Elvis and his missing twin - a troubled man

This is the first of several parts, of a special series about Elvis Presley and his missing twin.

When his twin died at birth, it left a deep wound in Elvis's heart from which he never recovered.



Any comments, any one?

When a twin dies - the sole survivors speak of endless grief

The death of a twin is the death of half of yourself. The grief is endless and it seems it can only be healed by dying and joining one's twin in death.

I say "it seems" but this is not entirely true. There is a way through this grief.

Healing a difficult relationship with mother

This post made by Linda, on the Womb Twin Canada blog. 

During the month since I last posted I have been able to read through two of Althea Hayton's books; A Silent Cry and Womb twin Survivors, and I have finally completed the 30 healing steps in her e-book.

My turning point came on January 7 when I realized what the issues I had with my mother meant - I had assigned her the role of filling the relationship gap left by (Sam and Jack) my wombmates!! What a freeing realization; our relationship was painful because I expected her to fill needs that she could not fill. She did love me; she did take care of me. My resentment lifted, Mom has been gone 20 years. 

Quoting Althea:  I realized "the letting go of a specific form of relationship that has always seemed to be required in order for you to feel whole and live life to the full." I can now "reclaim all my psychological space; I can use my talents in the mainstream of life." the wonderful last chapter put it all together for me. 

I am now charting new territory; rapidly learning to recognize weak BETA responses and replace them with ALPHA power, my own. It is exhilarating and frightening at the same time. Adventures ahead!

Thank you, Linda.  As a result of the wonderful reviews this book has received, more and more people are making the journey through this book, which begins with detailed biological descriptions of twinning and the death of a twin, and ends with  an exploration of healing.

If you have not yet considered getting this book, take a look at the description and the reviews.  Here is what I have to say:

Womb Twin conference - register now!

The 2012 conference will be the best ever! We have booked a lovely venue in Central London, just opposite Euston station and 10 minutes walk from St Pancras and Kings Cross stations.  Just 8 minutes from Victoria station - very easy to find! Everyone will get a nice lunch and hot drinks,  and we will have two important speakers.  More news soon.





The tickets will be £65 each, but we are planning all kinds of special deals to help you to afford to come in these difficult times.

If you want to be kept informed about our "early bird bookings" and special offers for twin or multiple bookings, please complete this form and we will add you to our conference database.

About identical twins in the womb -

When we think of twins, we think of identical twins. They are extraordinary because they seem to be clones of each other.




But we know don't we that they are quite different - so different in fact that one twin may never make it to be born alive.

What is a dermoid cyst?

You may not have noticed, but there is a quiet debate going on about dermoid cysts.   (A dermoid cyst is known to doctors as a "mature cystic teratoma" so you may as well know that.)  If a dermoid cyst is found on the ovary,  the first thing to understand about them is that they are not to do with a current pregnancy.  If they are found under the skin, or on the abdomen or even in the brain, they are not made up of skin cells from the individual concerned.

They are created from embryonic cells and the hypothesis is that  a cystic teratoma is formed when embryonic cells from a vanished twin are absorbed by the sole survivor and may grow in a random kind of fashion and may even produce teeth, hair and bone but they never make up the normal body shape of a fetus. If a fetus does grow inside the host twin,  then it's known as a fetus in fetu.

Transgender : becoming your opposite sex twin?

This series of programmes about seven transgender people on Channel 4 has sparked an interesting debate.

No one knows why people want to change sex, but the Womb Twin Project seems to suggest that when opposite-sex twins develop in the womb and one dies before birth, the survivor may carry some of the opposite sex hormone that was once their twin's. Watch this and see what you think:




I am preparing some diagrams to explain this clearly, ready for my new book " A Healing Path for Womb Twin Survivors."


Let me know what you think of this idea. Does the transfer of hormones between dizygotic twins in the womb - which we know can happen - help to explain why people want to change sex?

David Cohen - Telling your daughter she is a womb twin survivor

I found this article by David Cohen in the Child Health section of the Telegraph: it shows how telling your child she is a twin will not upset her, but rather it will confirm something she already knew. This story is not unusual or strange,  it is being recreated in homes throughout the world.

My first daughter, Jessie, began life as a twin. We never knew she was a twin until six weeks into the pregnancy when my wife, Pamela, began bleeding and the twin was miscarried. The doctor who examined her called it a "blighted sac", a euphemism for a fertilised ovum that was defective or too weak to go the distance. Pamela was philosophical, relieved that the healthy foetus had survived, but for weeks I felt unexpectedly sad. Something had been lost, I felt, something no one wanted to acknowledge.

As the pregnancy developed, we seemed to forget about it, but then a strange thing happened: after Jessie was born, my wife said she kept on hearing another baby cry. She found herself searching for it and feeling, at feeding times, that she had to find and feed the other baby first.

The feeling was intense and it lasted six weeks - the exact amount of time that the twin had survived in her womb - but then it receded and we forgot about the lost twin again.

From the age of two - or to be more precise, from the age she could express herself verbally - Jessie yearned for a sibling, literally begged us for one. And when, two years later, we were ready to oblige, she surprised us by announcing that the new baby would be "her twin". We were convinced we were having a boy, but Jessie insisted it would be a girl, and when her sister duly arrived, she suggested we call her Kayla, a name that seemed to fit the gentleness of our new arrival.

Read more of this excellent article

A multiple womb twin survivor tells her story

In this movie a multiple womb twin survivor speaks honestly about her close connection to her lost twin brothers.

Her main problem is survivor guilt - that is so true of so many womb twin survivors. The Healing path is a way to transform survivor guilt into survivor gift.

It can be done. Believe me.

Womb Twin Workshop, Saturday March 10th

I have booked the training room at the Albany Centre, St Albans, for Saturday March 10th, 2012. Everyone loved the workshop we held in November 2011, so I've decided to hold two this year - one on Saturday March 10th and one on the day after the conference, Sunday November 18th.  I will be facilitating the whole day.

For each workshop there will be TEN places at £50 per head, so book early if you would like to come.

On the pain of empathetic failure - mainly for therapists

Empathy

Many womb twin survivors have a problem with empathy - too much or too little.  I came across this material today among my computer files on healing,  and I think I may include it in the new book, but here is a taster:

Definitions of empathy

Empathy is bothering to guess the inner experience of another with the help of intuitively obtained information. Empathy is trying to see into the mind of the other. Empathy is the desire to know and understand the nature of the interior world of the other person.

There can be no empathy if there is no desire to reach out to the other. There can be no empathy if there is no wish to create emotional intimacy with the other. There cannot be empathy without love. There cannot be love without empathy.