Work as if you have no money. Love as if you have never been hurt. Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. And live everyday as if it were your last.

In 1979, Sherri, Marc, and Joel LeBed gave new meaning to the phrase, Dance Like No One Is Watching. In an effort to help their mother recover emotionally and physically from a breast cancer diagnosis and surgery, Sherri Lebed Davis, a dance movement specialist, and her brothers, Marc and Joel Lebed, physician/surgeons, developed an innovative program called The Lebed Method: Focus on Healing.

The Lebed Method is a therapeutic rehabilitation program that combines physical therapy and psycho-social support. Exercises are designed to help breast cancer survivors achieve maximum range of motion, gently stretch scar tissue, and strengthen surrounding muscles. To date, The Lebed Method has been adopted in more than 600 hospitals worldwide, and helps patients focus on thriving rather than merely surviving. Recently the program has been expanded to include individuals suffering from Parkinson Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Fatigue, Arthritis, and other diseases.

In 1996, Sherry Davis Lebed experienced the program first hand as a student, having been diagnosed with breast cancer. It wasn’t until 1999, when Sherry experienced lymphedema (the abnormal accumulation of fluid in body tissue) that Marc and Sherry developed a new series of exercises and movements designed to decrease the swelling in affected limbs.

My personal interest in The Lebed Method was piqued, when I read about a breastfeeding mother in Oregon who used The Lebed Method to relieve chronic breast engorgement after other interventions had failed. She was so excited about the results, she recommended the exercises to others, all of whom reported getting relief.

Does it work? I don’t know. But it certainly makes sense. Moreover, there is no evidence that it causes any harm. So if the exercise program provides even a small measure of relief—it’s worth the effort, especially for those mothers who have recurrent bouts of engorgement, mastitis, and/or plugged ducts.

Shall we dance?