A Different Perspective On Fibroids: Get Into Your Right Brain

By Veronica Hislop
Guest Writer

The article “Healthy Reasoning: Black Women and Fibroids”, written by Allan Bucka Jones, the Health Columnist for Pride News Magazine, a Caribbean-Canadian cultural newspaper produced in Ajax, Ontario, highlighted a serious medical issue afflicting black women in epidemic proportions.

Fibroids are three times more common in African American women than in Caucasian women. (www.blackwomenshealthproject.org/aafibroids.htm)

Between the ages of 35–50, about 20% of white women, and nearly 60% of women of color, have uterine fibroids. By age 50, more than 80% of black women experience symptoms and are diagnosed with this disease. – See more at: www.vitalitymagazine.com/article/uterine-fibroids1/#sthash.TuDut0f5.dpuf

Jones’ article, while accurate, was strongly based on the medical model perspective of the disease in very left brain western world cultural thinking.

My thoughts after reading the article were – With this focus on scientific thinking, have we ignored a different perspective? Have we as black women moved out of our right brain when it comes to dealing with fibroids? Do we need a different perspective when talking about this issue?

What are Fibroids?

Fibroids are non cancerous growths or tumors in the wall of the uterus or womb that can cause significant   pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, anemia and discomfort during intercourse. J Women’s Health (Larchmt). 2013 Oct; 22(10): 807–816.doi: 10.1089/jwh.2013.4334

Fibroids range in number and size from a single growth to multiple growths, and from being tiny and unnoticeable to being very large, causing pain and discomfort. Although the cause of fibroids is still unclear,   the prevailing thought is, that fibroids are related to hormone production, primarily estrogen, as seen by their tendency to increase in growth during pregnancy, and tendency to reduce in size after menopause. www.blackwomenshealthproject.org/aafibroids.htm

According to Lynne Schulte, Physical Therapist and Certified Holistic Practitioner in Pelvic Care, the pelvis is a magical area for women.  It is not only the seat of our personal power, but it is the place where the creative energy of our womb space is located. If we think of the work this area of our body does; creating, carrying and protecting life; the holding and releasing of our menstrual cycle, we can thus agree that the pelvic region is one of the more powerful areas in the female body. intuitivehandspt.com/meet-lynn-schulte-leech-physical-therapist/

Unknown to many women is the fact that the pelvis is also the area that holds all of our unprocessed trauma and emotions.  We can thus see that there is a tremendous amount of energy circulating in this area.

According to Schulte “Ovarian imbalances are common and often represent themselves as over extended energy within the left ovary, and are a demonstration of a lack of investment in the self.” This lack of investment in the self often shows up as an inability to prioritize and manage our own needs for personal self care.

Many black women find themselves totally immersed in the caregiving role, both at work and in our home life, where many of us are not only the primary caregiver, we are the only caregiver. It is thus so easy for many of us to get caught up in the MASCULINE ENERGY FORCE of continuous DOING and GIVING.

In addition to this, many black women struggle with issues of self worth and self esteem. This is another area where women can get bogged down emotionally causing blockage to the pelvic region. If we add issues of self worth to issues of difficulty with self care, then what we see is negative energy circulating in the pelvic region.

Our tendency to over extend ourselves, to focus on DOING and GIVING tends to block our ability to receive.

Schulte explains that the left side of the body represents your feminine receptive energy, and your pelvic space represents what you hold in your life. When you throw issues of trauma into the mix, then the inability to receive becomes exacerbated. It’s just not safe.

Here’s a thought: Could it be that fibroids are not just a medical issue but an emotional and energy deficient one?

Lynn Schulte states the following:  “When we are fully aware and connected to our pelvic area, we are more able to have greater peace, balance, and ability to receive more good in our lives, whatever that might look like for each of us.”   You have to open up the flow of energy into the left side of your pelvis, so you can be open to receive more of what you want.

Is there a connection between women’s depleted energy issues, issues of self worth, and trauma in the pelvic area and the high degree of tendency for us as black women to suffer with fibroids? I think there is.

So many of us as black women are so depleted  and drained that  this lack of energy, or increased negative energy,  manifests within the pelvic area which could have some direct bearing on our increased tendencies towards FIBROIDS.

How does this connect to the right brain? We have to start connecting more to our right brain and start doing more right brain activities. What are right brain activities?  Right brain activities are the ones that move us beyond our logical conscious mind, and allow us to connect with our issues and feelings on a deeper level.

They include the following: journaling; dancing; chanting; drumming; movement; meditation; energy work; relaxation; hypnosis; Meridian energy tapping; acupuncture; and reiki.

Oddly enough, our African ancestors knew, without knowing, the power of connecting to the right brain. All indigenous people and aboriginal people do. They regularly invest in the power of sound and movement through chanting and dance.

These right brain activities not only improve our emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing, they provide us with fun, joy and play as well as inject deep relaxation, rejuvenation, replenishment and emotional nourishment into our lives, which so many of us black women seem to need in today’s world.

Am I discounting the medical model in its treatment of fibroids? Certainly not. I am just opening up the idea as to whether exploring and connecting more with our right brain, will allow us to develop other explanations and treatments of the disease, that not only allow us to connect to our feminine power, but may in fact give us a model of prevention, that may help in a reduction of the number of black women, and women in general, afflicted by this debilitating disease.

Notice, I did not include exercise in this list, what I have included is movement. We must keep moving. What I am talking about here, is moving in a way that we not only enjoy, but moving in a way that benefits us — dance, walk, swim.

This is very different from having to go the gym and work out. Although people can do this if that’s what works for them, what I am talking of here is for us to find movement that provides us with pleasure, joy, and fun.

By the way, for those who think that it is only women that have trauma in the pelvic region of the body, stop and look at the high rates of prostrate difficulties that black men are experiencing.  Energy issues in the male pelvic region, may be an issue for black men too! But that argument is something that needs to be investigated further and is well beyond the scope of this discussion.

Isn’t it time for us as black women to get into our right brain when it comes to dealing with fibroids? After all, what have we got to lose?

Veronica Hislop, of Em-Powered-Solutions, is a Life-Relationship Coach who provides individually tailored coaching services, workshops and presentations to women that help them to have better interpersonal relationships with the key people in their lives. She can be reached at: email — vhislop@sympatico.ca; and website — www.empowered-solutions.ca.