Neurosculpting® Helped Me Learn How To Heal From a Brain Tumor by: Jody Domerstad
Jan 9, 2014 started off like any other normal day. I got up went to teach a yoga class, had private clients for energy work, all the while feeling tired and slightly off. Nothing new. For many years I have been not right, emotionally, mentally and physically. By the end of the night I knew why.
I was working on my last client of the night. As our session progressed I felt exhaustion to the degree of not being able to lift my arm and dizziness, feeling almost faint. Within seconds of wondering what was going on, I remember my right hand sliding from under my client’s lower back into air, like a pizza delivery guy holding a pizza, and an uncontrollable stuttering began coming out of my mouth. “Dah, dah, dah, dah,” I repeated over and over again, with my arm frozen in space and time. I tried to stop it, even make sense of it all, but I realized very quickly I had no control over this. I decided to sit down, breathe, and become the observer. It lasted for what felt like hours though it was only a moment in time.
I’d love to say I ended the session and went to hospital, but that was not the case. I chalked it up to being hungry and energy moving through me, so we continued for another hour or so.
After the session, I felt so fatigued I wanted to sleep at my office but I realized that wasn’t a good idea. So I drove home — well attempted to drive home — and as I drove, I wasn’t even around the block before I lost control of my right arm, starting stuttering, and felt as if my heart was going to explode.
My mind was racing, I’m going to die here. My options were: I could drive to the hospital or go back to work for a ride, and that’s what I did. The owner drove me to the hospital. On the way there I knew something was really wrong. By the time I arrived at the hospital I had no speech or movement in my right arm.
A Life-Changing Diagnosis
After testing, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It was located on the left side in the prefrontal cortex where executive functioning, speech, impulse control, and emotions are located.
It explained a lot.
I spent the next 30 days in the hospital due to a minor complication after surgery: a blood clot. The days were filled with rest, testing, and rehabilitation. I thought I had no repercussions from surgery because, in my mind, I was speaking normally and having great conversations. Not so much.
When asked to recite my A,B,C’s nothing came out, to sing “Happy Birthday,” it was monotone as I had no ability to modulate my voice. I also had trouble reading, and little ability to comprehend what I was reading. Lots of work needed to be done for me be able to function in the world. After I realized the aftermath of surgery, I decided I would heal 100% and live happily ever after. And that’s what i did, with a little help.
I had heard about Neurosculpting® months prior to having brain surgery, so I decided to check it out. I was blessed to be able to do weekly private sessions with the founder of Neurosculpting®, Lisa Wimberger, for about a month or two. I saw such significant results that I signed up for certification to learn more so I could continue to heal. That was in 2014, and I haven’t stopped improving my brain or my life in all areas.
What Neurosculpting® has taught me and helped me to achieve:
- I don’t have to live in fear anymore
I had no idea that I never felt safe enough to relax into my own body and mind. Using Neurosculpting® to heal from my brain trauma showed me how I lived in flight-or-fight mode and how it was dictating how I lived my life. Pretty much my whole life, I was always waiting to be attacked and/or having to attack. Not fun and not a good environment for healing. Through Neurosculpting®, I learned how to 1) be conscious and aware that flight-and-fight could take over in any moment and 2) how to take steps to calm, ground, and center myself. I am proud to say I have learned, inside and out, that there is nothing to fight or run from and I have all the tools now I need to behave a different way.
- No more medication
Numerous neurologists told me I would be on seizure medication for the rest of my life due to scar tissue and the possibility of having another one. I had a real problem with that. For one, the medicine made me very groggy and tired and two, taking medication because it could happen again was not a good enough reason for me. I learned about neuroplasticity at the Neurosculpting® Institute during my certification and I believed anything was possible. So I started sculpting that area of my brain, creating new stories and neural pathways and found an integrative doctor who believed in meditation. It’s now 3 years since surgery and I have been medication free for two and half of those years with no side effect as I was slowly weaned off with the help of my doctor. Believe in something bigger, create new stories, and learn a skillset that can support you through your challenge.
- No more PTSD
“Breathe Jody, breathe,” said the anesthesiologist, as the tube was pulled from throat and the surgery was coming to end. I remember it so vividly especially since I didn’t want to come back. It was so peaceful while in surgery. Why would I want to come back into the world? I realized through therapy and Neurosculpting® that I was afraid to come back into my body for I had felt it betrayed me. The tumor was kept for biopsy and testing and we found out that it could have been there growing for more than 10 years. Looking back, we know see signs of the tumor 15 years ago. The need to leave my body become overwhelming. If someone mentioned the word “brain,” I’d twinge. I couldn’t leave the house for I feared having a seizure or an episode. If I had a headache or felt foggy, watch out because I was on my way to the hospital because the tumor was back. But by using the 5 steps of Neurosculpting® I was able to meet my fears and develop a new relationship to them, and learned function in a healthy way.
Neurosculpting® is a skillset that has forever changed life and I am grateful for my brain tumor, for I may have never found it and therefore would of never found me. To be continued…
To learn more about the work of the Neurosculpting® Institute, watch this video with Founder and Master of Neurosculpting® Lisa Wimberger:
Jody Domerstad
Jody Domerstad is honored to be a Certified Neurosculpting® Facilitator. She is excited to share this work because of how immensely the tools of Neurosculpting have augmented her healing process from the removal of a meningioma from her frontal lobe and the consequent head trauma. Additionally using Neurosculpting® techniques, Jody has begun to re-establish safety in her life, subdue lingering anxiety and fear attributed to PTSD, re-connect communication between spheres of the brain, and has been weaned off anti-seizure medication that was initially prescribed for the rest of her life post brain-surgery. Jody is a popular yoga teacher just outside of NYC offering 200, 300, and 500-hour teacher trainings, in an alignment driven hatha yoga. Other certifications include Inner Light Method and SourcePoint Therapy. Jody is available for private sessions and classes. http://www.Jodydomerstad.com
