Moving through fear

A hypnotic induction to prepare yourself for mastectomy.
By Julie Vander Poorten.

How good it is to be alive.
How good it is to feel, deep within your cells, that every form of life is interconnected. There is no beginning or end—everything is always in relation. Every earthly form possesses its own soul, its life force, and the well-being of all life depends on its harmony with the environment.

You have experienced disharmony, imbalance within your living being, within your cells, which led to a weakening—a disease.

You are experiencing illness, a deeply human experience. You are not at war; this is not a battle between good and evil. It’s not a story of good cells killing bad cells. You are an integral part of nature, and a part of you has been wounded—a part that now needs care, needs healing.

The more you relax, the more all of this will seem harmless. You understand this truth and keep it in mind. Hold on to your centered attitude—it helps your body heal itself.

Today, through this experience, your soul is speaking. Let it speak. Welcome it with openness.

This operation today is like a broom sweeping away the negative attitudes and actions you’ve accumulated.

Choose to open your heart to the message this experience brings. You connect to the perfect, dense, and strong web made up of all living beings of which you are a part. This awareness opens a new relationship with yourself, with others, and with the world around you. From it, you can draw all the support and wisdom you need.

You can now lay your relaxed body in a welcoming, soft, and safe place—it may be the heart of a flower, or the hollow of a sea anemone if the ocean feels like a loving home to you. You can feel the warm sea water, perfectly attuned to your body’s temperature, rocking you gently.

Through its gills, you feel the anemone breathe, drawing oxygen from its surroundings into its organism. You let yourself be rocked by its breathing and eventually, you begin to breathe with it—simply, through all the parts of your body in contact with the anemone.

You can now look at fear and find within it the key to your healing.

You don’t cling to fear; you let the light of the illness’s message invite you to dream again—to listen to the vibrations of your organs and body, to unravel your sorrows, your griefs, your blockages.

Welcome it as you always have—like the anemone (or a flower). The anemone welcomes you with its warmth and breath. Breathe into it, let it rise within you. Open yourself to it. Breathe into your heart and nourish that part of you that knows how you need to be healed.

Awaken new stories within you—ones that, by unraveling your inner wounds, may transform your life.

You are no longer afraid. You know you are not going to die. You are not afraid, because fear can no longer harm you.

You are now breathing comfortably, lying down, relaxed within the anemone. You are safe.

You embrace fear and let it flow to the far edges of your body. Rejoice in the progress you’re making here and now, in how easily you can transform fear into a warm liquid that seeps into every part of your being. Encourage it to spread gentleness and kindness.

If now, perhaps, fear gives way to sadness, allow yourself to melt into its open nature. Let your breath relax. Don’t resist it. Let it come like a breeze—welcome it eagerly. Let it come like a warm ocean current. Feel it just as it is, without judging or clinging to it.

Taste its flavor. Surrender into it like space into space. You become one with it.

There—you’ve moved beyond it. You are in the presence of its true nature.

Now it becomes so easy to breathe within it. It transforms into a peaceful feeling.

Relax into this peace for as long as you wish.

You may thank it for passing through you—for showing you what no longer needs to be active in your life.

Today, you know you no longer need to fear receiving.

Today, you know you can let go—just as your body surrenders into the anemone’s cradle, into its warmth.

Today, you can see in the dark—with your awakened eye and your heart.

Today, that which you no longer need is finally being removed.

Your body and the spirit of the illness are giving you this extraordinary gift: gathering within your breast that which no longer serves you.

Let the inside of your breast gather and withdraw like a small, intelligent octopus. Its innervated tentacles know exactly what they must do.

Each appendage will detach and perform the necessary movements for a proper release.

Your brain sends commands toward the goal, but you leave the execution details to each of the tentacles.

The extraction will be efficient—from the head of the octopus to the tissue surrounding it.

The blood around it will also temporarily withdraw during the procedure.

It knows what to do. It knows how to navigate. It knows the way and the path for this intervention.

Your body supports you and wants the best for you.

Just as your unconscious knows what’s best for you.

Everything that will remain—lymph nodes, nerves, chest muscles—is preparing to receive this marvelous reconstruction, this other healthy part of you, nourished by wonderful, joyful, vibrant stem cells.

The nerves may stretch, the tissue become vascularized in this new empty space, and come to life.

You will be able to draw strength from it—a new kind of strength.

Prepare yourself to welcome all possibilities.

Your mind is the greatest source of support and strength you have.

Continue, as you have for months, to call upon your power to heal—which lies within you, connected to this perfect, dense, and solid web made up of all living beings of which you are a part.

Remain joyful in this connection.

Trust in this medicine—this art of healing—and in the agile, loving hands operating on you today.