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Thread: Laura Bruno book – “If I only had a brain injury”

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    Founder Sheila's Avatar
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    Laura Bruno book – “If I only had a brain injury”



    I stumbled across this person really synchronistically on the Internet, on a day when I really needed encouragement. I wasn’t looking for anything related to brain injury, and she is a treasure trove of validation and reassurance about traumatic brain injury.

    Laura Bruno, MA, was in her mid-twenties, working in sales, and about to return to graduate school to start a Ph.D. in English Literature, when she had a car accident that knocked her unconscious, and made her so disabled from TBI, that she had to give up on grad school, give up on work, and move in with her parents.

    She couldn’t read for longer than five minutes without triggering severe, long-lasting migraines. She was sensorily hyper-sensitive.

    She was put on pain pills and told there was nothing to be done about her TBI. She started looking into alternative healing (including raw food), and working with the injury as a spiritual opening.

    It took her six years to recover. She is fully recovered, has written three books, runs her own business, and is pursuing her passions. On her blog, she seems to be having f-u-n….Remember fun?

    http://laurabruno.wordpress.com/
    Meds free since June 2005.

    "An initiation into shamanic healing means a devaluation of all values, an overturning of the profane world, a peeling away of inveterate handed-down notions of the world, liberation from everything preconceived. For that reason, shamanism is closely connected with suffering. One must suffer the disintegration of one's own system of thought in order to perceive a new world in the higher space."
    -- Holger Kalweit

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    She wrote a book, using The Wizard of Oz as a metaphor for healing from brain injury as developmental and spiritual journey. Note that Dorothy, the protagonist of The Wizard of Oz, starts her journey when she gets a head injury during a tornado.

    The book has pragmatic suggestions for coping with brain injury. I’ve skimmed it on Amazon. It looks like it is very validating and reassuring for us. I’ve ordered it, and I’ll post a couple of highlights from it.

    http://www.ifionlyhadabraininjury.com/about.html


    An excerpt is available online –

    http://www.ifionlyhadabraininjury.com/3.html
    Meds free since June 2005.

    "An initiation into shamanic healing means a devaluation of all values, an overturning of the profane world, a peeling away of inveterate handed-down notions of the world, liberation from everything preconceived. For that reason, shamanism is closely connected with suffering. One must suffer the disintegration of one's own system of thought in order to perceive a new world in the higher space."
    -- Holger Kalweit

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    On her blog, Laura Bruno interviews Mia Dalene, another brain injury survivor, about the bad, early days of her injury, her raw food diet, and her healing. Again, this person describes very similar symptoms to us –

    Another brain injury survivor’s account on her blog –


    First interview --

    http://laurabruno.wordpress.com/2010...ef-mia-dalene/


    Highlights –

    From her accident in 2001 until 2006 she doesn’t seem to have had much *apparent* healing from her TBI. Then, she was struck by inspiration and turned to a raw food diet. Four days into her new diet, she felt a vibration in her body, and *pop* the depression she had had for years was gone. By the seventh day, she had no more headaches.

    Five months into the diet, she had a sudden pain at one of the injury sites in her brain. It was so intense, she thought she was going to die. But, again, *ping*, suddenly she had more memory and more verbal ability.

    At the time of this interview (2010), she had had three more of these *ping* episodes, each several months apart, after which she had more and more brain function.


    Second interview --

    http://laurabruno.wordpress.com/2010/07/29/1619/


    Highlights –

    More good stuff about the impact of TBI on her life, how she re-thought her life, and her passion for raw food.
    Last edited by Sheila; 04-04-2012 at 11:56 PM.
    Meds free since June 2005.

    "An initiation into shamanic healing means a devaluation of all values, an overturning of the profane world, a peeling away of inveterate handed-down notions of the world, liberation from everything preconceived. For that reason, shamanism is closely connected with suffering. One must suffer the disintegration of one's own system of thought in order to perceive a new world in the higher space."
    -- Holger Kalweit

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    Here’s a really good one-hour radio interview about Laura Bruno's TBI and recovery May 09, interviewer Kristin Suratt –

    http://files.welikeitraw.com/audio/laura-bruno-kzyx.mp3


    Highlights from the interview –

    Fascinating synchro between Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz!

    “It’s actually really unbelievable to me when I think about it, because my life was so different from before the injury [compared to after the injury], and my life now is so different from during the injury that it’s hard for me to really imagine how disabled I was.”

    If she went into a store with florescent lights, it would trigger a migraine that would last for weeks.

    “There are a lot of parts of me that have recovered way better than I was before the injury."

    She says if she looks at her life right now, she wouldn’t trade it for a life without the accident. So much great stuff has come from the journey that happened because of the accident.

    And she says she can’t imagine how she could have gotten to the creative work she’s doing now any other way. The accident and recovery seem absolutely necessary.

    NB: She had lost consciousness from sports concussions multiple times in her youth!

    She believes she had to undo some of the early brain healing she did through behavioral optometry (“occular balance therapy”), in order to do more correct brain healing later. I’ll try to find out more about this.

    You go through periods when you’re brain is reorganizing, and those are very emotional periods.

    She tried a million therapies and treatments. She understand how brain injury sometimes reacts badly to treatments that work for other ailments. Unsurprisingly, she had a bad experience with migraine medication. She had allergies to all foods, except pork!

    The right therapy / treatment is very specific to the individual.

    She talks very well about the anxiety that comes from beginning to feel better after a very long time of suffering.
    Last edited by Sheila; 04-04-2012 at 11:58 PM.
    Meds free since June 2005.

    "An initiation into shamanic healing means a devaluation of all values, an overturning of the profane world, a peeling away of inveterate handed-down notions of the world, liberation from everything preconceived. For that reason, shamanism is closely connected with suffering. One must suffer the disintegration of one's own system of thought in order to perceive a new world in the higher space."
    -- Holger Kalweit

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    Founder Sheila's Avatar
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    Meds free since June 2005.

    "An initiation into shamanic healing means a devaluation of all values, an overturning of the profane world, a peeling away of inveterate handed-down notions of the world, liberation from everything preconceived. For that reason, shamanism is closely connected with suffering. One must suffer the disintegration of one's own system of thought in order to perceive a new world in the higher space."
    -- Holger Kalweit

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    Thank you so much for it, Sheila! It will bring folks lots of hope and re-charge their batteries. One more proof that our mind and body are miraculously resilient.
    Keep walking. Just keep walking.

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    Hi Sheila,

    I have already ordered this book, as I too read about this amazing woman and was waiting for it to arrive, so i could read it before i posted about it.
    I will be back once iv read it, to update this thread, in the meantime, thank you for mentioning this, im very excited to read it!!!!

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    Founder Sheila's Avatar
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    Luc – Thanks! What Laura Bruno had to say really cheered me up, so I was excited to pass along the info.




    Angie – That is so cool that you had recently come across Laura Bruno and her book, too! That seems like a really nice synchronicity. Can I ask – did your finding her have anything to do with you both being interested in Reiki?

    I really appreciate your posting highlights from your reading of the book. That’s a big help.
    Meds free since June 2005.

    "An initiation into shamanic healing means a devaluation of all values, an overturning of the profane world, a peeling away of inveterate handed-down notions of the world, liberation from everything preconceived. For that reason, shamanism is closely connected with suffering. One must suffer the disintegration of one's own system of thought in order to perceive a new world in the higher space."
    -- Holger Kalweit

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sheila View Post



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    Ahh Sheila, no i got my Reiki degree many years ago, actually while i was taking paxil, I did 3 degrees and now am able to teach as well as treat, works very very well for most things,
    but not always as successful as id like with wd unfortunately, but i will keep going, as the LORD finds work for idle hands lol.

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