Tuesday, June 2, 2015

What's the Deal with Louise Hay?

Does anyone have much insight into this woman?  She is the guru of the lie that positive thinking cures cancer, yet I can find no proof that she ever even had cancer. I follow a few people who blog about their natural cancer cures and it is apparent to me that most of them are heavily influenced by this woman's message.  Jessica Ainscough was clearly among them. It is absolutely heartbreaking to watch these poor people harp on about how they just need to be more positive and then their cancer will go away.

My idea is to compile as much as we can about the holes in her story and then publicly take her to task.  She has gotten quite rich off the suffering of others, and it is about time she proved her claim that she actually had cancer which she cured with the power of the mind.

55 comments:

  1. Hi Violet, she seems to fly under the radar, found some info here though https://spiritualityisnoexcuse.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/louise-hay-is-a-dangerous-quack/

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    1. Louise Hay was a vile PLAGIARIST: her entire books are copied from FLORENCE SCOVEL SHINN, namely The Game of Life and How to Play It. I was horrified when filthy scum wayne dyer ended up on PBS. The narcissist also plagiarized the works of others like Emmet Fox. He was a pain in the &&& and I was so happy when the scum croaked! Always plugging his daughter's singing and flattering himself on the misery he inflicted upon old ladies his entitled self woke up early on Sundays cos he had to run up & down the halls and that was their problem if he woke them up. I wish him death right then and there. Shortly after, he croaked, Maybe there is something to this positive thinking, LOL!

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    2. Sorry: wayne dyer was hired by Hay House. That was a red flag right there. Feminist Louise Hay also bore her ex's last name, why? Perhaps to copy Sondra Ray cos her last name sounded similar. louise hay was full of hot air and she made a living copying other's hard work so did wayne Die-b`tch-dieyer.
      Positive affirmations is a bunch of hogwash and does nothing at all.

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  2. Some interesting comments on that page Mark , one in particular by Sastra

    [ “illness is caused by negative thoughts” assumption as Hay. Although she’s an RN, she gives lectures on how she “healed her own fibromyalgia” by letting go of resentment, defending it by insisting she’s just telling people what worked for her and not telling anyone what they have to believe.]

    Sastra could have almost been quoting Candice with this response .
    It's incredible how once these kooks fall in the pond they all start speaking and believing the same garbage.
    What I find hilarious about Louise Hay's story: Posted by Yakar
    [The post asks why Louise Hay decided to have numerous surgical face lifts, rather than using her own teachings. If affirmations cured her cancer (where medical science failed), then surely her affirmations can also get rid of a few wrinkles — or, better still, help her to accept herself and her aging processes.]

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  3. Her website notes the following...

    "Louise was able to put her philosophies into practice when she was diagnosed with cancer. She considered the alternatives to surgery and drugs, and instead developed an intensive program of affirmations, visualization, nutritional cleansing, and psychotherapy. Within six months, she was completely healed of cancer." Elsewhere on the site it mentions she had cervical cancer.

    Has anyone, anywhere seen any proof?

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  4. As a Clinical psychologist who treats people with chronic illnesses I see that her manifesting-positivity-woo-woo does so much damage to already vulnerable people. Twice this week I have had to waste precious public health funded time (that I could have used to work on evidence based strategies to manage their pain, grief, anger, fear of treatments) explaining to clients the what complete and utter bullshit it is. I refrain from explaining it as neoliberal individualism with crystals, but I do draw a line with Gina Reinhart on one end and Child solidiers from Darfur on the other end and look at the logical extensions of the 'power of positive thought you manifest your own reality' argument. It works. We establish that awful things happen to people on an equal opportunity basis ... then move on to addressing what's important with truth, compassion and SCIENCE.

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    1. It sounds like you would be a great therapist for newbie chronic patients and it is great if healthcare system provides one at the beginning of this "career". I'm sure that a lot of patients would not go down the woo road if professional therapy was available as a support mechanism. I have seen therapists and doctors who themselves believe Hay crap and pass it on to patients. Very disheartening.

      When my woo-oriented friend now gets sick and blames her thinking patterns, I ask her to use her strong mental force to pick up a teacup with her mind, heat some water and make us some tea, all from a distance without touching anything. After all with such ability to control things with thoughts that should be a piece of cake:)

      To other people who suggest this mind control and positivity crap, I ask if they have seen children in oncology department and what can they say about babies attracting horrible cancers. That stops them for a bit, until they come up with reasons of karma... Gaah.

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    2. As a sufferer of trauma disorder and mh problems am I securing a bad fate by my negative thinking?

      I've read Hays book at the library and its guilt provoking. Thank goodness I didn't buy it and add to her riches. Then I've got the secret on my Facebook and that says your thoughts create your reality. I've had a lot of bad luck and got no positivity as a child so find it impossible to think positively. So feel doomed.
      Even The Speakmans say move on from the past and think positively. Stay away from negative people. Which makes us feel even more of a pariah and outcast.
      Are people with mental problems doomed then.

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    3. The issue is at a subconscious level try hypnotherapy.

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  5. As far as I can tell, Hay has offered no proof at all that she ever had cancer. And many of the people commenting on her stuff who claim they cured their cancer using their techniques are almost certainly lying (like the guy who said he had "stage 3 prostate cancer" and was given a few months to live).

    That reminds me, I wonder when Candice is going to get her medical records together?

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    1. BTW Tina Walker (the person who posts under Cancer Rival) took down her fundraising page on youcaring. Wonder if that was due to the discussion here?

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  6. She tells her story here--
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/magazine/04Hay-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

    She says all the doctors are dead and all the records are lost, and she doesn't remember which stage her cancer was at. She claims she decided not to go under the knife "anymore" and the "cured" her "cancer" herself.

    That was in 1979. She had already published her book "You Can Heal Your Life" (1975, I believe) where she claims all illnesses have a metaphysical cause and can be cured with positive thinking.

    Had she kept her medical records and got some statements from her doctors she would have been able to add some (albeit poor= substance to her claims. But she lost all the records and instead asks people to just trust her.

    She claims she was raped at age 5 and never forgave the rapist, and that's why she got cervical cancer. This is all standard New Age tactics -- weave deeply personal and private claims into the miracle healing narrative, so that people will be reluctant to even start to question it.

    The link to my blog that Mark kindly left in the first comment goes to an article about how Hay's fans routinely -- and oddly -- *deny* that she claims to have a cancer cure. Even when I point to her "Healing Cancer" cancer cd's and quote her explicitly claiming she has a cancer cure, they insist that no she doesn't really say that. People, they insist, should just "take from her teachings that which resonates with them." If that which resonates with them is the cancer healing BS, then that is their own fault.

    The post Mark links to is a list of search terms that brought people to my blog, looking for things like "Louise Hay cancer cure" or "what does Louise Hay say about cervical cancer" etc. I always tell Hay's apologists to tell these people, not me, that she doesn't claim to have a cancer cure.

    She plays it down, but she belongs to a fairly crazy Christian sect, similar to Christian Science (forgotten who they are exactly). Her small book Heal Your Body is completely mad. She can cure everything from leprosy to muscular dystrophy using affirmations.

    The only thing she can't cure is wrinkles. She's had numerous facelifts. Leprosy is easy, but wrinkly skin, hmmm, no can do. Even an affirmation like "I love and accept my body and its aging processes" won't help.

    Sorry for ranting. Hope it's at least a bit useful.

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    1. This is great stuff. There is no way that all her medical records about her cancer were destroyed. She would have seen numerous doctors about it over the years and as a person who once had cancer, she would have been monitored for life. The fact that she insists that her records where destroyed is good evidence to me that she is lying.

      For some reason too these people and their fans are obsessed with pointing out that the wellness woman never explicitly claimed to have "cured cancer" to which I must ask then what the point of their message is.

      Anyway, over the past year or so I have been following some people with cancer blogs and it breaks my heart to see them struggle with having happy thoughts at all times while they are feeling so poorly. Then they blame their poor health on the fact that they are failed human beings with the dreaded negative thoughts.

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    2. Medical records from the 70's would get transferred to computer systems. There would be details of her hospital scans and hospital records. Even if they were basic.

      She must remember which hospital she visited.
      I read that her father sexually abused her.
      Another article says a neighbour raped her at 5. Of course both could have happened or none. Or she's a liar who can't get her story straight.
      A multi millionaire and some would say proof of her positive thinking beliefs. Wayne Dwer was also rich. Can't help but think they are getting rich off vulnerable people buying their books out of desperation. Probably finding their lives ate still hard and unchanged whilst the likes of Hay live in luxury. Of course you can think positively when you have a luxurious lifestyle with no money worries.

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    3. I think you mean the book "Heal Your Body" (which was first published in the 70s). "You Can Heal Your Life" was not published until 1984.

      Also per her bio @ the end of "You Can Heal Your Life", LH was raped by a neighbor @ age 5 first, then the stepfather started raping her when she was in her teens (before that, he had been physically abusing her for years).

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  7. Like Belle Gibson, I always just assumed Louise Hay was telling the truth about having cancer. Although I couldn't understand why a person who believes in so much self love would mutilate her face with plastic surgery..
    I thought maybe her cancer had just gone into spontaneous remission if that's even possible.
    Not sure if you remember "Anita Moorjani" that Jess Ainscough was obsessed with. She claims she was on deaths door, and her cancer miraculously disappeared overnight.. she has a book. I haven't looked into her too much, but I'm wondering if she has the medical records to back up her claims also.

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    1. Hi Violet,

      It would be great if any information could be dug up about Hay, as she seems to be the woo godmother of many Ainscough and Belle types. I have a personal reason to seriously dislike her, because when I first got sick with a benign, but havoc causing endocrine tumor before thyroid cancer was diagnosed (but was suspected) I was very, very vulnerable, not familiar with principles of health scamming, didn't even know how I was the perfect target for woo sellers, and a relative gave me her Heal Your Body book. That made me feel like I must have caused my own health problems with wrong thinking, wrong living and wrong pretty much everything on top of having serious medical issues. I come from a family where finding the guilty person/factor/causes is a standard method so the book just fit perfectly into the scheme. I also got unlucky,because, looking back, my therapist was very alternatively minded and tied tumors together with childhood traumas and didn't even suspect that depressive/panicky episodes could be caused by seriously unbalanced hormones (this is why I now suggest my friends and family see a real doctor to exclude organic issues before being treated by a wacky therapist).

      What I have a hard time imagining though is the process of finding information on Hay. Where would one even start?

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    2. My own thinking about all this is that a lack of information from the person claiming to have had the cancer and cured it without medicine is good enough to show that they likely never had cancer to begin with. We cannot prove a negative, and so the burden is on Hay to prove she once had cancer. My own reason for finding Hay dangerous is because she makes people feel guilty about having cancer and puts the blame squarely on them. Ainscough was very obviously into all this stuff - she had a video all about self-love.

      I think it is fair and necessary to point out to the whole world that there is ZERO evidence that Hay ever had cancer. There is also ZERO evidence that she cured it just by thinking good thoughts. She has obviously had plastic surgery which means that she must regularly have medical professionals looking over her medical history. In that case, she must be able to easily have a real doctor confirm her miracle story.

      My own theory? Hay likely had precancerous cells on on cervix which are common and which we now know very often do not become cancer. I do not for one second believe that Hay was destined to die of cancer unless she started thinking positively. This all goes back to the modern anti-feminist notion of wellness in that any sort of illness must be linked to a moral failing on the part of a woman.

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  8. Can I just point out that it was this blog that started all the Belle Gibson stuff coming out...she was pretty 'big' & famous and had a well-established empire of books, an app etc - I knew she was not really ill but I thought no-one would ever be able to prove it because surely she had paid lawyers etc to safeguard her. I was wrong. This blog started a movement for the truth.

    Louise Hay is very old. She has a well-established business and a publishing house etc, certainly a lot more money than Belle Gibson. But I am certain she has never had cancer or suffered half the things she claims to. I really hope that once and for all, this woman's claims are investigated fully. The Belle Gibson saga gave me hope that there decent people out there who will demand the truth. Louise Hay has been waiting for this for a long time....I'm watching this house of cards which may again all start here on THIS BLOG. Thank you Violet.

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  9. Well stated Rebecca. I have friends on FB that are also cancer sufferers and survivors and they all follow Louise Hay so I constantly get an eyeful of her never ending inspirational quotes. I fear I may get a permanent infliction with my eye rolls!
    I have occasionally posted comments on some of her posts, polite but disagreeable and they disappear within hours. Definitely a pattern on many levels with all these inspirational, wellness, cancer curing warriors!

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  10. Violet, I think that big piece on Louise Hay pretty much proves that she's a fake. If you really want to get your teeth into something, livingwhole.org is a target-rich environment. This crunchy Mom who adores her perfect children has stated that should she get breast cancer she would consider surgery but absolutely nothing else bar Gerson and all the other food-as-medicine quackery. In other words she's prepared to die and leave them rather than take advantage of the lifesaving benefits of modern medicine. Just like Jess and her mother. Is there no end to this insanity? http://www.livingwhole.org/green-juice-could-kill-your-cancer/

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  11. Candy's just put a link on FB to another article pushing her pineapple story & she is pleased about it. Seems she is not reconsidering her strategy at all, just keeping quiet for awhile.

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    1. She says she has her medical record almost ready for release!
      At this point they must be the medical equivalent of War and Peace.

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    2. Pretty sure she was at exactly the same place 3 months ago. It will never happen.

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  12. Wow do people that operate wellness websites live in clamshells ?
    http://www.healthyfoodhouse.com/woman-stuns-doctors-by-healing-her-own-cancer-this-is-the-fruit-that-helped-her/

    This is the very same garbage that Candice herself said the newspapers continually got so wrong, back to the original fabricated, exaggerated and unfounded story.
    We have also been quite recently while Candice thinks we have forgotten about her but she doesn't need worry because some of us made a promise to never leave her alone until she proves her fantasy story.

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  13. I am sure there a quite a few dodgy "miracle cure" claimants that have thought the better of continuing their dishonesty after reading this blog, Rosalie Hillmans blog and the others that have had the guts to loudly press for evidence of fantastical claims.
    I certainly have my eye on one or two.

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  14. Well, look what the cat dragged in - Belle Gibson featuring on 60 minutes this Sunday

    .https://www.facebook.com/60Minutes9/videos/819259771476673/

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    1. Oh wow, did not expect that. I wonder what she hopes to get out of it?

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    2. Apparently $45,000!!

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    3. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/belle-gibson-interview-with-60-minutes-sparks-outrage-among-cancer-patients/story-fnii5smq-1227412755524

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    4. Yes, money. Disgusting.

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  15. Poor old Candy, probably been spending the last few days trying to reschedule her new website launch with Belle back in the spotlight. Just love Candy to push her pineapple story this week.

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  16. Belle Gibson's interview on 60 Minutes. What a sociopath she is.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsw90DY5gEI

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  17. Had a quick google of Candice and found another scammer touting her. What was really interesting is that he claims Candice sent him her medical records. If he got them then why hasn't she sent them to you? Obviously they must be ready.


    http://www.chrisbeatcancer.com/how-candice-marie-fox-healed-advanced-thyroid-cancer-it-wasnt-just-pineapples/

    "p.s. Candice-Marie sent me copies of her medical records confirming her diagnosis, and that the cancer spread after treatment, and that her Thyroglobulin is 0.1 as of 3/13/15."

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  18. I met Louise Hay in 1981, while I was still in college. This was before she hit the big time, by capitalizing on the AIDS crisis. Fake as a two dollar bill. She's read a bunch of new thought books and cobbled together a new age philosophy. Her so called mirror technique was plagiarized from Claude Bristol's book - The Magic of Believing - written in the 40's. If she were diagnosed with cancer in 1976, as she claims - surely there would still be records in 1981. In addition, the fact that she couldn't remember the doctor's name, who diagnosed her is HIGHLY suspect. When a traumatic event occurs, (and being diagnosed with cancer surely qualifies) everything happening at the time is seared into your memory. Oprah Winfrey promoted her book, and that's why she was catapulted into the new age guru stratosphere - otherwise she would have been just another new age hustler.
    She was also involved with a witch named Roza Lamont - who has since passed. So Louise is not above using the dark arts to further her ambitions.

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  19. I am certain the petitioners have thought the better of proceeding with their untrustworthiness subsequent to perusing this online journal.

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  20. I was wondering how to conduct the practical procedures. A little confused.

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  21. I've also met Louise Hay (which is not her real name, by the way.) An absolute sham. She doesn't walk her talk. She used to be a model, and she's obsessed with fashion/beauty - hence the numerous face lifts and surgical procedures. The nose job looks terrible because she was in a car crash where she smashed her face. Which, if you're thinking positive thoughts is not supposed to happen. She lucked out with the AIDS crisis, and that's why she became famous. If there had been no aids crisis she would have been just another two bit new age hustler.

    She promoted people like Sylvia Brown - who was an absolute con artist - and when she was called out on it, she just laughed. Her response was - "She sells a lot of books."

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    1. What is her real name? I can't find that info anywhere.

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    2. Don't remember where I read that Louise Hay is not her real name, but I know she was married to someone called Andrew Hay, so she got the Hay name from him. Maybe if you looked up marriage records, they would list her real name.

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    3. The New York times May 4, 2008 article states that neither Louise nor Hay are her original names. The article doesn't state what her real name was. Hay, came from her husband.

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    4. Her real first name at birth was Helen. I remember that because that's my grandmother's first name. Louise later changed her name.

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    5. Helen Vera Lunney was her real name. It's at her IMDb page. I had posted the cause of death but IMDb refused it. I'm not the one who found the name, though.

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  22. I was on Louise Hays Facebook. She put up a post about bone broth. She got many vegans irritated and she's blocked many of them without any explanation.
    She said bones were the structure of the universe or something like this. I said she makes it up as she goes along.
    I also questioned why she tells us to affirm that we love and accept our bodies when she has had plastic surgery. I've been blocked.

    Seems like with any of these frauds when you hint that its nonsense or question they can't handle it.

    I think its all new age bluff. There's no proof of the things she says in her book. Especially about body parts at the end. Its disturbing. That we choose our own parents. Where's the proof for that.

    Unfortunately this charlatan has made millions from this new age bluff.

    I wrote an affirmation on her Facebook and she removed it. Showing how easy it is to do.fraudster.

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  23. I enjoyed reading it.. Your choice of words are great.. Its understandable..
    Febs

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  24. Hahaha, she's happy and you people have nothing better to do than scrutinize other people's lives. You don't see people as they are, you see them as you are. No one can know her life but her. Judging anothers life only hurts you. MANY people have been cured of cancer without chemo and radiation but you all are welcome to do the toxic torture is you so choose. What is funny is how all of you think your own life is so perfect that you have time to pick apart other people's life. I'd love to know who her surgeon is. She looks absolutely amazing at 90 YEARS OLD!!!! REALLY!! Y'all crack me up!!!

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    1. So being given happy doesn't mean she's not a charlatan. I'm sure all those millions will make her happy.
      Your assertions are nonsense.I see myself as honest and spotting a con merchant does not make you like them.

      Truth hurts.There's one sucker born every minute who will defend the old fraud. It depends if you think looking like a frozen,lop sided mannequin is a good look for a 90 year old. I don't. If her books worked she would have accepted herself as she was pre cosmetic surgery.

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    2. Wow!!! There's a lot of judgmental posts on here. Get a grip! You're not living the other person's life, so you have no place to criticize and judge. That energy would be much better served by polishing your own lives, which ever way that is, whether it's thru alternative therapies, affirmations, or the conventional route.

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  25. Eating animals is the cause of cancer, it"s trauma

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  28. Anita Moorjani's book - DYING TO BE ME .. might surely answer some questions

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  29. I recently enrolled in a yoga teacher training course believing it to be a purely yoga teacher training course, but ended up finding out that the course is heavily based upon the teachings of Louise Hays book "You can heal your life". Actually, the book is the 1st book listed on the course' booklist. When I queried the scientific basis for Louise Hays' teachings, I was expelled from the course. No difference of opinion allowed. Wrong on so many levels and hardly yogic in practice. Makes a bit of a joke of the 8 limgs of yoga!

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  30. Our thinking can affect our mental health and cause stress and stress can manifest in the body, but absolutely not to the extent that Hay claims.

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