Rebecca's Workshop Featured in Firefly Sisterhood
For a woman who has experienced a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, a mermaid may be the absolute LAST possible thing she would compare herself to..
Firely Sisterhood has written an article which features her work with breast cancer survivors. Rebecca is the creator of "The Mermaid's Journey" an empowerment workshop series specifically created for breast cancer victims as part of a rejuvenation experience sponsored by Send Me On Vacation, a non-profit organization.
What is it about mermaids that has us mesmerized?
Their long, undulating tails as they glide effortlessly through the water? Their gorgeous hair and beautiful voices? The mythology, legends, and lore that surround them? Whatever it is, mermaids have captured our attention in books, movies, TV shows, and even making appearances at our very own Minnesota Renaissance Festival!
For a woman who has experienced a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, a mermaid may be the absolute LAST possible thing she would compare herself to....
Empowering Women to Empower Themselves
Jennifer, breast cancer survivor shares her life changing experience taking"The Mermaid's Journey Empowerment Vacation."
The following is a guest contributor: Jennifer Nelson, Breast Cancer Survivor from Port St. Lucie, FL. She is a recipient of The Mermaid's Journey Empowerment Vacation.
"Eight a.m. meetings for breast cancer survivors on a cruise? Are they serious?" I thought to myself. I was not looking forward to this experience. On the first day, I did not know what to expect. Was she going to hypnotize me? When the sessions started, the first thing I noticed is that Rebecca Shaw made me feel safe to share my feelings about surviving breast cancer. She transformed my mind from thinking as a dying fish caught on a hook to feeling like a mermaid gliding through the waters of a tropical island…and it was through conversation about our lives!
In only three half day workshop sessions, I learned to meditate for ten minutes a day. I realized this did not replace my prayer time. It is time spent visualizing and focusing on positive thoughts. One of the mindfulness techniques Rebecca taught me was how to place a light around me that when negativity is around me, it bounces right off of that light. I can now send back positive energy. I know it works because as soon as I got back home from the cruise, a friend of mine was complaining and speaking negatively. I told him I cannot have this type of stress and if it continued, he would have to leave. He left. However, early the next morning, he apologized to me and then I asked the golden question I was taught to ask instead of giving advice, "What are you going to do?” He reached a solution on his own. It was a winning match due to Coach Shaw!
The workshop also helped me to overcome fears. For example, I had a fear of swimming in deep water. One day on the cruise, Rebecca, my roommate and I went snorkeling. I was nervous but they convinced me that I could do it. I went way out from the land into the middle of the ocean. However, for some reason, I started panicking and started screaming for help as I drank salt water. Rebecca calmly came over to me. She spoke soothing words as they sent a boat to get me. I don’t think I would have made it without her. She obviously lives what she teaches. Peaceful, calm thinking can save us from sinking in life!
Overall, this trip and the seminars changed my life. I now feel empowered! When we were transformed to look like mermaids on the island, the positive conversations and visualization of my mermaid we discussed helped me to glow during my photo shoot.
Thank you for helping me recognize my inner and outer beauty Rebecca Taylor Shaw.
By the end of the trip, I was running to each seminar. I think I was the first person there everyday. I wish I could take Rebecca home with me! However, in three days, she left us with enough tools to make it and survive in any situation, especially in battling breast cancer. Rebecca’s last words to us were to affirm daily… "I am awesome, I am blessed, I am an overcomer, and I am grateful!" That is what I am! Thanks to Send Me On Vacation and Rebecca Taylor Shaw!
Women Empowering Women with Cancer
What do breast cancer survivors need in their post-op journey? You might be surprised
I want to thank you for allowing me to be your partner in your personal development. You inspire me each and every day, and I'm so grateful to be able to do what I love helping you reach your goals.
I am also so grateful to be coming from Mexico last week where I held another one of my emotional healing workshops that I created called, "The Mermaid's Journey. " This particular one was created specifically for breast cancer survivors!
I call this work of getting healthy with emotions for all women, a "Mermaid's Journey." The ocean is a universal symbol of emotions, the sea of emotions. When you become a mermaid, you become stronger through embracing your emotions and learning to dive through them fearlessly, the good and the stormy ones!
The entire event is funded by the non-profit, SendMeonVacation.org. Their mission is to send breast cancer survivors who have been financially devastated by the cost of treatment on an emotional healing and empowerment vacation. Each survivor receives a photo makeover as a mermaid and an emotional healing workshop experience with me.
Tammy, a survivor from Boston got her Mermaid Makeover and she looks so happy!
All totaled this past year, I've donated four weeks of my time, traveling around the globe for my favorite cause. I've been to Bermuda, Boston, Texas, and several areas of Mexico this year all in the name of women's healing and empowerment!
It is very interesting to see how women from different cultures and different parts of the United States move through the diagnosis, treatment, and emotional aftermath of cancer.
Bostonian women are strong with a no non-nonsense survivor attitude that says, "Cancer won't defeat me. I will get through this!"
Bermudian women are also very strong but attribute their Christian beliefs with their strength, with a survivor attitude that says, "God has a reason and I have faith in God to help me through this."
West coast women from California seem to be more metaphysical believing there is a soul lesson in their journey with cancer.
I read years ago that a man recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer sought insight into the "secrets" of cancer survivors. Were they all doing a certain diet or treatment? No. They had done different diets, regimens, and treatments. However, he discovered one common thread: their mental attitude about cancer was the same. Each had a belief that cancer was to be perceived on the same level as the flu, something to suffer through and get past with a finite end to it.
Below is a photo from the Bermuda survivor cruise where I also performed two half day emotional healing workshops for Bermudian survivors. This is Zazi. Isn't she beautiful and so happy to have her transformation!
Bermuda cancer survivor and fellow mermaid Zazi.
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Emotional Healing for Breast Cancer Survivors
An amazing story about what happens when two like minded women happen to come together in a very unlikely way.
Riviera Maya, Mexico - A Mermaid spotting...
We all experience stress. Be it emotional or physical, stress is something we all try to avoid and find unpleasant; however, it is inevitable and part of life.
Cancer is one of the most stressful events a person may ever endure. The day cancer treatment ends, a new chapter begins and with it a new set of challenges including fear, anxiety, anger, guilt, grief, and a variety of situational stresses related to job, relationships and income.
Supporting emotional health is a critical first step in the recovery from the devastating effects cancer leaves behind. This means, in simple terms, helping a cancer patient to clear the stressful emotions that occur during diagnosis, treatment and aftercare. Emotional health is now a frequent topic in any part of any program that is labeled as Integrative Healing or Integrative Oncology.
When I opened my practice in Clinical Hypnotherapy in 1995, one of the first areas of application that was especially meaningful to me was using hypnosis and imagery to help cancer patients. Since then, I've been able to take the show on the road, as they say!
In autumn of 2014... I received a call from a woman in Las Vegas who asked to speak with me about an emotional healing program I had created called "The Mermaid's Journey."
Her name was Cathy Backus. She is the founder of a non-profit called Send Me On Vacation. Cathy worked in the time-share and vacation industry and had developed the concept of using donated time-share weeks and airline travel resources to assist recent breast cancer survivors to convalesce in beautiful vacation spots while they embrace their “new” normal.
Once the non-profit was underway, Cathy wanted take these restorative vacations once step further and help survivors embrace their “after cancer” beauty in a loving and powerful environment. She incorporated beauty makeovers and mermaid photography for each recipient so they could reconnect with a sense of feeling beautiful and feminine.
It was amazing to hear the stories about how this experience helped each of them to once again embrace their beauty (inside and out) and their feminine nature!
"Now," Cathy said, "I want to take these vacations to a whole new level. I want them to feel more than rested. I want them to feel more than beautiful again. I want to help breast cancer survivors to go back to the world and feel more empowered mind, body, and spirit. "That's where your work comes in. I want you to do your emotional healing workshops for our breast cancer survivors," she said.
Within 24 hours, it was all arranged. A few months later, I flew to Mexico and we held the first Mermaid's Journey experience for cancer survivors in breathtaking Riviera Maya, Mexico! I even got my photo taken as a mermaid. That's me on the dock:)
Another really wonderful aspect of this non-profit is that all the money raised in any given town or metropolitan area goes to send women from that area on an empowerment vacation. This is truly unique. Many of the larger non-profits hold local fundraisers but that money never comes back to assist those in need in the area where the money is raised.
Check out my events calendar for the next Mermaid's Journey Empowerment Vacation for breast cancer survivors.
If you or someone you know is interested in attending, enter your information below.
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