Category: Practical Stuff

Breast Cancer: Surviving the High Cost of Treatment

(Title image: Photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash)

Since we are now in the Pink Season, otherwise known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, in the midst of encouraging mammograms and regular clinical exams, it’s also useful to consider a very important barrier to obtaining cancer treatment and services in the United States: cost.

This is particularly distressing because breast cancer research has been very well-funded and treatments are quite effective for most forms of the disease, with great strides also having been made in understanding some of the most aggressive variants.

But according to a 2021 memo from the the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network, 61% of (all) cancer patients describe paying for their treatment to be “somewhat or very difficult”.

It is striking that financial difficulty affects the majority of cancer patients. Obviously, the lower the family income, the greater the hardship, with 80% of patients having to “make financial sacrifices to cover their health care expenses, including 44% who’ve dipped into their savings, 36% who’ve gone into credit card debt to pay medical bills and nearly a quarter who say they did not schedule or cancelled an appointment or procedure because of cost.”

None of this will come as a surprise to you if you’ve ever had to pay for healthcare in the United States. Suffice it to say, we have a problem with affordability here.

Aside from the stressors of the disease and treatment side effects, many people have the added anxiety of not being able to afford the cost of cancer care.
(Photo by Woliul Hasan on Unsplash)

I was one of the very lucky ones in this regard, as my husband and I both work for non-profit research institutes with generous benefits. At the time of my diagnosis, we were enrolled in an employer sponsored PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) insurance plan with a per-person, out-of-pocket yearly maximum of $2000. When we initially signed up for the coverage, I thought the increased cost of the PPO was unnecessary as we were all quite healthy. However, after my diagnosis, I was struck by how blessed we were to even have this degree of health coverage as an option.

Clearly, my family is in the minority in our good fortune. We were able to avoid the financial fears and burdensome debt, even bankruptcy, that affect so many other cancer patients. Cancer care is devastatingly expensive, particularly for those with little to no insurance coverage, or insurance coverage with extremely high deductables.

What options do you have if you find yourself delaying care due to finances?

*Start with your cancer center’s social workers. They have experience in helping patients and survivors who are dealing with financial hardship and can point you in the right direction.
* Visit the Cancer Financial Assistance Coalition (CFAC) website, which has a database that you can search according to your cancer type and financial needs to find a list of charitable organizations that can offer support for your situation.
*For medicines that are not covered by insurance, pharmaceutical companies may offer deep discounts on their drugs. Reach out to them directly. They would rather sell you a heavily discounted medication than not make a sale at all.

Even when it seems that your luck has run out, there are still options available to ease your financial burden. Unfortunately, the healthcare system might not change anytime soon, but please know that supportive charities can to lend a hand as you make your way through the cancer maze.

Breast Cancer: Do You Know Your Risks?

(Title image: Photo by Michael Shannon on Unsplash)

Since we’re creeping up on October, commonly known here as the very pink Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I thought it might be a good time to post the most common risk factors for breast cancer…and then explain the problem with focusing on them.

For reference, I used the risk factor list posted on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. The CDC’s list focuses on women, as they are the ones at greatest risk of developing breast cancer; a shocking 1 in 8 women (~12%) will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives.

But on to the list. The CDC divides breast cancer risk factors into two categories: risk factors that you cannot change and risk factors that you can change.

The ones that you cannot change are the following:

Age – The older you are, the greater the risk, with the majority of cases occuring in women aged 50 and above. Last I checked aging was still a thing, so we’re all heading in this direction.

Genes – BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations put you at significantly greater risk for breast and ovarian cancer. This is one family heirloom that you’re better off not inheriting.

Age at first menstruation and menopause – Starting periods before age 12 and menopause after age 55 exposes you to higher levels of circulating female hormones for a longer time. The longer you steep in hormones, the more chance of developing the cancer. This is a little unfair, I think, because estrogen also helps maintain muscle mass, bone density and skin elasticity which are all good things, but that’s how it goes.

Breast density – The denser the breast tissue, the higher the risk. Denser tissue also potentially makes it more difficult to detect tumors. Dense breast tissue is less fatty and more fibrous and glandular…and more likely to occur in women with lower bodyfat, which is ironic considering it’s also better to leaner (see below).

Find out your family history of cancer and explore your genes.
(Photo by Antonino Visalli on Unsplash)

Personal and family histories of cancer and other breast diseases – Having had previous breast cancer yourself or in a close family member (including ovarian cancer) may raise your risk. This is a great reason to make health a family affair and encourage everyone around you to do what they can to reduce their risks.

Early exposure to radiation therapy – Having had radiation treatments to the chest prior to age 30 may raise your risk of developing a tumor later on. This is a double-whammy: survive one cancer (like lymphoma) by going through treatment…and get smacked with breast cancer.

Diethylstilbestrol (DES) – If you were given DES (to reduce chances of miscarriage; no longer prescribed) or your mother took this drug when pregnant with you, it may have increased your breast cancer risk. Again, proof that life isn’t fair.

The risk factors that you have some control over:

Physical activity – Being sedentary is associated with higher risk. If you ever needed a wake-up call to get moving, this is it (and while you’re at it, have your family members join you).

Postmenopausal overweight or obesity – Being an older woman with a higher bodyfat percentage may increase your risk, so menopause is a great time to reevaluate your diet and consider why you’re eating what you’re eating—is it just out of habit? Boredom? Depression?

Hormone replacement therapy – Taking hormones post menopause for more than five years may increase the chances of developing breast cancer (see “Age at first menstruation and menopause” above). So unfortunately, hormone replacement treatment to help with menopausal symptoms may end up working against you.

Pregnancy history – Never having a full-term pregnancy, getting pregnant after age 30 or never breastfeeding may all affect your risk. To be fair, these can be more difficult to control and no one should ever feel guilty about any of them.

Rethink your drink.
(Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash)

Alcohol – Drinking alcohol increases your risk of developing breast cancer. If you are using alcohol as a socially-accepted means of self-medication, consider quitting and using money you’d otherwise spend on drinks to find yourself a good therapist.

There are of course other, perhaps less well-established risk factors, but the above give an idea of the wide variety of different factors involved.

Okay, so what if you can say that you’re in the clear with most of these factors? I certainly did. Based on my lifestyle, I figured that breast cancer was something that I’d never have to worry about.

And I had reason to think this way. According to the National Cancer Institute’s risk calculator, at the time of my diagnosis, I had a 1.3% chance of developing breast cancer within the next five years. That is a very low percentage! And yet, I developed a tumor.

Does that mean the calculator’s answer isn’t meaningful or that risk factors don’t matter? Not at all. It means that your risk percentage is only that, your calculated risk. Everyone would be well-served to live as healthy a life as they can, keeping in mind that having a number of risk factors doesn’t definitively mean that you will get breast cancer.

At the same time, no one should assume that a low risk means you won’t get cancer. It’s still very important to get screened regularly and see your doctor about any lumps that you find, because while you might not be able to prevent breast cancer despite your best efforts, catching your tumor at an early stage provides you with the greastest chances for a positive outcome.

Exercise and Cancer Cells: High-Intensity Exercise = High-Intensity Results [RESEARCH]

(Title image: Photo by Blocks Fletcher on Unsplash)

I am a huge proponent of exercise, both for prevention of cancer and its recurrence and in management of cancer treatment side effects, not to mention improving quality-of-life. Now a new study shows how even just one exercise session can have a powerful effect on cancer cells.

A randomized controlled trial conducted by researchers in Australia (Bettariga et al., 2025, Breast Cancer Res Treat) explored the effects of a single bout of vigorous activity (either weightlifting or interval training) on the production of anti-cancer myokines and investigated how blood drawn from study participants affected live cancer cells in the laboratory.

There has been a lot of research on the efficacy of exercise in reducing the risk of both developing cancer and preventing recurrence. However, this study focused exclusively on breast cancer survivors, which was important given that the physiology of survivors is affected by the treatments that they’ve gone through.

What was so gratifying to me was to see the significant effect of strenuous exercise. While the greatest benefit was seen from high-intensity interval training regarding its lethal effect on live breast cancer cells due to particularly high levels of a myokine called IL-6, the researchers stressed that strength training was likewise important as a cancer-fighting activity because building muscle through exercise also increased the amount of myokines circulating through the body.

The study participants engaged in strenuous exercise, but the program was created with noice exercisers in mind.
(Photo by Intenza Fitness on Unsplash)

It’s important to note that all thirty-two participants in this study were not exercising prior to joining the research group. Even so, they were able to tolerate the high intensity of the workouts. Keep in mind that “high intensity” is relative to the individual. That means strenuous exercise (for this study, reaching an effort level of at least a 7 or 8 on a scale of 1 to 10) will be different for a novice exerciser versus a highly-trained professional athlete.

So often, I encounter people who are willing to take a plethora of medications with considerable side effects, but roll their eyes when exercise is mentioned. Some people view physical activity as being only for those who are interested in looking a certain way or being mainly for those who have already reached a certain level of fitness.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Exercise is for everyone. We all start at different points; where exactly that is doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we are willing to exert enough energy to make a difference in our physiology and our well-being.

This is not “diet culture” or anything to do with body shaming. This is about doing what you can personally to increase your chances of a cancer-free life.

Survivors can talk to their healthcare team, show them this research and request that doctors lobby their insurance companies. Personal training, subsidized exercise equipment and gym memberships, fitness classes at cancer centers—all of these should be considered a critical part of cancer treatment and survivorship.

REFERENCES

Reader-Friendly Article:
Reynolds G (September 11, 2025) “A single exercise session may slow cancer cell growth, new study shows.” Washington Post. Free access via MSN: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/a-single-exercise-session-may-slow-cancer-cell-growth-new-study-shows/ar-AA1Ml2oc?ocid=socialshare

Research Study:
Full publication
Bettariga F, Taaffe DR, Crespo-Garcia C, Clay TD, De Santi M, Baldelli G, Adhikari S, Gray ES, Galvão DA, Newton RU (2025) A single bout of resistance or high-intensity interval training increases anti-cancer myokines and suppresses cancer cell growth in vitro in survivors of breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat, 213, 171-180. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10549-025-07772-w
PubMed Listing
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40608178/

Favorite Calm Things: Kaiyukan Aquarium in Osaka

(Title image: Photo by Cristian Palmer on Unsplash)

It’s been quite a week. And that means another post with some of my favorite ways to bring calm into my life…

This time around I’m posting about a video instead of a livestream. It’s a 12-hour long YouTube video of the central tank at the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan in Osaka, Japan, and it is glorious.

The central tank is a massively huge aquarium, showcasing marine animals from the Pacific Rim. According to the Kaiyukan Aquarium Wikipedia page, the tank is 34 meters (112 feet) long, 9 meters (30 feet) deep and has a staggering capacity of 5,400 cubic meters (190,699 cubic feet) of water. Its enormous size enables it to house an impressive range of animals, including whale sharks!

The central tank at Kaiyukan Aquarium in Osaka, Japan.

As long as you don’t have a fear of ocean scenes, the blueness of the water is very soothing. It feels nurturing and safe.

The soundtrack itself of the video is a little surprising: it’s disarmingly upbeat and I would not have expected it to have a calming effect…but give it a listen. I turn the volume down a bit while still allowing the tune to fill the space around me—excellent for focus as I’m working. Not distracting or sleep-inducing, just an effective noise blocker that helps with concentration.

Give this a view – I hope you enjoy it!

Remembering to Do Nothing

(Title image: Photo by Ken Cheung on Unsplash)

I remembered something last night about mindfulness meditation that I’d realized I had somehow forgotten.

I don’t have to do anything when I meditate.

Not strain, nor grip, nor furrow my brow.

The only thing I need to do when I meditate is to exist, and to be aware that I am existing.

I was thankful that I remembered this because I’d been struggling with the concept of sitting and being present for the past few months. I had slipped into the belief that I needed to work at it.

But last night I asked myself, “What would it feel like if I didn’t try so hard? Or at all?”

Simply exist.
(Photo by Jeppe H. Jensen on Unsplash)

If you’ve practiced mindfulness meditation, you know that the guidance is simple and straightforward.

It goes something like this:

“Sit comfortably with a tall spine, alert but relaxed. Take a few deep breaths, stretching upward on the inhale and settling down on the exhale. Soften the muscles of your body starting from your face, moving down the neck, shoulders, torso, arms to the fingers, hips and seat, down the legs to your toes. Then allow your awareness to settle onto a focal point like the breath, tingling in the hands, the hum of an appliance or sounds of traffic in the distance.”

Does that sound familiar? There are of course numerous variations of this. You select an anchor to come back to whenever you realize that you’ve drifted away from the present moment and into the thoughts in your head.

And that’s it. It’s quite basic and yet we find ways to complicate it and make it a strenuous exercise.

You don’t necessarily have to sit, you can lie down or even stand if that works for you (or you’re practicing while queuing up for something).

There are no rules for mindfulness meditation. Yes, there are principles and/or steps to take, but no real way to do it “wrong”. The only thing that would be considered “incorrect meditation” would be going to meditate, but then spending all that time doing something else.

Last night, when I remembered that my meditation didn’t have to be a certain way and all I needed to do was simply to be and to be aware of myself being, it felt like a release. The last year has been difficult and there have been tough things that I have been required to do.

This felt like a gift, that I could rest and think, “Oh, yeah…I don’t have to do anything.” And I was so grateful for that moment.

Why do I make these things so much harder than they should be?

Bang a Gong: The Problem with the End-Of-Cancer Treatment Bell

(Title image: Photo by rhoda alex on Unsplash)

When I finished my final radiation treatment for breast cancer in 2017, I got to bang a gong as part of my cancer center’s tradition.

The gong-ringing marked getting to a milestone, one that I only dreamed about when I was handed my treatment plan. It felt like closure…except that I wasn’t really “done”—I still had months of Herceptin to go and years of endocrine therapy ahead of me. But the toughest chemo and radiation were over.

And those around me who weren’t done yet also celebrated along, just as I had for the patients that had gone before me, eagerly awaiting their turn at the gong. This tradition also occurs at many other cancer centers, although instead of a gong, it might be a bell or a chime or something similar.

However, as with many things that have to do with cancer, there is a more somber side to the end-of-chemo bell. As noted in this article from Psychology Today (“The Psychology of the Cancer Bell”), hearing the ringing of the bell can be devastating for someone with metastatic cancer, who will never be done with treatment, or is at late stages of the disease.

There are many other creative ways to commemorate the end of treatment for cancer than simply bell-ringing.
(Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash)

The article also points out that in cases where someone experienced a cancer recurrence, hearing the bell rung by someone else elicited painful emotions. What should be a jubilant event for all can feel depressing and isolating, like being left behind.

But it goes beyond that. As a study by Williams et al. (2019, Int J Radiat Oncol) found, even those who are finishing their treatment might not have a positive response to ringing the bell. From the “Conclusion” section in the study’s abstract:

“Counter to our hypothesis, ringing the bell on the final day of RT [radiation therapy] worsens patients’ evaluation of overall distress from cancer treatment, and this distress persists and even worsens in the months after treatment. Emotional arousal created by ringing the bell may magnify the distress from cancer treatment and subsequently worsen the perception of distress from treatment.“

Not what I would have expected! And it certainly came as a surprise to the study’s authors.

These findings have been reflected in a reimagining of the completion bell. As the Psychology Today article mentions, some cancer centers are moving it’s location and renaming it the “Bell of Hope”, or providing different means of allowing patients to mark the stages of their treatment rather than focusing on “completion”.

Personally, I was looking forward to banging my gong and was more focused on what treats I could bring for the radiology staff and saying goodbye to all of them. But I can see why such a commemoration could be problematic, especially when so many parts of the cancer experience are stressful. You don’t need one more.

How about you? How do you feel about ringing a bell (or similar)? Is there something else that you did or would prefer?

REFERENCES

Leeby C, July 30, 2025, The Psychology of the Cancer Bell. Psychology Today Blog, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/consciously-creating-your-soul-life/202507/the-psychology-of-the-cancer-bell

Williams PA et al. (2019) The Cancer Bell: Too Much of a Good Thing? Int J Radiat Oncol, 105, 247-253. https://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(19)30838-7/abstract

For information on what Penn Medicine has done to reimagine the bell-ringing tradition:
Greer M, December 23, 2022, Redefining the Bell Makes the Ritual Inclusive for All Patients With Cancer. ONS Voice, https://www.ons.org/publications-research/voice/news-views/12-2022/redefining-bell-makes-ritual-inclusive-all-patients

Strength Training through Chemotherapy: A Case Study

(Title image: Photo by Luis Reyes on Unsplash)

It used to be that people undergoing chemotherapy for cancer were told to be careful with physical activity and restrict themselves to low- and moderate-intensity exercise. Even when I was going through cancer treatment eight years ago, there was concern about how much weight I was lifting for fear of eliciting lymphedema, although by that time, exercise was more encouraged.

I am so glad that our understanding of exercise and cancer has changed! This evolution in thinking is exemplified by a case study that was recently published in the journal Lifestyle Medicine (Rolle & Crane, 2025). The lead author and PhD student in Public Health at U of Miami, LaShae Rolle (age 27), was also a competitive powerlifter who was diagnosed with stage 2B estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer in 2024.

For LaShae, exercise was an integral part of her life, something to which I can relate. She worked with her team to create training sessions that aligned appropriately with her cancer treatments which consisted of four cycles of chemo following a mastectomy.

Remarkably, by modifying her workouts as needed, LaShae was able to maintain 93% of her squat strength (408 lbs of her 441-lb one-repetition maximum (1RM)) and 87% of both her bench press (254 lbs of her 292-lb 1RM) and deadlift (430 lbs of her 497-lb 1RM). This is so impressive considering that throughout her chemo treatment she was still able to squat and deadlift over 400 lbs!

Not surprisingly, attempting to train at high-intensity on the day following her first infusion (!) resulted in severe dizziness and fatigue. By the 3rd and 4th cycles of her chemo, Rolle found that delaying intense exercises for about a week following her infusions allowed her to train more effectively. Note that her chemo cycles were three weeks apart, allowing sufficient time to recover.

Exercising Through Breast Cancer: How One Powerlifter Defied Chemotherapy with Strength Training
Yes, you can train vigorously during chemotherapy!

Why keep training during chemotherapy? There is a rapidly increasing body of research that demonstrates the critical role that physical activity plays in recovery from cancer treatment and avoiding recurrence. Unfortunately, for people who view exercise as a chore or burden, being urged to maintain an exercise program while they’re undergoing something as punishing as chemotherapy may feel like an additional punishment.

But the benefits of exercising throughout treatment, as appropriate, are irrefutable. For those who haven’t previously exercised, it’s important to begin slowly, finding physical activities that are enjoyable and rewarding, eventually ramping up the challenge to include cardiovascular exercise, strength training, balance work and flexibility training.

For those for whom workouts are an integral part of their lives, being encouraged to continue exercising as we have prior to cancer is psychologically uplifting. I’ve written in earlier posts that working out was one of the few things that I could do that gave me a sense of control in the out-of-control landscape of a cancer diagnosis. It helped me feel “normal” when I felt anything but, and that was such an important part of mentally getting through treatment.

Bottom line: Participating in your regular exercise routine during chemotherapy is doable, with modifications, and the physical activity can help you get through the treatment process. While LaShae Rolle did experience treatment side effects, she was able to work around those to limit the amount of strength she lost during chemo to an impressive degree.

REFERENCES

Research Article:

Rolle LD & Crane TE (2025) Exercising Through Breast Cancer: A Case Study on Strength Training During Active Treatment. Lifestyle Medicine, 6, e70034. https://doi.org/10.1002/lim2.70034

Reader-friendly versions:

EurekaAlert!
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1092107

University of Miami News Article
https://news.med.miami.edu/exercising-through-breast-cancer-how-one-powerlifter-defied-chemotherapy-with-strength-training/

Try a Little Tenderness

(Title image: Photo by Alin Luna on Unsplash)

This is a bit of a departure from the usual posts. But I was thinking about how my emotions get pushed and pulled during the course of the day…

Suffice it to say, we live in contentious times where people are compelled to take sides. That leads to an environment where we think badly of each other which, in turn, adds an underlying level of stress to our daily lives.

Perhaps you feel it like an annoying irritation, maybe a quickening of the heartbeat or an increase in your blood pressure. Heat under the collar. And suddenly you are imagining what a jerk the other person is.

All that based upon a single interaction. This is an unfair snapshot judgment of people and brings with it the kind of stress I don’t need.

So this is what I do. And I love the instant effect that it has on me.

When I find myself getting annoyed with someone—whether it’s a rude customer service representative, someone interviewed on the news with an extreme political view, even a person who cuts me off in traffic—instead of muttering something hateful under my breath, I pause and think.

What might be going on in someone’s life to cause them to act or think this way?

If you had the kind of day they did, you’d be in a bad mood too.
(Photo by Alex Greenberg on Unsplash)

Did the customer service rep receive bad news at home followed by an interaction with an aggressive customer?

Has the person with distinctly different world views had a frightening personal experience that affected them deeply?

Is the driver who cut me off in a hurry to help someone with a medical condition?

You can say that, no, all those people are just malicious, egotistical jerks. But in reality, they are far more than the two-dimensional view that we have of them. Their lives are as full as ours and they share the same struggles and dreams that we do.

I sit with these thoughts. The “empathy” muscle is an important one to exercise.

For some, this is hard work to do. When we feel slighted, it can be difficult to give someone the benefit of the doubt. And when political tensions are high, some people may feel that being emotionally generous towards someone with views they find odious is like “giving in” to them, letting them “win”.

But you are not losing anything by practicing empathy.

Why do I bring this up? Because this helps give us peace. It makes us less reactive and helps us see things more clearly. It provides space for our brains to function in. It relieves anxiety.

In the end, it makes the world a better place. And we all need that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anger is exhausting. Hate bleeds around the edges. Welcome peace back into your life regardless of whether or not the other person deserves it.

“Dear Princess Kate, I Can Relate”

(Title image: Photo by Bence Balla-Schottner on Unsplash)

Over the last week or so, there have been a number of news articles focused on Catherine, Princess of Wales, who has been talking about life after finishing her cancer treatment.

She is officially in remission from her unspecified cancer, having completed chemotherapy. However, in a conversation on July 2 with hospital patients, staff and volunteers at Colchester Hospital in Essex (in southeast England), the princess noted that there was still more to endure once she was past her cancer treatment.

This is summed up from an article in USA Today (and numerous other outlets):

Kate described the cancer diagnosis and treatment as “life-changing” for both patients and their loved ones. “You have to find your new normal and that takes time … And it’s a roller coaster. It’s not smooth, like you expect it to be,” she said, according to the outlet. “But the reality is you go through hard times. … “You put on a sort of brave face, stoicism through treatment. Treatment’s done, then it’s like, ‘I can crack on, get back to normal,’ but actually the phase afterwards is really, really difficult.”

Wow, this is so relatable! I’m grateful that Kate is discussing life after cancer treatment, especially because she’s a highly public figure.

Many cancer survivors have experiences similar to Kate’s, particularly those, such as breast cancer survivors with hormone-positive cancers, who continue to take “maintenance” medications like tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors. While many patients expect chemotherapy and radiation to be tough, they are often not prepared for the side effects associated with endocrine treatments that are prescribed to be taken for years after finishing everything else.

Princess Kate breaks with royal protocol in speaking frankly about the struggles following the end of cancer treatment.
(Video from TODAY)

But even without endocrine therapy, many cancer survivors are left with long-lasting side effects of varying severity. Some may be truly life-changing. Most of them will prevent a return to “normal” as we used to know it.

That normal, however, is what others may be expecting of you. Or you might expect of yourself. And that’s tough. Kate mentions the importance of reaching out for professional support if it is especially difficult to manage the phase following treatment, and I concur 100%.

Because it’s not simply the side effects…it’s the frustration that we feel with having the side effects linger. Or even the reactions of loved ones who don’t understand why things aren’t back to how they used to be. There is a grieving process associated with the loss of our previous lives that those around us may not appreciate, so I’m glad that Princess Kate is using her position to bring this out into the open.

Oncology Yoga: It’s Not Just for Relieving Stress

(Title image: Photo by Raghu Nath on Unsplash)

Last week I finished up my 75-hour yoga4cancer (y4c) Oncology Yoga teacher training (wow, that’s a mouthful!).

It was about five months of some pretty hefty lessons that spanned the cancer experience, the science of cancer, the science of yoga, the y4c methodology and lots of practice, introspection and critique. And more!

What drew me to this particular specialized yoga training was that it uses yoga as an exercise modality for true mind-body fitness, not simply to help practitioners deal with the stress and anxiety related to a cancer diagnosis, but to tap into the physical benefits of exercise in helping manage treatment-related side effects and prevent cancer recurrence.

Oncology Yoga offers a safe and effective yoga practice keeping the needs of those touched by cancer paramount.
(Photo by Junseong Lee on Unsplash)

I recently spoke with someone who represented another cancer yoga certification. She felt that cancer patients and survivors were not looking for yoga that emphasizes exercise, they wanted the stress-relieving, nurturing aspects of a yoga practice.

And there is some truth to that. I myself made the most use of the Pranayama (breath work) and Dhyana (meditation) aspects of Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga, of which Asanas (poses) are only one limb, when I was going through my own cancer experience.

But on top of that, I continued to row and lift weights throughout treatment, exercising as soon as I got over the worst days of my chemo. Same thing throughout radiation treatment. Exercise made me feel strong and “normal”, and gave me a sense of control when everything else in my life seemed out of control. This was something *I* could do for myself. It gave me agency over my life.

There is a growing body of evidence that staying physically active before, during and after cancer treatment is incredibly beneficial for survival. The evidence-based y4c Oncology Yoga methodology offers sequences that are appropriate for cancer patients and survivors, taking into account cancer-related side effects. There is ample propping to support the needs of practitioners, while still allowing them to participate in many asanas that you would find in a yoga class that isn’t cancer-oriented, taking care to avoid those that could be harmful.

The y4c methodology incorporates generous propping to allow cancer survivors to participate fully in class while keeping themselves safe.
(Photo by Samantha Sheppard on Unsplash)

No doubt, the stress-relieving aspect of yoga is immensely critical also, at a time when a cancer patient/survivor may be dealing with existential fears. There are studies being run on the impact of mindfulness and meditation as they relate to cancer and results of this research are very promising on a variety of levels.

Oncology Yoga combines the two, mind and body. Breath connects with movement in this specialized vinyasa class. The sequences help with lymphatic drainage, bone and muscle building, relieving constipation, regaining range of motion and more, all the while slowing the breath, calming the mind, lifting the spirit, bringing in a sense of grounding and self-efficacy.

I am very excited about the y4c training and am working on integrating Oncology Yoga principles into classes that I offer. My intent is to use my franticshanti.com platform to post sequences and meditations in the future. Watch this space!