Healing Yoga: Cancer Patients Experience the Benefits

Photos via Pinterest and Flickr.

I am touched and honored to bring you a guest post today from Trevor Bradshaw, an aspiring writer, yoga nut, and brother to a cancer survivor. 

Trevor has a true passion for writing about the benefits of yoga for cancer patients, and his compassion inspires. Thanks, Trevor, for sharing your perspective and some healthy tips for those on the road to healing! Namaste.

Yoga provides many benefits for quite a diverse assortment of physical issues from back pain to stress management.  In an age when hospitals continue to become more specialized, the success that millions of people have had with yoga has prompted the medical community to take notice of its myriad health benefits. Today, most doctors, including the Mayo Clinic, have taken note of how a regular yoga practice can help benefit cancer patients. And while it’s clear that yoga by itself does not cure cancer, it has become well recognized for providing several important benefits to cancer patients.

Yoga is extremely beneficial to cancer patients because it can offset many of the negative symptoms related to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Cancer patients often must undergo these extremely debilitating treatments, causing them to suffer fatigue and nausea. A mild yoga program, however, helps to relieve nausea, which many patients’ find unbearable, and as well as helping to maintain patients’ energy. While many report still feeling fatigued, it is often to a much lesser degree if they are practicing yoga.

New studies show that not only is yoga a great way to combat the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, but also a great tool in calming the nervous system.  By combining different poses and breathing techniques yoga is used to help improve issues with sleep and reduce the dependency on sedatives as well as relieve muscle pains that are associated with deadly cancers like leukemia and mesothelioma.  For many cancer patients, sleep deprivation causes additional emotional and physical breakdowns but yoga can help patients get a good sleep and feel better throughout the day.

  

Yoga also has been proven to increase the number of red blood cells in the body.  This is particularly important for cancer patients and regular yoga practice also increases the circulation of oxygen carrying blood cells throughout the body. Adequate oxygen supplies are of paramount in working to heal a cancerous body. The improved circulation and increased red blood cells from yoga help the body heal and keep the immune system in good working shape.

Furthermore, a yoga practice does not have to be strenuous -- an added boon for fatigued cancer patients. Many patients already experience the many health benefits of a gentle yoga class, but there are still many who have yet to hear about its benefits. For cancer patients who are apprehensive about attending class at a studio, they have the option of practicing in the convenience of their own homes. 

If you know someone who is a cancer patient and new to yoga, tell them about the benefits and how simple it can be to start with a beginners program by taking a class or buying a DVD.

For more reading about how yoga helps cancer patients, check out this post or read more by Trevor here. 


Or you can learn from a Bikram teacher who says yoga saved her life. 


You can also check out reflections on practicing with pain or learning to cultivate compassion with your yoga.