Simple comforts that supported my healing during chemotherapy

Everyone’s healing path is different. What soothes one person may not soothe another, but throughout my chemotherapy camino, I began gathering little things…rituals, remedies, foods, and quiet comforts that have helped me feel more like myself again.

Some are practical. Some are spiritual. and most are simply… gentle.

This isn’t medical advice or a list of prescriptions. It’s simply a holistic collection of what worked for me, what brought relief, rest, or a moment of peace during an otherwise difficult time. I offer it tenderly, with humility and hope that it might inspire a toolkit for your own healing journey.

Always consult with your healthcare team before trying anything new. You and your doctors know your body best.

Take what resonates. Leave the rest.

With care,

~ Leora

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Soothing the Body

Beneath the Surface ~ Skin Care as Nervous System Medicine ~

One of the more difficult, and often overlooked, effects of chemotherapy is what it does to the skin. For me, it’s been a steady drying from the inside out with cracked lips, rough palms, and sore, peeling feet. My skin, once resilient, began to feel paper-thin, fragile, and parched. I quickly learned that hydration alone wasn’t enough, what I needed was a new kind of care, inside and out.

Internally, I’ve leaned into cooling teas like tulsi and chamomile, sipping them throughout the day alongside broths and electrolytes. Externally, I’ve simplified. Gone are the expensive, chemical-heavy face creams. In their place nature’s balms… organic, and refined oils.

One of the most unexpected gifts has been coconut oil. Traditionally considered cooling and slightly drying in Ayurveda, it’s surprisingly been a balm for my inflamed, overworked skin, especially as the weather begins to warm. Its antimicrobial properties help calm irritation, soothe cracks, and gently restore the skin’s natural barrier. While I stay mindful of its drying nature, I use it sparingly and always listen for what my body needs. I’ve also found comfort in using vitamin E oil and a light Manuka honey face lotion, which feel like love and kindness in a jar. They nourish without irritating, restoring and healing my scarred and tattered skin.

Due to the extreme dryness, I now limit my showers to every few days, using warm, not hot, water and a soft cloth for my face. Long baths with Epsom salts and a few drops of essential oil have become a ritual of nervous system care. These moments, these rituals of abhyanga or self message and soothing warm baths have been reminders that my body is a sacred even in the discomfort.

Restoring the Mouth ~ The Mouth & Tastebuds During Chemotherapy ~

One of the deeply frustrating side effects of chemotherapy for me is how it affected my mouth. For me, the changes were subtle at first, and then unmistakable. My tastebuds dulled or turned on me completely. Foods I once loved became bland, metallic, or downright unpleasant. Some days, my mouth felt dry, overly sensitive or sore. Even brushing my teeth sometimes felt too harsh.

In the midst of this, I began returning to an old Ayurvedic ritual I had learned years ago, oil pulling. It became one of the few things I could do that felt both gentle and effective. Swishing oil in the morning didn’t just support my oral health, it soothed my dry mouth, helped clear that “thick” chemo-coated feeling, and even seemed to reset my tastebuds a little….just a little.

There’s something simple, subtle and comforting about oil pulling. A small ritual that doesn’t demand much but offers a lot. Highly recommended.

Oil pulling –
- As an ancient Ayurvedic practice, the history of oil pulling goes back over 2,000 years. Ayurvedic medicine promotes the benefits of oil pulling for oral health and overall health of the body.
- Traditionally an unrefined, organic sesame seed oil is used, but coconut, sunflower and olive oils are also good to use.
- Using your preferred oil, take a tablespoon of oil and swish it around in your mouth for 15-20 minutes. Swish the oil gently around your mouth and between your teeth. Do not swallow or gargle. When finished, spit the oil into the trash (not the sink). Rinse and brush teeth as normal. Oil pulling can be done up 3 times daily, or several times a week.

Emotional Ground & Sacred Spaces ~ Finding Shelter Within ~

Not only to protect my immune system, but to protect my spirit…space, quiet, and softness have become essential companions in my healing. What began as a physical necessity during chemotherapy quickly revealed itself as an emotional and spiritual need… the need for gentleness. For less noise. Fewer words. Less reaching outward.

It meant setting boundaries, becoming selectively present. This “withdrawal” felt uncomfortable at first… limiting phone calls and texts, pulling inward, pushing away, reducing contact with even my most beloved friends and family. It may have looked like ghosting. It may have felt like shutting down. And for that, I ask for understanding. Yet this, too, has been part of the work of healing… led by the fierce, trusting, dharma-aligned general of Survival Mode, doing what is necessary to keep me safe.

But inside that withdrawal, something beautiful has begun to grow.
Relief. Peace. Sacred space.

I began noticing the places that held me quietly and without demand

My front porch, nestled high amongst an old oak tree, became a kind of treehouse sanctuary for writing, sipping tea, and watching the birds, the wind and the clouds go by.
My late-night walks, when the neighborhood’s gone quiet, has become a way to listen to the world, a fun and curious opportunity to follow the moons changing cycle as I watch my own changes, my own waning and waxing.
The sanctity of my yoga mat, the soothing waters of my bathtub, and the holding comfort of my bed have become sanctuaries. Reverent medicine and intentional care

There’s a rhythm to this now, a sacred permission to be still and present in solitude.
I’m learning to navigate and move by the needs of my body. I rest when my body asks. I return to these spaces not to hide, but to honor the medicine of healing.

In your own healing, I gently encourage you to notice where peace lives.
Find those corners of your home, your neighborhood, or your routine that feel like medicine. Let your porch, your pillow, your playlist, your park bench become sacred ground. Tend them like altars. Return to them when the world feels too loud.

Additional Rituals and Small Miracles ~ A Tender List ~

Chemo recovery days usually hit me hard. In the days after treatment, I often wake up feeling like I’ve been hit by a Mack truck. Each session brings its own surprises to navigate, but most commonly, my body just hurts, aching bones and joints, burning fingertips and feet. The most difficult for me is the fatigue, often leaving me on the floor, taking long pauses to gather energy, recover, pray, or drop a few colorful “F” bombs while I cry.
Everything burns, aches, or just…sags in exhaustion.

Even here on the bathroom floor or curled beneath a blanket, I find tiny antidotes. A healing mantra. A breath. A funny, sassy memory.

My mother, Linda, used to say, with wicked satire, that she felt like a “bag of used assholes” during her worst chemo days (LOL). Not only does this memory bring me a chuckle with some relief, it is the most painfully honest way to describe these most difficult days. The following additional Tender List and Soft Recovery Day Check List is for those days. The ones that suck but not without humor, tenderness, and prayer.

🌿 Soft Recovery Day Checklist

🫖 Golden Earth Tonic: Warm whole milk stirred with OM mushroom powder, ashwagandha, brahmi, turmeric, black pepper, and a pinch of cardamom. This is surprisingly tasty. Nourishing and soothing, this warm milk, a hug in a cup is very beneficial to the gut, the nervous system and the mind.
- OM Mushroom Powder Blend → Adaptogenic immune and cognitive support. Includes reishi, lion’s mane, chaga, or cordyceps. These mushrooms blends are supportive for brain fog, fatigue, and the nervous system.
- Ashwagandha → Nourishing for adrenal fatigue and nervous exhaustion. Rebuilding. Brings the body back to rest mode, resets the parasympathetic nervous system.
- Brahmi (Gotu Kola or Bacopa) → Beautiful for brain clarity and nerve tissue regeneration. A calming, sattvic herb that promotes mental peace.
- Turmeric + Black Pepper → Anti-inflammatory, gut-supportive, and helpful for nerve discomfort. The pepper boosts absorption of curcumin.
- Cardamom → Calms digestive fire without extinguishing it. Balancing to milk-based drinks and eases bloating or heaviness.
A spoon of ghee or coconut oil with turmeric and a pinch of black pepper (stirred into warm almond milk, oat milk, or water) can help lubricate nerve tissues and reduce inflammation.
🧂 Celtic Salt in Warm Water: A simple Ayurvedic hack for days of low energy or low blood pressure. One of my favorites, a time-tested Ayurvedic remedy for rebuilding strength (ojas), especially during depletion
🌿 Blue Yarrow & Vitamin E Massage: Deeply soothing for nerve pain. Blue yarrow is energetically cooling and protective. Viitamin E Vitamin E is an antioxidant that may play a role in protecting nerve cells from damage and may help with nerve repair.
🛁 Epsom Salt Hand & Foot Soak: Warm water, a handful of epsom salt, a drop of lavender or frankincense. This has helped relieve the burning and inflammation. Also, per experience has helped with emotional release, allowing space for the healing benefits of tears.
🛌 Legs up the Wall + Blanket Under Pelvis: A simple yoga pose that helps drain the heaviness from my feet and legs. This asana is also calming, soothing and relaxing.
✨ Cumin-Coriander-Fennel Tea: Gentle digestive blend. Calming to the belly, to the nerves, to the mind.
💬 Permission to Cry on the Floor: Some days, this is the sacred practice. I’ve learned over the years that tears or crying aren’t signs of weakness. They’re the body’s way of releasing, making space, processing and metabolizing what words can’t. Cry is healthy. Crying is medicine.

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On the days that I don’t have my own words or my mother’s humor, I rest in the vibration of mantra. I often find myself humming the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra under my breath, a soft invocation that I’ve studied, learned and trust.

It’s grace, It’s surrender, it’s comforting, and it’s healing.

Om Tryambakam Yajamahe
Sugandhim Pushtivardhanam
Urvarukamiva Bandhanan
Mrityor Mukshiya Maamritat

Click to access Maha-Mrtyunjaya-Mantra.pdf

“Once the mantra is learned, bring it to mind as you begin your daily meditation, as a kind of invocation to your normal practice. After calming the body and breath, do 3, 11, 21, or even 36 recitations, and allow your mind to become absorbed in the sounds and rhythm of each line. Let the mantra draw your awareness to the heart center or the eyebrow center, whichever feels most natural to you, and use that center as the focal point of your awareness. If you are reciting the mantra to help with a health problem, focus your awareness at the navel center.”

~The Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra: Heal Yourself, Heal the World. Rolf Sovik, PsyD