by Michael H. Hodges
When his 2-year-old Sara was being treated
at UCLA for leukemia 32 years ago, Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg says, she’d
tell the doctors, “No medicine today, please.” Then the toddler would
turn to the 5-year-olds in the clinic and tell them not to cry.
“She was really a very special little girl,” Goldberg recalls. Sara died shortly thereafter.
In
time, Goldberg would pour his grief and anger into helping other
children like Sara with a program he founded 15 years ago and still
directs called Kids Kicking Cancer, one that’s put down roots in the
U.S., Canada, Italy and, just last year, Israel.
“We’re even in the Vatican Children’s Hospital,” he notes with delight, adding, “The pope’s office actually had to approve it.”
Two
local programs this month — one Thursday in Detroit, the other Oct. 16
in West Bloomfield Township (see below) — will introduce parents and
kids to the focused breathing and relaxation techniques that can help
reduce pain and lower stress.
It was
Goldberg’s own work becoming a black belt in karate that convinced him
that martial-arts breathing exercises could help kids battling
terrifying diagnoses and pain, leading to a system he calls the Breath
Brake.
The message behind Kids Kicking
Cancer can be liberating for children used to being defined by their
disease and regarded as helpless victims.
“We
explain to the kids that they have this extraordinary control, this
amazing power,” Goldberg says. “We breathe this energy into ourselves in
martial arts and feel it going into our body. We help kids visualize
this. We teach them to take this energy and make it their own.”
The
mantra of the program, now headquartered at 27600 Northwestern Highway
in Southfield, is “Power, peace, purpose.” Once trained in the Breath
Brake technique, the children themselves go out to teach it to others,
and their students have included Ford Motor Co. and Pfizer executives.
“The
kids always get a standing ovation,” Goldberg says, “because they’re so
inspirational.” And when kids have a sense of purpose, he notes, “that
also lowers their pain.”
Breath Brake presentations
7-8:30 p.m. Thursday Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, 315 E. Warren, Detroit
7-8:30 p.m. Oct. 16, Berman Center for the Performing Arts, 6600 W. Maple, West Bloomfield Township
Admission is free. Questions? Call (248) 864-8238 or visit kidskickingcancer.org.
MHodges@detroitnews.com
Reference Link: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131004/LIFESTYLE03/310040032/Children-cancer-kick-away-their-pain
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