A woman who has been on chemo for cancer is now facing surgery, then more chemo. She was given a stack of CDs but wonders when to use what, and if it’s a mistake to listen to everything at once. Here is her question.
Question:
I have been on chemotherapy for breast cancer for the last 7 weeks. A few days ago I found the chemo imagery that was given to me when I started. (I wasn't exactly keeping up with everything.) Surgery is in 5 days. I was wondering, is it wasteful to incorporate several CDs at once into the process (e.g. the Cancer, the Surgery, and the Chemotherapy CD) or should I just stick with the Chemo tape? I'm going back on the Chemo immediately after.
Do you do custom-recordings (guided imagery, etc.)?
I have some teeth roots damaged in a bicycle accident a year ago and suffered panic attacks in the dentist chair, so the roots were then just left un-worked… Then and there I got temporary acrylic teeth installed, but in a partially broken status.
My panic story has been a whole other thing to deal with, appearing at different times in my life, always having to do with physical restrictions, as in the dentist’s chair. I also purchased your panic attack recording.
At this point, I am looking for visual imagery meditations on my teeth roots in order to recover them naturally.
I made a very long story very short with respect to your time. As you can imagine, this is an extremely intense issue for me (in fact so big that it has taken me on a soul-path along with other major things happening in my life).
I will be deeply grateful for your reply.
Many thanks and blessings,
I tried to use the PTSD CD several years back and could not tolerate it. The parts about "friends and loved ones" so turned me inside out, I had to stop.
I'm trying it again now that I'm bedridden and in a different place, and find the phrases "work" and I'm finding the CD helpful. However, I don't seem to "HEAR" the same message after about 10 plays. I'm wondering if this is something that "happens". .. am listening about 3X/day and each time I'm surprised! What a wondrous problem to have. Comment?
Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle examined whether an early intervention targeting negative beliefs of female assault survivors could mediate the subsequent development of chronic PTSD.
Ninety recent female assault survivors were randomized to 3 four-week early intervention programs: (1) brief cognitive behavioral therapy, (2) weekly assessment or (3) supportive counseling. Changes in negative beliefs were examined before and after the intervention.
I am working with a woman who is afraid to close her eyes. The very idea creates extreme anxiety, and therefore I cannot use meditation or guided imagery with her, even though both of us believe it could be very beneficial for her. Obviously this has to do with her traumatized past, involving childhood sexual abuse. Any suggestions?
I read your newsletters religiously and offer guided imagery in my practice as a Yoga Therapist. With a specialty in Parkinson's Disease and neurological disorders, I always refer your products to my students and clients.
When I engage in a guided imagery practice with my clients, leaving the setting and details to them, rather than make suggestions, they sometimes retreat to situations from the past that are no longer possible for them, such as playing golf, running or hiking alone.
I often wonder if this does not set the stage for more grief and possibly denial, and would like your thoughts on leaving them to their own images, or gently guiding them toward one that does not have potential for angst.
Thank you for all you do.
Hi. This is a question for Belleruth. At the suggestion of a friend, I've been listening to the Immune System guided imagery available to Kaiser Permanente members. I love your voice and music, but I've been changing the imagery so that it's not warlike/violent.
For example, I imagine the fighter cells putting a golden light vortex around infected cells, bad bacteria, viruses, etc. and then sending the light into the earth.
I told my friend how I've changed the imagery and she wondered if that imagery would work since the immune system actually is warlike and violent.
So, you need a guided imagery narrative that will captivate the average teen, not to mention the more geekazoidally-oriented adult? Check out this hilarious cartoon and you'll have an imagery metaphor with legs….
We got this from friend and colleague, Karen Rosenberg, who says she actually uses this kind of patter when she’s teaching kids to do guided imagery or meditate. So it’s not just funny – it’s useful. Karen says feel free to adopt it as your own.
I have followed your work for many years and even had the privilege of taking a weekend workshop with you a few years ago.
I recently returned home after being hospitalized for bilateral pulmonary emboli following a moderate orthopedic injury. Are there CD's or even simple images that will help my lungs heal, the clot be reabsorbed, and my body receive the medications both injected and oral with no side effects?
After experiencing the sudden onset of a life threatening condition, it is also harder to trust my body and return to a sense of safety and relaxation, especially when trying to sleep late at night.
I have listened to your guided imageries, Ease Grief, Relieve Stress, and Healing Trauma when I moved to a new and very different (and in many ways less good) place, was extremely lonely, and then had a rejection by someone I got involved with. The imageries helped me a lot – really a lot. Thank you!
I write to ask you about dealing with loneliness. In the new place I moved to, I finally have friends, so I am much less “friends-lonely”. However, I live in a world in which friends come and friends go: They move away, get into relationships that consume a lot of their time, have babies, get sucked into work projects, etc. and they regularly evaporate. So I can still wind up quite “friends-lonely”.
Question: 
