Can Belief Heal the Body? What I Learned After My Cancer Diagnosis

Like so many of us as humans believe that we're all invincible. And I think one of the only absolute certainties in our lives is that we will die. Yet we all seem to live in this strange denial or avoidance of that very unchanging fact. And so, you know, my identity at the time I got the diagnosis was a lot smaller and a lot less expansive than it is today. And I think I was living my life in autopilot, if I'm honest, and possibly, you know, in all of the wrong ways.

Sarah Susak, welcome. It's a pleasure to have you on the show.

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. I'm, I'm excited to talk to you.

Same. Honestly, you have an incredible story about cancer. You know, from reading your book back in 2017, you experienced face and throat cancer, changing your appearance and the way you now approach your life. Then in 2024, you got lung cancer and then Guillain-Barré syndrome, leaving you paralyzed for months. I read your book, Yeah. You Are You: Finding the Guru Within You, and I was in awe of your courage, resilience, my— and your mindset to connect with your power and inner wisdom. Honestly, it was an amazing read. And it just shows what the human spirit is capable of if you allow it. I would love to start, Sarah, with the moment that changed everything, your diagnosis. Can you take us back to that?

I think, um, thanks for reading my book. I really appreciate that. I'm glad you enjoyed it. But I think like so many of us as humans believe that we're all invincible. And I think one of the only absolute certainties in our lives is that we will die. Um, yet we all seem to live in this strange denial or avoidance of that very unchanging fact. And so, you know, my identity at the time I got the diagnosis was a lot smaller and a lot less expansive than it is today. And I think I was living my life on autopilot, if I'm honest, and possibly, you know, in all of the wrong ways. And I don't think anything will get you assessing your sense of who you are or why you're here than a life-threatening diagnosis like the one I got. And so The story goes that I was in the bathroom and my husband gave me a kiss and I got a really bad electric shock on my face. And I joke that I knew we had chemistry, but this was not normal. And I got misdiagnosed at the beginning, not any fault of the medical team, but with pain neuralgia. But it got worse and worse. And every time I touched my face, it would pulsate. We had just done 8 rounds of IVF treatment to get our baby, and our baby was only 1 year old at the time. But we did a biopsy. It was adenoid cystic carcinoma, which is a very rare and deadly cancer. And the diagnosis that I got and the prognosis that I got was not positive. My doctor said to me at the time, we can operate on your face, we can radiate your face, and we'll probably give you a couple more years to live, but then it will metastasize to another part of your body and you'll likely die. Essentially what I got told. Um, but I, I tell the story in my book. I, I don't know if you saw it in the Guru Doctor chapter that I literally just walked out of the room. I just chose immediately that I, I didn't wanna listen to this guy and all of his personal view on what my future was gonna look like. And my husband and I went out into the corridor of the surgery. My mom stayed in the room to get all the information, and I asked my husband to dance. It was a very strange—

I love that. I loved that reading that. I loved it.

Yeah, it was such a bizarre thing to me because my husband does not dance. But we were dancing and we were joyful and we were like, you know, as if we were at a rave party. And I think the way that I tell the story in the book is that in that dance lay my power, my power to decide how to turn what was just information into a positive story. This is my story, and I can accept the diagnosis, but To hell with their, you know, future yet to be determined prognosis. I had the power to change how that ended. And so, yeah, the diagnosis really, you know, was the catapult of my own journey into, you know, more self-sufficiency and more self-sovereignty. And that's what the book is all about. So, yeah, it was a huge turning point in my life for sure. So much changed since then.

Absolutely. I absolutely love that. And that's what I hope so many people take away from the interviews I do on this podcast, especially stories as powerful as yours, is that you may get the diagnosis, accept the diagnosis, but you don't have to accept the prognosis. You do have power. And that's what I loved all the way through your book, was just that, that theme of you have the power within you. That brings me to ask you, like, many people feel, you know, so much fear and betrayal by their bodies when they— after they get this kind of diagnosis. How did your mindset evolve So you could relate to your body, you know, during and after that time?

First up is I, I learned firsthand how very uninvincible our bodies are and how, you know, one of my key duties is, you know, in being alive and being a human is to keep my body well. And it's not a joke. I think when people say your body really is your temple, you need to take care of what you put in it, what you put on it, how you allow it to spend its time, what you do, who you spend time with, what you prioritize. And I think our bodies give us very clear signals about what they need. But if we're not awake or aware enough sometimes to listen and then act accordingly, that can be a problem. But I never, I don't think I ever felt betrayed by my body. I agree with you. It's a really common feeling among people that I speak to who get an unexpected diagnosis. But I had this really great moment with, as soon as I was diagnosed with my kinesiologist, and she said to me, you know, I'm lying there in grave fear for my life. And she said, I really think you need to thank your cancer. And I was like, what? I don't, I don't feel grateful towards this cancer at all. But she said, what you need to do is thank it for all that it, it is about to teach you. But say, it's okay. I'm good now. I have learned, and I will learn the lessons you came to teach me, and you can move on, cancer. You can move on. You're free to move on. And that was a really life-changing shift for me personally, away from anger and blame towards my body and towards focusing on what this experience or what this health challenge could actually bring my life in a positive way, which of course it did. So yeah, I, I didn't feel that sense of betrayal, and it was probably because of that mind shift that I made when she said those words to me.

Yeah, because, you know, as we know, negativity and anger is so damaging, you know, Even without having a significant diagnosis or a significant health condition, um, we know the effects. You know, everybody knows when they're angry with themselves how they feel. And when you're—

It only hurts you. Anger only makes you more sick.

Absolutely. And I read that line in your book, is you viewed your cancer as a gift.

Yeah, I definitely did.

That's incredible. I mean, that definitely does take a huge mind shift, and a lot of people think that the kinesiologist was a nut job. You know, honestly.

It's so— I did too. But like when you say, because it is very true and I think it's a very— people roll their eyes sometimes when I say that I think cancer was a gift. Um, but I do think it is true. But I, I do think that you kind of learn that when you look back and you connect the dots a little bit later. And I remember, um, there was a spiritual guru who I talk about in the book. that I went to one of his lectures and it was very soon after I was diagnosed. And he— I had, you know, all these burning questions for him. I thought he was, you know, going to give me all the answers. But I, I put my hand up and I said, why do good people get cancer? I'm good. I'm healthy. I, you know, I, I do good things in the community. Why me? I had that real why me mindset at the beginning.

Mm-hmm.

And he just looked at me like, you know, gurus do. And he said, tell me. Has everything about the way you live your life changed since you got the diagnosis? And I sort of stopped for a second, but then I was like, yeah, it has. And he didn't say anything after that. He just smiled at me and moved to the next person. And at the time I was like, you know, ah, that's very frustrating. Are you saying it's my fault? But when I really thought about it, what I ate before my diagnosis, the hideous processed foods I used to eat, how much alcohol I drank, how I spent my time, what I prioritized, what I put on my body, toxic products, all these things. He wasn't saying it's my fault that I got cancer, but he was saying that if everything about the way you lived your life before cancer was so good, why then did you change every aspect of it after you were diagnosed? And, you know, did I really think that not meditating, drinking too much, smoking, which I did when I lived in Paris, working till 2:00 AM like a nut job, eating burgers and fries, did I really think that all of those did not contribute to my cancer in some way. I think they say that in the moment you can't see it. I think it was Steve Jobs that said, you connect the dots later. My dots are well and truly connected. Everything about my life is a zillion times better than before cancer. I feel happier, calmer, more capable. My relationships are better. My fear is dramatically reduced. My anxieties are kind of fading away. I definitely feel like I experienced you know, more post-traumatic growth from, from my illness than I did stress because it's changed my life in so many good ways. So, yeah, I guess I, I would just say to people, I wish that people didn't wait for the wrecking ball and they took some of that action now. It's so much easier to clean up your life and get into a healthy state before you get the diagnosis, like make health and wellness a priority now. That's kind of what I think about that. But yeah, it was definitely a gift, um, now that I— now that I'm a few years down the track.

Yes, I remember my first mentor said to— you know, I was in a lecture with him and he said, why does every— why do people wait, like, for example, to lose a leg before they wake up, or lose their toes to diabetes or whatever before they wait? Why does something like that has to happen before you realize what you're doing? Where you are now is what you did 5 years ago.

It's so true. And even people in my life that, oh my gosh, you know, like it was so horrible what you went through. And then I look at their lives and I think, well then why are you still smoking? Or why are you still doing this? These things that could lead to, to what I just went through. Like, it's like they're not even inspired by somebody else's example. And that's why I'm so passionate about saying, please listen to me. Don't go through what I went through. Just make the changes now that they're not. You know, they're not that bad. They, they'll make you feel happier and, um, yeah, more at peace. So yeah, anyway, people will do what they, they will.

Motivation is the motivation. And you talk about becoming— definitely all throughout the book, which I loved, was, you know, talking about becoming your own guru. And that's what I love. Particular person I used to deal with too actually had a very similar— he used to say guru means G-U-R-U. And that's why—

yeah.

And when I saw yours, I thought, oh my God, I'd absolutely love that. And by becoming your own guru, you talk about how turning inwards is— and constant— and not constantly seeking out answers and validation from the outside. So can you talk to us about that? And then what kind of beliefs that you had to let go of to remove— you know, like you talk about the darkness, removing the darkness to allow more light to come in?

I mean, the book largely actually is about that, like how, like my traveling through my own journey towards greater self-sufficiency and less reliance and dependence on people or things or belief systems that were outside of, of my own body and soul. Um, and my book really does laser in on, I think it's a very common approach to life that many of us have where we live our lives in reliance on people or events out there coming to be, coming to be in existence or changing in order for us to feel happy or safe or fulfilled. And I, I think it's a very common feeling of postponing joy, postponing happiness until somebody or something in our life changes. Like, it's a little bit like, you know, I could be in a good mood or I could be happy, but only if I'm well again, or only when I find a partner, or only when I have a baby. I've lived my life in that way many, many times. Um, but we're postponing our joy if we live that way. We're living our lives in a state of what I, I've learned is called object referral. And the danger of that is that if you are relying on someone or something else staying exactly as it is in order for you to maintain your happiness or peace, well then what happens when that thing changes or that thing leaves or that person leaves? What happens to your sense of who you are and your steadiness then? And so when your happiness, you know, truly comes from a place within you, what it means is you are no longer a victim of circumstance.

outside. Mm-hmm.

But even with the chaos or the changes around you, you can remain steady and happy, but it's all about your own self-sovereignty rather than dependency on somebody else. And you can, you can see just from thinking about it that way that it's a far less tumultuous way to live. And I think the specific breakthrough moment for me was most definitely when I started to learn about a body of wisdom which I talk about in the book called the Vedas. And in Sanskrit, the word Veda means knowledge, and it's a body of knowledge. Not many people know about it, but it's a body of wisdom that's been handed down over a period of, you know, 8,000 years ago, which I have studied deeply, um, through many, many hours of lectures over the last 4 years. And the teaching in the Veda, one of the teachings is that I am not just an individual body and personality walking around on this earth. I am also the source of that kind of manifested form of individuality. I am also the universe. And, and, and a simpler way of putting it is I am the pure consciousness or the pure awareness that's able to observe the smaller sense of who I am. And in the Vedic teachings, they talk about it as the I am-ness of life. So when you say I am happy or I am sad, who is it that's actually observing or aware of the fact that that's how you feel? Um, that's your pure consciousness. And so the pure consciousness is just one big field of yet to be expressed potential. Um, and, and I learned through the studies of the Vedas that when you go within, that's the part of who you really are that you access through the practice of meditation. And so that's how I came to know and understand that the guru, like you said, is, is in fact looking out my eyes right now. And I am also that. It's a bit mind-bending, I think. But I know that so many gurus speak of this phenomenon. If you think of some of the modern authors like Eckhart Tolle or Deepak Chopra, they're more well known than some of the, the rishis that, that I've studied. But, um, they often talk about the fact that, that we are the universe having a human experience. Or, um, I think Eckhart said, life is the dancer. We are the dance, not the other way around. not only what I now know to be true, but it's what I experience every day when I meditate. So that's kind of a long explanation, I realize, but that's genuinely how I started to realize that the guru was, was me.

Yeah.

Um, and is you, is all of us. Each one of us is just extended self. So it's, it's definitely mind-bending, some of the wisdom in there. But when you learn it and when you meditate and you go within, cuz when you meditate, What you're doing is turning your mind away from the outside world of form and phenomena and using a mantra, which is essentially just a mind vehicle. That's what it means in Sanskrit. And it lures your mind away from the outside world and deeper and deeper and deeper into that layer of, of, of pure consciousness, which I just explained. Um, which has all of the, you know, the qualities of joy and bliss and peace and calm and stillness. Um, every time you meditate, you access that and it starts to imprint. more and more on your egoic mind and you bring that state more often out into the world. So it's quite a beautiful, um, practice for that reason.

It is. It starts with us and it ends with us. Yeah. You know, we are the power. We have the power and we have the power to choose. You know, people outsource. We tend to outsource everything these days and, you know, and we've been outsourcing our power and outsourcing our happiness and outsourcing our ability to want to be where we want to be, uh, everything, you know.

Yeah.

Instead of realizing that that is just all created internally. Which brings me to a point you made, uh, where you believe healing is more about becoming whole than being fixed. So I really love that because you— no one can fix you. Even the medical system cannot fix you. That's why some people heal and other people don't.

Yeah, it's really, it's a, it's a really, the concept of being fixed has always been a part of my life because I worked for a long time at a charity called the Wayside Chapel. And they, um, their mission was about forming community with no us and them. And they taught us through, um, the work that we did there and the mission that we were pursuing, that people are not problems to be solved or to be fixed. They're people to be met. And so I've always kind of had that mindset, but When I learned meditation, the whole concept of what wholeness is really changed for me. And I think wholeness can obviously have so many different meanings and interpretations, but for me, meditation has taught me so much about the reunification and identification with what we call in the Vedic tradition, the one indivisible whole consciousness field. And so the belief according to this Vedic wisdom is that there is only one field of energy. It's actually been proven in modern science now. A very popular sort of stream of science is called quantum physics.

Yeah.

And the view is that there is this one whole field of unexpressed energetic potentiality. In science, they call it the quantum field. And everything that is a thing, including us, comes from that field and manifests from that field. And so when we realize and we experience through meditation that we come from that source, but we're never disconnected from that source, we can live our lives knowing that we already are whole and that there is nothing that we can lose that can make us less whole. But equally, there's nothing that we can gain that could make us more whole. We were always whole. Um, and we always will be whole. And I think that's what's happened since my illness is that I've started to favor my universality more these days than my smaller contracted individuality. Because I, know now that there's nothing left to find or to fix. All we need to do is remember who it is that we already are. And that's been a magical, um, discovery for me through meditation, for sure.

I remember reading in your book somewhere where you told your doctor that you were doing this, and am I correct in saying he said, well, I don't actually agree with it, but it seems to be working, so keep going?

Yeah, no, definitely. The Western— the challenges I came up with in the Western medical system were difficult, like, because I was obviously, you know, a lot of drugs, a lot of antibiotics, painkillers, you know, you name it, antidepressants, anti-anxiety. I was becoming quite psychotic from being on this plethora of drugs.

And was that prior to cancer? Sorry.

Was that— No, this was after the cancer. After you had so many ongoing issues with facial pain and infections in my mouth, and there was so many issues. issues that came afterwards. Um, and they really struggled to give me alternatives to that, um, other than surgical interventions or more medication. And so it kind of forced me to go down that path of working out more about holistic health practices like meditation, like herbs.

Mm-hmm.

I'm, I'm very deeply into herbs. Once I started to take Ayurvedic herbs, um, I stopped all the medication. And one of the things that I used to try and convince my doctors is, that they need to understand the body's power to self-heal. And I used to have debates with them about one particular author.

So that went down well.

Oh, I love my doctors. They saved my life and we're all best friends still to this day because they still treat me. But we often entered into really lively debates about things. But one of the things I used to talk to them about was the power to self-heal. And That they, they're starting to believe me because there's been a few instances, like for example, when the cancer metastasized to my lung in 2024, they said, this is like unbelievable because when this particular cancer metastasizes, it metastasizes everywhere, but you've only got one tiny lesion on your lung. And I'm like, yep, of course I do because I've been doing the work to self-heal. And I, I read a couple of really good books that I'd love your listeners to know about. And they were books by Bruce Lipton and Joe Dispenza. And they're both spiritual scientists, but they, they talk about, you know, cuz a lot of people believe that when we get disease, it's bad luck or it's genes, but nothing could actually be further from the truth. Our minds are incredibly powerful. And so tapping back into the power of the mind was such a big part of my journey. And what I remembered learning about was the placebo effect. It was hugely influential.

I have those books.

Yeah. And I said to my doctors, how do you explain that These medical patients that have serious disease take a placebo which has absolutely no medical effect whatsoever, yet they, just from the very thought that they had taken a medication, they became better than some of the people that took the actual medication. And I used to say to them, how do you explain that? And, you know, they didn't have explanations, if I'm honest.

Yeah.

Oh, but just that, that was hugely instructive for me because to know that just my thoughts, my emotions, my feelings, and my mindset could have such an impactful effect on ridding myself or preventing disease from recurring, that changed everything for me.

You know, it comes down to our mindset. It does come down to our beliefs and what we— and I kind of also think it comes down to what we believe we are worth.

Yeah.

You know, or does it— you know, someone— you know, I've spoken to people and they've said, I just wouldn't do it, or I don't believe in that. So a belief can stop you from trying different things. And this is what this is all about. This is what these interviews are all about. This is what you're all about.

Yeah.

Helping people understand that— get out of your way Yeah. And you could find that there are other possibilities. And that brings me to— I remember reading in your book where you said, you know, you're very much about if someone tells you something's impossible, well, you know, up goes the red flag for a challenge and you have to rise up. And because you actually believe, which I love so much, that it's all of— like we've just discussed, it's all about our mindset. But it's about choices.

Yeah, it is. I, I've always been really affronted by the statement, oh, I had no choice. It's like, really? Do you genuinely believe that? Or is that just you justifying your, you know, choice?

Inaction.

Make no act to take no action. Exactly. Um, so yeah, if, if somebody says to me, I can't do something, uh, the, the, the, the dial just gets turned right up for me. I'm like, oh yeah, thank you. You've just become my best friend because you're going to be the reason now that I do succeed or I do, you know, change in the way that I'm looking. But I definitely think people need to take more personal accountability for, you know, how they're experiencing a health challenge or a health diagnosis because you can't change unchangeable facts. You know, if you get a terrible health diagnosis, it is what it is, what it is. But, you know, the power lies with you on how you react to that situation. That choice is always yours, and there's no hiding from that, you know.

And that is the, the power part, isn't it? Understanding that we do have the power with us.

Yeah.

And but not just understanding, I think you have to believe it.

Yeah, definitely.

You have to believe it, and you have to sort of try to— that belief, to bring it up into your conscious awareness.

Yeah.

That, you know what, I'm powerful, I have a choice, and if I don't like What they're telling me, I can do something different. Like, you did do traditional care. You did radiation.

Yeah, I respected what they wanted. But I do think that as humans, we tend to be quite limited in our mind by the nasty little ego that sits in there. And I think that's one of the things that I did a lot of work on is trying to really learn and understand that all of these things we tell ourselves about what we're capable of or what we can do or how limited we are, really, they are just the product of what I like to think of now as a little self-created prison that, that, you know, we need to escape. Um, because one of the biggest learnings that I, I got from all of the study and all of the reading and research that I did was that I am not my thoughts. Um, thoughts are not actually facts. And when you think about that for a, for a second, it's actually quite liberating because all of those thoughts that you think define you or limit you in some way are just generated from a hugely long history of social indoctrination, narratives, storylines, all from the past. Most of them aren't even from yourself. They're from teachers or parents or advertising or politicians or schools. Um, so to know that all of those thoughts are not who you are, but they're just part of the egoic mind that's taken occupancy in your head is a really important learning because it's a reminder. And, and I guess meditation was the thing that really helped me because meditation of course helps you transcend the ego and transcend the thinking mind. When you practice it daily. And so, yeah, just moving away from the limitations that the ego places on your mind was a huge part of my journey as well.

This might be a very hard question to answer because it may be like, how would you know? But do you feel that you are— if you didn't do this, if you didn't change your mindset from where you were prior to cancer, and then you got cancer and just did radiation, that you would have the outcome that you have now? No way.

And even the doctors have said that they consider me like a medical guinea pig. They, they, I'm constantly a case study. They even once they, I had this little piece of bone inside my mouth. It was called, it was, I got osteoradionecrosis and it was, um, my, my jaw had been radiated so much that the new bone that they put in my face that was from my leg became very fragile and it started to debride and a piece of bone came. It's gross, but came through my mouth on the inside and started cutting my tongue.

Oh.

They were like, this cannot be removed. You have to have surgery and we have to put a new bone. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Um, just give me time. And I did a lot of the work that I learned from Joe Dispenza around this. This was the scientist that cured himself from a crippling back condition just with the power of his mind. You can't, you know, he never had the surgery and his back cured. I mean, you can't argue with that. And so I did a lot of that work and I went to the dentist and I said, just tap on it for me. And he tapped it and out it popped. I've still got it because it's like my little trophy. And doctors, even just from little things out like that, they're like, what on earth? Like that, that they didn't even consider that could come out on its own that way. So, and same with the metastasis and same with when I went into hospital last year and was paralyzed from Guillain-Barré. They, they were like, you know, you'll be in hospital for 12 months minimum. I was out in 2 months and 7 days or something like that. And they couldn't believe that either. They said, you know, I had to learn to walk again, swallow again, blink again. And they said, this is defying our expectations. So at that point you say, well, then listen to me about what it is that I do and what it is that I've learned that helped me get to that place. But still there's a resistance. That's okay. Like, you know, there's a place for everyone in the world and the doctors have saved my life, so I owe them so much. But so, so too have all of the other practices that I've engaged in since having the diagnosis. And you can't deny that fact.

It's incredible because really in 2017 you got this, you started, did you start them all these practices straight after receiving the diagnosis? So it really hasn't been that long. To have such miraculous changes, like the fact of the bone in your mouth that they said they have to surgically remove, and yet your dentist just tapped it out after a while. You know, they're, they're incredible changes.

Yeah.

So we're not talking— so, you know, for our listeners, really, you're not talking, you know, it's a 15-year practice before you see anything.

No, no, definitely not. But I do say to people that I teach meditation to, um, I do say to them, don't come to meditation for just like a magic pill. It's a lifelong practice that you need to integrate into your life, you know, holistically, genuinely.

Mm-hmm.

I think a lot of humans and me included, we all have this like desire for instant gratification or instant results. And, you know, I think it's something you really need to dedicate yourself to and you need to do the work. I didn't get to where I got to with this mindset or with some of the better health outcomes that were expected for me easily. I have done the work. I have pounded the pavement. I, you read about it in my book. I share all of it in my book. You know, people said to me afterwards, how did you get through that? How did you have these great outcomes, et cetera? And I was like, oh, you know, I just did. And then when I walked away, I was like, no, actually I had a real strategy. I gotta write that down. And so that's what caused me to write the book. I just thought, I want to give people the book that I wish I had in my hands when I had the diagnosis. Um, but hopefully it's relevant for, you know, people even without health challenge, you know, how to overcome any challenge that comes.

I think it's actually very relevant for anybody who is even just feeling down or a little bit sorry for themselves, or they're just in a slump, or they want to change their thinking to something a bit more positive but just know how to go about it. The book is very relevant for anything. It's all about, you know, empowering yourself, which, you know, is a fantastic thing. And you definitely, uh, use Vedic meditation as your number one— you consider that as your number one lifesaver. And that led you to create Medi Steady Go. Give us a quick overview of what this Medi Steady Go is.

Yeah, sure. So when I got the diagnosis, the first person I reached out to was a Vedic meditator, totally randomly on Instagram. Um, and I learned, and he said, you need to go and sort this out, um, quickly. And as soon as you're finished, you come back to me and I'll teach you Vedic meditation. And I did that and I learned it and I loved it. I loved everything about it. It was what I loved about it is that it wasn't just a technique, it was also a body of wisdom. And so it had, it was steeped in context for me. Um, what I also loved about it was it was an empowering technique that once you invested in it and you learned it, it was yours. You had it in your pocket to pull out, you know, anytime you needed it in any moment of difficulty or anxiety. And you didn't have to keep going back to a healer or, you know, it was yours. And so I really, that resonated with me a lot. But when I started to practice, and I've been meditating now for, you know, almost 8 years, twice a day, 20 minutes each time, I haven't missed hardly any unless, you know, I've been known to say that my house could burn down and I would still do my meditation. That's how much I love it. Um, but I, I did it for a number of years and then I thought, I have gotta get this to as many people as I can, um, in the world because it's that good. And so I did my teacher training and now I'm a qualified Vedic meditation teacher and I set up a business called MediSteadyGo. And what I do is teach the practice of Vedic meditation, not just so people can be calm for 40 minutes a day, but so that they can steady themselves to go back out into the world in a way calmer state, um, and deal more effectively with the chaos and, you know, ever-changing world that I know exists. And I think a lot of people that have been coming to learn from me have enjoyed the fact that I'm in and of this world. I'm a full-time working mom who also had health challenges, very serious ones, but who's also set up a business and written a book and They look at me and think, how on earth did you do all of that whilst going through all of that? And I always answer them the same. It's because I meditate. And so they feel like I understand their lives. Like I really get the challenges of modern day life. I've lived it myself. And I teach in the technique in a very practical way so that people feel that they can integrate it into their life easily. And I absolutely love it.

Brilliant. I've loved everything about your story. I mean, You know, not the fact that you actually had to go through cancer, but what you did after. And what I really love about you is you got that resilience, you've got that, you know, that drive, that passion to help yourself. Because sometimes that's what's lacking after you've gone through the brutality of radiation or chemo or whatever it is that you're— you do have. to actually really feel like that drive, that instinctive drive to help yourself, can sometimes be flatlined. Yeah, but it never did for you. You really just moved. I wouldn't say pushed because that seems like you're forcing it, but you really rose up to the challenge.

Yeah, no, I definitely— I, I think having a little daughter, that was a big motivator. I would have done it anyway, but it was a huge motivator, and I I remember actually reading a book by Dr. Kelly Turner called Radical Remission. I talk about it in my book as well. But she did this global study on what were the 8 commonalities between patients all around the world who had been given a terminal diagnosis, no chance of survival, yet they went into remission. And one of them was having people that you can connect to, like having family, having community. It was amazing to me, actually, that the top 8 commonalities weren't surgical intervention and medication. It was meditation, diet, exercise, community, purpose. And so that was a huge motivator for me as well to go, okay, that's great. They're all things that I can do about what the situation that I'm in. I don't have to rely on anybody else. I can change those. So yeah, it did help me rise to the challenge, as you say.

Sarah, for someone who's listening right now who is facing a diagnosis or feels in their health journey, what would you say to them about where to begin?

I would have so much to say to them. I would say, please read the book. But, you know, one of the biggest things that I would say is like, don't spend too much of your time focusing on why me. Really move as quickly as you can to what now? Like, you know, take— taking some action. Because one of the best things that I did was I moved very, very quickly to full acceptance of the facts as they existed today. I had cancer. It is what it is. But reducing your suffering by moving to acceptance really quickly helps. And I think one of the misconceptions that people have about acceptance is, oh, that means I'm accepting this bad thing that's happened in my life, and it feels like apathy. But that's a real misconception. It was something that I really had to overcome because I thought acceptance meant you did nothing about it. But that's completely wrong. It just means accepting what you can't change and then taking action in respect of what you can, which is your future. I also immersed myself in knowledge. You know, I've mentioned so many books, I won't go over them. But I did see a quote today that reminded me of one of the things that I did. It was like where you are now versus where you wanna be. And it had this sort of little picture of like, you know, a bridge and it was like read books to bridge the gap in between because, you know, reading and absorbing knowledge can really help you get to that place of where you wanna be. But I would genuinely say that the best things that you can do is try and focus on finding purpose from your pain. And by that, I mean thinking about how what you're going through is going to create new and exciting purpose in your life. And for me, that was starting Medi Steady Go and writing my book. And it really helped me, like, not over-identify with the illness. So yes, I am Sarah, mother of one, full-time lawyer, and I have cancer. But I'm also this unbounded, whole, infinitely capable of self-healing, you know, pool of consciousness. And so I had to remember a lot through my diagnosis, that bigger part of who I was rather than that little part to help me, you know, engage in what we've talked about, which is, you know, focusing on how I can react rather than, you know, drowning in the sorrow of that diagnosis. I also— call me, call me, come and learn to meditate. It's one of the first things I did when I got diagnosed. So, you know, I hope that, you know, goes some way to just sharing some of those sort of shifts that I made when I, when I first got diagnosed, because it is tough.

Sarah, thank you so much for coming on, sharing your story. It is, it's, it's absolutely inspirational. It really is. And you are a shining light. An example of what can happen with the right mindset and the right beliefs and the ability to move forward and not sit in bad luck. Oh, and it's not really bad luck, but in a diagnosis, you know, and not— well, prognosis, we should actually say. Sitting in a prognosis that may not be what you want.

Exactly. You are the determinant of your future. That is what I want people to fully understand and believe.

And for all our listeners who have enjoyed listening to Sarah's story, all her links will be in the show notes, including her website where you can purchase the book, where you can book in to learn to meditate with her. She can do that worldwide. You know, honestly, Sarah, absolute inspiration. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

You're welcome.