Karen: I would say look for the positive in your life and as you're looking for the positive reach out and grab a hand for support because we can do this together.

Automated: Hello and welcome to the Beat Cancer Answer brought to you by beatcancer.org the center for advancement in cancer education.

Carl: Hello this is Carl Wagner with Beat Cancer and I have here one of our wonderful coaches Karen Holmes and I'm going to let her talk to you about her journey with cancer and how she got to come to us and become a cancer coach. With that, Karen Holmes.

Karen: Hi, thank you, Carl It's wonderful to be here.

Carl: Welcome.

Karen: I mean that with a full heart and gratitude because being alive and being vital and full of energy is the message that I want to convey to all of the people who are experiencing cancer or who have experienced cancer as I did. It's a journey and it's a wonderful time in my life, to be able to come back and to coach other people during their cancer journey as they heal and recover from cancer. I came to being a cancer coach after I experienced inflammatory breast cancer, and that was back in 2011. I've been on this recovery journey for a long time, I feel very happy that I'm here and the journey that I have been on started when I found out that I had obviously breast cancer.

I was told that I was going to get chemotherapy, I was going to have surgery, and I was going to have radiation.  And all of that seemed rather intimidating, and I did go through all of that. But during that time period, I did a lot of research. I did a lot of reading about the other holistic practices that would be helpful, that would support me through my cancer recovery. And for me, those were the most important steps that I could take. That I could be my own cancer advocate.  Although, I didn't know anything about cancer coaches at the time and so I developed some of the strategies that I've learned and I've read about in the beat cancer dot org program. And so, that all comes around when I finished my medical treatments, and I'll say that they cured me, and that's in my story. That I became this...okay you're done with all the treatments, you're done with the radiation fine we'll see you in six months. Then it was now, what do I do?

That now what do I do, came to me as dance. I knew that food and movement were the best solutions to getting my vitality back.  So, I'll say that dance brought me back to life, and that's where my recovery journey really begins because I knew that I had to change my lifestyle. I knew that I wanted to become somebody who was alive and vibrant and not just somebody who was sitting around wondering what to do next. For me, the dance enlightened my life in fact, I tell people I retired from my job and I flew to Maui and I danced. And that's true, and I came home from Maui and I didn't go back to work. I didn't go back to the career that I'd had for 32 years. Instead, I began this journey of finding out what I wanted to do next and how I could support particularly other women in their breast cancer journey and that's where my focus is. And so, I became a dance teacher facilitator. I facilitate something called Azul, which is a conscious movement dance. now you're going to ask me, what is Azul?

Carl: What is Azul?

Karen:  Conscious dance is really awakening one's heart and awakening what's inside of you. Through the dance, I was able to embody all of the feelings that Ii was going through. It's somewhat, and I've talked to other women they agree. It's somewhat like PTSD, only for cancer patients, where you figure out that wow, I've gone through all my treatments, I'm supposed to be okay and now I realize what I've gone through and what I need to do to change. Concurrently, I changed my eating habits and I did a lot of internal work to figure out where my path was going to go. That path led me to cancer coaching and that's where I am today. To really believe in the support for other women.  I want to be able to support other women in their recovery.  I think it's really important to make that connection one-on-one.  That's what really keeps us alive, that's what motivates us, inspires us to become all that we can be. That once we've gone through this cancer treatment, we have the opportunity to change our lives.

I tell people breast cancer was the worst thing and the best thing that ever happened to me. It was the worst thing because I don't wish it on anybody. It's not a pleasant journey, it can be full of suffering and angst.  And yet, what it gave me was gratitude for my life. It gave me the opportunity to change, reach out to people, to become somebody alive, somebody who can dance her way into freedom of all possibilities and ways of being.

Before I logged on to do this interview, I danced for an hour. It gave me that insight as to where I wanted to go and what I wanted to say. That's where I am today. Here I am as a cancer coach. I've spent the past few months clarifying my vision. When I was going through my cancer treatments, they say have a positive vision, so my positive vision at the time was running down the coast of the Pacific Ocean. I was having a new little grandson at the time and with my hair in a ponytail so my hair would be grown and so that was the vision. The vision that I have created now, is one of a three-part vision that I created in something called pillars of healing and that's become my offering to breast cancer and cancer patients, and women who are recovering from cancer.

So, in the pillars of healing, I offer three opportunities and the first one is a one-on-one cancer coach. Call me up, text me, send me an email, and I will do a free discovery call with you that we can see what it is you as an individual need. I think of you as my...I have created Lily; I have a blog on my website that lily is the person that I like to talk to. And for her I say, I offer you that one-on-one individual assistance, guidance, I will listen and we can move forward together complementing whatever medical treatment you prefer to take. So, that's the one-on-one coaching. The other two other pieces...and the second pillar is really the dance, and offering dance classes and opportunities for women experiencing cancer. The kind of dance that I do, which is Azul, is very freeing. It can be done by anybody and I say anybody regardless of one's physical attributes, because it's something that you bring from inside.

Azul is not something that you're going to have choreographed steps. It's I play music and I facilitate and you move your body to whatever comes up. You listen to your body and say oh I'm going to allow this particular movement or something comes up and you'll say I understand where I'm going now.  So, that movement which I believe is critical to our healthy well-being, it really is. If you had to ask me what are the three things that would be movement and what we put in our bodies, food, and some kind of connection with...that I want to say spiritual or guidance through meditation or whatever you choose to take. That those are the three big things that are going to heal us. And that leads me to the third pillar.

The third pillar is one where I am available to do presentations in person at some point or online for people on A how to prevent cancer or what are some of the things that you can do if you are experiencing cancer or somebody you know and love. Because I believe that all of us have known someone who has had a cancer journey.  So those are the three pillars. The one-on-one consultation. the dancing opportunities through Azul and the third one is I am available to give presentations to your organization, to your group, to your meeting, it can be a short one, it can be a fairly lengthy one, and it's really geared to what the organization or your group needs and wants. On my website which is pillars of healing dot org, I give a list of five things but I'm very happy to tailor any kind of presentation using the things that I believe are truly needed and wanted and beneficial to people who experience cancer. So, that in short, is really what pillars of healing are all about.

Carl: Well there's a lot to unpack there, but I want to say congratulations first of all for sharing your journey and also getting through from what I was reading a 45 chance of healing and basically going through all the big three, the surgery, the chemotherapy, and radiation and going through all the hardships that go along with that losing your hair and just a fear to finding your life purpose and sharing with others I think it's wonderful. Thank you so much for all of that.

I always laughed when you talked about the Azul being something anybody could do because when I dance and I'm expressing myself you better stand back a little bit because you might get knocked over by accident. I'm not a good dancer so I was just trying to imagine that but that's wonderful. So, how long have you been a coach now?

Karen: It's coming up on a year.

Carl: Wow, terrific.

Karen: It's coming up on a year, I do believe that the coach in me stems from...I was in education and had a really nice career and I am very available to listen to people. So, the coaching just falls into line with what I have done for a very long time and being able to help people from where they are to what they want to become and that's in essence what a coach does.

Carl: Yeah, so it's a natural progression for you and you have such a soothing voice, I have told you. I think even if people talk to you on the phone and didn't see you or could be an interactive person, I think just that calming