Dance Meditation and Zen for the Black Cancer Patient

For American Blacks and People of Color, finding ways to address suffering organically is key. Cancer attacks people in these communities who often have few or little resources for dealing with it. In this book, the author provides access to Zen Buddhism and Dance Meditation as a relieving support for cancer treatment. This work provides unencumbered pathways to peace, which aid in changing internal and mental constructs that often keep individuals and communities in unwanted suffering. With historical aspects of poor health care and poverty circulating in the collective memory, people in these communities can be reluctant to seek care. This book provides alternative ways of approaching new thought patterns, and getting reasonable health care services for you and your loved ones. These practices promote better lives through attentive and skillful action in health and daily living.

Carla Stalling Walter is a professional facilitator with the Sacred Dance Guild and has led workshops and retreats on dance meditation across the United States, as well as a two-decade academic career. She received her doctoral degree in dance history and theory from the University of California.
 

Carla Stalling Walter
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages:
Bibliographic Info: ca. 5 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9734-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5591-8
Imprint: Toplight

• “Carla’s journey through life, shaped by cultural, personal, and spiritual experiences, has become a profound expression of the Zen path. She has transformed her struggles, insights, and wisdom into medicine for others, using her life as a vehicle to convey the essence of interconnectedness, compassion, and non-attachment. Through the lens of Zen teachings, she shows how every challenge and triumph, every joy and sorrow, can be turned into a lesson that heals and uplifts not just herself, but those around her.”—Eli Brown-Stevenson, Ordained Soto Zen Priest, director of Inclusion and Belonging, San Francisco Zen Center

• “This remarkable book…intimate, brave, practical, and beautiful …. opens a path of healing through dance that is sourced in the rich roots of the author’s identity as a Black woman and also the roots of Zen. It is about cancer and transformation. It is about life, death, and discovery.”—Roshi Joan Halifax, Abbot, Upaya Zen Center

• “Dr. Carla galvanized Zen Buddhism and Dance Dharma through her own experience with a medical death sentence. Her profound suggestion that we can stop the insidious nature of suffering affecting all marginalized peoples and the loathing within those who oppress, brings hope. She enunciates the reality that Buddhist skills are freely available and complimentary to any religious or spiritual lifestyle teaching us all to live Nirvana now. She also includes resources to get us all started on a path of clarity. Dr. Carla’s work is a stalwart recommendation for anyone who wants to change their own life’s trajectory.”—Mary Flynn Boener, MSW, ACSW, BCD, CCS, LCSW, PhD, member of the National Association of Social Workers, member American Board of Clinical Social Work

• “An inspiring book based on the author’s path from young girl to womanhood and the role dance and Zen Buddhism have played along the way. She shares a well-crafted trajectory that illuminates the impact of systemic racism on the emotional, spiritual and physical well-being of Blacks in America. This book offers Black women a guide to curate all aspects of their lives as an act of self-compassion. The author includes a useful and honest account of her own cancer diagnosis and how both dance and her Zen practice have supported her healing. This book is an act of generosity and dedication true to her spiritual practice.”—Anne Roise, director of Programs and Online Operations, Spirit Rock Meditation Center

• “Whether you are a caregiver, family member or person living with cancer, Carla Walter wants you to find healing for yourself, your community and the world. She found deeper peace through Zen meditation and movement and she invites you to find your own path. Dance Meditation and Zen for the Black Cancer Patient doesn’t promise quick fixes or miracle cures. The miracle is that we can all find deeper healing, wherever we are on our journeys. Her work is a gift to anyone with hearts and bodies ready to receive it.”—Josina Guess, associate editor for Sojourners magazine and contributor to Bigger Than Bravery: Black Resilience and Reclamation in a Time of Pandemic