We are an integrative cancer treatment & healing center located in Mesa, AZ. We help people eliminate cancer and teach them how to stop making cancer.
An Oasis of Healing is an integrative cancer treatment center in Arizona that provides alternative cancer treatments and options. We specialize in targeting cancer, healing cancer, enhancing the immune system, and teaching our patients how to stop making cancer so that it doesn't return.
12/19/2025
Stress is the fastest way to silence the immune system. Peace is how you restore it.
12/19/2025
What is Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA)?
Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA) is a powerful antioxidant naturally produced in the body and found in foods like spinach and broccoli. What makes ALA unique is that it works in both water- and fat-based environments, allowing it to support cells throughout the entire body.
ALA plays an important role in mitochondrial energy production and helps regenerate other antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E, and glutathione—key defenders against oxidative stress and cellular damage. Research suggests ALA may also support healthier cellular metabolism, including mitochondrial function.
How We Use ALA at An Oasis of Healing
At An Oasis of Healing, Alpha-Lipoic Acid is incorporated into personalized integrative care plans under the guidance of Dr. Lodi. Depending on each patient’s needs, ALA may be used orally or intravenously alongside nutritional, metabolic, and antioxidant support therapies.
Why We Use It
We use Alpha-Lipoic Acid to support mitochondrial health, reduce oxidative stress, and help promote healthy cellular function—while protecting normal, healthy cells.
If you create the conditions for life, the body will do the rest.
12/18/2025
GI issues like nausea, bloating, constipation, and reflux can make daily life during cancer treatment extremely uncomfortable — but certain foods can offer gentle, natural relief.
Our “6 Gut-Soothing Foods” graphic highlights options that help calm an irritated digestive system. While the graphic gives you a quick overview, the real value comes from understanding why these foods work, which we break down in the full blog.
In the blog, we explain how these foods help by:
- Reducing inflammation in the stomach and intestines
- Coating and soothing the digestive lining to ease irritation
- Supporting beneficial gut bacteria that improve motility and reduce gas and bloating
- Providing natural enzymes that help your body break down food more easily
- Improving hydration, which assists with digestion and reduces discomfort
- Promoting balance in the microbiome, which can be disrupted by chemotherapy, radiation, or medication
These gentle nutritional tools can make a meaningful difference in how your body feels during treatment, especially when combined with integrative therapies and personalized nutrition guidance.
Your body isn’t failing you — it’s calling for alignment.
12/17/2025
💔🌀 When Trauma Blocks the Flow
How Emotional Wounds Create Physical Stagnation in Your Lymphatic System
(This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your health regimen.)
“Our biography becomes our biology.” — Dr. Gabor Maté
What if your swollen nodes, chronic puffiness, or lymphatic congestion aren’t just physical…
What if they are echoes of unspoken pain?
The truth is, trauma doesn’t just live in your memory. It embeds itself in the tissues of your body — tightening fascia, freezing breath, gripping muscles, and quietly clogging your lymphatic system.
This is the science of emotional stagnation — and the healing potential that’s unlocked when your lymph starts to flow again.
🧠💧 The Forgotten Link: Emotions + Lymph
Your lymphatic system is the silent river of your body — it carries toxins, waste, immune cells, and inflammatory messengers. But it doesn’t have a heart to pump it.
Instead, it relies on movement, breath, relaxed fascia, and neurological safety to flow.
And this is where trauma steps in.
When the body is trapped in a chronic fight-flight-freeze state — whether from abuse, grief, surgery, illness, or stress — your nervous system stays alert. Shoulders rise. The breath shallows. The diaphragm stiffens. Fascia contracts.
And the lymph slows.
🔒 Fascia: Where Trauma Hides
Your fascia — the connective tissue that wraps every muscle, organ, and lymphatic vessel — holds somatic memory. Emotional trauma causes fascial rigidity, particularly in:
• The neck & jaw (where the vagus nerve and deep cervical nodes sit)
• The gut (where trauma often somatizes and lymph collects)
• The pelvis (home to lymphatic cisterns and stored grief/violation)
Research in biotensegrity and somatic release confirms that emotional experiences change fascial tone, impeding fluid flow and lymphatic movement【Scarr, G. Biotensegrity】.
🧬 The Vagus Nerve & Lymph Flow
Your vagus nerve is the body’s brake pedal. When it’s toned and calm, your body feels safe — digestion flows, breath deepens, and lymphatic rhythm returns.
But trauma often leads to vagal shutdown or overload, impairing:
• Gut-lymph circulation
• Neuro-lymphatic drainage in the brain
• Immune balance and inflammation
That’s why so many trauma survivors develop autoimmunity, swelling, or chronic fatigue.
😭 When You Cry, You Drain
This may sound poetic, but it’s physiologically true:
When you weep, sigh, exhale deeply, or shake, you’re moving lymph.
Emotional release techniques — like somatic therapy, breathwork, craniosacral therapy, and MLD — often trigger “emotional detox” symptoms. This isn’t a setback. It’s a sacred reset.
🌿 What Can You Do to Heal?
Healing trauma-driven lymph stagnation is about more than drainage. It’s about creating safety in your nervous system so your body can finally let go.
💆♀️ Therapeutic Tools:
• Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD): Gently moves fluid & rewires safety into touch
• Fascial Release & Craniosacral Therapy: Frees old holding patterns in the body
• Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Cold exposure, humming, gargling, breathwork
• Castor Oil Packs: Anti-inflammatory, grounding, and somatically soothing
• Somatic Therapy: Releases stored trauma through body awareness and movement
• Gentle Movement & Emotional Expression: Dancing, weeping, sighing, praying
🧘🏻♀️ Real Healing Happens When…
The body feels safe enough to surrender.
The fascia softens.
The breath deepens.
The lymph begins to flow.
And the soul finally exhales.
This isn’t just lymphatic therapy.
This is sacred restoration of a body that’s been carrying too much for too long.
📚 Supporting Research:
• Van der Kolk B. The Body Keeps the Score — trauma’s impact on physiology and memory
• Scarr G. “Biotensegrity and the Fascia System”
• Carter J, et al. Brain Behav Immun. 2016 — trauma, inflammation, and immune dysregulation https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2016.10.019
🌿 The Silent Weight: How Emotional Trauma Impacts the Lymphatic System
By Bianca Botha, CLT, RLD, MLDT & CDS
Trauma is often spoken about as something held in the mind or heart — a memory, a scar, a wound that shapes how we see the world. But modern science is revealing something truly profound: emotional trauma is not just psychological. It is physiological. It settles into the body, into the fascia, into the nervous system, and more quietly than we realise… into the lymphatic system.
Your body remembers.
Even when your mind tries to forget.
And one of the most sensitive systems to emotional distress, prolonged stress, and trauma is your lymphatic system — the very system designed to keep you healthy, detoxified, and resilient.
💧 The Lymphatic System: Your Silent Protector
The lymphatic system is your body’s waste-removal and immune defense network. It moves lymph — a clear fluid filled with immune cells — through vessels and nodes, clearing:
• toxins
• pathogens
• excess fluid
• inflammatory molecules
• metabolic waste
It has no pump like the heart.
It relies on:
• breathing
• muscle movement
• hydration
• sleep
• parasympathetic tone
Anything that disrupts these — especially emotional trauma — can disrupt lymph flow.
Trauma activates the sympathetic nervous system. This “fight or flight” state causes:
• shallow breathing
• tight chest and diaphragm
• muscle tension
• reduced gut motility
• vasoconstriction
The lymphatic system depends heavily on relaxed, deep breathing, abdominal movement, and muscular rhythm. When trauma locks the body into a stress state, lymph flow becomes sluggish.
This can lead to:
• facial puffiness
• neck swelling
• abdominal bloating
• chronic fatigue
• tightness around the ribcage
• headaches
• weakened immunity
Studies now show that chronic stress suppresses lymphatic function and alters immune responses.
2. Trauma Stores Itself in Fascia — and Fascia Houses Lymph
The lymphatic system is embedded within fascia — the connective tissue web that wraps every organ, muscle, and nerve.
Fascia is highly innervated and responds intensely to emotional states. Under traumatic stress, fascia can:
• tighten
• thicken
• lose elasticity
• become dehydrated
• restrict lymph flow
This is why people with unresolved trauma often feel:
• tight necks
• rigid shoulders
• abdominal pressure
• heaviness in the chest
• a “blocked” throat
• unexplained swelling
Your fascia holds what the mind cannot process.
3. Trauma Increases Inflammation — and That Overloads the Lymph
Trauma increases systemic inflammation through cortisol dysregulation and immune activation.
Higher inflammation means:
• more waste for the lymph to clear
• more burden on lymph nodes
• increased risk of stagnation
• higher fluid retention
For many people, this shows up as chronic swelling, unexplained weight gain, or persistent puffiness — even when diet is perfect.
4. Trauma Alters Breathing — and Breath Moves Lymph
Deep diaphragmatic breathing is the single strongest lymphatic pump in the body. But trauma often creates:
• shallow breaths
• upper-chest breathing
• restricted ribs
• tight diaphragm
Without the “pump,” lymph slows, stagnates, and accumulates.
This is why so many clients describe:
“I feel stuck,”
“My body feels heavy,”
“No matter what I do, I feel swollen.”
Their lymph is simply reflecting their trauma-impacted breath.
The lymphatic system is highly reactive to emotions. Tears, grief, fear, adrenaline — all shift hormonal signalling that impacts lymph flow.
When emotions are suppressed instead of released, the body often shows:
• throat tightness
• chest pressure
• digestive bloating
• water retention
• immune fluctuations
• sluggish circulation
Your lymph mirrors what you carry emotionally.
🌸 Signs Your Lymphatic System Is Responding to Emotional Trauma
You may see:
✓ Puffiness in the face, under eyes, or neck
✓ Bloated abdomen
✓ Fluid retention in legs
✓ Chronic fatigue
✓ Brain fog
✓ Muscle tightness
✓ Constant infections
✓ Slow healing
✓ Hormonal imbalance symptoms
✓ Difficulty losing weight
These symptoms are not “in your head.”
Your lymphatic system is telling a story.
🌿 What Helps? Gentle Support for a Trauma-Sensitive Lymphatic System
These gentle approaches can help restore flow:
• diaphragmatic breathing
• lymphatic drainage therapy
• walking
• hydration in small, frequent sips
• fascia stretching
• vagus nerve stimulation
• grounding
• emotional release work
• trauma-informed therapy
• warm compresses
• anti-inflammatory foods
Healing the lymph requires healing the nervous system.
Healing the nervous system requires acknowledging the emotional body.
Your lymphatic system is not weak — it is responding to your life.
🤍 You Are Not Broken
Trauma may have shaped your physiology, but it does not define your future. The lymphatic system is incredibly resilient and responds beautifully to gentle, compassionate care.
Your body remembers, yes —
but your body can also release,
reset,
rewire,
and heal.
You are not behind.
You are not stuck.
You are not alone.
Your lymph simply needs permission to flow again.
📚 Scientific References
These reputable sources support the physiological links between trauma, stress, fascia, immunity, and lymphatic health:
1. Peters, E. et al. (2021). “Stress and the Lymphatic System.” International Review of Neurobiology.
2. Bremner, J.D. (2006). “Traumatic stress: Effects on brain and body.” Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience.
3. Schleip, R. et al. (2012). “Fascia as a sensory organ.” Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies.
4. McEwen, B.S. (1998). “Stress, adaptation, and disease: Allostasis and allostatic load.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
5. Porges, S. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory.
6. Zhang, Y. et al. (2015). “Stress-induced lymphatic dysfunction.” Nature Immunology.
7. Walker, J. (2020). “Breathing and lymphatic circulation.” Journal of Applied Physiology.
📝 Disclaimer
This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, exercise, or health regimen.
12/17/2025
At An Oasis of Healing, we don’t view cancer as something to fight against — we see it as a signal from the body calling for deeper alignment and healing.
Dr. Kollin explains how cancer develops when the body’s internal environment shifts out of balance, and why true healing happens when we address the root causes — stress, inflammation, nutrition, emotional health, lifestyle, and spiritual well-being.
Our integrative oncology approach focuses on restoring the conditions the body needs to heal naturally, using nutrition, detoxification, mind-body medicine, movement, rest, and spiritual support — all tailored to the individual.
Healing isn’t forced.
It’s supported.
You are more than a diagnosis, and your body is not a battlefield.
When you change your environment, you change your biology.
12/16/2025
Gut Health, Immunity & the Role of Colon Hydrotherapy
For thousands of years, cultures around the world have understood that digestive health is foundational to overall wellness. In his latest research article, Dr. Lodi explores the science and history behind colon hydrotherapy—and how modern gut research is bringing renewed clarity to this ancient practice.
Today, research shows that constipation, impaired gut motility, and microbiome imbalance are linked to chronic inflammation, leaky gut, immune dysfunction, and systemic conditions affecting the heart, brain, metabolism, and more. When waste remains in the colon too long, toxins and bacterial byproducts can re-enter circulation, placing stress on the immune system and detoxification pathways.
Colon hydrotherapy works by gently flushing the entire colon using warm, filtered water—helping to:
✔ Support regular bowel function and digestion
✔ Reduce toxin reabsorption and liver burden
✔ Disrupt harmful microbial biofilms
✔ Create an environment for a healthier gut microbiome
✔ Relieve immune overload so the body can better defend itself
With growing research into the gut–immune connection, colon health is no longer just about digestion—it’s about whole-body balance and resilience.
📖 Read the full research article to learn how colon hydrotherapy fits into a comprehensive, integrative approach to health.
🔗 https://anoasisofhealing.pulse.ly/n4x9edcfze
📞 Learn more about our programs: Call 480-834-5414
12/15/2025
There is no medicine more powerful than removing what harms and restoring what nourishes.
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An Oasis of Healing is an integrative cancer treatment center in Arizona that provides alternative cancer treatments and options. We specialize in targeting cancer, healing cancer, enhancing the immune system, and teaching our patients how to stop making cancer so that it doesn't return.
By incorporating alternative and conventional medical services, natural healing modalities, high quality nutritional products, and a unique educational and training program, we inspire patients to regain their birthright – health.
Health is the Natural condition of all creatures and is the consequence of each performing its function in the niche or habitat out of which its role emerged.
Humanity has become separated from Nature to the extent that it no longer functions out of instinct but rather out of a multitude of cultural interpretations, each of which views Nature as contrary, unpredictable, dangerous and in need of being subdued and even conquered. This fundamental worldview has spawned the ‘battle,’ “man vs nature” which has raged for untold millennia and resulted in what is known as, ‘civilization’ fabricated equally out of, both arrogance and ignorance delivering its progeny, a malignant miasma.
It is out of this background that we have come into being with a powerful resolve and ambition.
Our purpose then, is to inspire those lost in the quagmire of disease to take back their birthright of exuberant health through our holistic cancer treatments. Health of the body is unbounding energy and that of the mind is joy. Each of us must be a living example of how health is manifest in the human form and inflame those that we meet with the fire of hope to awaken and provoke in them the memory of childhoods’ promise, that anything is possible as we laugh and skip along to the harmony of Nature.
Call us now at 480-834-5414 to find out more details.
We are an Arizona cancer center that opened our doors in Mesa, AZ in February of 2006 offering to those diagnosed with cancer, the amassed knowledge and experience regarding the treatment and healing of cancer derived from years in Japan, Europe, Mexico and the United States. Those affiliations with other centers around the world have continued to this day insuring that not only will the reliance on Nature continue to serve as the foundation of healing, but that any and all scientifically validated therapies, from stem cells to immune modulating substances to technically advanced therapeutic interventions will be evaluated and incorporated, as appropriate.
Both health and disease are earned. It’s impossible to walk down the street and “catch” either one. Health and disease are not the causes. They are merely the consequences such as experiencing pain or having a difficult time breathing. These are simply the symptoms that alert us to, “Hey something is wrong here”. These symptoms are often considered to be a diagnosis rather than looking deeper into the root cause. A diagnosis of a headache (hematemesis) or having difficulty breathing (dyspnea) is just a description of a symptom, nothing more. There is nothing magical about making a diagnosis. Unfortunately, once a diagnosis is made is when the tragedy occurs because all the work that was going into the cause stops! Thus, the treatment prescribed only addresses the diagnosis and not the root cause, i.e. pain medication is given to help relieve only the symptom and not the cause. Clearly, the cause of these conditions have not been identified and eradicated, there is not only no assurance that these problems will not occur again but rather it is likely that they will.
At large, cancer is considered to be the “enemy” and a “war on cancer” has been declared. Outside of ci******es and the to***co industry, we are lead to believe that the majority of factors that contribute to the onset of cancer are in fact out of our control. The most common factors given are stress pollution and genetics.Cancer in fact, is the name that we have given to the extraordinary effort of the body to protect us against chronic irritation. Consequently, cancer has been termed, “the wound that wouldn’t heal.”
What is not a mystery are the conditions that lead to the development of cancer. If a person is to start on a path of becoming cancer free they first need to stop what they were doing that lead to the cancer development (i.e. smoking ci******es, eating processed foods, etc.) and secondly, they need to make sure that healthy cells are being produced. A simpler way to put it is they need to learn to stop making cancer.
Your full participation is critical to healing from cancer. At An Oasis Of Healing, patients will learn how to stop making cancer through training, education and study. The notion of being passive while being treated here must be discarded and in its place focus on coming to our healing center with the commitment to learn how to recover your vitality and vigor and the bliss of health.
What must not be forgotten is that the absence of health or “disease” is simply the body trying to restore its optimal functioning. Health is not the absence of anything, it is in fact the presence of something, it is one’s ability to regenerate, rejuvenate and procreate. Health is when a person lives concordant with the biological laws that preside over the functioning of the organism.
What you need to know is this: it really doesn’t matter how effective a doctor or a team of doctors are at eliminating cancer if the patient involved continues making cancer cells. This is why we target the cancer, enhance the immune system, AND teach people how to stop making cancer so that the cancer does NOT return.
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