Healing Is Possible

A memoir of a Buddhist teacher’s recovery from Stage IV cancer, sharing the mindfulness practices that helped him most

Diagnosed with Stage IV malignant melanomas, Buddhist monk Jem Fredhamn, then known as Brother Phap Ho (True Protector of the Dharma), applied everything he knew about meditation to healing his body and mind. Practicing the mindful breathing he learned as a monk to calm his emotions, he found unexpected paths to health, and cancer became his ultimate spiritual teacher.

During his tense and frightening cancer treatment journey, Fredhamn shares how mindfulness meditation helped him overcome fear and suffering and weaves in the practices that accompanied him while receiving immunotherapy and radiation treatments. He offers various breathing practices that can help calm stress and build greater energy and vitality, integrating Western medicine with gentle Eastern health modalities such as Qi Gong.

Writing this book to help others with their fear and suffering when facing a potentially terminal illness, Fredhamn’s voice is less that of a mindfulness teacher than a friend and companion offering the insight of his own experience. Even in advanced cancer cases, being lovingly aware of one’s suffering through mindful breathing is beneficial for both spirit and body. His story is testimony that healing is possible.