Bob Ellal
B.A.; Four-Time Cancer Survivor/Qigong Practitioner
Free
Qigong/Cancer Survival Expert
Bob Ellal Quick Facts
- Main Areas
- Using the Mind/Body Connection in the Fight Against Cancer
- Career Focus
- Writer
- Affiliation
- Yang's Martial Arts Association
Bob Ellal is a four-time survivor of bone lymphoma cancer. Initially diagnosed with stage four terminal cancer in 1991, he complemented his chemotherapy treatment by going deeply into the mind/body connection, employing visualization and meditation. The disease relapsed three times over the next five years. He went deeper into the mind/body connection during this time--a disciplined practice of qigong (energy work), Chinese internal energy exercises. Standing post meditation--one of the most important qigong exercises--helped him weather the high-dose chemo of two bone marrow transplants and eventually beat the disease. He has been clear of cancer for 13 years and practices qigong daily.
East and West--the two practices of medicine are most powerful when used in combination.
Bob Ellal Books
Articles by this expert
SelfGrowth articles and saved writing connected to this expert.
Article
A Brush with Jesus Christ
In 1991 I was diagnosed with Stage Four bone lymphoma and given six months to live. My oncologist proposed a six-month regimen of double doses of CHOP chemotherapy, twice as much normally given for a man my weight. I started meditating and visualizing several times a day to help my immune system fight the disease. I imagined my bones a sandy beach covered with weak jellyfish eggs–cancer cells. When the waves came in and covered the beach, they would remove these weak cells as they receded.
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Vitamins and Herbs--Should You Use Them During Cancer Treatment?
If you have cancer and you’re undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment, you need to keep yourself as strong as possible—as these treatments have debilitating effects, as you may well know. But should you try to build up your immune system with vitamins and herbs? Some researchers believe that mega-doses of vitamins A, C and E—which again, some researchers believe help your immune system stay strong—may actually protect not only normal cells but cancer cells as well.
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Abdominal Breathing: Fire Up Your Immune System
You’re in a convenience store, examining a can of Spam in one of the aisles. Suddenly a hooded man bursts through the door, pulls out a .45, and waves it in the cashier’s face demanding the contents of the cash register. You begin breathing shallowly, from the chest, as fear for you own life pervades you. Thoughts pinball through your mind: Will he shoot the cashier—and then me? Am I to die in a convenience store of all places? Where are the police? The cashier complies; the robber bolts through the door. Your breathing slows and deepens and the thoughts in your mind slow.
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Do We Cause Our Own Diseases?
The idea that we cause our own diseases comes from ancient societies that didn’t have any knowledge of bacteria, viruses, and genetics or of the dangerous effects of chemical and radiation pollution and poor diet. In ancient times, people thought that repressed or negative feelings could cause diseases. Or somehow it was punishment from God. You will come across this idea in New Age books that litter the bookshelves. Louise Hay, who has written many self-help books over the years, claims she had cervical cancer and cured herself with forgiveness.
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Beating Cancer with Qigong: A Success Story
In 1991 I was diagnosed with Stage Four lymphoma cancer and given six months to live. I was 32, and my sons were aged two and six months. I was a writer at Aetna Life & Casualty, Inc, and my wife and I had just built a beautiful house on a lake in eastern Connecticut. I had everything to live ...
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Article
Beating Cancer Four Times
Imagine being sequestered in a bone marrow transplant room for a month while high-dose chemotherapy drugs drip into a catheter in your chest, destroying your bone marrow--your immune system--and hopefully, all the cancer cells in your body. You have a headache which feels like a cheap red wine hangover, you vomit intermittently and have diarrhea continuously. For a month. And once your immune system is destroyed, a common cold caught from a visitor or a nurse could easily kill you.
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Seize the Monkey
Unless he is already doomed, fortune is apt to favor the man who keeps his nerve. The maxim from the ancient Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf reverberated in my skull, over and over again like a mantra, until the words no longer made sense and were simply a collection of sounds. My breathing slowed and deepened; my mind felt calm. I felt far away from the isolation room in the bone marrow transplant ward, even though high-dose chemotherapy drugs dripped through IV tubes into a catheter implanted in my chest.
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Article
Standing Post Meditation
Qigong means "energy study." It's an ancient Chinese art used to bring health to the body, calm to the mind, and power to the martial arts. It's based on the same theory as acupuncture: That there are energy pathways—meridians and channels—that flow throughout the body. When energy, or chi, runs smoothly in these pathways, good health is maintained. When energy becomes blocked or stagnant, illness follows. Through various combinations of breathing, postures and movements, qigong attempts to keep energy pathways open.
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Favorite Quotes & Thoughts from Bob Ellal
"Fortune favors the man who keeps his nerve." Beating cancer, especially repeated relapses, takes nerve, will and determination. We all have these traits to varying degrees and can call on them. But it can be hard to do so under the assault of cancer pain and chemotherapy and/or radiation. That's where a disciplined practice of qigong--Chinese internal energy exercises--can spell the difference. Every day practice is empowering; you feel that you are contributing to the day when you will be a cancer survivor--and not just depending on oncologists and treatment. It strengthens the body and reinforces the will.
In addition, qigong practice opens energy meridians and channels that lead to organ systems in the body, clearing out blockages that lead to ill health. Through deep abdominal breathing, one also kicks in the parasympathetic nervous system, which calms the mind and body, important to overall healing, and provides a clear playing field for allopathic treatment to do its job. This type of breathing also stimulates the lymphatic system, a vital component of the immune system.
As Taoists say, "My life is in my hands, not in Heaven's."
Contacting Bob Ellal
Website: www.bobellal.com
Email: rcellal@sbcglobal.net