WOW! Marie is ten years symptom free. How inspiring is that! Ten years ago, in the middle of my November to Remember, No Excuses November, 30-day Challenge 2011, a comment was posted on the blog that Marie would not be accepting the 30-day challenge because she was fully recovered. How inspiring is that!!!
Now, here we are, ten years later from my post entitled, “Fighting Parkinson’s, and Marie is symptom free.” For the last ten years, Marie has continued posting comments to inspire and encourage all of us.
I will begin with Marie’s comment announcing her recovery:
From my November 11, 2011 post, ten years ago today, with what Marie had to say:
Marie says:
November 10, 2011 at 1:07 pm
“I accepted an internal 30-day challenge from myself when I discovered
fightingparkinsonsdrugfree almost a year ago. And that was just the beginning. I made a promise to myself that I would do whatever was necessary and change my life in whatever ways would support recovery, if it was really possible to have my condition improve rather than degenerate. As Howard so often says, ” What did I have to lose?” I trusted Howard as my guide, and the bearer of good news that penetrated the bleakness of my fear and despair . I put my faith in my power to heal myself. The Recipe for Recovery was my lifeline. AND it is why I can happily and gratefully report to you today that the reason I am not accepting this challenge now is that I am symptom free! YES! Symptom Free!!!
Cheering you all on as you courageously overcome the disease. I am a happy example of the success of the Recipe for Recovery.
With love to you all~ Marie”
Up until that time, I was the only one who had cured myself utilizing the Parkinson’s Recipe for Recovery®, so Marie curing herself became proof of concept: Yes, the Recipe would work for others! This was big news as many people were greatly inspired to learn that the Recipe worked for Marie — it made them know it could work for them.
Here is an excerpt from a comment Marie wrote shortly after being cured of Parkinson’s:
Marie says:
November 19, 2011 at 10:35 pm
“I’ve just read both of the latest posts, and all of the comments. How exciting to feel all the faith, courage and support being shared here. We are a lucky bunch! It is wonderful to read the comments and see the shifts in awareness and the victories over the disease. I never took any meds and am in awe of each of you who is defying that medical model and choosing to take yourself off the drugs and fight Parkinson’s.
You are so brave, and from what I read in your posts, it is working. You are getting better.
Because it is such a powerful component in my own recovery, I offer this :
Fully acknowledge yourself and give yourself credit for what you are doing. Love yourself for how truly brave you are
and how dedicated you are to healing yourself. Thank yourself for this precious gift you are giving yourself. Sit in that feeling and give your brain a lovely dopamine bath.
Our gracious guide, Howard, always tells us that we are doing it for ourselves, and still, I think we tend to praise everyone else for the inspiration they are providing.
Be grateful to yourself, too, for having that opening that let the inspiration move you.
For me, this has been a good tool, and I hope it may be useful. I found it very hard to do ,at first. Kind of embarrassing. And actually, it is even a little hard to write about now.
“What? She sits around loving herself????”
I’ll tell you, I do, every chance I get.”
Over the last ten years, Marie has continued to support our recovery community with comments she has posted. Recently, she posted a comment to encourage all of you in this recovery journey:
Marie says: September 21, 2021 at 2:44 pm
“When my hands first started moving without my willing them to, I didn’t even know the word “tremor”. But, yes, that really got my attention and brought forth a huge amount of fear, unlike anything I had experienced in my life. Fortunately for me~and that is an understatement !~ the internet existed and Howard had posted videos there of himself doing medical qigong. Qigong? I’d never heard that word either. He had an inspiring story, just what I needed to give me hope which I’d been lacking up until then.
I began to follow the Recipe for Recovery. I noticed that my tremors would subside while I did qigong and I enjoyed the qigong. I’d have liked to have just done qigong and not the other parts of the Recipe for Recovery. Something I had heard somewhere else in some other context said to “pay special attention to what you resist”, so I focused some attention on being sure that I wasn’t avoiding any parts of the Recipe. (I mention that here in case that resonates with someone who is skipping some part.)
Of the many wonderful metaphors Howard provided, for me, being inside an iceberg, chipping my way out was tremendously powerful.
All these years later, I can still see the image I formed clearly: me in the bluish light inside the iceberg, wearing a white lab coat, with my chisel, working steadily to carve my way to freedom. That image was empowering. And it also made me laugh and added a lightness to my endeavors.
What I have realized with time is that the me inside the iceberg working the chisel was the me who was already cured.”
Also, eight years ago, we all were fortunate to have Marie attend my Santa Fe, New Mexico workshop. At the Santa Fe workshop, I got to meet Marie in person for the first time. I can assure you, she is the luminous soul all of you presumed she would be from reading the comments she continues to post on this blog to support and inspire all of us.
Here is a picture from the following day, when I got to spend time with Marie at her home. This picture was in one of her beautiful gardens:
Even though we had met in person for the first time the day before, I felt that special connection, the one that feels like you have known somebody for decades, not just a couple of days.
Additionally, seven years ago, Marie posted a comment to help all who were forging ahead in that year’s November to Remember 30-day Challenge 2014. It was so powerful and eloquent, I felt the need to repost it today. Here is what she had to say:
Marie says:
November 5, 2014
“Dear Recovery Community,
It is so beautiful to read all of these posts. To those of you who have accepted the 30 Day Challenge, congratulations!! You are so fortunate to have found Howard and his amazing Recipe for Recovery! You are recovering from Parkinson’s!
Since I recovered, I don’t do the Recipe for Recovery anymore, but when I committed to following the Recipe, it totally changed my life. From the Recipe, I learned how to live a happier, less stressful life and learned the importance of savoring what is good in each day, and practicing, Gratitude.
Howard once told me that for some people who find the website….and I paraphrase here, since I do not remember the exact words….a block to recovery is thinking that Howard is so amazing ….so committed, so full of Faith…that, in some way he is “better” and that is why the Recipe worked for him. Maybe you do not believe that you could do the Recipe ”as well” as Howard did it. Maybe you don’t feel 100% faith in your recovery and you think that will keep you from recovering.
As he does for many of you, Howard holds a very special place in my heart, my mind and my spirit. I love and admire him. He is a truly rare and awesome being!!!!!
To each of you I want to say that you can most certainly do the Recipe for Recovery as well as I did, and I recovered. I committed myself to doing the Recipe, even when I was not sure that I believed it. The commitment was rock solid. Faith was a little more difficult. When I didn’t feel like doing the Recipe, I did it anyway. When I did not have Faith in my recovery, I did not let that derail me; seeing how easy it would be to let lack of faith get in my way , I “acted as if” I had faith, until my faith caught up with me again.
Whatever obstacles you find, you can also find your way to sidestep them. Don’t let ANYTHING stop you.
Love and best wishes, Marie”
So, my dear friend, Marie, here we are ten years after you becoming cured from Parkinson’s. Absolutely amazing! Absolutely inspiring! Absolutely loving! Your recovery…and you…absolutely amazing! and inspiring! and loving!
You could have given your gratitude and walked away. You could have said, “I am cured, good luck to the rest of you…and disappeared.” But no, here you are, still opening your heart to all of us, still being such an active part of our recovery community with your blog post comments.
I want everybody to know that I never have asked you to post a single comment since your recovery, but instead, that you have continued to give of yourself from your heart. I am grateful for you, Marie, my dear, dear friend. With gratitude, blessings, hugs, and love, Howard.
CONGRATULATIONS, MARIE!!! TEN YEARS SYMPTOM FREE FULL RECOVERY, CURED FROM PARKINSON’S!!!
Who’s next? What are you waiting for?
Make the commitment to cure yourself from Parkinson’s!
Grab onto the Recipe and take action. Make this your November to Remember!
Okay, everybody, put big smiles on your faces and chant together so the whole world can hear:
“Parkinson’s is curable.
I am my own Parkinson’s cure.
I am slowing, halting, and reversing the progression of my Parkinson’s.
I am extraordinary.
I am recovery.
I am doing great!
AND, I AM WORTH IT!!!”
Yes you are. Each and every one of you is WORTH IT!!!
All my best,
Howard
Thank you Marie for sharing your recovery, very much appreciated. For me another week down which takes me closer to my recovery too! PD giving me a good fight but that’s not stopping me . I will recover as I won’t stop until I’m symptom free . To the light in your eyes and the sun in your smile with love xxxxx
Thanks, Rick! wishing you well on your journey to full recovery, and looking forward to your joining us as a post-recovery poster here.
Congratulations, Marie, on ten years free. I find you very inspiring. Your comments are always encouraging and lift me up when I feel down.
Thanks too to Howard who is always there whenever I need help.
Love to all my brothers and sisters in the boat together.
Thank you for your comments as I celebrate this special time of remembering and being grateful for the path that Parkinson’s took me down. It brought me so many wonderful changes. Best wishes to you!
Dear all,
Thank you so much for the encouragement!
It’s wonderful to have Marie´s story as well to help us on.
Thank you Howard for initiating this healing action for us all.
Thank you thank you again.
Love and joy to everyone
Love and joy flowing back to you too, Alison. Wishing you all the best. Thanks for your comments.
Thank you Howard and Marie for being so inspirational and motivational. You both are so giving and appreciated. Up until recently, (my family was influencing their doubts), I hadn’t given it a second thought about believing in healing from PD but I have seen my abilities go back and forth, with good days and not so good days. I now realized I need to be full deck on board with the recipe (Mind/Body/Soul) in order for this to work. I had been diagnosed in 2010 and since I began the “Recipe for Recovery” in 2018, I am down two medicines and have two more to go and have great days and not so good days. On those not so good days, I remind myself how fortunate I am to have the abilities I presently have and to have the support given by Howard with the Recipe for Recovery.
Love to all,
Jeannie
Hi Jeannie, I am celebrating my 10 years free of Parkinson’s by replying to each person who wrote a comment here.Thank you for posting! I am so grateful to be part of this community. And so grateful this community exists! Congratulations on getting down to two medicines. Sending my very best wishes to you.
Thank you Marie and Howard, you are very inspiring and supporting!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Dear Teri and Werni, I feel like I know you through your posts here. Just saying hello and wishing you both well. thank you!
Congratulations, Marie, and thank you very much for continuing to post comments on Howard’s blog which keep spurring us on to recovery. We all want to be the next headline news and your insight and encouragement are much appreciated in the quest to join you and Howard on the other side of Parkinson’s.
I had an appointment with my neurologist this week. She said I ‘looked very-under-treated.’
I fantasize about being able to walk into her consulting room one day and launch into a Gangnam Style routine. I might even climb on her desk and proclaim, ‘O Captain! my Captain!’ in homage to Howard. One day …
Love your humour friend, and no better woman to be climbing on desks lol 😂
Yeah, Karen. I’ll end up cured of Parkinson’s but with two broken legs. How are you?
Hey there, Val, Be sure someone is there to take the video of you dancing Gangnam Style! And post a link here! We will all rejoice and enjoy sharing that moment with you! Sending love and best wishes.
Marie
Wow congratulations Marie! Thank you to you and Howard!
Your story is so inspiring and moving just like Howard’s. I often go back and read them both, they propel me forward like a good friend holding my hand and take the wind out of PD’s sails. Thank you so much for your immense love and encouragement, you have no idea how much it means <3
Hi Margaret, I have been reading your posts since you joined the community and always appreciate your generosity of spirit. It is so good to hear that my recovery is providing encouragement to you. Right now, I am extending my hand to take yours. Sending heartfelt wishes for your well-being and looking forward to celebrating your recovery.
Thank you so much Marie -you’re Awesome
I had a hard time yesterday and said a quick prayer for help, I woke up this morning to find out He sent you to hold my hand!
Thank you Marie and Howard – you are inspirational cosmic angels,
Jan-UK
Lovely to hear from you Jan. I’m still on the path and also accepted the 30-day challenge. How wonderful to hear Marie’s story. So inspiring. I look forward to the Friday blog and all the responses. It is comforting to read there are so many others believing that they can recover. None of us are alone on this journey. Thank you to Howard and Marie and to everyone..
Love Sue UK
Thanks for your comment, Jan. That made me laugh. Howard may well be a cosmic angel but I am far from it! Fortunately Howard is a wonderful guide to self love, just as we are. Even without wings! Sending best wishes.
Marie
Love the iceberg visual (…the me inside the iceberg working the chisel was the me who was already cured…), Marie.
Thanks to you and Howard for the inspiring posts. 💗
Hi Lynn, That iceberg is my favorite metaphor of all times!
Keep chipping!
With love,
Marie
Dear Recovery Community
Thanks to Howard, Marie, and each and everyone who is part of this recovery community. The post that I am responding to here, couldn’t have come at a more precious moment. In just a few hours I am going to see my neurologist who diagnosed just 6 weeks ago. And after 3 weeks of medication I realized my path leads to medication free and Parkinson free future. I have already tapered down the mediation by half and I will ask my neurologist to be part of my team of overcoming Parkinson drug free. I have stepped up on my exercises as I am tapering down the medication. After writing this reply I will work on Howard’s Recipe for the first time and I am sure it will help me in reaching my goal.
A 4000 year old adage in Sanskrit says, “Body is Body’s medicine.” Body in the ancient times included body, mind and soul.
So wish me good luck. Together here we have created a biofield in which will help us all. And thanks to you Howard for empowering yourself and all of us!
Welcome Vijay , I like your word “ biofield” and it’s implication..😊
Hi Karen
Thank you for your comment! I also like the concept of biofield because it includes everything that we do for ourselves and for each other, basically energy and information. There is a book “Healing ourselves” where I first came across this word.
Hello Vijai S. It is remarkable how the blog posts always seem to be just what you need at the time you read them, isn’t it? It is great that you have found this supportive community. Thanks for posting about the biofield. I am happy and grateful to be part of it.
Wishing you good luck on your journey to recovery!
Hello Marie,
Thank you for your best wishes and support and encouragement.
I just wrote to Karen about the source of “Biofield.” I will give an example of biofield, when somebody sends the soul energy to heal another person even from a distance, it often helps because we are part of this biofield.
Best wishes and lots of spiritual energy for your health and spirit.
Hi Vijai, My very deepest wish is that the strength and energy of this biofield helps empower your full recovery, and the recoveries of many others sharing positive energy here.
Thank you for sending energy my way!
Thank you Marie! You are wonderful and have powerful vibes. I can feel them!
Vijai
Hi Everyone,
Howard and Marie, thank you for your encouragement. I too have taken on the November to Remember challenge. Time to do the Recipe now!
Hi Richard S, Thanks for taking the time to post your comment. It is great to hear from people in this community. Congratulation on taking on the November to Remember Challenge. It can be life changing, and I sincerely hope that it will be for you!
Thank you Marie and Howard for the inspirational recovery and motivation. It gives us hope that recovery is possible and I will continue to do the Recipe for Recovery and continue to chip away at the PD iceberg. Keep inspiring us and God bless All.
Yes! Yes! Yes, Rabindar! Recovery is possible. We are all so fortunate that Howard recovered and shared that with us. What a gift! I’d never have believed it without his example. And that is part of what keeps me coming back to the blog, to let you know that I also was able to recover by following the Recipe for Recovery.
Keep on chopping at that iceberg!
Marie, you are a lady! The fact that you are still supporting each and every one of us after ten years, says so much about the quality of the woman you are. 😇
Bless your beautiful heart.
Big Love 💕
Karen xx
Thank you!
Karen, dear Karen! What a sweet post!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I am sending Big Love right back your way! And wishing you all the best.
Take good care, my friend.
Marie
Thank you, Marie, for hanging with us this week. Very fun for all of us to visit with you!
Sometimes I think I’ll take a jackhammer to that iceberg, but then there may be something to that slow practice of chipping away.
Thanks again for being there for us!
Love and blessings, Chris.
Hi Chris M, It is my pleasure to be here with the community and I am enjoying replying to the comments. For me there is a powerful lesson in the patience of chipping. Besides, it would be awfully loud in there with a jackhammer! Be sure you have ear protection!
Sending love and best wishes to you on the transformative journey though the ice, whatever tools you choose to use~
Marie
Dear Howard,
No celebration of my recovery would be complete without my expressing my boundless gratitude for what you have given me and given to everyone in this community. Your example was the light that lit the way, and yours was the only light in the vast and frightening darkness. Where would I have been without your posting on the internet about your recovery?
Today I was reading the AARP magazine while I ate lunch and I saw a tiny excerpt from a new book. (The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams).
“You won’t be active unless you hope your action is going to do some good. So you need hope to get you going, but then by taking action, you generate more hope…”
You had posted videos showing how to do the various parts of the Recipe for Recovery; the only reason I started to do them was because you gave me hope. It wasn’t difficult for me to transform that hope into action. Without hope, though, there’d have been no reason to begin. No reason to continue. No reason to ever even consider the idea of recovery.
I thank you from the depth of my heart and soul, Howard, for you inspiration, for choosing to share the story of your recovery and detailing how you achieved it. You encouraged me to have the courage to believe that recovery was possible for me too. In finding you, I was truly struck by grace.
You gave me hope.
….and my chistel.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
With love and gratitude always~
Marie
Well, Marie, I wasn’t going to start a new conversational thread or I thought we’d be here forever, but your final words to Howard have really touched me and it feels like you have spoken for all of us, so thank you for that. When I imagine myself trying to work through The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine … yes, quite.
It was lovely of you to reply to each of us personally, Marie, and please don’t bother to reply to this. It is just a final thought inspired by the glow you have left with your warm and caring input for our November challenge.
You and Howard are both great ambassadors and so photogenic, judging by the picture he posted. Have you got room for a little one in the middle!!!!!!!!!!!??????????
Of course there is room for you, Val! Step right in!
This is my celebration! not a bother to me at all. I am replying because these personal interactions are bringing me such joy!
Yes, hope is a big part for me too. My first doctor found it important to convince me there is no hope, just a long descent into hell…
Howard offers hope. This gives me the courage to chart the unfamiliar waters of qigong and soul mind body healing!
Love to all, Chris
Hi Chris,
Your post about your doctor reminded me of something that I heard Norman Doidge say when he was the keynote speaker at a conference I attended. He is the author of The Brain That Changes Itself and The Brain’s Way of Healing, two very inspiring books. And he is an M.D. himself, as well as a researcher.
He said that doctors are very concerned about giving”false hope”. They don’t want to face the consequences if they have offered hope to someone and that person does not get better. Maybe that person would become angry and say “but you told me I would get better”. There is also a medical establishment bias that favors medication and is set against long and/or multi-faceted interventions that are hard to measure in clinical trials. For something like the Recipe for Recovery, even if a doctor thought it was an interesting approach, he or she might also realize that not everyone could stick to a plan like that.
But, rather than giving people the option, Dr Doidge said, most doctors have very little concern about giving “false despair”. (Probably unconsciously; it makes their lives easier.)
It sounds like your doctor did just that!
As someone who recovered, I know that my doctor, beyond a doubt, gave me false despair. She was totally invested in the progressive, incurable disease model. The internet gave me false despair too. Which is why I am so grateful for Howard’s message and example of True Hope!
Sending love and best wishes to you, Chris.
Marie
I think you are spot on Marie! Such doctors are not mean people, they are just wrapped up in their profession. Your analysis is excellent.
Chris
Thank you Howard! Marie congratulations and thank you for the generosity of your spirit! After reading all posts it feels that we are all gifts to each other! Thank you Mr. P.
In one of your comments in the old post you shared a great wisdom … ‘to watch out for what we resist the most’ … and this helped me to be mindful that I resist the physical Qigong exercises the most! This awareness and November being a month of commitment improved my relationship with Qigong some, so there is hope! Progress, not perfection! LOL
Much love to all and thank you again for a vibrant and loving conversations!
Warmly,
Ola
Dear Howard, Dear Marie, thank you again and again for your inspirational words. I know I will be on the list of recoveries and cured people. It does not matter nr. 8, or 9 …,but I know: On the inside I am already healed- the rest will follow. Thank you everyone and see you all on Howard’s list of (Fame) cured People. Love Uwe