Finding equilibrium through breast cancer, with Audiologist Lara Toni Benigson

Lara Toni Benigson has spent more than 20 years helping people find their equilibrium. Then life asked her to find her own.Lara is a Clinical Audiologist, Vestibular Therapist and co-founder of Equilibrium Audiology in Johannesburg. Her professional world revolves around the extraordinary relationship between the ears, brain and nervous system and what happens when that system becomes disrupted by dizziness, tinnitus, concussion, hearing loss or chronic illness.Her understanding of healing changed profoundly when she herself became a patient.Following a breast cancer diagnosis, bilateral mastectomy, reconstruction and the physical and emotional process of recovery, Lara began questioning what it actually means to heal. Surviving an illness and recovering from it, she discovered, are not necessarily the same thing.Her clinical background, combined with further study in functional medicine health coaching, mindfulness and yoga, led her towards a broader understanding of health  one that considers neuroscience and physiology alongside sleep, stress, movement, emotional wellbeing, nervous-system regulation, identity and purpose.Today, Lara brings those worlds together and we will learn more about the role of the inner ear in our existence, but also about what happens when life disrupts the identity you have built, how the nervous system responds to adversity, and how we begin to find ourselves again.You will learn about the inner ear, how we hear, about tinnitis and how to support people navigating these conditions. Lara explains the system which keeps us orientated in space and the impact of hearing on brain health. She also shares honestly and vulnerably about her own journey and her new boobs!