Alternative & Complementary Cancer Treatments click here for link directory   The word cancer creates fear in most people, and a cancer diagnosis is often taken as a death sentence by both patient and physician. Yet there is reason for hope to be found in a growing array of alternative and complementary treatments. Cancer remains mysterious to the general public and to the medical community, which is still struggling to find a cure. Cancer is a disease we often associate with modern lifestyles, brought on by unhealthy diets, processed foods, environmental pollution and, according to some allopathic medical models, genetic predisposition. Cancer is the body out of control, fighting itself and to many in the healing arts, it is a literal metaphor for how we have lost our way in caring for ourselves, our children, our communities and by extension our world. For some alternative healers however, cancer (or any other serious illness) is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to slow down and truly examine our lives in a deeper way. Many cancer patients say their cancer enabled them up to finally see and embrace their hidden strengths & weaknesses and find more meaning in their lives. Many of the cancer patient s who are willing to make this deep and difficult internal soul journey come back with completely healed bodies, often called "miraculous" by the medical community. But what is a miracle? To some it is an event outside of nature. But this is not true at all. We are each born of Nature and of the Divine and it is within each of us to perform miracles, healings and most important of all-- self healing. Merriam Webster defines a miracle as "an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs". For some cancer patients, this is exactly what they experience, healing not only the physical body, but the heart and spirit as well. In our research of alternative healing modalities we have come across many interesting, effective and "miraculous" healing methods which have brought complete remission to many people some with only alternative methods, and others have chosen a combination of western allopathic treatment along with alternative treatments. The western medical community calls this complementary medicine and many hospitals and doctors are encouraging and accepting of their patients using these non traditional methods along with their doctors' recommendations. Over the years I have known many people with different types of cancers all of whom wanted to know what were the alternatives to traditional western medicine. They wanted to know if these other treatments would improve their quality of life. They wanted to know if there are other ways to fight their illness, and many came to understand, that taking a more active role in their own recovery process, can be a path to healing. This website is dedicated to those who gather themselves together for healing, alone or with others; knowing we can each choose our own path to health. We can welcome health into our lives that it may take root and flower there. I share this information knowing that each of us has the power to surrender to healing. copyright 2004  Jane Sherry

Selected Links For Complementary Cancer Treatment Resources & Websites

The Kushi Institute was founded in 1978 by Michio and Aveline Kushi who came to the US from Japan and introduced Americans and the west to a macrobiotic diet and lifestyle. Macrobiotics has helped many people to overcome cancer and lead healthy lives.

"Macrobiotics is the art and science of health and longevity through the study and understanding of the relation and interactions between ourselves, the foods we eat, the lifestyles we choose to lead, and the environments in which we live."

At their Kushi Institute website you can read about the link between cancer and diet as well as testimonials from patients. Michio Kushi has written several books, one of which is a book called "The Cancer Prevention Diet".


Rebecca Wood Nutritionist

You'll find easy to prepare, delicious, anti-cancer foods at Rebecca Wood's website as well as her inspiring story about dealing with cancer. Click on her 'bio' link to read her story. Or put 'cancer' into Rebecca's search engine and you'll find wonderful advice on healing foods to eat while you try to combat or recover from cancer and other immune or life threatening illnesses. She was diagnosed with with third stage cervical cancer in 1989. I write this in 2004 and can tell you she is healthy & in total remission "using natural methods".

She is my favorite nutritionist, a loving and generous teacher with a wealth of healthy recipes as well. Her website lists her teaching schedule for those who wish to learn her healthy cooking techniques from her in person. Otherwise, her very readable and excellent cookbook is available at her website and bookstores, called "The Splendid Grain". We also find her other book "The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia" an essential reference book in our home. It lists foods alphabetically, telling a bit of the history, preparation and storage of the foods along with their Ayurvedic, Traditional Chinese Medicine & Western healing properties.

The Weston Price Foundation

This foundation's expansive research may confront some of your ideas of what you should eat, as much of their research is contrary to American nutrition policy, most of which is based upon chemical, farming and pharmaceutical lobbying groups whose work has helped to create those nutrition guidelines the government advocates.

"The Weston A. Price Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity founded in 1999 to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated nonindustrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets. Dr. Price's research demonstrated that humans achieve perfect physical form and perfect health generation after generation only when they consume nutrient-dense whole foods and the vital fat-soluble activators found exclusively in animal fats. ..The Foundation is dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism...."

There are excellent & well researched articles on the website as well as a good search engine to find specific information on such topics as the dangers of mammography, on how to prevent cancer by knowing what foods heal and what foods cause disease or this interesting and important article on fats in the American diet and how Pritikin, a big advocate of low fat diets, could not prevent his own leukemia.

The Price Foundation has vitally important information for anyone who uses soy formula or soy milk for their infants and growing children. You can find informative articles on the dangers of processed foods, most of which contain non nutrient foods such as corn syrup and other processed sugars such as sucrose and fructose, toxic fats & oils and the danger of addicting the young to soft drinks. You can find little discussed information about the connection between autism and vaccinations as well as articles on safe cookware, healthy fermented foods or the vitality of native meats.

It is an invaluable resource for anyone trying to offer themselves more than one perspective on health and healing.

Selected Herbal Treatments:
Ayurveda, Tibetan Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Native Herbals

Ayurvedic Medicine


Check out this website for online Ayurvedic consultations in India. They have very good rudimentary information about using Ayurvedic healing principles in your life to promote health & healing.  "Ayurveda from the land of its origin. This site has an online consultation form which can be filled out and submitted online. Our world renowned ayurvedic doctors review your consultation form and suggest to you suitable medicines along with the appropriate healing diet and lifestyle."



Tibetan Medicine

Tibetan Refugee Health Care Project

"The Tibetan Refugee Health Care Project is a non-political organization funded entirely by private donations. It was created in response to the dire and growing need for public health care for the Tibetan community-in-exile, living both in resettlement camps in India, and throughout the world, and to be a support for The Tibetan Government-in-exile, His Holiness The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Department of Health. All projects are reported to them."

Here you can read about the wonderful work of Dr. Yeshi Dhonden, Tibetan monk and physician who is doing pioneering work with cancer patients around the world using Tibetan Herbal Medicine.

He has been featured on Dateline NBC and is currently in cancer trials at the University of California-San Francisco and in Houston, Texas at the world reknown MD Anderson Hospital. 

Dr. Dhonden works with and is sponsored by Dr. Marsha Woolf, executive director of Alternative Resources Unlimited and Menla Tibetan Medical Institute, here in the United States. Dr. Marsha, as her patients call her, has been working as a naturapathic healer for over 30 years specializing in Chinese and Tibetan Medicine with a focus on treating cancer and the immune system.

(The picture to the right, is one of my Tibetan Medicine prescriptions I received from India, after a diagnosis by Dr. Yeshi Dhonden. The pills are taken three times a day with warm water. Everyone's prescription is different, based upon their examination.)


Traditional Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture


American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine

"Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) goes back over 3,000 years. It grew out of the desire to maintain good health and from the need to treat various conditions and diseases. Over the centuries, the Chinese people learned the benefits of natural herbs, acupuncture, healthy food and proper diet, Tuina (massage),Taiji and Qigong. Today, Traditional Chinese Medicine is practiced in hospitals in China side by side with western medicine, and people receive great benefits from receiving both forms of medicine concurrently. We are delighted that this collaborative approach to medicine is now occurring in the USA."

At this site you can learn about the history of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and find practitioners in your area through their alumni directory. They have a college for the study of TCM as well as providing low cost health care. They also have a library which feature a couple of article abstracts on TCM. 


Michael Tierra's Planet Herbs

This is Michael Tierra's Website where you will find many articles on cancer treatment if you put "cancer" into his search engine. Michael Tierra is a well known herbalist trained in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), Ayurvedic Medicine & Native American Medicine. He started the first wholistic healing school in California in 1976. 



Anthroposophical Medicine


Weleda

Iscador, is considered a "complementary"cancer treatment used in Europe since 1917, made from the plant mistletoe and manufactured by Weleda, a company started in the early 20th century by spiritual scientist and educator Rudolf Steiner. This website has links to more information on the treatment of cancer using Iscador in conjunction with other treatments. Native Americans also used mistletoe for healing.

For more information on anthroposophical medicine or to find a practitioner call the Fellowship Community in Spring Valley, New York for a referral. Or if you are in the greater New York area, make an appointment to see one of their physicians. (845-356-8494)

Native Herbal Medicine

Susun Weed

Susun is a world reknown herbalist, lecturer, wise woman, writer and healer. Many years ago, when I first met Susun, she was still giving "weed walks" in the Woodstock, New York area. At that time, I was renting a little pink cottage in the woods, with a friend, and we had the great honor of having Susun come over and introduce us to our very 'own' weeds. I first saw the beautiful lobelia, aka pukeweed and many others growing wild around our pink cottage. The earth was never the same again, for me after that, I learned to look around me with new appreciation for what was right underfoot.

From Susun's website: "Her worldwide teaching schedule encompasses herbal medicine, ethnobotany, pharmacognosy, psychology of healing, ecoherbalism, nutrition, and women's health issues and her venues include medical schools, hospital wellness centers, breast cancer centers, midwifery schools, naturopathic colleges, and shamanic training centers, as well as many conferences."

I was given a gift of her first book, "Healing Wise", which now 15 years later, is still a much consulted and much beloved book on my herbal library shelf. You can buy her books at her website, and I recommend all of them!  If you're in the NY area, check out her Wise Woman Center, where you may want to take one of her enriching workshops or even consider her correspondence course in herbal medicine or a shamanic or herbal apprenticeship.

I also recommend, that anyone reading in this section of the Satya Center website, read Susun's wonderful anti cancer lifestyle article from her website.


Read Susun's articles reprinted at Satya Center with Susun's kind permission:

Menopausal Years, the Wise Woman Way

Wise Woman Ways to Boost Your Energy

The Spirit and Practice of the Wise Woman Tradition

Breast Cancer? Breast Health The Wise Woman Way!

Can Breast Cancer Be Prevented?

Herbs That Ease Anxiety and Fear

Check the Susun Weed Archive for more of Susun's articles at Satya Center




Satya Center Plant Medicine

Check out our resource page for herbal, vibrational flower healing and nutrition resources, both eastern and western system links available. Read the essay on how to find your plant ally.

Essiac

Essiac is an herbal formula some say created by Canadian nurse Renee Caisse originally believed to have been given to her by Native American healers. The FDA recognizes none of these claims. However, most of the ingredients in the essiac herbal formula are and have been known to many herbalists to be typical of those used in the treatment of cancers, growths and tumors. There is mixed research into the effects of this formula and I have read in places that if used incorrectly, it can cause growths rather than cure them. Of course, one has to always be vigilant in researching alternative medicine and discernment is always called for, whether in choosing doctors, treatments, herbs &/or drugs & alternatives of any kind.

Wholistic Health Care

Breast Health

"The Breast Health Project has created a new model of breast care based on holistic medicine, using the best of eastern and western therapies. You can learn how to help your body - mentally, physically and emotionally. You can learn simple principles of holistic medicine and breast health. This website is designed to educate you to think about your breasts differently and help you to reduce your risk for breast cancer. Learn four simple techniquesthat you can use on a daily basis to enhance your breast health. Any one of the four techniques can fit into a busy daily routine. We have seen many women who were fearful of breast cancer become empowered when they become proactive in their breast care to support the body’s immune function." This is a wonderful website with a directory full of must read articles.

		Cancer patients feel the gentle touch of Reiki TIMES OF INDIA - 2nd February, 2001. By Sangeeta Cavale BANGALORE: With holistic healing methods gaining wider acceptance, conventional methods of treating cancer are being supplemented by therapies like Reiki. For grandmaster Dipti Gandhi, reiki is a powerful tool to treat cancer. "With reiki, the family and patient learn not to blame themselves. Through adversity and pain one learns to create love,'' says Dipti who has been treating cancer patients for a decade. She says she has noticed that if the patient learns reiki and practises and also receives long distance healing , the side-effects of chemotherapy and other medication, will be minimal. If reiki is done in the early stages, it is possible to ensure permanent remission. Reiki masters recommend that at least one family member learn reiki and if possible, do the masters degree too. This will enable them to understand cancer . When reiki is done, the energy field around the person receiving it is filled with love and positive energy. This affects the functioning of cells . Reiki practitioner Rashmi Solanki says reiki makes the atoms resonate at a higher frequency and when this happens, detoxification takes place . The cells are then more ready to accept nutrients and treatment and the immune system improves. Above all, the patient relaxes as the reiki energy flows into his endocrinal system, nervous system and finally into his blood stream .

 

This is not a substitute for medical advice.

(All photos by Jane Sherry with the exception of the photo of Jane, Kalsang & Dr. Dhonden taken by Curtis Lang; Susun Weed portrait from her website)

Articles: Aromatherapy and Emotions by Joie Power Ph.D.     Aromas effect mood and evoke memories. For example, Frankincense and Cypress have been said to aid in dispelling grief, while Ylang Ylang and Juniper are claimed to aid in coping with guilt....  more  >> Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way by Susun Weed     Learn how to adjust your diet and lifestyle to prevent breast cancer, the Wise Woman Way!  more  >> Herbs that Ease Anxiety and Fear by Susun Weed     Herbalist Susun Weed shares her favorite herbs and simple home remedies for dealing with fear, anxiety, nervousness, grief, depression, rage, fatigue, and sleeplessness.  more  >> How I Beat Cancer by Rebecca Wood     "Convinced that I could turn the cancer around, I found a doctor who said he'd give me three months time while I used only natural remedies. Six months later, I was cancer-free."  more  >> Plant Medicine by Jane Sherry     Flowers and seeds, stems and leaves, roots and fruits feed us and clothe us, house and protect us, soothe our fevers and our fears and form the basis of our rituals and celebrations. Plant medicine has helped women and men to conceive life, to nurture life, and to die with grace and dignity.  more  >> Psycho-neuro-immunology by Joie Power Ph.D.     Explore the relationships between the nervous system, emotions, and the immune system; elucidating the links between our states of mind and our states of health.  more  >> Rebecca Wood Whole Foods Nutrition Learn how to cook delicious & nutritious whole foods for you and your family. Read Rebecca's story of how she cured herself of cancer.  more  >> Susun Weed Archive by Susun Weed     Read all of Susun's articles available on the Satya Center website.  more  >> Susun Weed, Herbal Health Susun Weed is a green witch and wise woman, an extraordinary teacher with a joyous spirit, a powerful presence, and an encyclopedic knowledge of herbs and health.  more  >> The Art of Assisting Spirits in Transition by Jade Wah'oo Grigori     Upon death the Spirit remains in the earthly plane for three days, seeking release from attachment to people, places and things of its former life experience.  more  >> more articles >>