Moving Through Cancer

After my remission from cancer last month, I thanked everyone who had helped me through the difficult months, sixteen in all, in which I had focused on healing myself. I felt so much gratitude for my support system – my team of doctors and the small group of family and friends in whom I had confided. Then I realized that my thanks would not be complete without acknowledging the value of T’ai Chi Chih and the dedicated community of teachers with whom I practiced.

When I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in May of 2008, my doctor recommended immediate surgery to remove my thyroid, followed by a dose of radioactive iodine and thyroid medication for the rest of my life. Since my cancer was fully contained and very slow growing, I decided that I had time to try some alternative therapies before resorting to surgery. This decision put me at odds with my doctor. She told me that I was her first patient in over thirty years of practice to refuse surgery for thyroid cancer, and she asked me with some repulsion, “How can you stand to live with it?”

One reason I could stand to live with cancer was TCC. Especially in those first weeks of almost overwhelming fear, my practice calmed and smoothed and balanced my energy. I was alone on an unknown path, but TCC was like an old, familiar friend. I had been practicing since 1989, teaching since 1991, and I knew the benefits. I took no medication for anxiety, nothing to help me sleep. I did TCC every day.

From time to time I would join Justin Stone and the group of teachers who practiced on Tuesday mornings at the TCC center in Albuquerque. I always benefited from the group practice. The sense of community was comforting, and the dedication and discipline of the other teachers was inspiring. In the spring of 2009, Antonia came to Albuquerque to give a retreat at the Spiritual Renewal Center. After three days of practicing TCC in a spacious room overlooking massive cottonwood trees, the river, mountains and miles of blue sky, I felt a new sense of peace. Especially on that last day, when we practiced the six healing sounds, I experienced the Chi so strongly that I knew I was going to heal.

In September tests confirmed what my doctors had already suspected: The cancer was gone. I was in shock at first, then elated, then profoundly grateful. I am not the person I was before being diagnosed with cancer, and my life feels new and a little unfamiliar. While I get my bearings, I practice TCC. More than ever, my practice is a constant in my life. I cannot say that TCC alone cured my thyroid cancer; I was doing other things as well as taking supplements. But I can say with absolute certainty that I could not have done it without TCC. My everlasting gratitude goes to Justin Stone for this gift.