During a recent yoga therapy class at the oncology clinic, I listened to a breast cancer patient talk about her chemo treatment experience. She said she was surprised at how little the treatments affected her. She said she felt fine, even right after treatment and that no one would have known about the chemo had it not been for her lack of hair. “I hope you realize how lucky...
The time I call “post-surgery” is the time for healing after the surgery. Depending on the individual and the seriousness of the operation, it takes four to six weeks to recover. Recovery, in this case, means the time before going to the next step of the recommended treatment. Increasing levels of anxiety, fear of the unknown and physical pain mark this four to six-week period. We are surrounded by...
In this blog, we will consider the first stage of the cancer journey – diagnosis. We live somewhat balanced lives, with long and short-term plans and think that we know where we are going! However, a phone call from our doctor can destroy this balance with the news that “there may be a problem and we have to do more tests.” So, we now enter a new world where...
I am dedicating the next few blogs to the cancer journey from the perspective of a patient. There is extensive literature on traditional cancer treatments and on what is available. But so far, I have not found anything that would describe typically what a patient is going through during the cancer journey. When I say “cancer journey” I mean the time when we first learn that there might be...
(Photo courtesy of Bryan Minear) There is a big gap in cancer medical care that I have recognized from my own experience. Typically, after surgery, cancer patients undergo chemotherapy and radiation, which may last from four weeks to a few years. Often, such intensive treatments result in severe mental and physical side effects. The allopathic medical system tends to take us to the point where all our chemical treatments...
What is the main thing that you see that people don’t know about when starting yoga during or after cancer treatment? There is this widespread misconception that yoga equals doing strange poses called asanas, and that you have to be physically fit and slim in order to do it. Unfortunately, this is created by the yoga magazines depicting beautiful young and slim ladies in more challenging asanas. The concept...
