I have always held the belief that our bodies speak to us — through breath, through sensation, through intuition. As a doula and wellness advocate, I’ve spent years encouraging women to trust the signals of the body. But when it comes to breast health, the tools we’ve historically been given haven’t always felt aligned with that philosophy.

At my last annual visit with my gynecologist, she wrote a script for a mammogram. I reluctantly scheduled the appointment, then I chickened out of getting the screening, mostly because of the horror stories from women about the process. Everyone talks about how painful and archaic the process is and as someone who has small breasts, I was terrified. 

When I learned about BeSound, a new gentler breast-imaging experience being offered in the West Hollywood section of Los Angeles, I was curious. Not just because it promised a different kind of scan — but because it promised a different relationship to the experience of breast screening itself.

As a Cali girl, I feel like new ideas in wellness seem to bloom there sometimes in quiet spaces that feel more like sanctuaries than clinics. It was in one of those spaces that I recently experienced something that shifted the way I think about preventative care and breast health: an ultrasound breast scan at BeSound.

Mammograms, while lifesaving screening tools, can feel clinical, uncomfortable, and anxiety-inducing for many people. For some, the physical compression is painful. For others, the fear of radiation exposure or simply the sterile nature of the experience keeps them away entirely. 

BeSound is an ultrasound-based screening approach — one especially useful for people with dense breast tissue, which my mother has, and they are clinically proven to detect 35.7% more breast cancers than mammograms.

A Grounding Space

The BeSound studio in West Hollywood doesn’t feel like a traditional imaging center. I walked into a brightly lit common area, the lighting is soft, the room was warm, felt like a Lulu & Georgia ad, and there was an intentional sense of calm that immediately settled my nervous system.

It reminded me of the way we prepare a birthing space: thoughtfully, quietly, with care for the emotional experience as much as the clinical one. For many people, breast screening carries a lot of emotional weight. I noticed how my practitioner Cynthia was so kind and very careful to explain the entire process so I felt comfortable. I deeply exhaled.

The scan itself was simple. I placed a cotton robe on and rested comfortably on a soft pillow while my sonographer moved an ultrasound device across my breast tissue, using warm lotion, instead of gel. With slow, methodical movements and varied pressure to capture images she worked from my armpit region to the sternum. There was no compression. No radiation and minimal discomfort.

The Science of Sound

Unlike traditional mammography, which uses low-dose X-rays to image breast tissue, ultrasound imaging relies on high-frequency sound waves.

These sound waves travel through the body and bounce off tissues in different ways depending on their density. The machine captures those echoes and converts them into detailed images of what’s happening in your breasts. The technology used at BeSound builds on Automated Breast Ultrasound (ABUS) systems — advanced imaging tools that have become increasingly important in breast cancer detection.

Breast Tissue Matters

Breast tissue is made up of fatty tissue, connective tissue, and glandular tissue that produces milk. When the glandular and connective components dominate, the breast is considered “dense.” Nearly half of all women have dense breasts. On a mammogram, dense tissue appears white. The challenge is that tumors also appear white on a mammogram. 

That’s why cancers can sometimes be harder to detect with mammography alone in dense breast tissue. Ultrasound imaging provides a different view — one that can distinguish between solid masses and fluid-filled structures more clearly. Studies have shown that adding ultrasound screening to traditional mammography can increase cancer detection significantly, especially for people with dense breasts.

For younger women, this matters even more. Breast tissue tends to be densest earlier in life, yet routine mammography often begins at age 40. Using BeSound’s AI powered detection means that ultrasound breast screening can help fill that gap.

A Fear of Mammograms

One of the things I appreciated most about this experience is that it acknowledges a quiet truth in women’s health: A lot of people avoid mammograms. Sometimes it’s fear of the results. But often, it’s fear of the experience itself. The compression plates. The vulnerability of the moment. The sterile clinical environment.

For people who have postponed screening because of those barriers, ultrasound imaging offers an entry point — a way to begin paying attention to breast health without the elements that feel intimidating. It’s pain-free. Radiation-free. And deeply informative.

A New Vision of Preventative Care

As I left the BeSound studio that afternoon, I found myself wanting to share with everyone I met. I went down to Erewhon to get a bowl of soup and I called my mom to tell her about the experience. While the out of pocket cost is $349.00, insurance coverage and benefits are in the plans.

Breast health is deeply personal. It’s tied to identity, motherhood, sexuality, and survival. When we create screening experiences that acknowledge the emotional landscape of that complex reality, we invite more people into the conversation about their health.