Healthy breasts are breasts that are loved. Women have been taught to feel shame or embarrassment about their breasts, or that there is a relationship between power and attractiveness to the opposite sex. But it isn't the size or shape of our breasts that gives us true power or attractiveness. It's our relationship to our breasts and what they represent - our ability to give and receive nourishment and pleasure in a balanced way - that makes us beautiful and powerful. 

Regardless of their shape or size, here are some ways to love and appreciate your breasts:

Lovingly touch your breasts regularly

When you touch your breasts, you’re sending heart energy to them. In fact, back when you were an embryo, the tissue in your hands was connected to the tissue that went on to form your heart! Breast massage will increase the flow of lymph fluids and blood to the tissues and bring them oxygen and vital nutrients. Do this in the shower each day. However, don’t do breast massage if you currently have breast cancer. Send love by placing your hands over your breasts and letting them rest there as you affirm the beauty and health of your breasts.


Do the Female Deer Exercise

The Female Deer Exercise is an ancient Taoist practice that has helped women achieve hormonal, uterine and breast health for centuries. If done consistently, it can also vastly decrease menstrual symptoms including heavy flow and cramps. You can learn more about it in Stephen T. Chang’s book The Tao of Sexology: The Book of Infinite Wisdom or see it demonstrated in an online video, but the basic idea is this:

You sit on the floor with the heel of one foot pressing into your pubic area. If you aren’t flexible enough to make this contact, place a tennis ball by your pubic area and press your heel into that. Now rub both hands together until you feel tingling energy in them. Place them on your breasts for a few seconds. Then, with your palms, begin to make circular motions on your breasts with both hands. Circle for 50 to 100 times in whichever direction feels best to you. (Circling both hands inward tends to increase breast size. Circling in an outward direction can help dissipate excess energy in the breasts.) While circling, feel the energy in your pelvis rise up into your breasts and the energy of your heart sink down into your pelvis. Avoid overstimulating the nipples, because they can be quite sensitive. It’s nice to do the Female Deer Exercise first thing in the morning or last thing before bed using a soothing oil for the breasts. I personally like coconut oil. Pomegranate breast oil is also wonderful.


Eliminate negative self-talk about your breasts

And avoid bonding with other women over how you don’t like your breasts. Groups of friends and family members affect each other’s perceptions and behaviours. Be the first one in your family or group of girlfriends to reject the habit of complaining about breast size and shape. Instead, stand up and proclaim the following: “I have a magnificent set. I just love my ‘girls’. How about you?” Stand back and see what happens.


Open yourself

To receive love, compassion, affection, and praise from others, and give it without resentment, jealousy, or strings attached. Accept all compliments with a simple “Thank you” rather than denying or minimising what the other person has just acknowledged about you. Admitting you have assets and positive qualities is not narcissistic.


Acknowledge and express your feelings - honestly

Notice when you tend to avoid the truth. Do you do it to make another person feel more comfortable, caretaking for their feelings but not your own? Cultivate the skill of “getting things off your chest” regularly.


Go braless as much as possible so your lymph fluids can flow freely

If you have large breasts, it may be painful to go braless for too long or while you’re exercising, but be sure you aren’t in your bra all day long, much less at night. If you have daughters and granddaughters, teach them that freedom is good for breasts. There is no evidence that going braless causes breasts to sag earlier than they would otherwise. Needing bras for “training” or “support” is simply a cultural myth—probably invented by some corset manufacturer back in the day. Bras are fashion accessories. They can be a most lovely addition to your wardrobe, but they are not a medical device!


Pay attention

Pay attention to any breast symptoms that suggest the need for hormonal balancing. Sore breasts are often a sign of suboptimal levels of iodine or estrogen levels that are too high.


Sweat regularly

Sweat is part of the body’s natural system for shedding toxins and reducing cortisol levels. Exercise helps you to maintain healthy levels of estrogen and other hormones. Regular exercise decreases the risk of breast cancer, probably because it decreases total body fat and fat can produce excess estrogen. According to one large study, those women who were lean and exercised four hours per week had a 70 percent reduction in their risk of breast cancer.


Take vitamin D3

In supplement form or through sunlight. Note that most women require a supplement in addition to regular doses of sunlight. Test your vitamin D levels first to find out where you stand, through your doctor or on your own using an online lab that can do a 25(OH)D test. Optimal levels of vitamin D are 40 to 80 ng/ml (or 100 to 150 nmol/L), and research shows that a level of 52 ng/ml cuts your breast cancer risk in half compared to a level of 13 ng/ml.


Eat healthily

A healthful, low-glycemic diet with plenty of high-fiber vegetables and plant-based fats. High-fiber vegetables include broccoli and cabbage, turmeric, garlic, onions, tomatoes, kale, and collard greens. Enjoy nuts and flax, hemp, or chia seeds. Eat fish or take fish oil supplements so that you get plenty of omega-3 fatty acids, because these antioxidants lower the risk of breast cancer. A high-glycemic diet causes insulin resistance over time and insulin resistance is a risk factor for breast cancer, so cut down on sugars and all grains while including healthy meats, fish, cheese, and eggs. Add healthy fats such as coconut oil, avocado, macadamia nuts, and flax oil. Don’t worry about fats from healthy sources.


Take coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinone)

Low coenzyme Q10 has been linked with breast cancer, and few of us get much of it in our diets. (Organ meats provide a significant amount of coenzyme Q10, but most women don’t eat them). Low levels can also cause breast pain in menopause. Take 10 to 100 mg a day, or 70 to 100 mg a day if you’re at high risk for breast cancer. If you take a statin drug to lower your cholesterol, be sure to get your coenzyme Q10, because statin drugs reduce the levels of this important nutrient.


Take iodine

The breasts require about 3 mg of iodine a day for optimal health, and the body itself requires another 9 mg or so—you should take about 12.5 mg a day in supplement form. The safest food sources for iodine are kelp and organic eggs. Iodized salt, though better than nothing, isn’t the best source because the iodine tends to evaporate out of the salt. If you have thyroid issues, increase your iodine levels slowly, ideally under the care of a health care practitioner such as a naturopath who is very familiar with iodine and thyroid conditions.


Drink in moderation, if at all

Women who drink just three alcoholic beverages a week have a 15 percent higher risk of developing breast cancer. The risks may be greater still for women taking HRT (hormone replacement therapy). Alcohol consumption inhibits the ability of folic acid, a B vitamin, to repair DNA. If you drink, take a B-complex supplement, and remember that health is about enjoyment, not addiction. Reaching for a glass of wine as a way to add pleasure to your meal produces an entirely different result than reaching for a glass of wine to quell anxiety or sadness.


Don’t smoke

Smoking increases the risk of breast cancer. Like drinking, smoking is a behaviour that tends to shut down the heart chakra.