I want to share some amazing personal news with you and also give you some inspiration and hope as to what is possible for you also.

When I was in college, I was diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse, a fairly common condition in which one of the valves in my heart doesn’t close properly and allows blood to regurgitate. At the time, I was told not to worry about it because most people live their entire lives with this condition and don’t experience any negative effects. Or at least that’s how I remember it.

Fast forward twenty years (give or take) and I found myself feeling frequent chest pains and shock as a cardiologist told me that the prolapse has progressed to severe and that I would most likely need open heart surgery to replace the valve with a pig’s skin one within a year or two.

I was 43 years old. My youngest daughter was 4. This is a serious surgery not without potentially life threatening risks.

I’m not really sure how long people live after this surgery but I was hoping for at least another 50 years.

Not to mention the ugly scar it is bound to leave behind.

I wanted to avoid the need for this surgery at all costs.

So, I do what I always do when faced with a major challenge.

I asked the Universe for guidance and got quiet so I could hear the answers.

The first thing that came to me was that the chest pains that I was feeling were due to anxiety not heart problems. I googled it and sure enough… chest pains that are of different intensity and in different areas of the chest are often attributed to anxiety.

Many would call it foolish to trust Dr. Google but it gave me some hope.

I could do more to heal my anxiety.

And I did.

I got super serious about meditation.

I got even more serious about mindset work and using the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) to transform all of my fears, negative thoughts and anxious emotions to positive ones that feel good.

Anytime I found myself stressed about anything, I asked myself whether it was worth open heart surgery.

The answer was always’ “NO!”

I learned to chill and flow with life.

The chest pains diminished. My heart was stable for a couple of years, meaning the prolapse was not getting any worse and I didn’t need surgery.

Then this past year, a real miracle occurred…

Last November, I started working with an amazing healer and wise woman who turned me unto Healing Code and Quantum Techniques.

She told me during our very first session that “my heart was only 46% open and that to heal it, I would need to remove the layers of protection I have built around it.” These layers kept me “safe” but also impeded my heart from doing what it was meant to do – loving openly and freely.

She told me that healing this was not for the faint of heart (no pun intended).

That it would require me to revisit a lot of painful and traumatic memories that were stored in my body.

That as I accessed these memories and removed my protections, I would feel extra sensitive and vulnerable and would find life very painful until I gained the spiritual tools I needed to give me strength and protection.

I have never been one to step away from a personal growth challenge especially when it could save me from open heart surgery so I said, “OK, let’s do it!”

Are you wondering if I regretted this decision at times over the past 6 months?

I would be lying if I didn’t confess that the past 6 months have been super difficult at times. That I have indeed wondered if I was nuts to open up Pandora’s box again.

I felt super vulnerable at times.

There were people, friends and family, whose energy I could no longer tolerate (as in, I could no longer stand to be around them for more than 5 minutes).

But I’m a big believer in the mind-body connection and the body’s ability to heal itself.

I also have to confess that I have never cared that much about what the medical studies say and tend to rely more on whether any given healing modality feels right to me and more importantly, whether it works for me.

And this was working!

My chest pains went away.

My anxiety diminished greatly.

I was becoming spiritually stronger and stronger. I felt like I could rely on my connection to Spirit to handle anything that comes my way.

Even a nagging hip and leg pain that has kept me up at night for 7 years since my youngest was born went away.

I just knew that my heart was healing.

And yet I was a little nervous for my echo and cardiology appointment last week. It was with a top doctor at Beth Israel in Boston, Harvard’s teaching hospital and one of the best cardiology centers in the world.

Would the test confirm what I was feeling?

Would I get the satisfaction of telling the team of three (doctor, fellow and Harvard student) how releasing my emotional blocks is healing my heart?

You bet I did!!!!

The echo confirmed what I was feeling.

My heart is actually doing better!

The prolapse has been downgraded to mild.

I no longer need to get an echo every 6 months.

I asked the medical team if it was possible for the heart to heal.

The fellow mumbled something about studies showing that Mindfulness is good for everything.

The Harvard student looked uncomfortable.

The top-notch cardiologist simply said, “I don’t know. There is no evidence to support this but it seems to be working in your case. Just keep doing whatever you are doing.”

My inner rebel jumped up and down and cheered. Medical science 0. Miracles 1.

So, what about you? What pain and memories is your body holding? What do you assume is genetic or unavoidable and can’t be healed? What discomforts are you tolerating?

I would love to hear from you so please share your experiences and thoughts below.

xoxo,

Natalie

P.S. If you are interested in learning more about the healer I have been working with, I would be happy to share her info with you. Just email me at info@nataliematushenko.com

P.S.S. If you are in the Boston area on July 19^th, come meet me in-person at a FREE Lifelong Passion & Purpose workshop I will be co-hosting in Cambridge, MA from 7 to 9 pm. Email me for more info at info@nataliematushenko.com