This husband and wife team are creating a ‘worldwide epidemic of wellness.’
In 2013, David Dachinger, a New York-based composer and Grammy® nominee, was leading an active lifestyle when his life changed forever: doctors confirmed that the lump on David’s neck was stage IV head, neck and lymphatic cancer.
Just the word cancer brings up “intense meanings, feelings, and attachments,” David told Integrative Cancer Review. Part of the emotional and physical experience of living with cancer is about acceptance, David noted. “I chose to look at it like an extreme survival adventure rather than the worst thing that has ever happened to me,” he said.
David’s cancer experience led David and his wife Tamara, a licensed social worker in New York, to create a company called Loving Meditations. They co-authored a bestselling book, Live Calm With Cancer (and Beyond): A Patient and Caregiver Guide to Finding More Ease Through the Power of Mindfulness, a compendium of stories, tools and techniques to educate, inspire and support anyone experiencing cancer-related stress, fear, anger, sadness or isolation.
David and Tamara also created the Loving Meditations app to help cancer patients and caregivers, and they even created Loving Meditations Waiting Room TV to offer patients a more relaxing experience while waiting for their medical appointments.
Tamara Green, LCSW is a certified and licensed clinical social worker. She worked as a psychiatric social worker at New York Presbyterian Hospital for 18 years and is now a recognized psychotherapist and life coach in private practice. The lifestyle magazine Elle dubbed Tamara “the soul-centered love and relationship expert.”
Tamara serves as a behavioral health expert on Today.com and is an author, speaker, meditation facilitator, psychotherapist, hypnotherapist and Love Mentor® (trained by Diana Kirschner, Ph.D.). She combines her professional training and life experience to create powerfully effective guided meditations that have helped thousands to achieve peace, love, and well-being.
As a composer, David Dachinger scored music for America’s most celebrated sporting events and TV shows. More than 1.5 billion people have heard his music on CBS broadcasts of the Super Bowl, The Masters Tournament, and the NFL. David has been a recording engineer and producer with artists such as Usher, Celine Dione, and The Isley Brothers.
David is an international bestselling author featured in Cancer: From Tears to Triumph, a book filled with inspiration from survivors, health care and support professionals, caregivers, and loved ones. He is also a fire lieutenant and emergency medical technician, delivering patient care in emergency settings.
In this Integrative Cancer Review podcast, David and Tamara recount their journey as a patient and caregiver, and offer advice on how to find calm through meditation to ease the accompanying anxiety and stress associated with cancer and cancer treatment. They describe how patients and caregivers can use “gratitude techniques” to help ease the stress related to treatment for patients, caregivers, and survivors.
“We see our Loving Meditations app and book as an opportunity for self-discovery and personal growth,” Tamara said. “For us, this was a very deep personal and spiritual experience where we not only grew closer together as a couple, but even got to know ourselves better.”
The vision of Loving Meditations is just as thoughtful: “We envision a world where people architect a joyful life through self-care and loving kindness by accessing their natural wisdom and resiliency, thereby unleashing a worldwide epidemic of wellness.”
Podcast Topic Overview
1:22: The cancer experience
5:08: The stress and ways to cope
9:27: The path toward mindfulness
14:23: Taking control of perspective
15:40: Developing the experience in the Loving Meditations app
17:10: Journey for patient and caregiver
22:16: Understanding mindfulness
23:30: Listen to your body
Cancer and Mindfulness Resources:
Visit www.lovingmeditations.com for more information about David, Tamara, and Loving Meditations.
The book “Live Calm With Cancer (and Beyond): A Patient and Caregiver Guide to Finding More Ease Through the Power of Mindfulness” is available on Amazon.
Cancer: From Tears to Triumph
Download the Loving Meditations app:
Google Play for Android devices
