The multi-talented Margaret Dubay Mikus shares her poetry in her inspiring new blog, Space of Grace.
Twice I have had breast cancer, in 1996 and in 2007. I learned a great deal about healing body, mind, emotions, and spirit. And each time I was cracked open--in a good way--breaking through old defenses, encouraging me to bloom. Even my relationships were healed. Writing saved me, allowing me to access inner wisdom about my healing process. This poetic journal, begun after healing from MS in 1995, continues still.
This comment about the impact of guided imagery was posted by an Iraq veteran with PTS, and it means a lot to all of us here in the office. Getting this kind of considered feedback makes us feel like we’re helping – among many others - to make a dent in the suffering generated by all the ugliness our troops endure while doing their service. She writes:
A few years ago, I was deployed to Iraq with the Armed Forces. During my deployment, I saw and was involved in many things that still haunt me.
I'm proud to introduce performing artist, Vietnam vet and awesome guy "Big Mike,"who sent us a beautiful card (with some hilarious elements) last week. He’s officially disabled, but earns his keep playing the 12-string guitar and auto-harp. Included in the envelope was this wonderful picture of him performing, along with his bright orange business card, and a sticker that read, “I do the handicapped shuffle when I’ve got the disability blues”.
We found this testimonial on the power of guided imagery for healing long-standing posttraumatic stress on a posting on BR’s Huffington Post blog. It’s not the first time we’ve heard this, but it’s always great to get a report like this:
I was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress many years ago, while working in the public funded behavioral health system in a large city. I had years in therapy behind me, doing everything I thought would bring healing and getting worse, and finally breaking down. It was before we knew about the healing reality of guided imagery.
A grateful parent posted this paean to the Sleep Fairy, and it’s amazingly similar to what my niece told me years ago – she’s the one who put me onto this phenom of a snooze-inducing CD for kids.
She had a child with night terrors who was too scared to fall asleep. Nights were hellish for the whole family for months – not to mention the cranky, exhausted days that followed.
They tried all sorts of things, but to no avail. Then a friend
suggested she try this CD, and it was like blessed magic fairy dust.
Suddenly they had a sleeping child. It was right away.
My husband has had M.S. for over 20 years. He is confined to a wheel chair most of the time, and he suffers from debilitating fatigue. At the suggestion of a support group friend, he started using yoga videos. I personally thought this would be a waste of time, but he found Carol Dickman’s yoga especially helpful – both the Seated Yoga and the Bed Top Yoga.
I’m delighted to have been wrong. This practice has done him a world of good. He has more energy and strength, and his mood is decidedly better. It’s great to see his spirits so lifted.
I’m asking you to post this, to let others know about the benefits of yoga, as it is not something one would necessarily think of for someone with debilitating fatigue in a wheelchair.
Over the past 9 years I’ve been through the mill. I’ve suffered 3 miscarriages, then had 4 years of infertility, and three IVF (in vitro fertilization) treatments. I’ve watched friends and relatives get pregnant, filled with envy, anger, grief and discouragement. My mind filled up with negative, sarcastic, disparaging self-talk.
I knew I needed to do something to combat the negative internal messages. I have some hypnosis training, so I bought a dozen hypnotic and guided imagery CDs, loading them all into my MP3 player so I could check out the tracks and decide what to listen to.
For me, Belleruth’s voice and words stood out immediately as something I could connect to. I hate
it when the narrator tells you to “let go”. It’s very stressful to be
asked NOT to be stressed! But I relaxed when she started by
acknowledging and validating the feelings I did have (“I know there are
times when I become frightened, angry, impatient, jealous or sad, and I
accept what I feel as my inner truth of the moment.”). For me, this was
reassuring and uplifting - to first be allowed to accept the feelings I
have, THEN to let them go.
I first heard this dazzlingly heart-opening story (told without a trace of cheesy sentiment or self-pity) on the car radio and was blown away, couldn’t leave ‘til it was done, in spite of the fact that I was late for an appointment. I just couldn’t leave this story.
I’ve since found it and played it for anyone who will listen, and they too are riveted. It’s Alan Rabinowitz, the world’s premier jaguar expert, telling his story – in spite of the fact that he was such a severe stutterer as a kid, that for years he couldn’t talk at all. Treat yourself. Click here and go to the second set - The Moth Radio Hour #2 . It’s around 20 minutes. You won’t be sorry.
We love getting birth announcements from our peeps. Sometimes these come from people who had fertility struggles, maybe a series of miscarriages; sometimes we hear from people who had difficult pregnancies; and sometimes, like the message below, we just hear about a regular birth experience made a little easier. We still are hoping for a systematized study of guided imagery in childbirth, but until one of those comes down the pike, we’ll settle gratefully for postings like this one:
The multi-talented Margaret Dubay Mikus shares her poetry in her inspiring new blog, 
A grateful parent posted this paean to the 
Over the past 9 years I’ve been through the mill. I’ve suffered 3 miscarriages, then had 4 years of infertility, and three IVF (in vitro fertilization) treatments. I’ve watched friends and relatives get pregnant, filled with envy, anger, grief and discouragement. My mind filled up with negative, sarcastic, disparaging self-talk. 
I first heard this dazzlingly heart-opening story (told without a trace of cheesy sentiment or self-pity) on the car radio and was blown away, couldn’t leave ‘til it was done, in spite of the fact that I was late for an appointment. I just couldn’t leave this story.
We love getting birth announcements from our peeps. Sometimes these come from people who had fertility struggles, maybe a series of miscarriages; sometimes we hear from people who had difficult pregnancies; and sometimes, like the message below, we just hear about a regular birth experience made a little easier. We still are hoping for a systematized study of guided imagery in childbirth, but until one of those comes down the pike, we’ll settle gratefully for postings like this one: