YOGA and Your Well Being

Stress increases susceptibility to disease, so part of a great anti-cancer strategy is to find outlets that release stress even if only for a moment from your life.

That includes taking time for yourself in a hot bubble bath, having tea and relaxing with someone you love or learning to meditate or do yoga. Anything to slow down and soothe the inner you.

Through the ancient practice of yoga and meditation, cancer patients and survivors have  learned how to manage stress, enhance immune function and feel better overall. Restoring energy, improving joint movement, alleviating joint pain while instilling a sense of calm and connection…these are all possible through yoga.Therapeutic yoga poses can help establish a true sense of well-being and vitality in a balanced manner. According to The Therapeutic Yoga Kit  by Cheri Clampett and Biff Mithoefer, our neurological relaxation response is activated during a relaxing yoga or meditation session. This leads to a host of documented benefits including the reduction of our stress hormone production, a decrease in blood pressure and muscle tension, and an increase in immune function and activity.

Using simple breathing techniques, guided meditation, restorative poses and stretches with gentle movement, yoga can be extremely helpful in managing the stress and the side effects of cancer. If you are currently going through treatment or recovering, yoga class can offer variations of poses and movement to adapt to what you need. Overall, you may feel calmer and yet have more energy than before. Most importantly, you will have given yourself the opportunity to nourish your mind, body and spirit.

  Through gentle yoga poses and breathing exercises, toxins accrued during treatment can be cleared out more effectively, blood circulates better, and the lymphatic system is enhanced thus leading to the increase in immune function.  

Even if you've never had cancer, learning to relax for a few minutes a day is as important in the anti-cancer process as eating ground flax seeds and drinking green tea.




find ways to reduce stress in your life (yoga, meditate, time for friends).