Look Good Feel Better - Index

Look Good Feel Better - magazine - Index

ILLUSTRATIONS: CINDY JEFTOVIC
The spirit within
Visualization can help you fi nd your peaceful centre
BY MARGARET NEARING
imagine strolling along a winding path in a lush forest as the sun
beams through the trees. Along the way, you cross a small wooden
bridge over a brook; then the pathway opens into a fi eld of brightly
coloured poppies and sunfl owers. A faint fl oral scent is in the
breeze. A yellow Lab and a black horse meet you, acting as guides to
an old wooden cabin. From this cabin emerges a learned teacher, or
maybe a favourite aunt, who provides calm, caring answers to your
questions. This is the scene that Jane Thomson, diagnosed with
infl ammatory breast cancer in May 2006, imagines several times a
week. “It’s about trying to fi nd my peaceful centre, where I really
know I’m calm and relaxed,” says Jane, 63.
As the director of broadcast traffi c for a bustling Toronto mediabuying
company, Jane is no stranger to high-stress days. But her
cancer diagnosis created another level of anxiety. “Cancer spins you
out of control,” she says. “I’m not a control freak, but I like to have
things well ordered.”
Jane is not alone in seeking help to deal with the turmoil that
follows a cancer diagnosis. “The mind under stress is like a wild
horse,” says Claire Edmonds, who conducts a relaxation and
visualization program at Wellspring, a network of centres
that provide free emotional and psychological support to
people living with cancer. She fi nds that patients in her
program tend to sleep better, have improved appetite,
are less anxious and are in a better mood.
Visualization, also known as mental imagery, helps
people with cancer create a sense of well-being, cope
better with painful treatments and, sometimes, feel they
are taking action against the cancer itself. But the
term visualization is a bit of a misnomer. “It’s not
all visual,” explains Edmonds. “You can imagine
a favourite song, the sound of church bells or the
smell of apple pie.”
Mental imagery has proven helpful in
diminishing a patient’s perception of pain.
During the intense radiotherapy before her bone marrow
transplant, Sonia Lussier, who was diagnosed with
non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 29, concentrated on
being on a beach in Costa Rica. “It helped during those
BODY & SOUL
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