Yoga for people living with Cancer
Yoga helps to create the conditions that encourage our innate healing forces to work for us.
The Oxford Dictionary defines the word heal:
'To make whole or sound; to unite, after being cut or broken'
Yoga is not a cure for cancer, but it can help balance body, mind and spirit to enable people to feel and function better. Yoga can help to calm the mind so that people cope better with their diagnosis and treatment. It can help alleviate symptoms and side-effects such as tiredness, pain, nausea, sleep problems and depression. Post-treatment, yoga can be a gentle way to help people stay physically active, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and remain calm and centred. Yoga is also a way to help people who have experienced cancer treatment to reconnect with their bodies gently.
Techniques include breathing and breath awareness, relaxation, visualisation, meditation and asana (postures) all of which are adapted to the specific needs, ability and energy levels of each individual. The beauty of yoga is that it can be adapted and made gentle enough for anyone, of any age and at any stage of cancer treatment.
"If you can breathe, you can do yoga," Krishnamacharya.
The simple power of the breath can transform, soothe, and bring spaciousness, awareness and calm. It may be as simple as a quiet awareness of the breath that allows you to move from a state of pain and fear into a state of stillness and calm. Sometimes yoga may not always look how we expect it to. In fact, it will rarely look how we expect it to, because we are offering a practice that is entirely gauged to a person's unique needs.
A testimonial from one of my Students.
"I relapsed in June 2014 after initial treatment for non Hodgkin lymphoma. I required a stem cell transplant and was in hospital having intensive chemotherapy in Cardiff intermittently for 5 months. Lindsey visited me in hospital and we did some breathing exercises together. After discharge and owing to horrendous fatigue and side effects I was initially only able to manage chair yoga. Lindsey came to my home weekly for nearly 2 and a half years and I progressed from chair yoga to mat based, gentle dynamic Hatha Yoga. Yoga was and still is an important part of my rehabilitation and Lindsey has designed an individual programme for me which concentrates specifically on the lymphatic system. In September 2017 I joined Lindsey’s class at the Phoenix centre in Goodwick where I am making progress in a group situation. Lindsey makes yoga fun. She has a warm personality and a great sense of humour. I have benefited greatly from her expertise on my cancer journey."
Please contact Lindsey Howell yoga with any questions.
Namaste