Cancer has long been viewed primarily through the lens of medicine.

Yet, in recent years, a fascinating and promising field has emerged that sheds new light on the intricate interplay between mind, body, and immune system: psychoneuroimmunology (PNI).

Trauma can feel like an ever-present shadow, impacting our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. We cope in the best ways we know how, but sometimes, those strategies can leave us stuck. While managing symptoms is important, true healing often involves addressing the root cause of the trauma.

Your mental programming, mindset, and beliefs directly influence your experience and, therefore, your ability to recover! For those facing cancer, this is a message worth hearing.

Feeling anxious when receiving a cancer diagnosis or undergoing treatment is understandable, even expected. Whether it’s about treatment-related side effects, cancer spreading, or returning after treatment has ended, whether it’s about losing our independence, our support system, relationships, etc.

At first glance, this notion of fighting cancer with emotions may seem way off-target. After all, we fight cancer with medicine and medical treatment. But our body and mind are not separate systems; they are one integrated system. What do emotions have to do with fighting cancer? A lot.

From diagnosis to treatment and survivorship, facing cancer means addressing more than just the physical burden of medical treatment; it often means experiencing mental and emotional distress. 

A cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment can be deeply traumatic. Experiences like invasive procedures, fear of the unknown, and loss of control trigger stress responses similar to those in traditional trauma. This is why we must talk about the complex relationship between cancer and trauma and find ways to address it.

If you knew of certain actions you could take to improve the outcome of your cancer treatment; would you take them? If you discovered tools and techniques you could use to optimize your healing and recovery, would you use them? That’s what my clients do, and they often get better outcomes than their medical team predicted.

This training video explores the connection between our Mind and the body's Immune System. Whether you're in the thick of treatment or in remission, join us to learn what you can do to engage with and enhance the functioning of your body's defense system.

Facing a cancer diagnosis and all the change that follows can be daunting. We were never taught how to process and cope with any life-threatening illness, especially cancer. The result of being so unprepared for this physical, mental, and emotional injury is Cancer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, better known as PTSD.

Have you ever heard of people healing themselves from cancer, even in its late stages? If you have, you may be wondering how they managed to achieve this. And more importantly, you may be asking yourself how you can do the same. Regardless of your diagnosis and whether or not you are currently undergoing treatment, to be able to fully support your body’s healing and recovery, you need to take control of your mind.

One of the most common questions I receive during consultations is whether we can treat cancer without chemotherapy. Given all the information we have heard about chemotherapy and its possible side effects, naturally, we are interested in learning about any alternatives that may allow us to avoid going to the chemo suite.

As more and more cancer patients survive their medical treatment and transition back into “civilian” life, more and more of them struggle with the long-term side effects of treatment. The medication they receive during treatment to minimize the impact of these long-term side effects (fatigue, pain, fear, anxiety, etc.) became something they struggle to let go of.