Vir McCoy - Liberating Yourself from Lyme: An Integrative and Intuitive Guide to Healing Lyme Disease

This book is dedicated to all those who are suffering from Lyme disease.

Liberating
Yourself from
LYME

This immensely practical book takes the science and art of healing Lyme disease to a totally new level. Integrating select conventional medical treatments with a variety of natural healing methods, the authors utilize meditative practices, dreamwork, and intuition as tools to determine what strategy to use when and provide specific instruction for how you too can be empowered to be healed. Equally important, the authors provide insight into the great power of intention and the greater power of love to use illness as an opportunity to learn, heal, and get physically, emotionally, and spiritually stronger than ever.

DANA ULLMAN, M.P.H., C.C.H., AUTHOR OFTHE HOMEOPATHIC REVOLUTION AND COAUTHOR OF EVERYBODYS GUIDE TO HOMEOPATHIC MEDICINE

Vir and Kara speak many essential truths in this warm, nurturing, and valuable book. They show how balancing trust in oneself and collaboration with experienced practitioners is a seminal recipe for recovery and wellness. There is deep and ancient wisdom to be learned here, and I am grateful that they have added an indelible contribution to the spiritual science of this bourgeoning illness.

STEVEN HARRIS, M.D., C.E.O. AND FOUNDER OF PACIFIC FRONTIER MEDICAL, INC.

Disclaimer on How to Use This Book

Although readers may find these exercises, medicines, practices, and suggestions useful, they are made available with the understanding that this book arose out of the authors experiences and are not meant to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent Lyme disease or any other illness. The authors are not doctors and present only their experiences. Individuals afflicted with Lyme should engage in a program or treatment with a licensed qualified physician or other competent professional. The reader should regularly consult a physician in matters relating to his or her health, particularly concerning any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention.

Acknowledgments

Vir: I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to God, or the Divine Presence, the energy of the one in all things. I would also like to thank all the master guides (especially Saint Germain), angels, plant medicines, and spirit animals that came to my aid.

This manuscript would also not have been possible without all the amazing people who rallied to help me out during my near ten-year journey with Lyme from 2001 to 2010. Countless times when I was bedridden, down and out, past my wits end, and delirious in the hospital, an amazing community and family supported me, both seen and unseen.

I would like to offer the depth of my gratitude to several people, especially my family: my wife, Heather Christie, for her support and belief in me; my father, David McCoy; my mother, Kasandra Clemente; and my brother Flint McCoy. To the folks who organized Vir-Fest, including Blane Lyon and Robin Livingston; to Elana Vollen, Andrea Vecchione, and Caroline Warner, who came to my aid; and to Angela Layton, whose guidance and skills helped me tremendously early in my illness: thank you. I also wish to thank all the doctors, healers, and shamans who helped me healparticularly Alberto, Dr. Steven Harris, Dr. Runa Basu, Dr. Catherine Fehrman, David Kukola, Nancy Herrick, and Hasso Witboldt Muellerand countless other people who have both suffered and learned from Lyme. To Johnny Dwork, who helped me navigate the publishing world as well gave as crucial feedback. Special thanks to Stu Naami Smith, who helped take the book to the next level. To Dana Ullman, who believed in the manuscript and was the catalyst for this book being published. My biggest thanks goes to Kara Zahl, who contributed so much to both my healing and to this manuscript and who walked the journey through Lyme herself.

Kara: I would like to offer my gratitude to the spirit that dwells in the earth itself, for it is in her that I found my greatest healing. I give thanks for my family: my husband, Quinn, and son, Skylar; my parents and siblings; my community; and all of the healers and doctors who supported me through the many years I faced Lyme, especially Dr. Eric Reuben, whose light shone through the darkness and helped me to find my own light. I also wish to give thanks to my husband at the time of my Lyme journey, Daniel Rechtschaffen, and his family for all of their support and presence. I give thanks to all the plant medicines and their keepers, particularly those of the Amazon jungle. And my biggest thanks to Vir McCoy, healing ally on the path of awakening through Lyme and coparent of this book.

FOREWORD

Finding Empowerment through Illness

IN TODAYS INFORMATION-SATURATED WORLD , it is easy to come across buckets of advice on how to heal oneself of various ailments but difficult to discern the best path for oneself. In my own practice, treating complex chronic disorders in adults and children, Ive found that people put the most faith in advice from those who have been through it and have come out the other side not just free from a diagnosis but more empowered in all aspects of their life. People who take it upon themselves to heal from challenging diagnoses, without giving away all their faith and power to external means, often gain a deep knowledge of, and confidence in, themselves, having shed many layers of the self-limiting beliefs and fears instilled by mainstream medicine and culture. Vir is such a personone who has uplifted himself and helps others from a foundation of personal experience, knowledge, and well-being. He has learned that all effective medicine must come from the heart center as well as the minda merging of intuition and intellect. He shares his own journey not to suggest that you replicate it but to inspire ideas and seeds for your own unique growth toward health and balance.

Lyme and its coinfections can be easy for some to recover from and an endless battle for others. Our unique individuality makes one generic protocol for this complex disease impossible. Everyones healing process is different because our imbalances are rarely limited to the neat and clean boundaries of Western medical diagnoses. Our mental and emotional reaction to Lyme is just as much a part of the holistic disease picture as the classic physical symptoms, yet likely to vary widely from one person to another. We are all tangled balls of yarn, each a different skein to unravel but all made up of one single, continuous thread. Sometimes loosening one knot entangles the skein further; other times it unwinds the whole mess. Virs book avoids the scissors approach of allopathic medicine, instead recognizing and respecting that interconnectedness and offering tools ranging from basic nutritional advice to guidance in the more spiritual aspects of healing. Some of the approaches may run counter to what you have heard or believe, but then, Lyme disease itself is still new and uncharted territory. New approaches will be required, and as much as we wish to put the responsibility elsewhere, we sometimes need to find the healer within, get in touch with our rusty intuition by connecting with our body and its sensations, and learn to finally understand what it is desperately trying to convey to us.