Breast Cancer and Breast Implants. Will the real breast please stand up!

So it’s Breast Cancer Awareness time again. More women are being diagnosed with cancer and heart related diseases, which prompted me to question –
Why is there an increase of tumors and disease around the emotional center of the heart?
Then I thought, how strange that a higher number of women are opting for breast implants these days while more women are also facing increasing risk of not having a breast to implant!
In case you were thinking of breast implants, especially if you have a genetic tendency for breast cancer, you must read some great articles and websites that tell women the risks that scientific research has associated with implants: www.breastimplantinfo.org

Research has shown three ways that breast implants can delay the early detection of breast cancer:
1. Implants can cause up to 55% of breast tumors to be undetected by mammograms.
2. Implants can break during a mammogram, causing women to avoid getting one!
3. When the implant is bigger than the size of the natural breast the accuracy of the mammogram decreases.

One of the most fascinating finds of research for me was this:

Although women who want breast implants may expect that it will make them feel better about themselves, the authors point out that there is no evidence that breast implants improve overall body image. Breast augmentation will not help with “underlying psychological issues ranging from improving self-esteem to treating body dysmorphic disorder.”
From What Do Women Need to Know and When Do They Need to Know It?
By Susan F. Wood, Ph.D. and Scott L. Spear, M.D.

Why do women get breast implants? Will the real breast please stand up?
What is it that makes a woman’s breast stand to attention?

Well – you may laugh – but this is true!
When I started belly dance, my breasts got bigger! They also got rounder, firmer and stood to attention more readily.
(Yes, when no one is looking they still like to hang – preferably without a bra).
Seriously though – I am amazed at how this dance that focuses on the opening of the heart area, the lifting of the chest, chest lifts and flutters encouraged my whole chest area to be more voluptuous, firm and assertive!

The focus of belly dance is NOT just muscular – it’s emotional.
By lifting your chest – you activate your abs and bring the chest up and forward – AND you focus energy on your emotional romantic, sensual, sensitive area of the heart and breasts, you feel the beat of the music with your heart.

The heart is the key to any woman’s happiness and emotional satisfaction. If you don’t FEEL your heart during the day – one day it will come along and get your attention. And unfortunately – breast cancer – is one of the drastic ways to get our attention.

So women – please let the real breasts stand up! Breathe into your chest, open your heart to some soft romantic music or just get your groove on and let your heart (and breasts) bounce.
I’m not being flippant – I’m serious. We need to let our heart and breasts feel like real lovable women so the emotional issues of self-esteem and poor body image do not take away our joy of feeling like a woman. Opting for implants does not address women’s need to FEEL beautiful from the inside.

Dance, music, romanticism, hope and just feeling yourself FEEL are vital so people can remember how to be soft, receptive, loving and giving, to themselves and others.