A Remarkable Recovery from Breast Cancer

by Lauren Miller

Download PDF

Return to Master Table of Contents

     
Three years ago, when I was 38, I was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and given a fifty percent chance of survival. This was a doubly difficult challenge to deal with, as it came one week prior to my final divorce court day. 

Truly, in many ways, it was the perfect storm.  Because of my three beautiful children, I was open to anything and everything that might help me.

In less than a two-year period of time I experienced a divorce, a double mastectomy, 16 chemotherapy treatments, 6 weeks of daily radiation, 1 year of herceptin infusions (a new form of chemotherapy), 11 surgeries for reconstruction, and the death of four friends.  To say that this storm lent itself to some momentary stress, worry, doubt and fear would be an understatement!   HOWEVER, I have gained some life-changing principles and practices as a result of passing through this momentary portal of pain, that have resulted in a profound sense of inner peace, connection, release, gratitude and love.

I went from a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do (WTF: World Tae Kwon Do Federation), training women in the areas of emotional, spiritual and physical well-being and inner balance, to being a full-time Author/Stress Relief Expert.  I meet with clients all over the US and Canada, empowering them with universal stress relief techniques and practices that bring about profound inner peace, connection and healing.  My inner mantra was and continues to be: “I choose life and love NO MATTER WHAT."

It is important to mention again that I was open to everything when it came to my healing experience.  Perhaps, if I had been on my own without these little human beings looking to me for safety and protection, I would have explored the option of leaving behind the traditional medical practices that I used. Walking through the physical trauma of traditional medical methods available to treat breast cancer has led to openness within my being to a more holistic approach to healing which I am currently doing daily. I am confident that I have thrived in the midst of trying to survive these last few years because of the wholistic healing approach that I practiced, even in the midst of the traditional treatment. Had I been responsible for myself alone, I would have been more apt to go completely alternative.  I pursued any and all methods available to me for healing because of my children. The bottom line: I AM ALIVE AND HEALTHY.  So it is with much gratitude in my heart that I share with you a few things that I did to help save my life.

My path to healing

After 'the phone call' on January 10, 2006, in which Sally Jobe Breast Center in Colorado  informed me I had cancer, I threw myself on the floor, rolled around several times, crying out to God, “I still have music left in me to play!  Bring to me everything I need to heal.”  I said that over and over along with a few other expressions of anger, resistance and fear.  The next day I went down to my punching bag and hit it and kicked it until I collapsed to floor from exhaustion…”That’s it! That’s it, God! I give it over… You have me.” 

The first of many portals opened as a result of my choice to surrender all to God, through whom love and healing flowed. I hadn't realized this simple truth when I was first told I had cancer: Nothing thrives in a state of war.  Since I had a second degree black belt and had practiced defending myself in competition for nine years, fighting was familiar to me. I therefore started out my cancer journey, “fighting against the cancer.”  Gradually, as my journey unfolded, I shifted from this aggressive stance as I gained awareness in the art of acceptance and its healing benefits. 

The first thing they needed to do was shrink the tumors down in order to have a successful operation.  I was given 4 doses of A/C chemo otherwise known as the “red devil.”  One, because it’s red, and two, because often times it hits you like the “devil.”  I ended up suffering from red devil PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).  I had made the link between red and the trauma of going through chemo.  When I saw anything red, I got sick to my stomach.  I tried many different techniques to no avail.  My parents called me up from NYC and said, “You have to try this new healing technique, it works on everything and everyone is doing it around here.” 

I was healed after one phone session using Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). EFT is often referred to as “acupuncture without the needles” or emotional acupuncture, founded by Gary Craig.  Following that single session, I could look at anything red without a negative reaction in my body. 

How does this work? While tuning into the negative emotion or physical pain as specifically as possible and at the same time tapping on some of the body’s main acupressure energy points (meridians), the body reorganizes or 'rewires' itself around the intention for healing that flows from the experience of loving and accepting oneself completely.  

Much of EFT involves investigative work in order to discover and connect to the core issue, negative perception or connection to the pain that is manifesting itself physically and/or emotionally.  Visualization and reframing are very powerful tools to employ in conjunction with EFT in order to shift the perception of self in relation to the pain. One might use phrases such as, "I was unsafe then. I am safe now. Even though I am familiar with the struggle and it is therefore safe for me, I give myself permission to connect with the experience of ease, comfort and safety within my life along with a profound sense of love and self-acceptance." 

After my own healing experience with EFT, I flew back within the month to my home in New York City and began my own EFT training in workshops, followed by Pat Carrington’s program and now Gary Craig's certification program.  I am currently a Stress Relief Expert, based on my own experience releasing the components that create stress throughout my own journey, along with universal stress relief techniques that I have gained over 20 years from my college studies in psychology, stress relief courses, spiritual leaders and experts on human behavior. I have studied the teachings and practices ofDr. David Hawkins; Leo Buscaglia, Anthony de Mello; Dr. Ihaleeakala Hew Len, with Ho’oponopono; Doc Childre, founder of Heartmath; and Dr. Bruce Lipton. Before the cancer, I had my own business training women and men in the areas of emotional, physical and spiritual well-being and inner balance, utilizing the insights and teachings I have studied since my youth. I remember a moment in the shower when I was surveying my body – bald and breastless, I said, “Lauren, you now have your PhD in suffering and stress relief to share with the world."

I remember being told, when I got my teaching certification, that I would be given everything I needed to know about the mechanics of teaching, yet if I didn’t have the internal gift and connection to the experience, it would come to nothing. I have been given the opportunity to share this gift from God and to empower others to take back their ability to heal. I have worked with over 350 individual clients and multitudes of individuals who have attended my workshops. .  I feel as if it is a beautiful opportunity to help guide others back to themselves.  It works with how we are wired together in the first place.  It is as if the veil has been lifted and we are able to see how we are woven together with each other, all for the greater purpose of love and healing in this world. 

To me it speaks to the magnificence of the One who wove us together within the womb.  How beautiful to witness the experience of healing unfold in the life of another. I feel blessed every time I get to witness a human being reconnecting to that which has become disconnected in life due to false beliefs and false perceptions of self. People remember who they truly are, when they are able to separate themselves from their identification with the trauma, the pain, the grief, the abuse and the illness. They can then reconnect with the essence of who they are, as created by the God of the Universe: beautifully and wonderfully created to heal, to grow, to be. Then, feeling that is enough, they can forgive, release and accept themselves and their circumstances. Most importantly, their abilities to love and be loved are revealed and unleashed within.  For me, there is no greater joy in this life than to witness human beings taking back their true identity as connected, accepted and loved by God.  I experienced this first hand in my own journey and gratefully, I can now encourage and empower others to do the same.

It is important to share some specific details about my healing experience.  Yes, I did all of the conventional methods of treatment and I must say with each of those methods comes a long list of possible side effects. To mention a few: mouth sores, loss of taste and appetite, nausea, hair loss, joint pain, body chills, fever, fatigue, numbness and a foggy mind. With the incredible emotional healing that took place within, using the technique of EFT along with prayer, meditation, exercise and diet, I did not experience many side effects.

Some of the setup phrases that I used with EFT throughout treatment included:

Even though they told me I would have mouth sores, I accept and love all that I am and I give my body permission to maintain a healthy mouth.

Even though they said my hair would fall out again with the next set of chemo, I accept myself and love me just as I am and I choose to easily hold onto my hair.  I choose to have healthy, strong hair follicles.

I accept and love all of me. Even though I can’t feel my chest today and I am afraid my feeling will never return, I send love and gratitude to all the nerves that were compromised during the mastectomy and I give them permission to reconnect easily and stronger than ever before!

Even though I have been told that I am in one of the highest groups for a recurrence in spite of all the treatment and this causes fear within me, I completely love and accept all that I am and all of my feelings at this time and I choose complete healing and restoration of every cell in my body.  Thank you God for my healing!

Even though I can’t remember basic nouns and verbs and I am so frustrated because of it, I accept me at this moment in time and send love and gratitude to all that I am. I choose to surprise myself at how easily I will experience clarity, focus and creativity in all that unfolds before me today.

Whenever I practiced EFT, which was about 15 times a day, I would experience immediate relief emotionally.  With persistence, I have gained approximately 80% of my feeling back in my chest.  My hair never fell out with the second round of 14 chemo treatments. I never lost my taste.

I also practiced Tae Kwon Do and Yoga throughout the entire regimen of treatments.  I have maintained my menstrual cycle in spite of the side effects of treatments that were predicted to put me into menopause.  I do not have any side effects from tamoxifen, which I take for estrogen suppression. I tap with this affirmation each time before taking it daily: "Even though I might have a problem with tamoxifen, I love and accept myself and I give my body permission to use the positive benefits of this medication, holding onto what I need and releasing what I don’t.  I choose complete hormonal balance.  I give my body permission to be OK with estrogen. (I was told my tumors were estrogen feeding).

I always use EFT in conjunction with the other stress relief methods and practices simply because of the healing power that is unleashed when the negative energy is removed around the issue at hand. EFT produces a release of negative feelings and a lightness around the issues at hand.

In my experience, EFT has enhanced the effectiveness of all the other stress relief techniques.  As the EFT discovery statement says: The cause of all negative emotions is due to a block in the body’s energy system.  EFT works with how God wired us together, reconnecting what has become disconnected energetically due to the trauma or negative experience. When we remove the blocks and realign our energy system, unlimited healing potential is at our fingertips.

My second book, Mantras for the Mastectomies of Life, contains 121 Mantras that came to me during my experience with cancer and divorce.  I have often times chanted these mantras while tapping through the EFT sequence.  I find that when I look into my eyes in the mirror and speak what I am saying with emotion, my entire body responds with inspiration, energy, clarity of thinking and motivation for life and love.  Here are a few of the Mantras I have used:

I choose to move from my spiritual self out into the physical world today.

I cannot be depressed and grateful at the same time.  I choose to be filled with gratitude down to my cellular level!

Whatever I am attached to I am controlled by… I choose today to let go of all attachments so that I can live in freedom

Fear or love?  It’s my choice today…It is my choice every day… I CHOOSE LOVE!

I am beautiful. I am loved. My moments today will have their foundation on these three truths: I am beautiful… I am loved… I am whole!

All things are possible for me today! The God of the Universe, the God of my heart says so!

If someone rejects me, it’s not 'me' they reject, it is their own agenda that I don’t fit into. It has nothing to do with me.  I choose to take nothing personally today.

At one point, I walked into my first radiotherapy treatment with a full head of hair.  My doctor said in her 20 years of practice she had never seen a patient walk in after 16 chemos with hair on their head.  I had lost all my hair after the first rounds of Chemo.  Then I began to practice EFT and it started to grow back.  I never had mouth sores, dry skin or fatigue for too long and my skin completely healed after third degree burns from the radiation. (The combination of Herceptin infusions and radiation makes the skin extra-sensitive to effects of radiation).  Before chemo and radiation I was handed a list of over 30 possible side effects that could take place in my body.  Other than the hair loss, a little discomfort after the chemo and some 'chemo' brain (such as forgetting basic nouns), I was virtually symptom free.  Whenever I felt discomfort, I would immediately begin to tap on my energy points, addressing the thought or physical pain. This resulted in a profound sense of well-being and inner peace and the pain decreased dramatically and often times disappeared completely. By using EFT, visualization, reframing techniques and meditation I quickly shifted my entire perception of the situation along with the meaning I was attaching to it. For instance, “I’m unsafe and can’t handle this.” was reframed into “I am safe and capable of handling this situation easily.” 

In addition to the cancer, I was working through the experience of divorce after seventeen years of marriage.  I had a lot of guilt, sadness and grief and fear. All of these emotions where overwhelming. I worked with an EFT practitioner to release the negative hold these emotions were having on my entire body. Actually, these were affecting my whole being, on every level. 

As I have read about cellular biology through the works of Dr. Bruce Lipton, I continue to be amazed at what Einstein said, “The field directly affects the particle.”  Bruce Lipton speaks to this truth very eloquently when he says, “Be very careful what you think, because your body is listening.”  This is so very true.  As I released blocks and false beliefs that I held in my body and played over and over and over in my mind, this incredible sense of purpose and enlightenment began to fill my soul.  I began to reconnect with all that had become disconnected over time.  The disconnect was a direct result of handing over my sense of self to that which dwelled outside of me (people, things, circumstances, traumatic events).  As I began a 'soul retrieval' experience - taking back the parts of me that I had farmed out to the world around me during my life - and reconnecting to God within me, healing was unleashed down to the cellular level.  I could feel my entire body restoring on all levels.

The use of EFT along with my other universal stress relief and healing practices often results in a very powerful healing experience. For example, I will often use EFT with my clients along with the Hawaiian healing practice Ho’oponopono, simply because it reconnects one to God, empowering one to take full responsibility for one’s life through the experience of forgiveness and release.  The word Ho’oponopono actually means, 'to make things right.'  EFT, along with the practice of presence, visualization, gratitude, allowing and surrendering all to God has resulted in my complete healing and restoration, emotionally, physically and spiritually.  I am now in a position to empower others to take back their ability to heal, restore and ground themselves in the experience of love, joy and gratitude.  Some other methods that I incorporate into my practice include: The Practice of Presence; The Art of Allowing; Magnified Healing; and Releasing the Inner Critic and becoming the observer vs the reactor to life.

I believe that God has given us, on this beautiful planet and within our own hearts, the ability and resources necessary for healing and restoration. We simply need the eyes to see, the ears to hear and the heart to respond to it all.  Even in the experience of death, there is only life. When I remove all fear, doubt and worry, I am then able to see everything that unfolds before me as an opportunity for learning and growth in the ways of love and confidence.  Nothing thrives in a state of war, acceptance and presence empowers me to come up with creative solutions to any and every situation in life.  I believe EFT along with the other practices mentioned above are God’s gifts to the world to help empower us all to take back our ability to heal.  After all, I believe we are created by One who embodies the very essence of healing, harmony and love.

For more details on my remarkable recovery please visit my website: www.laurenemiller.com.  My first book Hearing His Whisper contains my personal journal entries through cancer and divorce, reconnecting through Christ. It is easy to observe personal transformation and healing as the book unfolds.  My second book, Mantras for the Mastectomies of Life, contains all that I did and continue to do to create an environment within that promotes healing and inner balance, along with 121 personal mantras.  I am currently working on my third book.

Lauren Miller
Author/ Stress Relief Expert
www.laurenemiller.com
Video Link:  http://newsinfusion.com/video_details.php?videoId=267303-521-6134

Return to Master Table of Contents