Back in 2006, I took voice lessons. During one lesson, I decided to see if I could use the pain in my ankle, which had been plaguing me for a few years by then. So I channeled it into my voice. “YES!” the teacher responded, clueless as to what exactly had changed, but knowing that I had somehow stepped up my singing game in that moment.

I shared with her that I had channeled the pain from my ankle. We agreed that energy is energy, and that I had basically turbo-powered my sound in that moment. In forthcoming sessions, I channeled pain from my ankle and other places in my body. Like clockwork, I got the same response, every time: “YES!”

Oh yeah, and I felt better after — ie, by channeling the pain into sound, the pain left the part of the body hurting. Which makes sense, given what I have discovered over the years: Pain is trapped energy. Like, way the fuck too much energy stuck in one spot.

Yesterday on Twitter, I read about a study, I think at the University of Florida, demonstrating that vibrations have the power to heal pain. They did some convoluted study where they caused pain, then sent vibrations to that place, and the pain stopped.

But you can do your own study that’s a whole lot cooler: Put on your favorite music and dance with the parts of your body that can move pain-free (even if just your imagination). The vibrations from the music, combined with the vibrations from your body, probably combined with lots of other more esoteric stuff, heals. Dramatically. Quickly.

Which is why I’m turning to vibrations to get rid of this honkin’ nodule on my thyroid, which happens to be pressing down on my vocal chord. I’m going to vibrate the damn thing away and vibrate my thyroid back to health. I started singing yesterday. I sounded hoarse and had some singing range missing. But today my voice was ringing clear like a bell, 15 min into my session.

Vibrations are powerful. They can crumble buildings and mountains and shatter glass and heal pain and, I believe, heal pretty much anything, if we put our hearts and intentions into it.

Share with others:

My endocrinologist is hands-down the most awesome doc on the planet. Last night I delayed sleeping, in part because I was anxious about the looming conversation about whether or not to get the biopsy. But the conversation was just amazing.

I came in with ten questions written down on paper, in case I were to forget any of them. We went through my questions one at a time. And I let my doctor know I would be more than happy to come back for a second round, out of respect to her schedule.

I learned so much about thyroid in general and about my thyroid in particular. I feel empowered with this information. I also brought my Mama in with me, so that she could see the image on the ultrasound. Now she’s better able to visualize it and use her healing energies to eliminate the problem spots.

I’m not sure how many details I want to share at this time, but I will say this: My doc is totally on board with my thinking that since I will decline the surgery option even if Gd-forbid the nodule is cancerous, there is really no point in doing the biopsy. I’m going to proceed as if I am treating a cancerous nodule, and together, we will continue monitoring my thyroid over the coming months.

So far, there has been no change not only in the size, but also in the various factors that can indicate cancer. In other words, so far so good.

As those of you following my blog know, I believe whole-heartedly in the power of prayer. If you are so inclined, please add my name to prayer and healing circles, and send loving thoughts and energy my way. Together we have the power to heal ourselves and each other. (For those of you in the Jewish community, your cue card is, “Loolwa bat Naomi.”)

Share with others:

Tonight a friend was going to meet me at 5:30 pm at my pad, to drive to a guided freestyle dance class downtown. It was a “drop-in class,” direct quote, that started at 6 pm, and I’m about 15 min away.

Well my friend ended up locking his keys in his car. Initially he thought he could extract them, trying various approaches, but he was unable to do so by about 5:40 pm. So shortly after the call informing me as such, I drove 30 min to his suburb to pick him up. Then we drove another 30 min or so to get downtown.

By the time we parked and found the proper entrance to the building (after entering the wrong building and accidentally walking into a massage therapy studio), it was a little after 7 pm. We opened the door, and I was so happy to see dancing bodies writhing around joyfully on the dance floor. Home! I thought. That is, until a woman raced from clear across the room to say, twice, “It’s closed,” while opening the door and hurriedly ushering my friend and me out onto the street – damn near shutting the door on my heels in eagerness to get rid of us.

We stood outside, shocked.

There had been another woman standing at the entrance, someone with much gentler and more welcoming energy, who had greeted us initially when we came in. This woman came out the door after it was abruptly closed behind our backs. She explained that the class started at 6 pm (as if we were unaware) and that the students were already in the third rhythm of the sequence – which, she said, would make it hard for us to join in.

We explained that we’d intended to arrive at 6 pm but that we’d had automobile issues and that we’d driven from far away, just to come to the class. She clearly felt bad and went back inside to talk to the instructor – purportedly the woman who had kicked us out so unceremoniously. Shortly after, the ousting woman, who was indeed the instructor, appeared outside the door. She vehemently explained that the class was “very intimate” and that participants had “already connected with each other” through an opening circle, and that she therefore could not have us intruding on the sacred space.

Dude. If you don’t want people coming after a certain time, make it clear on the website; don’t call it a “drop-in” class; and lock the damn door, leaving a friendly sign outside.

I would never, in a million years, usher someone out of my class like that. With the Dancing with Pain® method, it is critical that people hear the instructions at the beginning of class, so as to dance safely (for themselves and others). But when people have come in late (which will often happen when you’re teaching people in pain), I have lovingly gone over to them and explained to them the basics, instructing them to move gently, even if the music sequence already has reached the crescendo.

There were some times that I felt the need to close the class. In those instances, I made a point of waiting until 20 minutes past the start of class. I then locked the doors – leaving a sign not only informing people, in a friendly way that in the interest of safety, the class was closed, but also offering them a 15% discount on the next class, to make up for the inconvenience.

The kicker was that as she was explaining to us the reasons why we could not under any circumstances enter the holy class space, the instructor tried to take both my hands in hers. I do not shake or otherwise hold the hands of people I do not know. I am sensitive to energy and can be physically hurt by handshakes.

So I moved my hands back. Initially she dropped her hands. But then she abruptly took my left hand in both her hands and squeezed it hard, to the point that I yelled, “Ow, ow, that hurts. My hands are sensitive,” I added by way of explanation. She seemed more annoyed than anything else.  I, meanwhile, ended up with hand pain for hours after the incident.

Meanwhile, the instructor told us to come back next week. “At 6 pm,” she emphasized, tapping her wrist as if it were a watch. Yeah, because, you know, we were such fucking slackers to show up any later. Fat chance you’ll be seeing me again Lady. We were ousted in the name of heartfelt connection. And that, to me, just lacks integrity.

Share with others:

Tonight I made my first chili from scratch! I soaked organic black eyed peas and red beans overnight. Then I boiled them and added the following ingredients, all organic:

• Celery
• Fresh garlic
• Fresh basil
• Fresh dill
• Fresh cilantro
• Carrots
• Collard greens
• Kale
• Chili pepper
• Paprika
• Coriander
• Sea salt
• Spaghetti sauce: After dumping in the sauce, I realized it has olive oil, which I have been making a point of not heating up, because of that free radical thingamadoogee. But I figured I’d let myself slide tonight, and I just warmed the chili on low heat.

When it was all done, it was mmmm mmmm good!

Share with others:

Three months ago, I had an ultrasound that revealed I had a big honkin’ nodule on my left thyroid gland, with a black spot at the bottom of the nodule. I also had abnormally large nodules on my right thyroid gland.

The endocrinologist wanted me to get a biopsy. On the surface, it’s a perfectly reasonable step: Use the tools of Western medicine to find out what’s going on in there. But I knew that even if, Gd forbid, the biopsy showed the cells to be cancerous, I would not get the recommended procedure – namely, removing my thyroid glands — for a few reasons:

• It was the medical system that fucked up my body, not the car crash. The car crash just catapulted me into a system in which I went from bad to worse.
• It was, after a decade of pain and suffering, dance that healed me – something that nobody could have seen coming. It was, in other words, my body that healed itself.
• My thyroid gland is there for a reason. Rather than cut it out, I want to figure out how to heal it, so that my body functions optimally and in full health.
• If I were to remove my thyroid gland, I would have to take pharmaceuticals for the rest of my life. It would be life-endangering to not have those medications at my access. Meaning I would be completely and totally dependent on pharmaceuticals for living.
• From age 11 to 22, I had intense respiratory illness – asthma, allergies, and nasal congestion. I took four medications four times a day for that illness. At age 22, through intuition and sheer mental determination, I then got myself completely off all those medications – because I did not want to be dependent on pharmaceuticals. By age 24, I had weaned myself off completely. I have no intention of returning to a state of pharmaceutical dependency.
• I believe in the integrity of my body as a whole organic system. If I were to remove my thyroid gland, it would throw my body out of whack. My body would end up in an even more disharmonious state and, as a result, quite possibly dependent on even more medications.
• Medications cause side effects. Nobody knows how my body might react to the drugs that are prescribed when a thyroid gland is removed. I recently had horrible side effects to antibiotics – including one where I lost my normal cognitive abilities for several weeks. I want to stay away from drugs wherever humanly possible.
• If my body is dependent on medications for treating a removed thyroid gland, I may end up needing additional medications for treating the side effects of the initial medications. And on and on and on until my body is not my body, but a warehouse of chemicals. And who knows how I might react to any of those chemicals.
• Considering that even in the worst case scenario, I will choose the holistic route, there is no reason to subject myself to an invasive procedure to determine whether the growths are cancerous or not.

Which all goes to say, I am seeing my game and raising the ante: I am keeping my radically pure diet – vegan, organic, no sweeteners of any kind, no soy, no gluten, and no fried food (though I may allow food cooked in coconut oil, since apparently that does not create free radicals).

I also am adding a few things:

• I am going to sing every day – vibrating the area that is affected. Just as dance healed my pain, so do I believe that singing can heal my thyroid.
• I am going to take a holistic lab test on my iodine levels – determining if I may need iodine supplements
• I will go at least twice a month, if not more, for bodywork sessions with a practitioner I have worked with for over a decade and whose energy is profoundly healing.
• I will read affirmations and other healing books daily.
• I will religiously take green supplements – gathered from the earth and the sea.
• I will religiously eat raw cilantro. A friend of mine had a rabbit that developed a tumor. My friend fed the rabbit cilantro a couple of times a day for three months, and the tumor disappeared.
• I will up the amount of raw foods I eat, so that the produce I consume maintains its nutrients.

At the end of the day, this is my body; this is my life; and this is my path.

Share with others: