The Dreaded "C-Word": How Myofascial Release Therapy Provides Hope and Healing for People with Cancer
Elena and Rachel after a myofascial release session
There are few diagnoses that strike fear in our hearts more than CANCER. Whether it is you yourself or a loved one, it can turn your life completely inside out and upside down.
In my practice, I have seen myofascial release therapy induce profound levels of personal healing and transformation in cancer patients. This work is so important, so life transforming, that in this article, I've decided to take a side seat and let my patient Rachel Schneiderman speak for herself. About 6 months ago, Rachel was diagnosed with stage four cancer of the lung, bone, and liver, and is currently in hospice. Please read on ... please read Rachel's story in her own words ...
"In my 40 years of bodywork, after a series of wonderful practitioners, I never expected to find one with such a gift as Elena Gournelos possesses, and gives in such generous measure. From my first session with her, I realized that in spite or because of all I’d experienced before, I’d been on a search for a truly collaborative yet guiding healer, yet hadn’t known it.
Over a year ago I remembered one exquisite component of a session with a chiropractor in NC. It was called myofascial release, and after moving to FL and dealing with unresolved body problems, I longed to find someone who did exclusively that kind of healing. I searched online and Elena’s website appealed to me in its language and approach. Little did I know how much fortune smiled when I was drawn to her.
The moment she began to map my body, I could feel a transformation flowing over it on all levels at once: physical, emotional and spiritual. She went into a silent healing zone and, by example rather than words, she showed me that the less I talked, the more I could focus with her, on allowing my body to speak to her so she could heal it. I learned and am still learning how to express what my body needs to keep and what to let go, in a way that helps our teamwork.
Elena brought out the strength and resilience that lay in me, waiting to emerge through the layers and layers of emotional stress, spiritual trauma, physical injury and the combination thereof. I was also amazed that each session, there was still more within me to discover, uncover and set free.
Then I was distracted from the healing process by a vain attempt to improve my financial and professional situation. Ironically, as if in answer, I was further distracted by a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer of the lung, liver and bone. My veteran oncologist, who was unfailingly kind and empathetic, gave me the finest available treatments. Nonetheless, I was allergic to all of them, my colon failed, and everything else began to break down. I was so depleted I felt very close to death.
I lost touch with myself in the face of overwhelming demands on my body and spirit, and thus lost touch with my healer, Elena, when I needed her guidance the most. Finally I regained my natural wisdom and reached out to her. When I returned I was a withered, drained, shadow of my former self, and had a thick layer of edema on one leg that seemed intractable.
We both now recall that Elena could hardly touch me, I was in so much pain. Yet, she was able even under that limitation, to make her way back through the initial layers. The next morning I not only felt amazingly limber and lighter of heart, but the edema had all but disappeared. I knew this was a metaphor, a shedding of unnecessary “protective” matter, and a sign that things were moving again, I had not become stagnant after all. Since then she has made the kind of progress with me that would take another practitioner years to uncover.
With Elena, healing is revealing, not just a result but a fluid, ongoing process. Though it takes practice in deep breathing and surrender, it’s beyond worth it. It's ever easier to let her go gently but firmly, deeper and deeper into the layers of pain, until they release into positive, powerful fuel for living, my own sustainable energy program. This transformation occurs more easily and quickly each time, as if I’m learning a language through repetition, yet exploring new avenues of expression as each one is understood.
She’s guiding me on a journey we’re taking together, for we both share the same sense of wonder in the miracle that is the human body. We celebrate each breakthrough. I can only hope to be so fortunate as to keep releasing the old layers, to return more and more to my essential self, and to collaborate with her until my last breath on earth."
~Rachel Schneiderman, writer and Spanish translator, age 65
As Rachel's myofascial release therapist, I can say she is making amazing progress. When she first came to me after her unsuccessful attempt at chemotherapy, she was a haggard, shrunken and grey. But after just one session, the color returned to her skin and the sparkle returned to her eyes. After just a few sessions, she stopped walking with a cane. With every session, her energy and vitality increase, and her body becomes stronger. She is finding that myofascial release is helping manage the pain and restoring proper functioning to her body, including her appetite and digestion.
More than anything, it is an honor to be her companion as she walks this road. I have witnessed a spiritual and emotional transformation in her that is humbling to behold. She has a radiance that is so rare these days, in anyone. She even tells me people can't believe she has cancer.
Our work together is having a profound effect on her quality of life, and we both agree that it is prolonging her life. Rather than every day being a battle with pain, every day is a gift and a blessing for her. We are both looking forward to the future, and hopeful about the healing that is still unfolding ...
