February 26, 2024 • 38 mins
Imagine standing at the precipice of the unknown, your body a sudden traitor and your future a maze of questions. That's where my journey took a life-altering turn, and on our latest episode, we share the intense and intimate story of battling a brain tumor. Our tale is not just one of survival, but a profound exploration of the human spirit's resilience when faced with the ultimate test of a health crisis. We walk you through the fear, the uncertainty, and the unwavering determination that marked our path to healing.
With each heartbeat during that nerve-wracking diagnosis period, we battled a relentless wave of emotions. Jody and I lay bare the details of grappling with the news, the excruciating wait to determine if the tumor was cancerous, and the surge of strength found in each other's support. We also celebrate the incredible medical care we received, thanks to connections that felt like destiny's hand guiding us. This episode is a tribute to the fight and flight woven into our DNA, and the remarkable human capacity to push through even the darkest fears.
As we journeyed through brain surgery and into the trials of recovery, our story took an unexpected turn. Jody, ever the warrior, faced cognitive challenges that upended her life. Her vulnerability in recounting this experience, and the pivotal role yoga played in her recuperation, offers a glimmer of hope to anyone facing their own health battles. Together, we reflect on the power of self-care, the importance of community, and the transformative potential that lies within the ancient wisdom of yoga philosophy. Join us as we navigate this path of resurgence, a testament to the incredible human capacity for rebirth through adversity.
We would love to hear from you! Email us at becomeoneliving@gmail.com or reach out to us on Instagram at BecomeOne Living.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hello and welcome back to Become One Living.
My name is Dan and this is mywife, jody.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hi Become One Living.
Ancient tools for modern living.
You know what today is.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You do.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I believe so.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Today we're recording January 15, 2023.
So you may be listening to thisa little later on, but today is
my nine-year anniversary of abig day.
Life rebirth.
Nine years ago I was teachingyoga at 6 AM and I remember a
(01:07):
trauma nurse banging at the doorof the yoga studio asking to be
let in, because I always lockedthe door.
If you're late, you're out, youcan't come in.
You can't come in after theclass starts.
No, and I happened to be goingin class late because I wasn't
feeling well.
So I let her in.
She told me she was a traumanurse and she just got off her
(01:31):
shift.
So we went in class and Itaught and the day kept going,
but I was still feeling off.
I went to work and I was doingenergy work Me and Dan both do
energy work and I do yogatherapy and I had this woman in
this room and I had this womanin this hold, a cranial, sacral
(01:55):
hold.
One of my hands was under herbutt, near her sacrum, and one
was holding the back of her headand all of a sudden my right
arm slid from underneath herbutt and got stuck in the air,
as if I was holding a pizza pie.
You know, when the pizzadelivery guy comes in the hands
up, he's like pizza.
So my right arm went like that,stuck up in the air, bent in
(02:22):
the elbow, frozen, and I startedstuttering.
And it just kept going thisloop.
And I'm watching her watch meand in my mind I'm thinking I'm
telling her to call 911.
I think I'm telling her, hey,something's wrong.
(02:45):
But apparently I was justsaying da, da, da, this
repetitive word, babble, justbabbling, and because of all the
years of yoga that I had done.
At that time I realized a flipwas switched A switch was
(03:07):
flipped Exactly.
Oh my God, I love that you gotme, and these are some symptoms
that I experienced while livingwith You'll hear in a moment a
brain tumor for 15 yearspotentially unknown to me, and
that was the first sign of astroke.
(03:28):
At that point they said seizurestroke.
They weren't sure, but thebeautiful thing was in the
moment I knew something was up.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, so the hand frozen up in the air and the
stuttering were a sign that itwas a seizure?
Yes, well, interesting enough,the doctors were out on that.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Some doctors said it was a seizure, others said it
was a stroke, that perhaps othersymptoms were the seizure
symptoms, when I would getspacey and lose my ability to be
present.
That was what A seizure.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
The stroke was the pain.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
A seizure.
The stroke was the paralysis ofmy arm and the stuttering.
Now, after this happened, I satdown on the couch in my little
treatment room and I was able toretract and watch myself having
the stroke.
(04:37):
I knew that something was goingon and it wasn't good.
And after it was done, I cameto and I asked her how are you?
And she was crying and she saidwhat just happened?
I said I don't know.
I said I think I'm channelingthat's what I said.
(05:01):
My husband will not laugh duringthis episode because it is very
impactful to him.
This definitely.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Deeply affected.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
To me.
It was kind of funny becauseI'm coming out of something
saying I'm channeling, becauseit felt like I was speaking
tongue and I was doing energywork and apparently there were
heavy solar flares.
Now, after this happened, sheleft an hour later.
I kept working on her and Ifelt so exhausted I couldn't
(05:39):
drive.
I actually was going to sleepat work and due to having a
stroke, I had no capacity torealize that's not normal to
want to sleep at work.
So I tried to drive home, got inthe car and I started feeling
really depressed and I know I'mnot supposed to call people, but
(06:02):
I called the psychiatrist thatsomeone had given me his info.
He was a Wilhelm Reichentherapist, which we could talk
about at a different episode andas soon as I picked up the
phone I went to start to leavemy name and I started stuttering
, but this time my right armwent completely numb and I
(06:26):
pulled over, luckily realizingthat I was going to die.
That's what it felt like.
I felt my heart was going toexplode, from panicking, I think
.
And I saw the cops go by and Ithought okay, I could flag over
a cop, I could drive to thehospital or I could drive back
(06:48):
to work.
Not so smart, I drove back towork.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And the man who managed that office saw you
there.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yes.
I banged on his door and I saidsomething's wrong.
Bring me to the hospital.
He said I really don't thinkanything's wrong, I think you're
tired.
And he was trying to talk meout of it, not in a bad way.
I'm not really sure why hewould do that, because I know
when something's wrong.
And he finally took me to thehospital and by the time we got
(07:27):
there I lost all speech and wasparalyzed in my right arm and my
right leg was dragging slightly.
Now I'm in the ER and I'mpointing to my chest because I
can't speak.
I'm alone.
He's parking the car and theyfinally got me in.
They did EKGs on my heart.
(07:49):
Nothing was wrong and by thattime the stroke stopped again.
So I was ready to go home andthey said no, no, no, no, no.
And they took me downstairs todo a brain scan and hours later
the ER was so packed.
It was a Thursday night.
(08:10):
I was in the middle of the ER.
I didn't even have my own room.
My hospital gown was ripped.
I remember a breast was hangingout.
My friend it was a male.
He was disturbed about that.
He's like someone.
Get her a blanket Meanwhilewith life, life challenge.
(08:31):
Yeah.
So here I am and I see thedoctor running across the ER to
me and he says call your family.
I said okay, why?
He said you have a brain tumorand your brain is so swollen
that we we can't even do surgeryuntil the swelling stops and we
(08:56):
don't know if you'll make itthrough the night.
I looked at him and I said doyou know who I am?
I do yoga, I eat healthy, I'msomewhat of a good person,
meaning I'm human and sometimeshumanist takes over, I'm giving
(09:19):
and I'm loving.
This can't be happening.
And he said I know exactly whoyou are, your patient number,
you have a brain tumor, callyour family and we're going to
put you on meds.
And I looked at him and I saidwell, why are you standing here?
Go get my meds.
So he went and I waited twohours till I called you because
(09:46):
Dan at the time was living inColorado going to school for
secondary massage techniquesstructural integration.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Body work yes, Structural integration.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
So here I am in the ER.
I didn't tell anyone, I didn'tcall anyone, mainly, I feel,
because I was out of it.
I was on drugs to stop theswelling, then seizure meds, but
I also was in shock.
I couldn't wrap my head aroundthe fact that I had a brain
(10:22):
tumor.
Just hearing those words seemedso odd to me.
And while I was in the ER, thevery nurse that was in my yoga
class in the morning was mynurse.
She came in and she said oh myGod, what are you doing here?
And I said well, it's a funnystory.
(10:45):
And we giggled and she saidwell, it's not that funny.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
So by the time you were able to get a hold of me
which is a story itself and youtold me I was wiped out.
I was out and I barely couldmake it home.
I was staying with my brother.
When I walked into my brother'sfront door he was watching TV
(11:14):
and I was speechless.
So I walked sort of likehalfway into the home and he
looked at me and because he's mybrother, he's like what's wrong
?
And he got up and startedwalking toward me and I walked
toward him and I fell into hisarms and he hugged me and I was
just completely wiped out.
(11:36):
I was beside myself and so Isaid you've got to book me a
flight back to New Jersey.
And he took care of all thearrangements because I literally
was good for nothing.
I just saw everything flashthrough my head.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I remember not knowing where you worked in
Colorado and I had to find Dan.
He was working at Massage Envyat the time, just doing some
extra work going through school.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I'm trying to make me to end too, so I could study.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
And they weren't going to let me talk to him and
I said this is a matter of lifeand death.
And when I finally got down onthe line I said sit down.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, so I sat down and I told him and when you told
me it's wild, like everyscenario, but a certain
blankness, it's just theweirdest feeling.
And it was a good thing that Iwas sitting down because I just
(12:46):
was completely.
My energy, was just everythingleft.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
My friends, we're sharing this for a few reasons.
One reason is knowing that whenyou get unexpected diagnosis or
unexpected information, it canphysically wipe you out and you
become disorientated.
So I became frozen and just wasdoing my due diligence.
(13:12):
Okay, I'm here and I got tokeep everybody.
Okay, so no one panics.
And also, being on meds becauseI don't do anything, I don't
take aspirin, tylenol, anything,being on all these drugs at the
time for my life, which I'm sograteful for, western medicine,
(13:34):
I don't know how much of thatadded to it.
But when somebody has asurprise diagnosis, let's say
cancer, tumors, anything, mswhatever, I mean anything.
Parkinson's MS, you go into thisdutyful state.
I got to get through this, somy job was to get through this
(13:58):
and then, being a yoga teacherand learning all these teachings
, ancient teachings my goal wasto do it gracefully and honestly
, and that's what we did.
So that day I did not leave thehospital for 30 days.
I spent a month in the hospital.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
In the ER right.
It was like a high.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Oh, I was on the trauma Trauma.
I was on the neurologicaltrauma unit Because they didn't
know where else to put me,because what happened was my
tumor grew into the main bloodflow in your brain.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So you have this like a skunk stripe, that's what I
think of the sagittal sinus hasa stripe.
Like a skunk has a stripe andit's called the sagittal sinus
and your tumor literally was hadwoven in, had started to grow,
you know, root into that bloodsupply.
(15:01):
So it was.
It's so, essentially, it hadits own blood supply.
Some tumors, benign tumors likeyou had are independent or a
space occupying mass that areindependent of all that.
Of course, being you, this onehad to figure out how to get its
own blood supply.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
So it was growing, it was alive and thriving off of
me and because it was growinginto the main blood supply, the
surgery became even morecomplicated because if they went
too far I could have led todeath and potentially died, and
(15:39):
then we had to sit with them,wait to see if it was cancerous
or not.
So the doctors came in and,luckily, because I teaching yoga
for years, I texted somebody.
I want to say it was a drunktext, but it was really a
steroid, kebra, which is aseizure medicine.
(16:01):
Drunk text.
I was drunk on drugs.
I texted a woman and I said hey, I have to cancel my
appointment tomorrow.
I'm in the hospital, I have abrain tumor.
She wrote back what I said yeah, I'll be in a couple days.
I got a tumor, see you nextweek.
She said Can I send my friend?
(16:24):
And I wrote yes, meanwhile Idon't even have a capacity to
process, because that's wherethe tumor was and the stroke.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, the tumor was in the part of the brain, the
frontal lobe, that all theexecutive function resides right
, right Um, decision making,organizing, initiating those
types of things, which isamazing that you were able to
initiate a text to somebody.
Yeah, you're always like that,though.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Well, I think it was from fight or flight.
Another thing, my friends, tothink about, is when you're in
this state of fear oruncertainty, we are able to
function to some degree becausewe're functioning for our life.
It was life or death in my mindright, and not my life or death
(17:19):
, but I thought, oh my God, whatif I don't show up for my
client?
That's not cool.
That's that's where I wasthinking and that's actually
fear based.
Please listen to this, myfriends.
If we get really caught up andworried about other people,
that's fear based, peoplepleasing.
I was one of those for a while,well, very long time.
(17:41):
So I was more worried abouteveryone else in that moment
than me, which allowed me tofunction and bypass executive
functioning, because I was whatwe call limbic.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Right, so this person that you had an appointment
with was who?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Her husband was the head gastrointestine.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yeah, gastroenterologist at the
hospital that you were in and heknew someone, a doctor, his
good friend was the head of aNew Jersey brain.
New Jersey brain and spine.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yes, and he called in his guy.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, what a gift.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And this doctor, dr Lee, oh my God, so skillful just
had come on board a year later,a year earlier for that
particular specialty, he onlyspecializes in the type of tumor
I had that was in meshed withthe sinus sagittal cavity.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
I mean how do people not believe in divine
intervention or just thateverything's divine, divine
timing, everything's kind ofmeant to be in some some regard.
So we learned that the tumorwas a walnut or a golf ball,
(19:00):
like they said, between the sizeof a grape and a walnut.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yes, and I had different options.
Keep it in.
Do radiation stay on seizuremeds?
Speaker 1 (19:11):
But the doctor yeah, so when you're the the, the man
who was looking at all of theinformation and the images came
to your room to look at theimages with you and come up with
the decision.
He said and we could go up theright.
He said we could go up thenasal cavity.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
No, they were wrong.
So because a CAT scan and anMRI are different if you all
don't know that and I mean Iknow you probably know it
because the names are differentbut when they're doing CAT scans
they're a lot fuzzier than MRIs.
So at first they thought withthe CAT scan it was a peanut and
(19:48):
they were going to go upthrough my nose.
Then they realized that's nothappening.
They had to and I'm going tojust share some details.
So I just want my friends toknow that, if it's, sensitive
yeah, they had to cut my scalpand saw my skull open, remove
(20:09):
part of my skull and dive in.
And I was under, and not somuch because I do remember a lot
, because they had to cut eachnerve slowly and consciously.
So there was a whole team inthere to make sure that they
didn't sever feeling in my arm,my speech, my life.
(20:32):
So they did not know, we didnot know what was going to
happen after brain surgery.
It was about six hours long,and so does that.
It was so beautiful.
Dan and I sat and we talkedabout the fact that I might not
live.
We talked about I might comeout paralyzed and we talked
(20:57):
about I might come out not beingable to talk.
And that is when the power ofyoga Let me say this, the power
of the system of yoga, came inhandy, because I am not only my
speech, I'm not only my body,I'm more than that.
And I thought who would I be?
(21:19):
How am I going to be in theworld if I don't have those
abilities anymore?
And I sat with that and criedand Started to dive deeper and
deeper in this whole time at thehospital waiting.
It was about five or six daysbefore they actually could do
(21:39):
surgery.
And I was alone in the darkBecause I my eyes, I couldn't
see, I couldn't handle lookingat screens or anything, and I
was so sedated I slept a lot,but I just sat with the whole
constructs that I created in 39years of my life.
I'm a yoga teacher, I'm a yogaowner.
I do this, I'm a storyteller,I'm this and in one instance,
(22:03):
snap, boom, I'm nothing.
Disease, circumstances, life,it doesn't care who you are, it
doesn't matter how great youthink you are or how generous
you think you are.
If something's going to happen,my friends, it's gonna happen.
So I'm asking you now do youhave tools to, to navigate what
(22:31):
life gives you?
And I had tools.
I had friends.
Not Friends in this way of Imean, I had friends that came to
support me, but I mean I havefriends that are conscious and
have tools that they use.
(22:51):
And those friends that usetheir tools Made me and helped
me use my tools.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, they, they supported you and being held and
they supported you.
I think they're in a great way,reflecting you know that you
were capable, you, you had tools, you had been practicing yoga
already for a really, really,really long time.
(23:21):
So I I Mean there's no way toprove it, but I get the feeling
that, had you not been theperson that you were all the way
up into surgery, that yourrecovery, how expeditiously you
got through the cognitive speechtherapy and got your speech
back in order and figuringthings out and organizing things
, I mean today it's like crazy.
(23:42):
You're like the most organizedentrepreneurial business owner,
yogi, that I've.
I've witnessed.
It's really together.
So you made it incrediblerecovery.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Let's talk about that .
The tumor sat in executivefunctioning and for Periods in
my life I was severely depressedBecause I couldn't start or
initiate a project like thedishes.
When I first met Dan 13 yearsago, he walked in my house,
(24:16):
dishes and clothes were all over.
I had to kick clothes out ofthe way for him to walk into my
home and I thought I was a slob.
I thought I was dirty.
I had all these ideas.
I had no idea a brain tumor wasgrowing in the area that
Wouldn't allow me to do thedishes.
(24:37):
I Couldn't start a project.
I would stand in front of thesink or stare at my clothes and
think I'm too depressed.
It had nothing to do withdepression, it was.
There was no connection.
There was a tumor blocking theconnection and we had no idea.
I had no idea.
(24:58):
I couldn't get organized, Icouldn't sustain a project, I
couldn't meditate.
Now, finding all that out was arelief, but when I woke up I
Was stuttering and barely hadany speech and you had work to
do.
I had a lot of work to do.
I couldn't feel my right arm.
(25:18):
Still I Did wake up.
The nurses were giggling.
I woke up and I said, wow, whattime is it?
How long was I in there?
And as soon as I could get up Iwalked the hospital rooms with
my IV and A couple days later wefound out I had a blood clot in
(25:41):
my sinus sagittal cavity fromthe quarterization of the
surgery.
Now, because I had a blood clot, they had to keep me and Give
me blood thinners.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Yeah, and the typical blood thinner that is usually
given was it kumudin your bodywas resistant to.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, the blood thinners weren't working.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
So they did.
They used a drug that I thinkthey were experimenting or
testing in Europe, that had notbeen Completely approved for use
here, but the doctor feltstrongly that this is probably
the route to go and it was Thinkit was Zeralta or Zeralta, yeah
, something like that, but itwas only used for lungs at the
(26:24):
time and they didn't know if itwould work.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
But they felt we got to do something because they
couldn't let me leave.
So 30 days in the hospitalcouldn't?
All I could do was sleep, and Ihad read a book about a woman
Having a stroke and howimportant sleep was.
So we wouldn't let anyone comevisit me, it was just a few
(26:47):
people were allowed in yeah, wetried to, yeah.
We did try and I slept a lot.
I did you, I did All the speechtherapy and occupational
therapy and I got my speech back.
I meditated, we dissolved theblood clot and my neurologist
one day came in, took off hissurgery hat, sat down in a chair
(27:12):
and like slid down and said tome who are you?
And I said what he's like, whoare you?
Why do people care so muchabout you?
I said I'm really confused, drLee, I had no idea.
He said I get calls every dayAsking to see your paperwork,
(27:33):
because there are other doctorsthat I know, that were in the
hospital, that work with him,that know me, and he said and
their wives and these people,they're all asking how is Jodi,
what's going on?
And he said who are you?
Why, why?
And I said I'm just a yogateacher.
And he said Just a yoga teacher.
(27:58):
He said that's what you do, youjust, you just teach yoga.
I said yeah, and Someone saidto me you've impacted many lives
.
It was as if I had died and Igot to see my Obituary and I got
to see what people said aboutme.
So every year Facebook gives mememories and I get to see all
(28:26):
the beautiful posts that peoplewrote about me and all the
support that I got, and it blowsme away that I have Engaged
with so many people and havetouched so many in a positive
way that they cared.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah, it's a testament to the path you've
chosen and the history you builtof Sharing what you've learned
from the people that youfollowed.
You know Yoga, philosophy andall those things that you take
into your classroom and share issuper touching and moving.
You're, you're, you're ateacher that you know.
It's like in our new office andsomebody comes back, they came
(29:08):
to find us in our office andit's like, oh my god, I haven't
seen you in years and peoplecome, literally come back to
visit you.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
If they're in the area, you've impacted people and
my friends I wanted to sharewith you.
That was never my intent.
My intent was never to teachpeople, inspire people or
motivate people.
All the practices that I'velearned and studied were
intended to make me whole.
(29:35):
I have experienced much morethan just this very incident.
Dan jokes that I have ninelives.
I still have three left, sowatch out.
But after brain surgery,because it was very stressful, I
(29:57):
then experienced chronicillness for multiple years, and
that's a whole, nother episodeMultiple episodes.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
But the common thread through all of that is your
lifestyle of yoga and the toolsof yoga and that the system is.
I mean honestly, after surgery.
I went to visit you that oneday and you had the back of the
table inverted and your legswere up the table and you're
like I was doing legs up thewall.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
If you don't know what that is in a hospital bed.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
In a hospital bed.
And another time the nursescame to see you and they
couldn't find you and you wereaside the bed on your mat doing
yoga on the floor, and they werepanicked because they couldn't
find you.
So you're right back to yoga.
Right back to, I mean rightback.
I mean it's just become who youare.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
We need to do our practices so that our practices
just do us.
Even the way I ate.
At the hospital, I chose what Iate.
I didn't eat as much.
I knew I was laying around whatcan I eat to fuel me?
I became educated and when thedoctor said you need to read
(31:19):
like this or learn how to read,because I wasn't comprehending
at first, so I'm reading, and itwas just imagine watching a
child open a book and thechild's looking at the book and
they're not really reading it,they're just pretending.
That's what I was doing.
And when they asked me to saymy ABCs, I proceeded to say them
(31:46):
and I watched my husband and mymother start crying, and I had
no idea why, because in my mindI'm singing ABCD, efg.
That's not what was coming outof my mouth.
And it took me months toformulate my ABCs, my one, two,
(32:11):
threes.
There was detailed lists that Ihad to eat.
Brain surgery changed me, and athought I'd like to share
besides all of this is I learnedthat I don't like the word
(32:34):
recover.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
What word do you prefer?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Become more resilient , because recovery if you look
up the word recover, it means togo back and get what you lost,
to go back and to bringsomething forth.
I don't want to be who I wasbefore brain surgery.
I'm not when we use these words.
I have to recover.
(33:02):
I have to recover.
I don't have to recover.
I need to integrate what iswhat just happened and get back
up again and just keep goingwith what's here in the moment,
not relive and say I want to bewho I was before.
Please think about that.
If you are experiencingsomething, an illness, a
(33:25):
situation that you oh I want torecover this.
If we're not growing, we'redying, just like a plant, plants
if they're not growing andbeing nourished, they're dying.
That's us.
I don't want to go back.
I want to be able to live withwhat was what happened to me,
(33:48):
and I am and do I have 100%recovery?
I say no, I don't.
I don't believe I'll ever be100%, because I get tired
quickly.
Sometimes lights bother me, butfor the most part 99% of the
(34:10):
time because of the tools ofyoga, neurosculpting, which
we'll talk about, which wascreated by Lisa Wimberger.
That was key in my recovery.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
No doubt you pursued those things with vigor, not
that you hadn't before, but thisreally seemed to turn you on.
I'm not sure what it was, but Iknow that you were wanting to
discover yourself and moveforward and learn and upgrade
(34:47):
everything, live.
It almost upgraded your passionfor living consciously.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Yeah, when they were bringing me in for surgery.
This is.
I'm going to wrap it up withthis.
I want to leave you all withthis.
I was asking God or theuniverse, whatever word you want
.
I was just saying someone, giveme a sign, please, what is
(35:18):
happening here, and they wheeledme into a unit, part of the
hospital that wasn't even openyet.
It was still under construction.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
I think it was the kids.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
It was the surgery surgical room.
The operating room was for achild yeah, it was for children.
So they wheel me in and mynurse is going, going, going,
going, like bing bonging allover the place.
And I grab her arm and I gowhat's your name?
And she said Grace.
I said Grace, slow down, slowdown, breathe with me.
(35:58):
And we breathed.
I said there's no rush.
We go in the ER and I look up onthe ceiling and there's a mural
a painting of a parrot of aMcCaw parrot that my father had
(36:20):
and my dad passed it's, I think,12 years now but an instant
reminder and support and divinemessage that everything's
happening in the right way.
And that I'm supported, thatphysically people aren't there,
but they're there.
(36:40):
And as I went in, there was somany people around me for the
surgery and I went under and Isaid at that moment if I live, I
will meet everything unresolvedin my heart and in my soul, so
that I could live life morefully.
(37:02):
And so here we are, become oneliving tools, ancient tools for
modern living.
This was just one experience ofmine and ours together that has
made these tools more important, like Dan said.
(37:26):
That's why we're doing these,this podcast.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
And you all are invited to join us on this
journey.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Yeah, reach out at, become one living at gmailcom,
with any questions or ideas forus to talk and share about,
because we're just gettingstarted.
So thank you for humoring meand listening if you're
listening, because it wasdefinitely a major death in my
(38:01):
life so that I could be reborn.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome back to Become One Living.
My name is Dan and this is mywife, jody.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hi Become One Living.
Ancient tools for modern living.
You know what today is.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You do.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I believe so.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Today we're recording January 15, 2023.
So you may be listening to thisa little later on, but today is
my nine-year anniversary of abig day.
Life rebirth.
Nine years ago I was teachingyoga at 6 AM and I remember a
(01:07):
trauma nurse banging at the doorof the yoga studio asking to be
let in, because I always lockedthe door.
If you're late, you're out, youcan't come in.
You can't come in after theclass starts.
No, and I happened to be goingin class late because I wasn't
feeling well.
So I let her in.
She told me she was a traumanurse and she just got off her
(01:31):
shift.
So we went in class and Itaught and the day kept going,
but I was still feeling off.
I went to work and I was doingenergy work Me and Dan both do
energy work and I do yogatherapy and I had this woman in
this room and I had this womanin this hold, a cranial, sacral
(01:55):
hold.
One of my hands was under herbutt, near her sacrum, and one
was holding the back of her headand all of a sudden my right
arm slid from underneath herbutt and got stuck in the air,
as if I was holding a pizza pie.
You know, when the pizzadelivery guy comes in the hands
up, he's like pizza.
So my right arm went like that,stuck up in the air, bent in
(02:22):
the elbow, frozen, and I startedstuttering.
And it just kept going thisloop.
And I'm watching her watch meand in my mind I'm thinking I'm
telling her to call 911.
I think I'm telling her, hey,something's wrong.
(02:45):
But apparently I was justsaying da, da, da, this
repetitive word, babble, justbabbling, and because of all the
years of yoga that I had done.
At that time I realized a flipwas switched A switch was
(03:07):
flipped Exactly.
Oh my God, I love that you gotme, and these are some symptoms
that I experienced while livingwith You'll hear in a moment a
brain tumor for 15 yearspotentially unknown to me, and
that was the first sign of astroke.
(03:28):
At that point they said seizurestroke.
They weren't sure, but thebeautiful thing was in the
moment I knew something was up.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, so the hand frozen up in the air and the
stuttering were a sign that itwas a seizure?
Yes, well, interesting enough,the doctors were out on that.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Some doctors said it was a seizure, others said it
was a stroke, that perhaps othersymptoms were the seizure
symptoms, when I would getspacey and lose my ability to be
present.
That was what A seizure.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
The stroke was the pain.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
A seizure.
The stroke was the paralysis ofmy arm and the stuttering.
Now, after this happened, I satdown on the couch in my little
treatment room and I was able toretract and watch myself having
the stroke.
(04:37):
I knew that something was goingon and it wasn't good.
And after it was done, I cameto and I asked her how are you?
And she was crying and she saidwhat just happened?
I said I don't know.
I said I think I'm channelingthat's what I said.
(05:01):
My husband will not laugh duringthis episode because it is very
impactful to him.
This definitely.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Deeply affected.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
To me.
It was kind of funny becauseI'm coming out of something
saying I'm channeling, becauseit felt like I was speaking
tongue and I was doing energywork and apparently there were
heavy solar flares.
Now, after this happened, sheleft an hour later.
I kept working on her and Ifelt so exhausted I couldn't
(05:39):
drive.
I actually was going to sleepat work and due to having a
stroke, I had no capacity torealize that's not normal to
want to sleep at work.
So I tried to drive home, got inthe car and I started feeling
really depressed and I know I'mnot supposed to call people, but
(06:02):
I called the psychiatrist thatsomeone had given me his info.
He was a Wilhelm Reichentherapist, which we could talk
about at a different episode andas soon as I picked up the
phone I went to start to leavemy name and I started stuttering
, but this time my right armwent completely numb and I
(06:26):
pulled over, luckily realizingthat I was going to die.
That's what it felt like.
I felt my heart was going toexplode, from panicking, I think
.
And I saw the cops go by and Ithought okay, I could flag over
a cop, I could drive to thehospital or I could drive back
(06:48):
to work.
Not so smart, I drove back towork.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
And the man who managed that office saw you
there.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yes.
I banged on his door and I saidsomething's wrong.
Bring me to the hospital.
He said I really don't thinkanything's wrong, I think you're
tired.
And he was trying to talk meout of it, not in a bad way.
I'm not really sure why hewould do that, because I know
when something's wrong.
And he finally took me to thehospital and by the time we got
(07:27):
there I lost all speech and wasparalyzed in my right arm and my
right leg was dragging slightly.
Now I'm in the ER and I'mpointing to my chest because I
can't speak.
I'm alone.
He's parking the car and theyfinally got me in.
They did EKGs on my heart.
(07:49):
Nothing was wrong and by thattime the stroke stopped again.
So I was ready to go home andthey said no, no, no, no, no.
And they took me downstairs todo a brain scan and hours later
the ER was so packed.
It was a Thursday night.
(08:10):
I was in the middle of the ER.
I didn't even have my own room.
My hospital gown was ripped.
I remember a breast was hangingout.
My friend it was a male.
He was disturbed about that.
He's like someone.
Get her a blanket Meanwhilewith life, life challenge.
(08:31):
Yeah.
So here I am and I see thedoctor running across the ER to
me and he says call your family.
I said okay, why?
He said you have a brain tumorand your brain is so swollen
that we we can't even do surgeryuntil the swelling stops and we
(08:56):
don't know if you'll make itthrough the night.
I looked at him and I said doyou know who I am?
I do yoga, I eat healthy, I'msomewhat of a good person,
meaning I'm human and sometimeshumanist takes over, I'm giving
(09:19):
and I'm loving.
This can't be happening.
And he said I know exactly whoyou are, your patient number,
you have a brain tumor, callyour family and we're going to
put you on meds.
And I looked at him and I saidwell, why are you standing here?
Go get my meds.
So he went and I waited twohours till I called you because
(09:46):
Dan at the time was living inColorado going to school for
secondary massage techniquesstructural integration.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Body work yes, Structural integration.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
So here I am in the ER.
I didn't tell anyone, I didn'tcall anyone, mainly, I feel,
because I was out of it.
I was on drugs to stop theswelling, then seizure meds, but
I also was in shock.
I couldn't wrap my head aroundthe fact that I had a brain
(10:22):
tumor.
Just hearing those words seemedso odd to me.
And while I was in the ER, thevery nurse that was in my yoga
class in the morning was mynurse.
She came in and she said oh myGod, what are you doing here?
And I said well, it's a funnystory.
(10:45):
And we giggled and she saidwell, it's not that funny.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
So by the time you were able to get a hold of me
which is a story itself and youtold me I was wiped out.
I was out and I barely couldmake it home.
I was staying with my brother.
When I walked into my brother'sfront door he was watching TV
(11:14):
and I was speechless.
So I walked sort of likehalfway into the home and he
looked at me and because he's mybrother, he's like what's wrong
?
And he got up and startedwalking toward me and I walked
toward him and I fell into hisarms and he hugged me and I was
just completely wiped out.
(11:36):
I was beside myself and so Isaid you've got to book me a
flight back to New Jersey.
And he took care of all thearrangements because I literally
was good for nothing.
I just saw everything flashthrough my head.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
I remember not knowing where you worked in
Colorado and I had to find Dan.
He was working at Massage Envyat the time, just doing some
extra work going through school.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I'm trying to make me to end too, so I could study.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
And they weren't going to let me talk to him and
I said this is a matter of lifeand death.
And when I finally got down onthe line I said sit down.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, so I sat down and I told him and when you told
me it's wild, like everyscenario, but a certain
blankness, it's just theweirdest feeling.
And it was a good thing that Iwas sitting down because I just
(12:46):
was completely.
My energy, was just everythingleft.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
My friends, we're sharing this for a few reasons.
One reason is knowing that whenyou get unexpected diagnosis or
unexpected information, it canphysically wipe you out and you
become disorientated.
So I became frozen and just wasdoing my due diligence.
(13:12):
Okay, I'm here and I got tokeep everybody.
Okay, so no one panics.
And also, being on meds becauseI don't do anything, I don't
take aspirin, tylenol, anything,being on all these drugs at the
time for my life, which I'm sograteful for, western medicine,
(13:34):
I don't know how much of thatadded to it.
But when somebody has asurprise diagnosis, let's say
cancer, tumors, anything, mswhatever, I mean anything.
Parkinson's MS, you go into thisdutyful state.
I got to get through this, somy job was to get through this
(13:58):
and then, being a yoga teacherand learning all these teachings
, ancient teachings my goal wasto do it gracefully and honestly
, and that's what we did.
So that day I did not leave thehospital for 30 days.
I spent a month in the hospital.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
In the ER right.
It was like a high.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Oh, I was on the trauma Trauma.
I was on the neurologicaltrauma unit Because they didn't
know where else to put me,because what happened was my
tumor grew into the main bloodflow in your brain.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
So you have this like a skunk stripe, that's what I
think of the sagittal sinus hasa stripe.
Like a skunk has a stripe andit's called the sagittal sinus
and your tumor literally was hadwoven in, had started to grow,
you know, root into that bloodsupply.
(15:01):
So it was.
It's so, essentially, it hadits own blood supply.
Some tumors, benign tumors likeyou had are independent or a
space occupying mass that areindependent of all that.
Of course, being you, this onehad to figure out how to get its
own blood supply.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
So it was growing, it was alive and thriving off of
me and because it was growinginto the main blood supply, the
surgery became even morecomplicated because if they went
too far I could have led todeath and potentially died, and
(15:39):
then we had to sit with them,wait to see if it was cancerous
or not.
So the doctors came in and,luckily, because I teaching yoga
for years, I texted somebody.
I want to say it was a drunktext, but it was really a
steroid, kebra, which is aseizure medicine.
(16:01):
Drunk text.
I was drunk on drugs.
I texted a woman and I said hey, I have to cancel my
appointment tomorrow.
I'm in the hospital, I have abrain tumor.
She wrote back what I said yeah, I'll be in a couple days.
I got a tumor, see you nextweek.
She said Can I send my friend?
(16:24):
And I wrote yes, meanwhile Idon't even have a capacity to
process, because that's wherethe tumor was and the stroke.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, the tumor was in the part of the brain, the
frontal lobe, that all theexecutive function resides right
, right Um, decision making,organizing, initiating those
types of things, which isamazing that you were able to
initiate a text to somebody.
Yeah, you're always like that,though.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Well, I think it was from fight or flight.
Another thing, my friends, tothink about, is when you're in
this state of fear oruncertainty, we are able to
function to some degree becausewe're functioning for our life.
It was life or death in my mindright, and not my life or death
(17:19):
, but I thought, oh my God, whatif I don't show up for my
client?
That's not cool.
That's that's where I wasthinking and that's actually
fear based.
Please listen to this, myfriends.
If we get really caught up andworried about other people,
that's fear based, peoplepleasing.
I was one of those for a while,well, very long time.
(17:41):
So I was more worried abouteveryone else in that moment
than me, which allowed me tofunction and bypass executive
functioning, because I was whatwe call limbic.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Right, so this person that you had an appointment
with was who?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Her husband was the head gastrointestine.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yeah, gastroenterologist at the
hospital that you were in and heknew someone, a doctor, his
good friend was the head of aNew Jersey brain.
New Jersey brain and spine.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yes, and he called in his guy.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, what a gift.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And this doctor, dr Lee, oh my God, so skillful just
had come on board a year later,a year earlier for that
particular specialty, he onlyspecializes in the type of tumor
I had that was in meshed withthe sinus sagittal cavity.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
I mean how do people not believe in divine
intervention or just thateverything's divine, divine
timing, everything's kind ofmeant to be in some some regard.
So we learned that the tumorwas a walnut or a golf ball,
(19:00):
like they said, between the sizeof a grape and a walnut.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yes, and I had different options.
Keep it in.
Do radiation stay on seizuremeds?
Speaker 1 (19:11):
But the doctor yeah, so when you're the the, the man
who was looking at all of theinformation and the images came
to your room to look at theimages with you and come up with
the decision.
He said and we could go up theright.
He said we could go up thenasal cavity.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
No, they were wrong.
So because a CAT scan and anMRI are different if you all
don't know that and I mean Iknow you probably know it
because the names are differentbut when they're doing CAT scans
they're a lot fuzzier than MRIs.
So at first they thought withthe CAT scan it was a peanut and
(19:48):
they were going to go upthrough my nose.
Then they realized that's nothappening.
They had to and I'm going tojust share some details.
So I just want my friends toknow that, if it's, sensitive
yeah, they had to cut my scalpand saw my skull open, remove
(20:09):
part of my skull and dive in.
And I was under, and not somuch because I do remember a lot
, because they had to cut eachnerve slowly and consciously.
So there was a whole team inthere to make sure that they
didn't sever feeling in my arm,my speech, my life.
(20:32):
So they did not know, we didnot know what was going to
happen after brain surgery.
It was about six hours long,and so does that.
It was so beautiful.
Dan and I sat and we talkedabout the fact that I might not
live.
We talked about I might comeout paralyzed and we talked
(20:57):
about I might come out not beingable to talk.
And that is when the power ofyoga Let me say this, the power
of the system of yoga, came inhandy, because I am not only my
speech, I'm not only my body,I'm more than that.
And I thought who would I be?
(21:19):
How am I going to be in theworld if I don't have those
abilities anymore?
And I sat with that and criedand Started to dive deeper and
deeper in this whole time at thehospital waiting.
It was about five or six daysbefore they actually could do
(21:39):
surgery.
And I was alone in the darkBecause I my eyes, I couldn't
see, I couldn't handle lookingat screens or anything, and I
was so sedated I slept a lot,but I just sat with the whole
constructs that I created in 39years of my life.
I'm a yoga teacher, I'm a yogaowner.
I do this, I'm a storyteller,I'm this and in one instance,
(22:03):
snap, boom, I'm nothing.
Disease, circumstances, life,it doesn't care who you are, it
doesn't matter how great youthink you are or how generous
you think you are.
If something's going to happen,my friends, it's gonna happen.
So I'm asking you now do youhave tools to, to navigate what
(22:31):
life gives you?
And I had tools.
I had friends.
Not Friends in this way of Imean, I had friends that came to
support me, but I mean I havefriends that are conscious and
have tools that they use.
(22:51):
And those friends that usetheir tools Made me and helped
me use my tools.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, they, they supported you and being held and
they supported you.
I think they're in a great way,reflecting you know that you
were capable, you, you had tools, you had been practicing yoga
already for a really, really,really long time.
(23:21):
So I I Mean there's no way toprove it, but I get the feeling
that, had you not been theperson that you were all the way
up into surgery, that yourrecovery, how expeditiously you
got through the cognitive speechtherapy and got your speech
back in order and figuringthings out and organizing things
, I mean today it's like crazy.
(23:42):
You're like the most organizedentrepreneurial business owner,
yogi, that I've.
I've witnessed.
It's really together.
So you made it incrediblerecovery.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Let's talk about that .
The tumor sat in executivefunctioning and for Periods in
my life I was severely depressedBecause I couldn't start or
initiate a project like thedishes.
When I first met Dan 13 yearsago, he walked in my house,
(24:16):
dishes and clothes were all over.
I had to kick clothes out ofthe way for him to walk into my
home and I thought I was a slob.
I thought I was dirty.
I had all these ideas.
I had no idea a brain tumor wasgrowing in the area that
Wouldn't allow me to do thedishes.
(24:37):
I Couldn't start a project.
I would stand in front of thesink or stare at my clothes and
think I'm too depressed.
It had nothing to do withdepression, it was.
There was no connection.
There was a tumor blocking theconnection and we had no idea.
I had no idea.
(24:58):
I couldn't get organized, Icouldn't sustain a project, I
couldn't meditate.
Now, finding all that out was arelief, but when I woke up I
Was stuttering and barely hadany speech and you had work to
do.
I had a lot of work to do.
I couldn't feel my right arm.
(25:18):
Still I Did wake up.
The nurses were giggling.
I woke up and I said, wow, whattime is it?
How long was I in there?
And as soon as I could get up Iwalked the hospital rooms with
my IV and A couple days later wefound out I had a blood clot in
(25:41):
my sinus sagittal cavity fromthe quarterization of the
surgery.
Now, because I had a blood clot, they had to keep me and Give
me blood thinners.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Yeah, and the typical blood thinner that is usually
given was it kumudin your bodywas resistant to.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, the blood thinners weren't working.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
So they did.
They used a drug that I thinkthey were experimenting or
testing in Europe, that had notbeen Completely approved for use
here, but the doctor feltstrongly that this is probably
the route to go and it was Thinkit was Zeralta or Zeralta, yeah
, something like that, but itwas only used for lungs at the
(26:24):
time and they didn't know if itwould work.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
But they felt we got to do something because they
couldn't let me leave.
So 30 days in the hospitalcouldn't?
All I could do was sleep, and Ihad read a book about a woman
Having a stroke and howimportant sleep was.
So we wouldn't let anyone comevisit me, it was just a few
(26:47):
people were allowed in yeah, wetried to, yeah.
We did try and I slept a lot.
I did you, I did All the speechtherapy and occupational
therapy and I got my speech back.
I meditated, we dissolved theblood clot and my neurologist
one day came in, took off hissurgery hat, sat down in a chair
(27:12):
and like slid down and said tome who are you?
And I said what he's like, whoare you?
Why do people care so muchabout you?
I said I'm really confused, drLee, I had no idea.
He said I get calls every dayAsking to see your paperwork,
(27:33):
because there are other doctorsthat I know, that were in the
hospital, that work with him,that know me, and he said and
their wives and these people,they're all asking how is Jodi,
what's going on?
And he said who are you?
Why, why?
And I said I'm just a yogateacher.
And he said Just a yoga teacher.
(27:58):
He said that's what you do, youjust, you just teach yoga.
I said yeah, and Someone saidto me you've impacted many lives
.
It was as if I had died and Igot to see my Obituary and I got
to see what people said aboutme.
So every year Facebook gives mememories and I get to see all
(28:26):
the beautiful posts that peoplewrote about me and all the
support that I got, and it blowsme away that I have Engaged
with so many people and havetouched so many in a positive
way that they cared.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah, it's a testament to the path you've
chosen and the history you builtof Sharing what you've learned
from the people that youfollowed.
You know Yoga, philosophy andall those things that you take
into your classroom and share issuper touching and moving.
You're, you're, you're ateacher that you know.
It's like in our new office andsomebody comes back, they came
(29:08):
to find us in our office andit's like, oh my god, I haven't
seen you in years and peoplecome, literally come back to
visit you.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
If they're in the area, you've impacted people and
my friends I wanted to sharewith you.
That was never my intent.
My intent was never to teachpeople, inspire people or
motivate people.
All the practices that I'velearned and studied were
intended to make me whole.
(29:35):
I have experienced much morethan just this very incident.
Dan jokes that I have ninelives.
I still have three left, sowatch out.
But after brain surgery,because it was very stressful, I
(29:57):
then experienced chronicillness for multiple years, and
that's a whole, nother episodeMultiple episodes.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
But the common thread through all of that is your
lifestyle of yoga and the toolsof yoga and that the system is.
I mean honestly, after surgery.
I went to visit you that oneday and you had the back of the
table inverted and your legswere up the table and you're
like I was doing legs up thewall.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
If you don't know what that is in a hospital bed.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
In a hospital bed.
And another time the nursescame to see you and they
couldn't find you and you wereaside the bed on your mat doing
yoga on the floor, and they werepanicked because they couldn't
find you.
So you're right back to yoga.
Right back to, I mean rightback.
I mean it's just become who youare.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
We need to do our practices so that our practices
just do us.
Even the way I ate.
At the hospital, I chose what Iate.
I didn't eat as much.
I knew I was laying around whatcan I eat to fuel me?
I became educated and when thedoctor said you need to read
(31:19):
like this or learn how to read,because I wasn't comprehending
at first, so I'm reading, and itwas just imagine watching a
child open a book and thechild's looking at the book and
they're not really reading it,they're just pretending.
That's what I was doing.
And when they asked me to saymy ABCs, I proceeded to say them
(31:46):
and I watched my husband and mymother start crying, and I had
no idea why, because in my mindI'm singing ABCD, efg.
That's not what was coming outof my mouth.
And it took me months toformulate my ABCs, my one, two,
(32:11):
threes.
There was detailed lists that Ihad to eat.
Brain surgery changed me, and athought I'd like to share
besides all of this is I learnedthat I don't like the word
(32:34):
recover.
Speaker 1 (32:36):
What word do you prefer?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Become more resilient , because recovery if you look
up the word recover, it means togo back and get what you lost,
to go back and to bringsomething forth.
I don't want to be who I wasbefore brain surgery.
I'm not when we use these words.
I have to recover.
(33:02):
I have to recover.
I don't have to recover.
I need to integrate what iswhat just happened and get back
up again and just keep goingwith what's here in the moment,
not relive and say I want to bewho I was before.
Please think about that.
If you are experiencingsomething, an illness, a
(33:25):
situation that you oh I want torecover this.
If we're not growing, we'redying, just like a plant, plants
if they're not growing andbeing nourished, they're dying.
That's us.
I don't want to go back.
I want to be able to live withwhat was what happened to me,
(33:48):
and I am and do I have 100%recovery?
I say no, I don't.
I don't believe I'll ever be100%, because I get tired
quickly.
Sometimes lights bother me, butfor the most part 99% of the
(34:10):
time because of the tools ofyoga, neurosculpting, which
we'll talk about, which wascreated by Lisa Wimberger.
That was key in my recovery.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
No doubt you pursued those things with vigor, not
that you hadn't before, but thisreally seemed to turn you on.
I'm not sure what it was, but Iknow that you were wanting to
discover yourself and moveforward and learn and upgrade
(34:47):
everything, live.
It almost upgraded your passionfor living consciously.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Yeah, when they were bringing me in for surgery.
This is.
I'm going to wrap it up withthis.
I want to leave you all withthis.
I was asking God or theuniverse, whatever word you want
.
I was just saying someone, giveme a sign, please, what is
(35:18):
happening here, and they wheeledme into a unit, part of the
hospital that wasn't even openyet.
It was still under construction.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
I think it was the kids.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
It was the surgery surgical room.
The operating room was for achild yeah, it was for children.
So they wheel me in and mynurse is going, going, going,
going, like bing bonging allover the place.
And I grab her arm and I gowhat's your name?
And she said Grace.
I said Grace, slow down, slowdown, breathe with me.
(35:58):
And we breathed.
I said there's no rush.
We go in the ER and I look up onthe ceiling and there's a mural
a painting of a parrot of aMcCaw parrot that my father had
(36:20):
and my dad passed it's, I think,12 years now but an instant
reminder and support and divinemessage that everything's
happening in the right way.
And that I'm supported, thatphysically people aren't there,
but they're there.
(36:40):
And as I went in, there was somany people around me for the
surgery and I went under and Isaid at that moment if I live, I
will meet everything unresolvedin my heart and in my soul, so
that I could live life morefully.
(37:02):
And so here we are, become oneliving tools, ancient tools for
modern living.
This was just one experience ofmine and ours together that has
made these tools more important, like Dan said.
(37:26):
That's why we're doing these,this podcast.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
And you all are invited to join us on this
journey.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Yeah, reach out at, become one living at gmailcom,
with any questions or ideas forus to talk and share about,
because we're just gettingstarted.
So thank you for humoring meand listening if you're
listening, because it wasdefinitely a major death in my
(38:01):
life so that I could be reborn.
Thank you.
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