Dame Hilary Canto's Latest Article

As the Autumn Equinox approaches I thought you might like to know a little more about how our voice health is affected by the coming and going of the seasons! In order to do this I need to give you a VERY BRIEF layman’s biology/physiology prep! You may notice more, after reading this, your own cycles of colds and sore throats etc.

First let me explain that human beings are “energy” beings. We function on chemical, electrical and geometric (magnetic gravity) energy. Our water and blood content carries sodium, potassium, vitamins, minerals, fats, sugars, and all other compounds needed to sustain our life force! Cholesterol is our cell membrane protector and without it we would die! Mucous is an essential part of our body and not a baddie except when it becomes out of balance.

Singers are usually trying to keep mucous down at all costs so as not to clog the vocal sound. However too little mucous in the vocal membranes is actually dangerous as they will become fragile to the stress you place on them when you start to put power into your voice notes. Too low cholesterol, too low mucous is making your cellular integrity weaker and more susceptible to disease. Too much mucous is a different picture of your health and is a sign of more toxicity in your system rather than always being an infection! Either way you will be open to more throat problems. If you try to ZAP these with sprays, overuse of antibiotics, herbal preparations and tinctures such as Echinacea…you can with over use of these…….actually…… “Suppress” the problem you are having, forcing it deeper back into your body’s system! Only to rear it’s head again in a more serious breakout next time!

Serious throat conditions always need medical attention and should never be considered only in natural therapeutic terms. However, natural therapeutic understanding can also help differentiate between what is needed medically and what needs a little time and rest to assist recovery.

When you understand the natural cycles of your own body in connection with the earth’s cycles, you begin to learn how to create a better health picture for yourself. Your voice is not separate from the rest of your body! ALL CELLS require the essential vitamins, fats, minerals, amino acids, water etc in the correct ratios for healthy functioning. If the balanced ratio of these become out of balance (Homeostasis is impaired), the physiology of the cell changes and begins to dysfunction. The body will try at all costs to maintain Homeostasis but dis – ease develops.

Light/Dark – Day/Night is the daily cellular governor! During the day healthy cells receive sodium and calcium and fats to give us energy! At night Magnesium & Potassium move into the cell to calm the activity for restorative functions and sleep. If the cells are dehydrated -thicker cholesterol around the membrane occurs. The stronger minerals Sodium & Calcium with larger molecules cannot pass through the cell membrane and the softer minerals magnesium and potassium cannot push them out, the osmotic process becomes impaired and the push/pull function cannot function! This means the rest of the body tries to find a way to handle the dysfunction and the toxicity of a cell begins to build up because it cannot clear and utilize its nutrients properly. The Lymphatic system is the body’s clearing system for toxic build up. Waste material from the cell is passed into this secondary system that runs closely with the blood system. However dehydration will also make the lymphatic system sluggish and not able to move the debris clearly and easily. Severe toxicity can enter the bloodstream at some point…but we are not covering that here!!!

When the lymphatics get too full the body has a neat way of creating a clearing……A COLD!! Very few colds are “caught” most are made by the body’s own mechanism to clear away toxic buildup. You will have to go back to Beauchamp and before that Hippocrates & Homeopathic medicine to understand all of this…… but today’s medicine is based on the Germ theory of Louis Pasteur and Beauchamp had a different theory.

So besides the push/pull of the light & dark we are also subjected to the gravitational pull of the Earth, Sun & Moon. On a daily/monthly basis we are at the whim of the moon and the tidal movement in the ocean! Women’s menstrual cycles are controlled by the cycles of the moon in conjunction with hormone cycles. Our bodies’ water is seawater (sodium & potassium pull) and we have the same wave pull on our cellular biology as the ocean does on the earth! All of this is going on inside our bodies and then……… we have the SEASONS to contend with!

The two strongest points of the year are the Spring (Vernal Equinox) and the Autumn Equinox. These occur between the Sun & the Earth when the Sun moves to a 45° angle over the Earth. This creates a rapid energy rush which affects our cellular & lymphatic system to push out toxicity! In the Spring it moves one way and in the Autumn it reverses. This rapid energy shift causes all kinds of things to happen around us and inside us and is a common time for acute illness symptoms to show, colds, coughs, “infections”, sore throats, rashes etc etc as well as more severe things. The Solstices – Summer & Winter also have an effect usually not as strong but it depends on the susceptibility of the person and the organs (Chinese medicine) associated with that season. The strongest energy pull is as it approaches and rides over the peak of these natural cycles.

The mucous/lymph health is critical at all times…it needs to be balanced to be able to allow your body to flow with the natural cycles of our earth connection. If you feel unwell at these times…be gentle on yourself and nurture yourself. Your throat especially!

So when anyone comes to me in natural practice, not only do I assess organ and cell functionality in conventional ways but I am assessing the movement of energy in a person and how that is making their health – colds, coughs, infections etc worse or better! All of this affects vocal health because our voice is our expression of how good or bad we are inside! To me “A COLD IS A GIFT”…it means I have a healthy body capable of clearing itself to keep me healthy and not get serious disease. Sore throats, ear problems, swollen glands, coughs etc may not always be “an infection”. (Pneumonia, Bronchitis, Otitis etc are different and need medical attention – YOU MUST ALWAYS CHECK WITH A DOCTOR!) Usually if the doc says it’s a virus most of us know antibiotics don’t work on viruses and it maybe that your body created the virus to clear its own toxic build up!

So to sum up – Treat a cold as a friend and assess the REAL reason for the cold and the necessity to sing if you are immune compromised. In the middle of a tour it maybe you have no option but to keep soldiering on, but take care what “remedies and potions and pills” you use to help you and if you can duck out…….be kind to yourself…a cold has a natural life of up to 10 days irrespective of what you try to do to get rid of it. So THINK before you try and Zap yourself! Your efforts may cause a worse problem in the future! Let your body tell you what you need…it’s wiser than your head!

The Autumn equinox is around Sept 21st….maybe you’d like to let me know what kind of week you are having healthwise? Be prepared! Love Hilary