A couple weeks ago, I caught a lot of online flak for publishing a controversial article about how professional basketball player Lebron James' constant use of a cell phone held up to his head probably contributed heavily to his recent development of mouth cancer.

And then, just yesterday, here on my wellness visit to Israel, I visited the home of another professional basketball player - Doron Sheffer (the photo above is of me and Doron in his backyard garden as I interview him). Doron was an amazing basketball player. He was an achiever. A hard-charger. A professional person. As a guard for the dominant college basketball team UConn, he fed the ball to star teammates like Ray Allen (recently with the NBA’s Miami Heat) and played for legendary coach Jim Calhoun. Sheffer averaged five assists and thirteen points per game, he hit 40 percent of his three-point attempts and he led the Uconn Huskies to a brilliant 89-13 record, along with NCAA tournament appearances in each of his three seasons. He was the first Israeli ever drafted by the NBA (the Los Angeles Clippers selected him in the second round in 1996), but he instead signed a lucrative contract with the Israeli professional basketball team, Maccabi Tel Aviv - which he then led to four consecutive national championships.

But then Doron got cancer. Testicular cancer. All the tremendous pressure, tension, difficulties, frustrations pent-up emotions and stress from the life of a hard-charging professional athlete eventually built up inside him and culminated in disease.

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Stress Causes Cancer

Indeed, scientists have actually discovered that emotional stress similar to what Doron experienced can be a trigger for the growth of tumors. As a matter of fact, any sort of trauma, emotional or physical stress, can act as a literal pathway between cancerous mutations, bringing them together in a potentially fatal combination. In other words, your risk for developing cancer can be positively or negatively affected by your emotional environment, including everyday work, physical, emotional and relationship stress. Now here's the deal: I'm personally a very hard-charging guy focused on personal and professional excellence in everything I do. And as I noted to Doron in the audio that accompanies this article, I truly believe that unless you are able to relax, to breathe, to de-stress and to simply stop and smell the roses, you're going to be the kind of person who eventually develops a disease that puts your fast-forward life into slow-motion. So you have to put the brakes on before your body puts the brakes on and forces you to stop, perhaps with the flu, perhaps with back pain, or perhaps with cancer. Make sense?

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How To Slow Down Before Your Body Forces You To Slow Down (Audio And Video)

The ultimate question is: how can you do this?

How can you slow down before your body forces you to slow down?

How can you somehow dig yourself out of a hole of a constant barrage of e-mails, text messages, phone calls, over-exercising, eating to train and training to eat, going to bed late, 24-7 self-quantified biohacking, trying to "have everything", getting up early and still somehow managing to squeeze in some semblance of quality in your friend and family relationships?

This is exactly what Doron figured out, and this man's new approach to life, his answers, and his new aura of peace and calm spoke heavily to me, which is why I'm now sharing his story with you. He defied conventional medicine and naturally healed his body of cancer, and his approach to life is now refreshing, relaxed and incredibly peaceful.

Myself and the team from Vibe Israel visited Doron at his peaceful home and private health resort "Hyuli" in Amirim, in the mountains of Northern Israel. Amirim was founded in 1958 as a retreat for vegetarians, and it now serves as a residence and hotspot for a community of aromatherapists, massage therapists, herb gardens, spas, a health food shop, an organic olive oil shop, art galleries, restaurants and wellness bed and breakfasts. These mountains are where Doron reinvigorated his body and underwent his own "spiritual cleanse" after winning his battle against testicular cancer. These mountains are also where Doron talked to us for 30 minutes about his new perspective on life - 30 minutes of some of the most valuable content you'll ever listen to or watch (if you're serious about living happy and disease-free). Just do me a favor: don't listen to or watch this one while you're out pounding the pavement, punishing the gym, or doing hardcore intervals on your bicycle. Instead, go sit in your backyard, or at the park, or in a comfortable chair in your living room and just breathe and soak in the message. Ready? Click here to listen to the audio of our talk with Doron, which was recorded in his backyard garden looking over the beautiful hills of Amirim, and eating organic figs, goji berries and sweet local almonds. Click here for the video version, or watch below (video may not yet be fully uploaded).

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Summary

So that's it. What do you think after listening to the audio or watching the video? What can you change in your own hard-charging life so that you can slow down before you're forced to? Leave your questions, comments and feedback at BenGreenfieldFitness.com. Click here to check out Doron's private health resort, which is actually open for visitations and retreats for people who want to find the same kind of peace that Doron found, and engage in therapies like Tai Chi, Yoga, Qigong, farming, water treatment, solar healing and simply...playing.