Catherine Holland writes a piece following the release of her book Indestructible Soul: How I decided not to die.
Catherine Holland
Why do you write?
I write to give people the information and confidence they need to make their own decisions about their health and life, so that they can get fully well, feel energised and enjoy themselves more. I have lots of experience that people find useful and sometimes they need reassurance that it's OK to explore a new way. I really enjoy writing to share this information. It gives an outlet for sharing the fruits of my insatiable curiosity. I have discovered something important: that our bodies can heal any disease by ensuring that adequate oxygen is supplied to every cell of the body and that if we are ill, it's because that is not happening. I have also discovered how to make that happen, by inadvertently making myself so well-indestructible-that I didn't die, and I made a remarkable recovery.
Why did you write Indestructible Soul: How I decided not to die?
I wrote Indestructible Soul: How I decided not to die, because people kept asking me to. I was running the Oxford Pain Clinic at the time, I was treating injuries with a technique I developed that shifted long-term damage and got people moving again. They found my story inspiring and felt I should share it. Briefly this is what happened to me:- I got hit by a drunk driver while riding my motorbike home from an evening of climbing and dancing to a live band that I loved. My leg was crushed and I died for a little while. Long enough to leave the pain and my body and see it lying in the road and I was given a decision: did I wish to continue down the route with no pain-this was very inviting-or conversely, did I wish to return to see my children grow up? The surgeon managed to save my leg, put an external fixator in it, and I had muscle repairs and skin grafts. My leg was bandaged from my hip to my big toe and the other leg was bandaged too, when they took skin from it.
Why did it take 14 years to get around to writing it?
It was a long journey to getting fit again, it was really hard work. I had nearly died. I lost half my blood in a few minutes into the road. I discovered later that usually you die from internal poisoning if this is the case (the cleaning organs - chiefly kidneys and also the liver - close down with dramatic blood loss, leaving the brain vulnerable to toxic build-up of normal body breakdown products). I was still having problems 10 years later from the antibiotics I was given at the time. I really didn't want to be reminded of such a tough time. I felt physically sick the first few times I started to write. When I did write it, I realised that I had discovered a repeatable path to ensuring wellness, increasing the amount of available oxygen by specific means, including breathing fully (I teach this as rebirthing breathwork), plenty of raw food in the diet (my diet was 50% raw at the time of my accident and the rest whole food), drinking water to clean and hydrate the body, using only supporting medicines, having loving people in your life, exercising in a way that you enjoy.
What else have you written?
3 other print books and a range of Kindle guides. The reasons that I survived the accident are covered in a free guide that you can download from my site www.catherineholland.co.uk, called 'Indestructible Health.' I have also written 'Rebirthing Breathwork: Creating an independent adult,' 'The Reality of Breastfeeding,' 'That's Me!' an email odyssey to find a soulmate, 'Easy Raw Main Meals,' 'Confidently Refuse Vaccinations' and a series on self treatment guides for pain including '10 Keys to Unlocking Back Pain.'
What will you write next?
Possibly a title on living primarily from our spiritual existence, that is using our emotional intelligence to guide us to the most satisfying experiences daily. This is sort of a professional way of using gut reaction, that part of you that knows. It will be about learning how to recognise and trust it in the centre of our lives, rather than only using it when the chips are down, in extremis, which is when it is acceptable in the modern world. This is the part of me that drove me on; unceasingly and completely confidently to get fit again, to learn to walk, then take my bike test, then ski!
Indestructible Soul is available in paperback and as a Kindle edition, from Amazon.