In the summer of 1995 my partner and I received a $25,000 grant to start an alternative health clinic based on Yoga and Chinese acupressuretechniques in Victoria. It was possibly the first alternative medicine clinicto be funded by the government, be it that the grant was given to start a business and not through the health department. It took some persuadingof the board of directors on the SEA program to have the the grant approved, as well as the lengthy application procedure but then the funds made it all possible.
One of the first clients to come to the clinic was Karen...
Karen came with a serious problem in the form of a 5 cm brain tumor that had reached the stage of interfering with her hearing and balance. She was also 60 pounds overweight. Although her tumor was considered benign, her medical options involved delicate surgery which would have left her with half her face paralyzed, one to two months in the hospital for recovery, and months or possibly the rest of her life in a wheelchair, with a chance of not surviving at all, so she decided to go for the safe alternative. She was also considered to be a manic depressive, as it was termed in those days.
A young mother with two young children, she thought it best to stay around a while. Her life to this point had been typical of the modern American lifestyle; in the fast food lane with beer and cigarettes on the side. Her job in a high stress situation kept her in a condition of hyper-activity. Because of a depressive state of mind and emotion she was taking mega doses of lithium and high doses of Prozac on a daily basis.
She was willing to change whatever necessary to avoid the surgery because she felt she would have died this time. There had been several instances of surgery already in her life and she didn't want any more. Consequently she came for our two-week cancer remission program and took it quite seriously. When we told her about the influence of smoking (or reminded her) she through her cigarette package across the room at me.
Two days after her arrival she decided to drop her prescription drugs down the sink. The program began with breath training and then an eleven day period of increasing the amount of breathing every day with a specific breathing technique. Within three days the hearing cleared up in her right ear and her sense of balance came back to normal. At the end of the two weeks she had gone through a radical change with her situation and felt like she had a fresh start on life.
All the symptoms of the tumor had long gone and her vitality and enthusiasm for life had really picked up; there were no signs of depression. She left in a very good state and has continued with her daily practice of breathing and exercise while maintaining a healthy nutritious diet. A month after leaving us she had lost over twenty-five pounds and was still feeling great.
This is a medically documented case where the M.R.I tests showed the tumor had already shrunk by two millimeters after her first breathing lesson, a week before she came for the intensive program. We would have liked to have further tests done at the end of the program but the medical association would not co-operate and said she would have to wait until her previously scheduled test in the beginning of September, two months after our program.
The M.R.I. scans in September showed the brain tumor to be gone; the only trace of it being a kind of shadow of where it had been. The medical documentation with before and after M.R.I. pictures were “lost” by the medical association when they found out she was going to give them to the alternative clinic..
Her medical bills would have been over $350,000, which would have placed her family under financial strain for some time. The alternative was but a small fraction of that, while the side effects were those of improving all aspects of her physical and emotional health.
Karen went back to living a healthy life back at her home near Seattle, acquired a new job where the stress level was acceptable, and was very happy to be with her family.
Karen's enthusiasmfor the program and her full cooperation made it work very well for her; results were fast and dramatic. She continued with a maintenance program at home, realizing the importance of being responsible for her own health, and is still doing well today to my knowledge. |
