The Body/Mind Health Corner™

with Steven Rogat

August/Sept, 2005

Dear Steve,

I am 34 years old, and I have had epileptic seizures since the age of 7. I have been on various medications with different degrees of success. In my early teens I had grande-mal seizures that were pretty bad. They lasted for several years. Then I had none for about 5 years. I have now started to have petite-mals, but only rarely. I want to get rid of them completely so I can drive a car and have a "normal" life. Help!

I can't think of anything major that would have caused it. I grew up pretty happy. Then my Dad died when I was 11 and my Mom remarried. I'm the oldest of three kids and no major stuff there. I've been married now for about 9 years, and he's the love of my life. We just bought our first home a few years ago. I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old, and generally I'm real happy. What can I do?

Tired of not knowing when I'll have to put my life on hold.

Jenny, Richmond , VA

Dear Jenny,

Epilepsy is an inability to totally seat oneself in the body, as well as an inability to totally leave the body as we normally do when asleep. That's why many seizures are experienced when we are very tired or when we are on our way to sleep or upon awakening. We start to leave the body, but can't totally, so we start to9 come back. But we can't come back totally, so we start to leave, to come back, to leave, to come back, and so on. This coming and going at an accelerated rate creates the shaking. We are neither totally aware (in the body) nor asleep (out of the body). We are in-between, continually trying to get to one place or another. Most often we leave completely or black out, however briefly, and then the seizure passes and we can be here again completely.

Epilepsy can originate within the womb when we are not sure whether we wish to be born or not. It can start in childhood or at other times in life when we think about (on a soul level) whether or not to stay on the earth. Your seizures got better or worse in early childhood

before you parents split up (am I going to stay with Mom, Dad, or just be given away. Should I leave before that happens?). There was another change around puberty, when a person takes a leap in seating themselves within the body. Another change happened around the time you were going to "grow up" and get out of the house and have to survive (stay in the body) on your own. And recently, with the advent of a second child and your first home, you are faced once again with survival concerns - job, money, living situation, another person to take care of.

What is need is a 100% commitment to be here totally. Dance, eat, and be merry. Treat your body like it is a gift from God. Love it. Involve your sensuality. Experience it totally. Appreciate your senses. Play in the dirt - it's real grounding. Wallace Black Elk, a Sioux medicine man once healed someone of epilepsy for three months after burying her (except her head) in the earth for three days. True, this may have detoxified her system making her less prone to "attacks", but it also anchored her in her body. If we know that we can be here totally, that also gives us the freedom to leave, knowing we can come back.

Additionally, since stress can make almost anything worse, I recommend stress management and relaxation, but practice one of the forms that includes the body such as Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Yoga, or other "active" meditation.

Commit yourself 100% to being here, to what you are involved with - relationships, home, locale, job and so on. A 100% commitment does not necessarily mean long-term. You can be 100% committed to something for a short time, then commit to something else. If you can't commit, don't do it! I you do commit know that you can always change your mind.

Positive Thought to Manifest: I have the perfect level of commitment at the perfect time.

Good to have you here.
Steve