By the late Ariel Browne, Ph.d. (a.k.a. Ariela Grace)
As a psychologist and researcher specializing in cellular consciousness and cellular communication, people sometimes contact me with challenging and unusual problems. One came to me the other day from a microbiologist engaged in medical research on meningitis and special pathogens. I quote from her email with permission:
I have a question for you in regard to your view on cells as being their own entities. I was wondering if you had learned much about the recent discoveries through stem cell research. Embryonic stem cells differentiate into all the various cell-types of the body. They can genetically code for a particular cell type, and there is much potential for them to be directed into a particular genetic pathway. There have been findings that several stem cells are maintained and function in the adult body, although at a lesser capacity than in a developing fetus. It is my theory that healing processes such as Reiki [see footnote 2] activate the stem cells and facilitate the genetic pathways to rapidly produce the effect that is needed in the body. What are your impressions of this process, and do you have any other insights on cellular communication that you would like to share with me?
These questions challenged me to reference my graduate research on cellular response in self-healing for a doctorate in psychology ( Willed Cellular Response in Psychology: East & West, 1992). That research culminated in the discovery that I myself had colon cancer. At that point, the research became intensely personal. It was motivated by the pressure of terrifying symptoms. I feared the outcome predicted by my doctors: death within two years. That was in 1996.
Because I have trained myself to be in constant contact with my own cells as well as their vast web of relatives, namely all the cells of matter (ref. quantum biophysicists Rupert Sheldrake, Fritjof Capra, Thelma Moss, Val Hunt, Candace Pert, the less academic but no less influential, Machaelle Small Wright[1], and quantum bio-physician, Deepak Chopra as well as The Mother via Satprem, The Mind Of The Cells), I asked my own cells in their shamanic capacity what my reply to this heartfelt inquiry should be. Their response, which came imagistically as it does so often, showed me this woman’s innate brilliance in referring to her own cells. I saw her turn away from her cells’ bright presence toward me who loomed too large in her biological landscape. Continuing my cellular reference despite my tendency (unfortunately, always the eldest sister and a Leo) to “teach,” I replied:
….you have asked some very interesting questions, reflective of your interest and inquiry into the potential of cellular healing initiated by the cells themselves. It would seem obvious that your experience of cells comes from the scientific side of things which tends to see cells as manipulable entities, albeit biological. Science has begun to infer in cells what they already possess, i.e., independent consciousness (although science doesn’t have a clue yet that cells’ allegiance is to the Divine). Their potential is actually far, far greater than science’s view of them which is limited not by cells but by the aperture through which they are viewed.
Art by Ariel Browne
My side of this cellular experience comes from the inside, from communicating with the cells themselves and listening/being open to their responses. I have immeasurable respect for their ability to heal in all circumstances and into all situations. I have enormous personal experience as well as client experience and much scientific data. You have asked me questions which I believe you could answer yourself since you have both scientific expertise and Reiki[2] experience. I wonder if you have established the several sensing-reference perspectives which are necessary to accurately apprehend cells in their fullness of being. Do you allow yourself to experience cells from the alternate angle of relationship and inviolable interconnection? I also wonder if you allow yourself to ask THEM, and listen open-heartedly, open-minded, for their beautiful response? It comes with the greatest generosity, almost always imagistically since they are themselves images of God. Are you journaling your relationship with cells? Are you drawing your relationship with cells? Please keep in touch with me. I would be willing to dialogue with you.
A reply soon arrived from this very attuned scientist and healer. It corroborated the image my cells had conveyed of her ability to self (and cell) refer.
Thank you for your thought-provoking response. Perhaps it is a limitation I have placed upon myself to think about cells’ potential, trying to comprehend it, as opposed to fully experiencing it. It is the analytical scientist in me that wishes to do so. I agree with you that science’s views are limited. I, egotistically, have wished to infiltrate my ideas within the scientific community, hoping to transform the realm of conventional science. Thus, imagining that I could help the way health care is typically approached by scholars of the (primarily) Western scientific community. Even though there is much potential for me to explore the richness of cells through the realm of molecular biology and learning about gene therapy, I need to surrender to that which is beyond mere thought. Cells do indeed possess independent consciousness; I love the way you describe their ability to communicate with each other and with us as people. I am now curious as to the direction they offer me in terms of understanding the way they work, as opposed to me looking into books written by women and men. Ask the cells themselves . . . that is something that I have not yet done in full faith. How do you suggest journaling about one’s relationship with cells? ….You have mentioned an acquisition of the several sensing-reference perspectives which are necessary to accurately apprehend cells in their fullness of being. Could you please describe this in more detail? I can feel my cells vibrate and shift and can feel the healing and transformation take place. They seem to love to do this, especially when I surrender to the experience and try not to direct it. I think I may be limiting myself in my desire to control their expansion, as if I know how they should grow. Thank you for sharing your insight. I deeply appreciate you and am grateful for our correspondence.
I share this correspondence because it is not so rare these days. More and more of us are choosing to reference the wisdom of our own cells to overcome medical predictions of imminent death or catastrophic disability through surgical or drug intervention. Illnesses have become more devastating, more resistant and more prevalent. Medical experimentation- intervention has become more common and more aggressive. Many people, noting the severity of Western-medical responses to the mutational nature of disease pathogens, consult with me and other experts known for bridging traditional and alternative systems of science and healing.
The other day a client described her friend’s luminous solution to the terrible massacre of small animals along a stretch of country road. She had despaired until she inquired of her own body-cells’ identification with these innocents. She envisioned communicating with the animal kingdoms via prayer (ref. Seat Of The Soul, Gary Zukav and Wright, footnote 1). She described using the web of interconnection which knits all cells together in one communicative spirit. From her cells to theirs, she prayed that the animals protect themselves and avoid the killer road. From the next day henceforward, she never saw an animal carcass along that stretch of road.
I cite these poignant examples because of the dear self-healing communications I have with my own body’s cells. When I was doing my doctoral dissertation, I felt proud indeed of my breakthrough research and the unexpectedly rich data I gathered in the United States and India. It wasn’t long before the immense and mysterious power of body and cells brought me to my senses. Becoming terrifyingly sick myself brought me back to what matters, in its archetypal sense.
Matter’s root word (Latin) is Mater, or “mother.” The body of life is the special territory of women, not only because our bodies source its miraculous cellular beginning. Every month, cyclically and predictably, easily or traumatically, our own life blood’s cells spring outward like Earth’s springs and streams. The hunger for truth, the desire to heal, the necessity of interconnection come naturally to us, originating in our cells themselves. They carry the secret Grail of life and healing.
Unfortunately, in my case and that of many clients, what often compels us to our profoundest discoveries of healing is pain, inner suffering or near-death. These “teachers” help us remember matter-Mother. Cells demonstrate the loving web of matter, and Mother.
So…talk with and listen to the cells of matter, our tiniest, radiant figures of biological embodiment. Each one carries within itself the sacred story, the accessible mystery of life (yes, it IS a loving oxymoron). Do we know everything about cells through microbiology or quantum physics? Even hard-line science would say we have barely begun. Many scientists, plumbing these bio-cellular depths, become mystics.
This is my prayer, ever repeating and inspiring: communicate with your cells; be guided by their beautiful example; listen to them. There is a guarantee which comes with this passionate injunction: you will be much better for the following of it and you and your loved ones will benefit greatly.
(If you would like to read more about Ariela and her cellular experiences and teachings, including an audio guided Cell-Talk meditation, please visit the blog Ariela’s Cells at www.arielascells.wordpress.com)
Cellular Consciousness Experiences 