Yoga is a year-old practice centered on Indian philosophy that has gained high popularity all over the world in recent decades.
Yoga is a combination of intentional poses and stretches, along with rhythmic breathing and also meditation. The name has been derived from the word “Yuj. ” It means to join or to unite. Yoga helps in aligning body, spirit and mind. Yoga is not a religious practice, but it’s a philosophy that creates wholeness within the self for promoting health and vivacity.
There are several kinds of yoga, but one type that is Hatha yoga, which is a kind of yoga maximum people mean when they make use of the word. The yoga practice with all its slow motions is now also possible for various people suffering from cancer. It helps them in fighting fatigue, breathlessness and other such symptoms. A good yoga school in Rishikesh teaches hatha yoga perfectly.
Now let us know more about yoga for cancer patients
Yoga assists you in focusing your thoughts and maintaining proper flexibility. Symptoms like fatigue, pain and insomnia help in lowering your life quality when you suffer from cancer. A lot of studies have looked at how yoga might work in cancer patients. These studies have found out that yoga offers both physical and mental benefits to them.
How does yoga benefit physically to cancer patients?
- Yoga assists in enhancing flexibility, muscle strength, and balance. This might get compromised when you undergo any surgery or are advised for long bed rest because of cancer treatment. Some of the activity levels are changed because of a lot of cancer symptoms. Some of them are:
- Appetite loss: In many cases, yoga might assist in combating the loss of appetite that is often seen in patients who have cancer.
- Pain: Yoga can decrease some cancer based pain when it is used as a balancing treatment. This means yoga is utilized along with some pain medication and other such tools of some traditional medicine.
- Sleeplessness or insomnia: People suffering from cancer face a very hard time sleeping. Yoga helps them as insomnia can enhance fatigue, decrease the life quality and might even play some role in survival.
- Weakness: Some of the research shows that yoga helps in decreasing cancer based fatigue.
Cancer symptoms such as fatigue, pain and insomnia lower quality of life. Yoga might offer a good way of dealing with all physical symptoms while also boosting emotional wellness.
Emotional wellness
- Anxiety: Through all focusing activities and several breathing practices, yoga will reduce anxiety associated with cancer.
- Stress: Yoga plays an important role in decreasing people stress who are suffering from cancer. Studies have shown that it’s indeed true depending on how people describe how they are feeling and also the level of stress based markers that are measured in the body.
- Emotional suffering: People who have cancer suffer from less emotional distress about their disease when they practice yoga regularly.
- Survival benefit: People who have cancer when practicing yoga have possible survival benefits. Research shows that there is an immense decrease in the level of cortisol for people who are suffering from cancer. This suggests an enhanced rate of survival rate.
Thus, we can see that people who have cancer get wellness benefits when they practice yoga during or after treatments. It helps them in dealing with physical symptoms such as fatigue or loss of weight. It also helps in dealing with anxiety and other such emotional issues.
It would help if you kept in mind that yoga might help get relief from some of the cancer symptoms, but it is not a treatment for the disease. It is mainly used in an integrative fashion, which means it is another pathway for those individuals for managing cancer symptoms besides using surgery and chemotherapy for treating cancer.
So, now where to start?
Cancer patients who are not much familiar with practicing yoga must consult a doctor about programs that might be specific to their own condition. A large number of cancer centers are now offering wellness programs, and yoga instructors are highly experienced in dealing with such patients.
Here are a few yoga poses that are helpful for cancer patients. A 500 hour yoga teacher training in Rishikesh is the best course that will teach all these poses.
Seated spinal Twist:
This yoga pose helps in digestion as well as nausea.
- Initiate the pose by sitting cross-legged on the floor.
- Take deep breathings.
- While exhaling, twist your body slowly over the right shoulder, place your left hand on your right knee and keep your right hand behind your body.
- Take a deep breathing and then hold the stretch.
Legs up on the Wall:
It is also called Viparita Karani, which is a pose that helps in fighting fatigueness.
- Start by sitting on the floor, keeping your left side against your wall.
- Turn left and bring your leg up against your wall while lowering your body to the prone position.
- Rush your buttocks against the wall.
- Rest your shoulders along with your head on the floor while stretching your legs up the wall in a very relaxed position.
Reclined bound angle pose:
Supta Baddha Konasana is a pose that helps in decreasing stress and fatigue.
- Start by seating and bringing your feet together in your front. Your souls should face each other, knees should remain bent and heels must point towards the groin.
- Lie back gradually, support yourself through your arms till your back is placed against the floor.
- Relax and take deep breathings keeping your arms to the sides.
Seating Meditation:
It is a beginner pose that assists you in focusing on breathing as well as mindfulness.
- Sit on the floor with crossed legs.
- It would help if you felt the sitting bones coming in contact with the floor.
- Elongate your spine to sit tall and then drop your chin down slightly so that your neck remains aligned with the spine.
- Take deep breathings and keep your mind away from wandering.
Life is indeed painful, and getting cancer and obtaining cancer treatments is even more painful both are emotionally as well as physically. But according to yogis, suffering is completely optional, and we can easily transform the whole suffering into awakening with thinking that everything in life is because of our awakening. It is easier to say than doing, but yoga can be really transformative for cancer patients.
Conclusion
Yoga is one of the ancient practices with all modern benefits. A lot of people who have cancer find out that it helps in boosting their energy and also their outlook. And also provides some physical exercise without causing any pain or being strenuous. A 200 hour yoga teacher training in Rishikesh teaches practicing these yoga poses.
Fewer things in life are as upsetting as diagnosis of cancer, and with it also comes all uncertainties and stress that most of the people experience. Yoga provides several ways for dealing with that stress. It also assists in protecting flexibility, balance as well as muscle tone to assist people to feel best in bad times.
If you are thinking of giving it a try but are not certain, then you should think of asking your friend or a family member to join you with yoga sessions. It is something that you can practice not only to build up yourself but also your support system.