A Different Path Through Cancer

In today’s podcast, Benita Sharma takes us inside a story that began with symptoms treated as TB, before revealing something far more serious and rare. Then came the warnings, the timelines and the choices. One doctor spoke of 20 days. Others pointed to surgery, chemotherapy or radiation. Yet the answers still did not feel clear.

In conversation with Anshu Bahanda, Benita looks back at the moment she stepped away from the expected path of healing cancer, and the role family, nutrition, faith, discipline and self-trust played when fear could have taken over.

Important to note: this episode is not medical advice, and it should not be treated as a prescription. It is one person’s lived experience, not a substitute for professional medical guidance.

🎧 Tune in to explore one woman’s path through cancer, the questions diagnosis can raise, and the medical, emotional and personal choices that shaped her journey.

For a transcript of this show, go to https://wellnesscurated.life/a-different-path-through-cancer-2/

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Transcript

Anshu Bahanda: Welcome to the Wellness Algorithm, where wellness is not fixed. It evolves as we do, shaped by experience, science, emotion, and the very human need to make sense of uncertainty. This is Anshu Bahanda, and I'm joined today by Benita Sharma, who was diagnosed with a rare and advanced form of cancer in May 2011. Now, there's two things I want to tell you about cancer as far as I'm concerned. One, I'm very invested in helping people with cancer because my daughter had been diagnosed with leukemia when she was one and a half years old in 1999, and she, like our guest today, is thriving and leading her best life. And secondly, Benita Aunty's daughter is a very close friend. So I have lived through her experience in 2011, and this is a very emotional episode for me. Her journey began the way many cancer journeys do, with shock, lots of scans, and conflicting opinions. 

There were different doctors, different prognosis, some hopeful, some frightening, and none of them aligned. They just aligned on one thing, and that was fear. So what followed for my guest today wasn't a refusal of medicine or a reckless gang bull. It was a deeply considered act of self trust and a path few people talk about. But I know that many quietly wonder about it. Before we dive into her story, a small request. Please subscribe to the podcast. It's free, and it helps us continue bringing grounded science led conversations like this one to you. And if this episode sparks curiosity or clarity, feel free to share it with someone who's interested in where health and alternative medicines are truly headed. Thank you. Welcome to the show, Benita Aunty, and thank you for taking the time to be here today. So, to begin with, Benita Aunty, can you share what type of cancer you were diagnosed with and what stage it was at when you first received the diagnosis?

Benita Sharma: So, you know, my cancer is a very, rare cancer. Luckily, it's a very slow growing cancer and I didn't even realise I had it except that I got a little lump on the right neck. And, it did bother me in the sense I thought it was unusual. So I went to the doctor many times and each time they'd say, how long have you had it? So the last time I went there, I said three years. They said, well, if you're still around and you're looking absolutely all right, there's nothing wrong. And they refused to do any checkups. So it was much later that I had gone on a trip to Liberia on work. I came back and everybody said, you're not looking well, you've lost weight. So I just went for a full body checkup for the first time in my life. And then we discovered that it was there. There were two big tumors, one near the heart and one just outside the lung. And plus I had a lot of nodules that seemed to be infected. And, the hospital, after they saw my PET scan, told me that, please don't worry, this looks like tb and please do not do a biopsy because it's very invasive.

So they started me on TB medicine. Now, the TB medicine, it just knocked me out because I am not very good at taking allopathic medicines. Anyway, I was very lucky that my daughter Revati and my son-in-law Darpan, were in Bombay. So I went to Bombay and he, and he insisted, he said, if it's TB, we have to see a TB specialist. So we went to Breach Candy. And there they said, we need to know what strain of tb we have to do a biopsy. And that's when we discovered it was cancer.

AB: Wow. Wow. So you were being treated for the wrong, wow. For the wrong disease for a bit. That makes it even more frightening. So when you found out that it was cancer, what was the first thought that entered your mind?

BS: You know, I've seen deaths very closely. My father died when I was 7. My husband died, you know, very young. He was less than 44. So death was always part of my life, you know, so it didn't really bother me because I knew I had to go sometime. Only I didn't want to go early because my kids were still young, they were both in college, they needed me. And, I just couldn't let that happen, you know, so it was like I told even the universe and I told my husband that you had no business to go when you did, so now it's your job to look after me. And I stopped thinking about it. 

AB: Right. So also, I believe you were presented with multiple treatment options by various doctors. It was an epithelioid sarcoma and it was very rare. So how did you handle all these conflicting opinions and what was your thinking at that point? Because, you know, just to put it into context, that happens to a lot of people and everyone is so emotional and everyone is so forceful that it just gets. For the patient, it gets too, too much. 

BS: Yes. You know, I was very lucky in the sense that my daughter protected me. You know, she didn't tell me that the doctor had said that unless I have surgery, I have 20 days to live. And we didn't even know what kind of cancer it was then. I was really fortunate with the kind of love I got from everybody. Of course, Revati, Darpan, my grandkids, Radha, her husband, my little grandkid who had just been born. They all were so much a part of my life and I was just surrounded with love. My aunt and uncle who, you know, were always there for me. My three brothers, my three sisters in law, it was just amazing. And my husband's sister, I mean it was, I was just surrounded by love. I just felt, I mean nothing can really happen, frankly. Then my cousin, she became a member of a support group of people who had this kind of cancer. And she did a lot of research and she used to keep telling me what I needed to do. Plus I was a very, very close friend of mine who's a nutritionist. Her name is Dimpy Singh. She used to come every day with fruit. She used to give me a menu. I had to have fruit till 12 in the afternoon. Then after that, vegetables and at night, vegetable juice. 

AB: I want to delve a little more on this decision that you took, which would shock a lot of people. You decided not to undergo chemotherapy. You decided not to have surgery. You decided not to have radiation. So what caused you to make this choice? What was your thinking at this point? Because most people assume that there's only one right path to walk through cancer.

BS: Right. Yes. 

AB: But you questioned it and you chose, you know, even though it must have been terrifying, you chose another path. And did you get people telling you that you're being irresponsible when you decided not to have chemo? 

BS: Yeah, that is the first thing everybody told me - “Don't be so selfish. You need to look after yourself”. But you know, we went to about four oncologists in Bombay and each one had a different take. So one told me, one said, chemo will not work on me. They told my daughter. And then he said, I want to see your mother in any case. So the next day when I went to see him, he told me, but you're looking okay, and we'll start you on chemo. So I said, but just yesterday you told my daughter, chemo will not work on it. So I said, I need time to think it over. Then we went to another surgeon. We went to three other doctors. One of them said, we have to do surgery right away, otherwise you have just 20 days to live. Then, another one said, surgery will be very difficult because it's too big, the tumor. So we will start you on chemo, reduce the size of the tumor, and then we will do surgery. So I told my daughter, I said, they themselves don't know what to do. So I am certainly not going to follow a system where the healer doesn't know how to heal right.

And I was very fortunate that about 40 years before, I had a very bad bout of spondylitis. And I went to Dr Hiranandani, who is actually a cardiologist who has become a natural healer. And he did acupuncture and acupressure on me, and he cured me completely after six sittings. Wow. So I called him up. He was in Kerala. So I called him up. I said, what shall I do? He says, bring your reports and just come. So I literally ran away from Bombay and I went to Kerala.

AB: So at that point, when you did that, what did you feel at that point? Were you scared?

BS: No. I had so much confidence in Manik, you know, and, and, you know, and he used to explain why he made you eat certain foods, why you need to do certain exercises, why breathing is good for you, why you should get up in the morning and have five leaves of tulsi and take deep breaths in front of the tulsi plant because it gives you a lot of oxygen. And, the oxygen kills cancer, you know? And plus, I discovered a book on mudras. So I did a multi- pronged attack, you know, kind of, should I say attack on the cancer. So I started doing mudras. There are 32 mudras, known as gayatri mudras, which eliminate cancer. And if you are scared of having cancer, if you do it, you never get it. 

AB: So the first thing you did was that your friend who was a nutritionist started coming and helping you. That was the first step you took. That was effort. 

BS: Yeah, major step. Yes.
 
AB: And if you just talk to us quickly through what she was making you eat and what guidance she gave you. 

BS: Yeah. So, you know, she was incredible. She used to bring crates of mangoes. She used to make me have the sweetest fruit first thing in the morning and rest of the morning. I could have less, you know, they become less and less sweet as you go closer to 12. But I could have any number of fruits I needed to have. Then for lunch, half an hour before lunch, I had to have a mixture called the Divine Noni. It's made out of sour sop, and it coats the lining of your stomach with all the vitamins and minerals and enzymes. So whatever you eat gets absorbed. I think even in Sri Lanka, it grows mostly in tropical climates. And, so they made a syrup out of it along with. They put minerals and stuff. And, I found that was. That really worked like magic. Plus, what Dimpy suggested I have, after every meal, I have what she called Nimbu shots. I had to take one nimbu, make the juice out of it and put in an equal amount of water. And after a meal have it, because she explained it alkalises your stomach and cancer cannot live in an alkaline environment. 

AB: So that was the nutritionist. And after that you went to Manik in Kerala. Dr. Manik Kiranandani.

BS: Right. And one more thing. I forgot to mention that my daughter got, acupressurist, who used to do acupressure on my body. She, this lady, was amazing. She used to come every day till I went to Kerala. And I must tell you that even though my cancer did not improve, my energy came back and I was feeling. Actually, I was feeling normal.
 
AB: Fantastic. You seem like you got it. And I know actually, from having known you all these years, you have this amazing warrior spirit. So that. And as your daughter calls you, a gentle warrior. So, but tell me, so then you went to Dr. Manik Hiranandani, and what did you do there when you were at his retreat in Kerala? 

BS: Yeah, so, you know, he also had something which is very interesting, a salt room where he used to, and in the center there was, like a huge bowl full of tulsi leaves. And he used to put the heating on, so the salt air. We were breathing in the salt air and the tulsi. So all the cancer patients he had, we were there. And he used to encourage us to chant mantras, which we did. Right. So that helps to detox the body. And then also he had a machine called the Rife machine. So the Rife machine, they put you on the parts of the body where the cancer is most prominent. And, it has a little machine and wires attached to it. So one wire, with a steel rod was wrapped with, towel, with a wet towel, which I had to hold in my hand. And they put, like when they do physiotherapy, they put little pieces of something on your back, etc, and they glue, the, the, what do you call it? The pipes there. And then he used to put the machine on. The machine used to vibrate at the frequency of the cancer cells and it destroyed the cancer cells. So I was doing that every day. Plus, he was very particular about diet. I had to have six glasses of juice a day. It was made of half a, beetroot, three carrots, one mosambi and two amlas. Right? So that detoxes your body and plus gives you the energy that you need.

AB: So it was beetroot, carrot, mosambi, which for those who are not in India, it's a citrus fruit, and two amlas or the Indian gooseberry, which is meant to have the highest form of vitamin C known on the planet. Right. And you had six glasses of that in a day? 

BS: In a day. 

AB: Wow. Okay.
 
BS: And plus yoga. Plus he used to encourage us to do meditation. And his place is beautiful right on the river. It was like a resort and it was so peaceful that, I mean that itself was healing, you know?
 
AB: Okay, and how long were you there? 

BS: Altogether, eight weeks. I was extremely fortunate. My daughter Revati was with me most of the time. And in between she had to go back to Bombay. And her mother-in-law really helped by looking after the kids so Revati could stay with me. And once Revati went for two weeks and my aunt and uncle, they, uncle was over 75 and aunty was 10 years younger, they flew down from Delhi to be with me for two weeks so I would not be alone. So I think it was the love I got. I think it was more than the medicines and whatever I did, it was the kind of loving care that I got that actually healed me faster.

AB: Wow. Wow, that's amazing. So after those, so what happened during those eight weeks, like did you feel a difference in your body? 

BS: You know, Anshu, I never thought about my cancer. I thought just like in life, you get a headache, you get a pain, you get whatever. You know, you, if you keep thinking about it, you don't get it. Okay, you stop thinking about it. Think of, you know, do other things, you, your mind is no longer the whole of, Cancer is no longer the whole of your life. It's just a small part which has to be addressed. So what my daughter and I did, we hired a car. And after my treatment, we used to go around visiting all the temples, all the lovely places around Kothayam. And I cannot tell you what a wonderful time we had. I think that also helped. 

AB: Wow, that's amazing. And then when you came back after eight weeks, I believe you chose a path of homeopathy.
 
BS: Yeah. 

AB: So talk us through that. 

BS: Yeah. So when I came back to Bombay, my cousin again, I'm very close to him, Kapi. He came to know that I had cancer. And he was very upset. His sister-in-law was to be head of gynecology in KEM Hospital. And before I knew what had happened, he had fixed up surgery for me. 

AB: Wow. 

BS: So I was very distraught and I knew it was out of love, but you know, so I rang up my younger brother who's in Delhi and I said, what do I do? He says, just take the next flight and come to Delhi. I know somebody who has cured cancer. So I didn't question him. I ran away from Bombay the very next day. My brother organised his Munshi and my cousin Ashi to go to the homeopath. He was Dr Pankaj Bhatnagar. Unfortunately he passed away during COVID, but he was absolutely amazing. We took about two hours – that time there was no GPS and whatever –  we took two hours to find the place in a little crowded gali in Krishna Nagar. 

And he made us sit with him for three hours. And we had to listen to one patient after another. And they were incredible stories. And he said, I'm not going to tell you about what I've achieved. You talk to whoever you want, ask whatever questions you want. And my cousin who was so anti-meadince except chemo, she says, Benita, you have to do this. I said I was never going to do anything else. And I have never spent one day in hospital because of cancer. And after six months I was traveling all over the world and working. It was only thanks to Dr Bhatnagar. He gave me eight bottles of homeopathic medicines which I had to have 16 drops of each in half a glass of water four times a day. Plus he gave ayurvedic pills. One was for detox, which is four pills twice a day. And, one for immunotherapy. One pill twice a day. And I have never had supplements. I've only had his medicine. Everything is normal. It's only thanks to the kind of treatment I got. 

AB: Lovely. And tell me, so you had this, all this homeopathy that he gave you and a little bit of ayurveda. But along with that, what was your day-to-day like at this point? 

BS: You know, I was very particular about my diet, though I kept having sugar in my tea. And otherwise there was no non-veg. There was no alcohol, not even eggs. So once in a while I cheated, but generally I followed it. And, it was amazing. When I told him about it. He didn't want to know about my past. He wanted to know the stage of cancer I was in. And he asked me three questions. 

AB: This was Dr. Bhatnagar, right? 

BS: Yes, yes. He said, have you had surgery? I said, no. He says, have you had chemotherapy? I said, no. He says, have you had radiation? I said, no. He says, you'll get all right. I said, but the doctor told me 20 days. He says, I 'm telling you, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind you're going to be all right. And that was it. 

AB: Fantastic. So clearly, emotionally, you were quite strong. 

BS: Yes.
 
AB: How were you physically? 

BS: No, I kept improving. That's why I was traveling. Like, I was working for an organisation called UNIFEM, which looks after women's interests for South Asia. I was traveling all over doing workshops. And I felt, you won't believe it. I felt so good after giving up non-veg. I mean, I think that also helped me a lot. And the doctor explained why I had to give up non-veg. He said the cancer cells have a very strong protein covering.

So if you have animal protein, the covering becomes stronger. If you are vegetarian, the cancer cells get broken quite easily by homeopathy. 

AB: Interesting. Okay, right. And is that something that he asked you to carry on even later, after the treatment was over?

BS: Well, I'm still having the medicine because mine was, you know, mine was not just of the tissues. Eventually it went to a lot of my lymph nodes. I was very lucky that it didn't go to the heart. And I had a big tumor also near the oesophagus. So they were all worried about it becoming bigger and I wouldn't be able to breathe, you know, so it was like, and it was so matter of fact. And the people I met who had been cured by him or were being cured by him, it was incredible how upbeat they were because there was a world of difference in their health. So I had no reason to doubt it at all. 

AB: And tell me, Aunty, spiritually, were you still chanting the mantras? How were you feeling spiritually? 

BS: I was chanting mantras most of the time whenever I was free, I would chant it in my mind. And, plus, I think, you have to live your daily life because, you know, cancer is only part of your life. It's not the whole of your life. This life has so much to offer, even if you're. Even if you're sick, right? Yes. So I never just. I never thought about it. I put it aside. I said, I've got a problem. I'm being treated. I've got the right doctor. And, so, you know, I just feel that I even wrote a book on him about 30 case studies of different types of cancer that he had cured. And I was one of the very few who went to him without going for any other, should I say medical intervention. The others all came to him when the doctors had given them up, and they said, what do we have to lose? Let's try this. And he cured. His success rate was more than 80%. I mean, it was. I mean, it's unbelievable. Like, people say, oh, you're a miracle. Let me tell you, there are miracles every single day in that clinic. No, and, you know, he passed away very unfortunately.

He helped the poor. He. I cannot tell you what he did for everybody. And he had a gift. Like, I remember once, I was sitting with him, and a gentleman was at the door who he had never met before. And before he reached the doctor's desk, he had written down the medicines he should have. So this gentleman. Yeah, so this gentleman began saying that I have this. And the doctor said, yes, and you have this, this, this. And he was shocked. And I was shocked. And after he left, yeah, I asked him, I said, doctor sahib, how do you know? He says, I don't know what it is, but some divine power. I am not curing it, but there's some divine power that comes to me, and I just know what to do. 

AB: Wow. 

BS: You know, and even though he's passed, he has left this amazing legacy to his son, who is now in Vancouver, and I'm still taking his medicines, and he is just as incredible as his father. 

AB: I mean, there is growing research around the nervous system, system stress, inflammation, and the body's capacity to heal. But your story is a lived experience. There's nothing like that. I mean, you can read research, you know, research notes and stories, but you've lived this. You've had. You've been diagnosed with, you know, stage three, stage four form of cancer, and you have cured it. So that is an incredible story and it's going to give so many people so much hope, because like I said in the introduction, this is something where people complete their life, comes to a standstill the moment they hear the C word.

BS: No, no, absolutely. And my daughter laughs because once we'd gone to see somebody who was, I mean, had muscle problems and couldn't walk or anything. So I told her, I said, you know, Revati, how lucky I am. She says, why? I said, because I only have cancer and I found the right doctor.

AB: You know, literally, it was like that. But that's exactly how I felt when my daughter had leukemia, because I would meet people with. With such serious ailments in the hospital, and I would say, we're so lucky that we have something that's curable. But tell me, was there any point where you felt fear? 

BS: You know, you'll be surprised. Never. Because, you see, we are all going to die, right? So it's part of life. And I don't think we should focus on that. But we should also never forget that we are mortal and it's going to happen to us and we, like, I'll try to pay back for all the blessings I've received when I. When a lot of my friends call up and said, can we give you a reference? So I talk to the patients who haven't been able to decide what step they should take. And knowing that I have been through it, and I'm not talking because of research, I'm talking out of personal experience. I find it makes a difference. They feel better. And I said, when I was given 20 days, it's been 14 years now. And according to research, people don't live more than five years after you get my kind of cancer. So I said, you know, everything is curable. You have to be positive. That's half the battle you find the best doctor, which I did in the world. Then of course you have no problem at all, you know. 

AB: And tell me, at what point did you feel a shift? Was like, was there a point where you felt okay, now my body is beginning to heal?

BS: You know, I was never really debilitated, should I say? You know, I mean, in between, after my TB medicine, I used to find it difficult to get out of bed. I was totally, I had no energy left the moment I stopped my TB medicine, and my friends started giving me that, the juices and stuff. And I forgot Revati's neighbours, Sameer and Jamile Sen. They were amazing. They used to send fresh vegetable soups for me every single day. Come and chat with me, you know. So I had people who were very loving and kind all the time. My friends in Bombay, Rohini, Pinky. My brother Raj, Shaila. Always there for me. Benu, my sister-in- law, Miru. My brother. And my brothers, Naveen and Raj. I don't know how to thank them. Jaishree. You know, I know I'm just talking about names, but these are people I owe my life to. I really do. And of course my daughter Revati; Radha, Darpan, Rohit. And my two grandchildren, Sanya, Andy, Rishu.

I mean, they were all there for me. I was getting hugged, I was getting kissed, I was getting loved. I was getting, you know, somebody would massage my feet. Can we do this for you? Can we do that for you? I cannot tell you how much love I've been surrounded by. 

AB: But see that, that's also something that shows that what is very important is the love and care that you get. So you can have, you know, whatever the treatment, I totally am a believer that love and care makes a big difference. 

BS: I just feel that the patient has to be positive. The family shouldn't say, oh, are you feeling all right? Oh, no, no, don't let Nani get up. Give her the tea. You know. I said, please don't make me feel helpless. Because then all the time you're putting it in my mind. I'm not well when I'm feeling well, you know? 

AB: But tell me, at what point did your medical report start to reflect the improvement? 

BS: I think the doctor was very clear that I shouldn't have a PET scan more than once a year because the radiation can make the cancer become worse. So, I mean, even from the first year onwards, from the number of lymph nodes that were affected, a lot of them, the cancer activity inside them became much less. So a few died, but a few new ones came. But that happens even with chemo, you know, so you can't expect that nothing is going to change. Sometimes this change is more for the positive, sometimes more for the negative. So in between, he did change my medicine when he felt that things shouldn't have gone faster. The healing process. So he's very particular about PET scans so that they know the stage and how you're doing. And I think one has to be just careful about food, medicine and positivity, I think.

AB: Right.

BS: And I don't think you can go wrong.

AB: And tell me you, you feel like Dr Bhatnagar Senior, Dr Pankaj Patnagar almost had a like, intuition, where he could look at people and tell what they needed even before they told him.

BS: Yeah, yeah, because I saw that. 

AB: So is that something, how do you think that, is that, that kind of a legacy? Do you think his son has inherited that?

BS: Hundred percent. Hundred percent. You see the family, even his daughter-in-law was a doctor. She helps the husband. But when you see them, you can see, you can see goodness. I don't know how else to say the word, what else to say.
 
AB: Right. 

BS: You know, and the care. They care about every patient. The idea is not to make money. The idea is to help, you know?

AB: Tell me, what advice would you like to give someone who's either going through cancer or just been diagnosed with cancer? 

BS: I would tell them, just remember, it's just a disease, it can be cured. But you also have to help your healers to heal yourself, you know, and never keep thinking about it. Just do the activities that you love. Once you enjoy your life, let me tell you, cancer will go slowly, but it'll go. Another thing cancer patients must do is to read up on what works and what doesn't work. So while I was when I first started my treatment, I got this amazing book written by a Harvard professor called ‘Spontaneous Healing’. And in that he said that you know, the body just heals itself and it depends also on one's attitude, how fast the healing begins. So in that he talked about two women who had the same, third stage cancer. And it was a very, very cold winter. One of them said, I am not going shopping or anything. I mean, I don't even know whether I'll survive. And sure enough, after winter, she passed away. The other one, she said, well, I'm going to enjoy my life. She went out, bought new clothes. She even brought clothes on sale for summer, and she survived. So it just shows how mental attitudes also affect how your body is going to react. So I think we shouldn't just leave everything to the doctors because they have so many patients. They do their best, but we also need to help our bodies to heal. And there's so many different ways one can choose to do that. And I think this is an amazing way to do it. 

AB: And I also want to ask you about one thing that you mentioned during the conversation. And you talked about mudras, and you talked about mudras, which prevent cancer. So can you talk to us a little bit about that area? 

BS: So, you know, I got very interested in mudras because my mother had Parkinson's. And, we took her to any number of doctors, and the doctors said that you got to live with it. So I said there has to be a cure. I somehow always felt that, you know, God has given us cures, but we don't know what they are. So I did a lot of research on alternative healing, and that's how I discovered this mudra called the Vayu Mudra. Mudra is yoga of the hands. Yoga of the hands, for example, and they explain they're meridians on your body, so they come right through. So, for example, if this figure, for example, if you find that teachers do this when they want to frighten a child. And experiments show that if you point this finger at a, what shall I say? That gheeaka plant flower. When it's growing, the flower will wither away and die. So the energy coming from the finger is very, very strong.

So what you do for my mother, so you just put the finger like this and like this. So this energy, instead of going out into the atmosphere, goes to the part of the body that requires it. What you do is you, keep your, you keep your palms flat, right? 

AB: Okay. 

BS: Then the index finger, you bend and put it at the base of your thumb.
 
AB: So the right index finger or both? 

BS:  Both. You do both. It works faster. Then you cover the finger with your thumb so it is touching against the fatty part of your palm. So the energy goes to the nerves. 

AB: Okay. 

BS: And that is how slowly it gets. You reduce it. First it arrests the problem, then it starts curing, and eventually you get completely recovered. 

AB: And here you're talking about Parkinson's. 

BS: Yeah, but according to this book on healing hands, you have 32 mudras for cancer, right? And you have to spend 20 seconds on each mudra and then keep changing it and in between you have to recite the Gayatri mantra 11 times and then finish the rest of the mudras. So it's given in a very methodical manner in this particular book.

AB: So now we're going to do a rapid fire round. I'm going to share a few statements that people often hear when they're facing cancer. And I want you to tell us whether in your experience this was myth or meaningful. So whether it felt like a myth or it felt meaningful, yeah? Okay. So once cancer is diagnosed, the body can't heal on its own. 

BS: That's absolutely wrong. 

AB: Okay, so that's a myth. Your mindset affects your physical recovery 

BS: 100%. 

AB: Lifestyle changes cannot make a real difference to cancer. 

BS: Totally wrong. 

AB: Healing is not a straight line.
 
BS: I think you need a multi-pronged attack on any illness you have. So it'll be, I think food is even more of a medicine than medicine. Food, medicine, fresh air, exercise, yoga, chanting, all of them are necessary. 

AB: Wonderful. And on that note, is there anything that you want to say before we close?

BS: Nothing is impossible and I am just one of many who my doctor has saved. Please believe me, do not get depressed. Just be positive and you will be helping your doctor heal your own body.

AB: That's wonderful. Thank you so much. That has been an incredible, uplifting podcast. Thank you for being here today. 

BS: Thank you, Anshu, for taking this message to everybody. You can get treatment without any pain and no side effects. What can be better? 

AB: Lovely Benita Aunty, thank you for being here. Thank you for trusting me with your story and thank you for sharing this story to help the world. And to everyone listening, if this conversation gave you permission to ask questions, to listen more deeply, and to honor your own knowing, then please share it with someone who might need it or who might get a glimmer of hope from it, or maybe just benefit from a different perspective. And please subscribe to the podcast, it's free and it helps us continue bringing honest, compassionate conversations like this one into the world. This has been a different path to cancer. I'm Anshu Bahanda from Wellness Curated. As I end today, I want to remind you to stay curious, stay open, and remember that it is when we embrace change and uncertainty that we see the greatest feats of human nature. Thank you.