On March 3, 2003 I was in a car accident that caused my body to start having seizures and spewing out poems. Nine months later, with no seizure improvement, I attended a Healthy Lifestyles Workshop. There I first learned about the seizure research being done by Siegward Elsas, M.D., at Oregon Health Sciences University*. His research is about controlling seizures without the use of drugs.
I did not qualify to participate in his research project. However, Dr.Elsas told me about the Takacs Clinic in Portland, Oregon where I could learn how to manage my seizures without taking medication. He also said I should begin going outside for a walk immediately after I wake up in the mornings and eat organic food. I began walking and changing my food choices the very next day.
Joan Takacs, D.O. managed my seizure education experience at the Takacs Clinic. For the next year and a half I participated in movement exercises, art therapy (wet-on-wet water color), massage therapy, cranial sacral treatments and counseling.
Leslie Cox taught me a series of movement exercises (Eurythmy) that I then practiced at home every morning and evening. In addition to leading me through exercises, Leslie and I talked about life. She thought I might enjoy reading, How To Know Higher Worlds by Rudolf Steiner. Reading the book brought a calm within me I’d never known before.
Finally, someone who understood the experiences I’ve been having since childhood. Finally, an answer to my lifelong quest for religious truth. As I turned the last page I realized I’d opened a new chapter in my life. I no longer felt suicidal, a pull I’d struggled with since I was around ten years old. I felt as though I’d been given a new lease on life.
While working with art therapist Jannebeth Röell, I wasn’t aware that she was moving me closer to, through and out of a seizure. Upon completion of the ten-week course I hung my painting series on a wall in my home as a subtle opportunity to desensitize myself to the seizure experience. Jannebeth also freely answered my many questions and suggested the book, Living With Your Body by Walter Buhler.
Two years later when I returned to the wet-on-wet painting process my poems and paintings merged into responsive art forms. As I paint, poems begin flowing out. I pause to capture them on paper then return to painting until I am again interrupted by a poem impulse. I now have a pile of paintings and a notebook of poems inspired by them.
At the time I started working with my anti-seizure team my complexion was quite a mess. Sometimes my face even bled. Receiving Hauschka massage therapy moved energy out of my head and also helped improve my digestive process. If I were to express fully the many experiences I had while undergoing this energy movement, you may not believe me. It was here I flew over grass fields in Africa, met Crystal Fairies and experienced a dream while awake for the first time. I have to admit this treatment is the one I miss the most because I loved my adventures. Oh, yes, my complexion is cleared up now.
Since my previous doctor suggested I see a counselor, Dr. Takacs recommended Dr. Jon Benson. Our conversations were natural, without pretense and seldom delved into my past. Each session ended with what I came to call a “Golden Nugget “–– something for me to hang onto, to consider, until our next meeting. Here are just a few: “Slow down. The problem will take care of itself.“ “You can have both fleas and ticks at the same time” (more than one kind of seizure). “Trust in God but stay out of the rocks.”
For the last few months before leaving the clinic, I learned movements based on Spacial Dynamics developed by Jaimen McMillan. It’s the first time I’ve felt like I wanted to dance. While practicing Spacial Dynamics my body was able to move with ease and a lightness of being. I learned to create the exact opposite gestures of the seizures. And began to wonder if it was my own space that was attacking me during the seizures?