When you think positive, positive things happen.
Frederick D. Lifschutz
Hi, I'm Dara.
About Me
I’m a native New Yorker born to Ashkenazi Jewish parents and suffered from social anxiety as long as I can remember.
I wondered how I became so anxious. Where did things go so wrong?
I'd experienced severe bullying as a child, from age 7-14.
Yet I excelled in academics and the arts, as I immersed myself in learning piano, flute, and voice, participating in competitions and in most of the performing arts groups through high school.
Though I was more interested in music than science, I needed to be a doctor. I had to DO something so kids would respect me—a trauma response to childhood bullying.
I thrived in college as a premed, surrounded by people that appreciated me.
I wondered if medicine might have been the wrong career choice, as the pediatric preceptorship track didn't feel as right for me as I'd anticipated.
So I decided to just choose another specialty. Radiology seemed like a good fit at the time.
My anxiety came out full force in residency, yet my interest was piqued by breast imaging. I could become skilled at pattern recognition to discover breast cancer. I liked breast imagers. I liked procedures. And more than anything—I loved talking to anxious women. I could relate.
Though I excelled in our prestigious breast imaging department during fellowship, my social anxiety still reigned, front and center, particularly while presenting at case conference in front of all the attending physicians and smart trainees. I was on anti-anxiety medication and feeling sick from it. Dizzy and nauseated, I wanted them out of my system, but I was so panic-stricken that my doctor was afraid to let me stop.
Back in medical school, I had met a healer at one of my clinical rotations who told me about chakras. I thought 'this is bullshit.' Yet a seed was planted.
As a junior attending physician, I went to a breast cancer support group event featuring an oncologist and sound healer. With him was a survivor of stage 4 pancreatic cancer. She thrived undergoing his chemo and radiation regimen alongside meditation and singing bowl therapy. I was blown away.
Shortly thereafter, I tore my hamstring, with an ensuing four months of chronic pain and inactivity. I decided to try a well known mind body technique as recommended by a coach at the time, and to my shock and delight, I was back to cardio kickboxing at the gym within two weeks. Now I was sold.
I researched sound healing and was mesmerized by the otherworldly tones of metal singing bowls. Medicine the way I was living it was lifeless and even felt like a bad fit, so I immersed myself in arts, nature, holistic healing, and mind-body medicine.
I attended retreats and conferences on natural healing techniques like Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda. I meditated and listened to sound healing recordings. In a few years, I gained real education in the art healing that was missing in my medical training. I learned about root causes of illness. I went to doctors less frequently as I found cures for my own illnesses—and I was able to get off my anxiety medications!
Though I now have advanced certifications in many facets of natural healing—including sound healing, I now realize that I am just as much an artist as I am a scientist, if not more so.
With sound healing, I am finally integrating a part of me that I’d squashed for so long. I’ve always loved music theory and technique. Now, in addition to woodwind, I am playing percussion—crystal and metal bowls, gongs, drums, bells, and more.
Performing curated meditations and sound symphonies for anxious friends has helped them sleep better and feel more relaxed and peaceful.
I've been asked, "but if you're so skilled at breast imaging, why don't you just stick with that? Why do you need all this holistic stuff? Your patients love you, and you love them. Isn't that enough?" The answer is that I excel with my tribe of anxious women and know how to calm their anxiety and listen to their fears. I intuitively understand how to help them. Yet I never have enough time to truly engage on this deeper level with my patients in the radiology department.
Now I can blend my knowledge of healing illness with my love of the arts and natural remedies to help anxious patients beyond finding breast cancer on images. Through mind-body medicine, I can truly help ALL anxious individuals, particularly women—from survivors of bullying to those with anxiety related to breast cancer screening and diagnosis.
Are you struggling with anxiety?
I’d love to help you.