October is celebrated internationally as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Beyond shining a spotlight on prevention and screening for this second most common of all cancers worldwide, it’s a time to reflect on what it really means for ourselves or a loved one to have cancer. Like any other condition, cancer affects not only the physical body but the entire mind-body-spirit, and a clear scan or negative test result doesn’t necessarily translate to wellness.
As C-IAYTs Leigh Leibel and Anne Pitman write in Yoga Therapy Across the Cancer Care Continuum, “Cancer and its treatment are well known to cause local or systemic adverse events that can have a significant impact on the mind, body, and spirit of people with cancer, survivors, and their families at all stages of the cancer care continuum.” That continuum spans from diagnosis to treatment, recovery, dealing with side-effects, possibly living with cancer as a chronic illness, and eventually end of life, whether as a result of cancer or another cause. People may visit these stages more than once, and not always in order. Leibel and Pitman continue:
“A strong and growing evidence base shows yoga can improve quality of life and well-being for those facing cancer, mitigate many of the physical and psychological side effects of cancer and its treatment, and positively impact clinical outcomes.”
The Research page on this website lists a number of studies on yoga support for cancer and the effects of treatment. Learn more about how yoga therapists are working with people with cancer—and their caregivers—during and after treatment with a few previous posts from our blog:
- “Working with a Client with Breast Cancer: A Yoga Therapy Case Study,” an interview with Lisa Alexander, C-IAYT
- How yoga brings benefits to those living with cancer, featuring Smitha Mallaiah, C-IAYT, who also wrote about her work as a senior mind-body interventions specialist at MD Anderson Cancer Center
- Yoga therapy to support chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy
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