Anita Moorjani’s amazing cancer recovery experience

Anita Moorjani’s Amazing Cancer Recovery Experience
Anita Moorjani was born in Singapore but, at the age of two, moved to Hong Kong where she has lived ever since. Growing up she found herself negotiating the cultural differences in the world around her: the Indian world in which she was expected to marry early and devote herself to domestic pursuits; the Chinese world of commerce that swirled around her; and the dominating British ethos that made Hong Kong not just another Asian city but a truly international territory.

Anita was very sensitive to the cultural conflicts – particularly as she refused to conform to the expectations of her own community but instead went out into the commercial world where she set about the task of making a living and developing herself.

Her first brush with cancer occurred when her close friend, Soni, was diagnosed in 2001. Anita was shocked by the impacts of the chemotherapy and radiation on her friend and set out to do what she could to help by reading as much as she could about cancer. The more she read the more scared she became. Everything it seemed had the power to cause cancer: pesticides, microwaves, preservatives and more. Then her brother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer. And he too suffered badly from the treatment he was given. And then, a year later, in April 2002, Anita, herself, was told that she too had cancer – a lymphoma.

By this time it was clear that her friend, Soni, was dying. Anita’s visceral response to her own diagnosis was to reject chemotherapy and radiation. It hadn’t done anything for Soni, she argued. It had just made her friend’s health worse. And then Soni died and Anita found herself in a cycle of negative emotions: “Anger. Dread. Frustration. Fear. Desperation. That was the spectrum of emotions that I dealt with following Soni’s death. From morning to night, each day was an intense roller-coaster ride as I questioned, challenged, raged and despaired over my situation. I felt these emotions not only for myself but also for my family. I dreaded the thought of them having to deal with my death.”

Anita launched herself into a the world of natural and alternative therapies doing everything she could from Chinese herbs to hypnotherapy and prayer. Then she went to Pune in India and spent time with a guru there, devoting herself to yoga and following an ayurvedic dietary and herbal therapy. After a few months she felt much better and after six months she believed that she had been fully healed.

But on her return to Hong Kong she again encountered the conflicts between western, Chinese and Indian approaches and mixing them up didn’t seem to work. To take one example: sugar. The western naturopathic therapists all said it was very bad – but it was an integral part of her ayurvedic diet that seemed to be helping her get better. These conflicts disrupted her sense of confidence in herself and once again she entered into a state of confusion and fear. And her health started to decline again and the cancer returned.

In early 2006 it seemed that Anita was finally going to lose her battle with cancer. She was rushed to hospital and began to sink slowly into a coma.

It is what happened next that has made her famous. She had a profound revelation in which she met with the presences of both her father and of her old friend Soni. In a conversation I had with Anita in late 2012, I asked her if she viewed the presences as actual in a religious sense, or as psychological, being self-created. She said she had no belief in one or the other and made no special claims in relation to it. What was important was not the actuality of the presences but rather the journey she had taken – which she movingly describes in her book Dying To Be Me (Hay House, 2012). She felt she had a choice and that the choice to return to life was also to be a return to vibrant health.

In her visionary state she came to understand the total importance of accepting and loving one’s self and of living fearlessly. It was an intense revelation. “I now see myself as an infinite being, the physical takes care of itself because it’s only a reflection of what’s going on in my soul.”

The result was that she emerged from her coma and did so with the sure knowledge that she would be cured of her cancer (and indeed it did melt away over the next few weeks). She also allowed herself to undergo chemotherapy. However one oncologist who looked into her case stated that her recovery could not be ascribed to the chemo.

In one of the closing chapters of her book, she writes: “Before, without even realising it, everything I did was to avoid pain or to please other people….My life was driven by fear – of displeasing others, of failing, of being selfish, and of not being good enough…Since my NDE (Near Death Experience) I don’t feel that I came back to accomplish anything. I only came back to be. Because of this, everything I do comes from love. I don’t worry any more about trying to get things right or complying with rules or doctrines. I just follow my heart and know that I can’t go wrong when I do so.”

Anita Moorjani has written her story Dying To Be Me, (Hay House, 2012). Her website is http://anitamoorjani.com

The question is: how useful is this story to others: it appears to be a unique experience which is impossible to replicate.

The main lesson I draw from it is that cancer can be destroyed by means of personal energy flow if the circumstances are right. Anita’s story also demonstrates the healing power of embracing, accepting and loving one’s own self. The question then is how to recreate and develop these ways of being without actually having to go into a coma.

To read other stories of cancer recovery, many seemingly miraculous, read The Cancer Survivor’s Bible – www.fightingcancer.com