Most people today consider yoga to be largely a weight loss and maintenance program, but the simple fact is that ancient mind-body health system may work wonders for cancer sufferers.
Holistic cancer therapy package
This fairly recent trend of including yoga at a holistic cancer therapy package because of its curative properties, has been well-received the world over with proven results. Perhaps even worse than the physical discomfort of a cancer patient, is the effect the disease has on their psychological and mental being. Addressing a life-altering situation coupled with so much negativity cancer contributes to, it’s only natural that many patients frequently enter stress manner and are highly stressed out. This is where Yoga comes in.
Benefits of Yoga
Tending mainly to enhance the emotional well-being of the individual, the results also revealed its physiological benefits. According to a research conducted at the University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, 61 women who had undergone a breast cancer operation were divided into two test groups. One group was given the normal cancer therapy, another in addition to the, was also put in a twice-a-week yoga program. After the six weeks evaluation period, it was reported that the next group who had participated in the yoga program revealed a much better recovery rate and a better overall sense of well-being.
Yoga levels recovery
While the placebo effect can’t truly qualify as modern-day medication, but it definitely aids the effectiveness of medications and treatment. The very basic proposition in which yoga stems is the body and mind could be aligned to become one, and that’s why an imbalance in one might have a negative effect on the other. Since yoga contributes to tranquility of the brain, its consequences can be observed on the physical healing process also.
Yoga helps to handle the problem
Any mindfulness-based therapeutic program like yoga could have a drastic effect on somebody who suffers from chronic tension and anxiety. Managing chemotherapy and cancer is one of the most stressful times in the life span of a cancer patient. The body goes through a great deal of changes, from exhaustion to baldness, and these changes affect the patient not just on a physical but more on an emotional and psychological level. Through yoga asanas and accepted breathing methods, cancer patients find it far easier to release the tension and let go of the stress and constant rumination. In actuality, not just patients cancer survivors are being recommended by physicians to register for specific yoga classes. Maybe the worst is already over but it is reported that for many breast cancer survivors, the horrors of the past still linger on and they frequently cocoon themselves away in the world. Furthermore, the distress doesn’t entirely end with having beaten cancer, the body remains weak and the brain weaker. Practicing yoga would then assist them to state their heads to make peace with the past and proceed with renewed vigor.
Yoga can also be for your own body
In regard to the physical benefits, yoga professionals generally only rave about the weight loss or management component. But truth be told, yoga has some profound consequences on the body in the kind of controlling blood pressure, metabolism, body temperature, breathing, and even skin immunity. Such advantages help cancer patients and give a boost to regular medical treatment. Although some attribute the shift to being purely pseudo scientific, nevertheless the positive effects can’t be ignored. While the basic principle of yoga stays the same, now there are different variations and interpretation adopted by yogis. Each of these versions is more of an improvement made to the initial notion of yoga. For cancer patients and survivors, there are individual or group-specific kinds of yoga sessions. Since the body of a cancer survivor goes through a lot during treatment, it then becomes essential to ensure that the asanas and pranayama doesn’t cause any distress or apply the body too much. Tailor-made gentle yoga will help to eliminate all of the toxin build up from the treatment also, besides dissipating tension, stress and anxiety.
Self-Help Therapies
Yoga for cancer extends beyond the traditional asanas and breathing methods. Doubling up as a group therapy session, practices and yoga centers unite positive self-help therapies like group discussion, one-on-one counselling, and even associate projects where two patients that have gone through similar situations are put together to assist each other mentally. Although, there’s absolutely no concrete scientific evidence that yoga does assist cancer patients and survivors. However, going by the positive effects of yoga in general and empirical observations in patients, it’s safe to presume that yoga does to a wonderful extent help patients to take care of the disease both during and following.