The Tao of Cancer

By Tommy Acosta

Tommy Acosta is a practicing Master Reflexologist of 30 years. He founded the New Canaan Institute of Holistic Health and Reflexology and has written extensively on health issues and holistic approaches. In this article, he details the hidden dangers in homes that people do not notice but can contribute to the body becoming susceptible to what modern medicine calls cancer and offers suggestions to help lower one's risks of developing the disease.

As a reflexologist I have had many clients with numerous diseases that have responded to the treatments with improved health and vitality. The most perplexing disease necessitating the most amount of attention and variation in approach is cancer. When a person is being treated by conventional or other means, in many cases it can be their very own living environment that is poisoning them and preventing them from healing.

I first became aware of this caveat when a client of mine developed cancer for no apparent reason. The client did not drink caffeine or alcohol, did not use processed sugar, ate raw foods, took holistic vitamins and supplements, was a relatively stress free individual with a happy disposition, exercised regularly, read all the labels on food products to ensure the least amount of chemicals and processed ingredients -whould be inbimbed. In other words, she lived a seemingly healthy life. That is why I was shocked when she came in one day for her regular relaxation session after her tennis lessons and told me she was diagnosed with cancer.

Over the next few weeks, she deteriorated rapidly. It was perplexing because reflexology can at least slow down the rate of its growth, while the client explores the different options in dealing with the disease.

A thought occurred to me that perhaps she was exposed to something that was hurting her really bad and simply did not know it. So we arranged a session at her home.

I'll never forget when I walked in the door of her spacious house. It was like I was hit in the face with a brick. The smell of chemicals coming from a small, unventilated room in a corner of the house was overpowering. I asked her why the room smelled so bad of chemicals and she laughed it off saying she was so used to it she never even notices. 

It turns out she loved to make her own jewelry for herself and friends and used the tiny room as her work area. Bingo! There it was. Despite all her efforts to lead a healthy life she was poisoning herself everyday for hours in that airless room inhaling the toxic fumes of her hobby.

This got me thinking. How many people who think they are leading a healthy life by eating well, exercising, avoiding sugar, etc. don't realize they are being poisoned by products in their own home that appear harmless but in reality contribute to laying the foundation for cancer?

Perhaps cancer is not just caused by exposure to a specific carcinogen but can occur over time to the exposure of numerous carcinogens. Carcinogens contained in the very products we regularly use at home.

So I began asking questions of my cancer clients who were undergoing conventional treatments. There was the woman who was a hairspray freak spending hours in the bathroom spraying her hair from an aerosol can who got lung cancer; the woman who loved the smell of Ajax when she sprinkled it in her sink and would inhale the kicked up powder thinking the smell meant cleanliness; the man who loved using plug-in electric air-fresheners all over his house to mask odors; the jewelry maker in the small room inhaling toxic fumes; the germ-fearing Lysol disinfectant sprayer; the heavy-duty diet soda drinker; and the young woman who kept camphor balls in the pockets of all her clothes in the closet to keep moths away like her family did for generations.

We can avoid the obvious known causes like smoking, drinking and exposure to industrial chemicals. We can try to eat right and read labels to avoid sugar, processed food etc. We can take all the right holisitic supplements. But we need to go even further and that means investigating your living environment and habits for those hidden causes we just don't think about. 

To attain knowledge, add things everyday.
To attain wisdom, remove things everyday.- Lao Tzu

Is your drinking water fluoridated? Do you use fluoride toothpaste? Do you use Air wicks? Do you use industrial cleaners like Ajax, Borax, etc? Lysol cleaners? Any aerosols of any kind? What about deodorant? Canned or otherwise? Shaving cream? Chewing gum? Breath mints? Cough drops. Sunscreen composed of petro-chemicals? The list is large and insidious.

One can never be "cancer proof" but one can eliminate as many of the suspected-cancer causing items from one's environment as one can, hedging one's bet against cancer.

Take the time to check. And if you find you are using such products or chemicals in your home then replace them with healthy holistic and safe products.