needed, introduce change.
The marriage of conventional and esoteric medicine is entirely logical because it offers a whole-istic approach to our health and wellbeing. If we only look at conventional medicine then we abdicate responsibility for how our bodies came to need the support which in turn leaves a great pressure on the doctor or the medical profession to ‘fix’ it.
Definitely not an older person’s condition. I was diagnosed with Osteopenia (the pre-condition) when I was 27. This was a knock on affect from another condition that has now cleared but disregard for myself certainly played a part.
As we learn what it is to deeply love and care for ourselves, to feel more from our bodies, what was once unnoticeable, our accepted usual way of behaving, starts to stand out as feeling uncomfortable and often disregarding. In that, the choice to change this behaviour feels more obvious and apparent.
Agreed. We have a choice about the level of awareness we have and as we deepen the relationship with our bodies, so too does it deepen the relationship with our awareness.
Esoteric Medicine has a wealth of wisdom regarding the specifics of how our choices impact the body, addressing those can lead to significant changes in our daily self care which can then support our body to heal.
There are so many ways in which we can disregard ourselves and I found that the more loving we are with ourselves the more things are revealed that are unloving.
We are so good at pretending that our lifestyle choices don’t impact our bodies. Of course they do and of course at some level in ourselves we know this, irrespective of how much we might try and deny it.
When we understand the underlying cause of any illness or disease we realise the truth that the way we have been choosing to live has an impact on our physical body.
Putting others above ourselves is something that is praised in our society and putting yourself first is still seen as selfish. People often have the feeling they don’t have the choice to do things differently and say no to something. One of the first things we should learn from our parents and in school is to always say no to things that are harming for your body and (how) to deeply take care of ourselves.
What I get from reading this blog today is that it is not about age when it comes to illness and disease. We can hold beliefs that certain illnesses and disease won’t affect us until a certain age but this is an expectation in society we/I have created. Illness and disease is caused from our movements that are not aligned and in sync with our body; it does not matter the age we are.
A beautiful appreciation of how we can help ourselves through exercise, diet and truly caring for ourselves, remembering too that we need to check in with ourselves on a regular basis as our diet and exercise needs constant refining.
It’s truly amazing to have the kind of support you had – both practical and energetic, it really does feel like all corners are being covered.
To walk the truth of our being is our responsibility here on earth, something I did not want to know for a long long time. Osteoporosis is the result of pushing, fitting in in what is seen as ‘normal’ a part of what we have created on this planet. When I play this game again I know how disregarding it is for my body and thus for the divine being inside me and as we are all connected this disregard is felt by all.
We don’t consider ‘fitting in’ as something that could make us ill and yet I have seen many young people learn to fit in, hate it, and find coping mechanisms that are clearly indicated as a contributor to lifestyle illnesses. For me there is no doubt of the harm fitting in does.
It can be quite a shock to know that illness and disease are not just some random events that happen to us, but that it is the way we have been living and the choices we have been making over a period of time that is the root cause. But if we are able to allow ourselves to understand this we then have a starting point to begin to heal the condition by making different life choices.
It is amazing and deeply healing to be open to understanding the process of how we have ended up with a body that is reflecting illness or disease, as it allows us to the arrest, address and change the ill-momentum that we have allowed to move us. It is empowering to realise that we can make the necessary changes that will support us to return to a greater state of well-being and connection.
Thank you for sharing as we normally see getting a diagnosis such as you did as an unwelcome event but it is clear that you have used it, once the initial shock was past, to inspire yourself to examine where there had been disregard in your life and to work with your body to support it and move forward.
It is very beautiful and supportive when we embrace conventional medicine with an energetic point of view. We cannot afford to dismiss either because they both play a part in assisting our health and wellbeing.
This article is hitting a nerve for me tonight. Since my own experience of being diagnosed as heading towards osteoporosis, I have on a physical and practical level committed to a much more loving and regarding way of care for my body. But the nerve that it is triggering tonight is that I am now very aware that the regard that is now needing attention is for the absolute appreciation of the essence that lies deep within my body and through this appreciation in my way of living in regard of my essence has brought forward a deeper awareness of what it means to live in regard of oneself.
That’s what I have felt too Leigh, I have been diagnosed with osteoporosis more then a year ago and at some point an esoteric practitioner asked me to look at my relationship with osteoporosis on a deeper level, the level of having not lived the divine being that I am, as the human body is our vehicle of expressing divinity. It is still something to go deeper with but it made me aware of the blessing this condition is, the opportunity it is offering to connect to the truth of who I am and to claim Me in every step I take.
Yes Leigh, I understand. I have just been diagnosed with a thyroid condition. It came as a bit of a shock because I have been making changes regarding my expression especially during that past twelve months but these changes I have held back from choosing over many life times. I know I am to go deeper taking a greater level of self care and to not hold back in my livingness of what I know is true.
I love the point you bring in, Leigh about the realization that we are all so much more than physical human beings. That actually our divine beingness and our multidimensionality is what comes first and the rest second and how we have to honor that in every aspect of our life, which also means we have to take super good care of our body.
It’s the intersection of the body and the being, and how the relationship we have with our being impacts on our body.
Wearing hand and ankle weights while walking up and down stairs and around the house is such a simple way to bring weight bearing exercise into our lives. I can feel that by doing this for just a short time and possibly gradually building it up as it felt appropriate could be a good way to support us in preventing osteoporosis too.