Cornucopia House has paired up with one of our local acupuncture clinics, making available free acupuncture treatments to the cancer patients, cancer survivors and their families, friends, and caregivers who use the Cornucopia House Cancer Support Center. The National Institute of Health has found acupuncture successfully treats many common side-effects of conventional treatment, such as post-surgical pain, chemotherapy-associated symptoms, insomnia, poor digestion, and emotional stress. Widely used to increase overall health and stimulate the immune system, acupuncture benefits the emotions, reduces stress and naturally strengthens the body. It is being offered as part of the Cornucopia House tools for living, to help people with cancer, and their loved ones, feel healthy and well, even with cancer. Call 919-933-4480 for an appointment.
Certified massage therapists and bodyworkers offer individual sessions and hands-on instruction for participants to aid in relieving both pain and stress.
Whatever your prognosis, it’s wise to have plans in place to assure that your wishes will be carried out. Not only will this protect your loved ones against having outsiders (hospitals, courts, government agencies) dictate what must happen to you and to them, it will provide you with peace of mind – a valuable asset in coping with any major disease. This process is estate planning, and it is by no means limited to the wealthy. Each of us has the right and the responsibility—to ourselves and our families—to set certain decisions down on paper. Come have your questions answered by a local estate planning attorney, Lisa Vira. Ms. Vira is President of the Orange County Bar Association and a member of the North Carolina Bar Association and North Carolina Association of Women’s Attorney’s.
***Things to bring: Will, Trust, Health Care Power of Attorney, General Power of Attorney, Living Will, Insurance Contracts and Retirement Plans with Beneficiary Designations.
The idea behind Polarity Therapy is that energy within one’s body can become blocked or out of balance, resulting in pain and/or disease. Through the guidance of a Polarity Therapist, the body can regain its healthy natural state of balance and inner flow of energy. Polarity is a restorative type of healing, similar to the healing that occurs during sleep. Phyllis Swank, a Registered Polarity Practitioner, volunteers at Cornucopia House by donating two sessions each month. The 60-minute sessions typically take place the first Wednesday of each month. The sessions consist of hands-on energy work in which the therapist quietly holds various parts of the client’s body. This hands-on contact is provided while the client is fully clothed on a massage table. Commenting on how relaxed and calm clients are at the conclusion of a session, Swank notes that the “calming” of one’s body allows renewal and replenishing to occur.
Reiki (ray-key) is a Japanese word meaning “universal life energy,” the energy found in all things. The Reiki practitioner channels this energy to the recipient via light touch on, or just above, various areas of the body. The recipient lies fully clothed on a treatment table for the approximately 1 hour session. A Reiki treatment has the potential to still the mind, ease pain and induce feelings of relaxation and well-being. At this degree of deep relaxation, a rebalancing of energies can occur and the natural healing ability of the body is enhanced. Reiki is increasingly being used in hospitals and clinics around the world. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center offers Reiki to inpatients and outpatients through its Integrative Medicine Center.
Western researchers have discovered ways of working with the acupuncture system without needles. Touch for Health, Therapeutic Touch, and Kinesiology are some of the techniques currently being studied at hospitals around the world. Early study results verify the anecdotal evidence that kinesiology can help reduce anxiety, pain, and stress. The receiver is fully clothed and can be either lying down or sitting. Sessions begin with a “balance,” a term that means using touch and energy reflexes while working with the acupuncture meridians. The goal is to restore the flow of energy between meridians. Areas of imbalance are identified through specific muscle testing and corrected by simple reflex techniques such as light touch, gentle massage, tracing a meridian, specific movement, breathing techniques, the use of color, sound or an affirmation. Once energy imbalances and reactive responses have been relieved, the person can function more fully on the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels. For more information: www.uskinesiologyinstitute.com.
Duke Center for Cancer Survivorship and Cornucopia House are pleased to announce their collaboration of a Saturday morning yoga class.
Yoga is a nurturing practice which encourages deep relaxation, helps decrease pain and fatique, and also helps to improve sleep and stress-related problems. These classes will provide gentle, relaxing exercise and movement for people during and after treatments. These yoga classes are offered to cancer patients survivors, caregivers, families and anyone touched by cancer who can alson benefit from this uplifting activity,
Please feel free to join our other ongoing yogas classes on:
Cornucopia House also provides many of its services for participants in their homes, thanks to a grant from the Home Health Foundation of Chapel Hill Endowment Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation. Compassionate Touch In-Home Services support participants who have a high risk of infection during treatment, are too ill to leave their homes, or who are in the end-of-life process.
Cornucopia House's licensed therapists and practitioners provide the home care sessions. Services include the therapeutic massages, polarity, reiki, yoga, meditation, and movement support. These services are provided at no charge to anyone affected by cancer. Call us at 919-401-9333 for additional details.
