Tedi Mesick

Yoga: Theory, Culture, and Practice

05/02/2012

Yoga and Cancer: A Healing Link

Yoga and Cancer: A Healing Link

            Cancer is a truly devastating disease; it is the complete and utter betrayal of ones body, with a single person’s cells attacking other cells that they coexist with. It’s a disease that spreads rapidly, and can be so easily contained and detected in some strains yet almost impossible to detect in others. Response to a breast cancer diagnosis has been characterized by the National Cancer Institute as “eliciting greater distress than any other diagnosis, requiring a woman to draw on many resources, both within herself and externally, to survive, recover, and eventually to heal (Kinny, Rogers, Nash, & Bray, 2003).

            It is so easy to disengage with ones self when going through a medical crisis. When the body is fully connected with the mind, it is able to feel and process everything that the mind takes in. Sometimes this connection is just too painful, and the mind will sever its connection with the body in order to drift inward and find a safe place where the pain cannot read the person’s consciousness. The mind no longer cares what happens to the body; it feels no connection to it, has no interest in it, and almost sees the body as a separate being entirely (Spinazzola, Rhodes, Emerson, Earle,  & Monroe, 2011)

            To introduce yoga to someone going through this process of separating the mind from the body is the equivalent of splashing cold water on them, shocking out of this state of hidden consciousness and forcing the mind to acknowledge the body once again. Yoga is a wonderful thing for those suffering from illness because it reconnects those suffering to the body they are running from. Yoga can then go on to

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regulate that body once that connection is re-established.

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika states, “The basis of this body is divine, and therefore, through the practices of yoga, and the process of transmutation of the physical elements of the body into non-physical elements takes place (P.9). The main struggle with those suffering from illness is to get them to reach that point where the body can once again be thought of as divine.

“Psychological distress and morbidity are common sequelae to diagnosis and treatment in early breast cancer patients, given that the majority of patients

report symptoms of depression, anxiety, social dysfunction, and inability to work. These symptoms, coupled with cancer-related intrusive thoughts such as fear of radiation and surgery and image problems, can heighten women’s risk for psychological distress. This distress been shown to affect cancer-related outcomes in terms of quality of life, mood states (anxiety and depression), toxicity, treatment response, and prognosis (Vadiraja, Raghavendra, Nagarthna, & Nagendra, 2009).

            Yoga itself can be the aid that helps cancer patients’ transition from thinking of their bodies as something foreign and infected, made to be dissected by doctors, to something that is theirs, divine, and made to be healed. One of the main reasons that all these psychological problems exist in cancer patients is because Western clinical doctors do not deal with them. They remain untreated and undiagnosed for the majority of a patient’s treatment, and as distress heightens it can lead to somatic symptoms as well as aversive symptoms (Vadiraja, Raghavendra, Nagarthna, & Nagendra, 2009).

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            How yoga aids in the health and recovery of cancer patients is that it does the

one thing that Western doctors seem incapable of doing in a hospital setting: it calms the mind.

             “There are other, rarer moments in which these distractions fall away, when the practitioner finds their attention drawn into their body, into the form of the asana (‘pose’ or ‘posture’, literally ‘seat’ or ‘sitting down’) or vinya ̄sa (‘move- ments’). This focus brings a deepening of attention into the pose, the muscles and the breath. It is at these moments that the practitioner is said to be ‘really doing yoga’ (Smith, 2007).

            Because of yoga’s ability to quiet the mind and draw practitioners into their own bodies, not only is the mind/body connection re-established and solidified, but also many of the psychiatric problems described previously lessen over time during steady practice or disappear all together. The doctors can treat someone’s body while they go through cancer, however a steady yoga practice can help to treat the mind.

            In one randomized controlled study by Vadiraja and colleagues (2009) the effect of yoga on depression, anxiety, and stress in early breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant radiotherapy was looked at. Participants were randomly placed in a 6-week yoga group or brief supportive therapy. Participants in the yoga group showed significantly lower levels of perceived and hormonal stress, indicating its beneficial use in patients. Reduction in cortisol levels and thus depression can be attributed to poses, breathing, meditating, and relaxation

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practices (Mehta & Sharma, 2010).

            Cancer patients in a way have an advantage in the practice of yoga that the average person does not have. Always, cancer patients are fighting for health and for their lives. They go through agonizing treatments and therapies in order to fight back a deadly disease, and are almost always at some level of discomfort.  In a way, that bit of discomfort helps one further connect with their body and be much more aware of it than the average person who simply functions on autopilot (Smith, 2007).

            “For many Western practitioners one of the most overwhelming experiences in beginning yoga is realizing how little awareness one has of ones own body. Our own bodies are mostly absent from our attention at any given moment. Although our sense of self depends on our sense of being “here” and “now”, grounded with our feet planted firmly on the ground, at any given moment most if not all of our body is absent from our consciousness. This absence is an integral part of our ability to engage with the world around us and to undertake many routine actions. Our attention is usually only brought to our body during moments of dysfunction or pain. Such disruptive experiences demand quality that makes them central in shaping our views on embodiment” (Smith, 2007).

 Pain is one of the most frequent and distressing symptoms that interfere with the quality of life in patients with advanced cancer. Thankfully, since the establishment of World Health Organization guidelines, marked efficiency has been demonstrated in cancer pain management. However, cancer pain can be intractable, Mesick 4

especially when it is complicated by other debilitating factors such as psychosocial distress and delirium (Mori, Elsayem, Reddy, Bruera, & Fadul, 2012). Unfortunately, as pain progresses the practice of yoga itself becomes more difficult to do.  There reaches a point in a cancer patents’ treatment where they may be so debilitated by both medications they are on and the advancement of their cancer that they are no longer able to perform the asanas that brought them piece of mind and gave them some sort of control over their bodies.

            However, yoga even has an answer to this dilemma. Although performing the different postures may become too difficult for an ailing cancer patient, Kundalini yoga has developed meditation techniques as therapy for cancer. The ancient system of Kundalini Yoga includes a vast array of meditation techniques. Some were discovered to be specific for treating psychiatric disorders and stressors relating to cancer. These meditations include spinal flexes to help reduce fatigue, meditations for fatigue and listlessness, a meditation to balance the “Jupiter and Saturn” energies: a technique useful for treating depression, focusing the mind, and eliminating self-destructive behavior, as well as techniques for anxiety, depression, and managing fears as the cancer progresses and the end may be in sight. These meditations are made in order to help those suffering from cancer be the most at ease as the disease progresses, even if there is little chance of recovery (Shannahoff-Khalsa, 2012).

            A meditative yogic practice is often used for both patients and families if a cancer patient is passing away. It aids in the grieving process of the families, and in Mesick 5

the processes of letting go of life in the case of the person dying. The process of yoga can help foster spiritual growth and self-awareness. It is associated with being in the moment. While practicing one often experiences feeling of forgiveness, empathy, and gratitude, as well as the feeling that one is part of something bigger than oneself (Thygeson, Hooke, Clapsaddle, Robbins, & Moquist, 2010). Yoga is useful in getting through those feelings of bitterness as ones life slips away; the dark thoughts of “this isn’t fair, why me?”,  the angry and bitter pity-parties that often make the end of ones life so miserable, when in fact the time ones had should be cherished before it runs out.

            Once the mind is settled the body can be strengthened. Yoga is, in large part, a mental and spiritual practice, however it has a physical component as well. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika talks about how since ancient times yoga has been used by yogis and rishis for the relief and elimination of all kinds of diseases and defects.

            “It is true that the practices require more time and effort on the part of the patient than conventional therapies, but in terms of permanent, positive results, as well as saving the enormous expenditure on medicines, they are certainly more worthwhile” (Mukitibodhananda, 1895).

            There is no scientific proof that yoga can cure cancer, however there is proof that it can aid in physical recovery. Once the mental cloud of depression and anxiety is lifted after the diagnosis of cancer is given and treatment begins, the body needs to be built back up again. The treatments for cancer ravage the body almost as ferociously as the disease itself does. Yoga preaches that having a strong mind and Mesick 6

body is key, and although cancer patients cannot stick to the strict diets preached about in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika or get their bodies into the long and lean shape preached about, they can use yoga in order to slowly strengthen muscles and ease joint aches and pains.

            Studies have shown that patients who have gone through even more minor surgery for breast cancer need as much therapy and attention in order to recover as women who have gone through full mastectomies (Kovacˇicˇ & Kovacˇicˇ, 2011). Post-surgery yogic relaxation therapy has proved to be beneficial in multiple ways. One explanation for yogic relaxation therapy’s positive influence on post-surgery cancer patients’ health is the diversion of attention away from the psychological distress context and toward more pleasant and relaxing thoughts and feelings rather than on the worry, pain, and so forth related to breast cancer. Focusing on a daily practice, on movements, asanas, and breathing, not only improves the health on ones body but also gives the mind something to look forward to and expect.

            Another positive effect of the yogic relaxation exercises is the relaxation itself. By helping the patient to relax muscle tension is reduced, lessening cramps and spasms in joints and muscles and easing some of the pain that the patient is normally feeling. Yet another positive effect due to the yogic relaxation is that of simple hope. If a patient can manage these simple exercises, then soon they will be able to manage harder exercises and full on asanas in time. Eventually, they will be able to go back to normal life, able to physically handle the aches and pains of life, or at least that is the hope. One push forward leads to another, which leads to another, Mesick 7

which shows the patient that full recovery is eventually in sight and that the phase of their life that revolves around cancer will eventually end (Kovacˇicˇ & Kovacˇicˇ, 2011).

            Arthralgia is a joint pain that affects postmenopausal breast cancer survivors receiving armoatase inhibitors and may result in reduced function and long-term well being. A type of restorative yoga has been used for patients who have developed arthralguia.      

“The various styles of yoga interventions for cancer survivors incorporate gentle or restorative postures, typically emphasizing the relaxation component of the yoga practice. This relaxation response is an important component in the Iyengar tradition; however, Iyengar yoga also involves combinations of static and active stretching and isometric and dynamic strengthening to increase strength, flexibility, stability, and balance” (Galantino, Desai, Greene, DeMichele, Stricker, & Mao, 2011).

The restorative yoga used specific types of postures that were modified versions of those used in Iyengar yoga, however they also used props in order to help patients stabilize their musculoskeletal system. Over several weeks of practicing this modified yoga once a week for 90 minutes, clients began to no longer need the props that were used as aids. Eventually their bodies were strong and stable enough to hold the positions on their own (Galantino, Desai, Greene, DeMichele, Stricker, & Mao, 2011).

Yoga is a powerful healing source, from dealing with the cancer diagnosis, to

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getting through recovery, to dealing with the scary outcome of recovering not being

an option. It is support to build ones body back up in order to fully recover and a way to reconnect the mind with the body. Yoga is hardly the only tool used in cancer recovery, but it has the power to still and ease the mind unlike the Western world that typically is communicating with the cancer patients. Through yoga, cancer patients have the opportunity to heal inside and out, and to accept their bodies and their limitations for what they are. Yoga is not an ‘all better miracle cure’, however the medical and psychological aid that the practice of yoga provides makes going through life with cancer and eventually transitioning into going on with life without cancer an easier, more comfortable, and a much more stable experience.

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Bibliography

Muktibodhananda, S. (1985). Hatha yoga pradipika . New Deli, India: Thomson Press

Galantino, M., Desai, K., Greene, L., DeMicele, A., Stricker, C., & Mao, J. (2011). Impact

of yoga on functional outcomes in breast cancer survivors with aromatase

inhibitor-associated arthralgias. Integrative Cancer Therapies

Kovacic, T., & Kovacic, M. (2011). Impact of relaxation training according to yoga in

daily life system on perceived stress after breast cancer surgery. Integrative Cancer Therapies, 10(1), 16-26.

Kinney , C., Rodgers, D., Nash, K., & Bray, C. (2003). Holistic healing for women with

breast cancer through a mind, body, and spirit self-empowerment program. Journal of Holisitc Nursing , 21(3), 260-279.

Smith, B. (2007). Body, mind, and spirit? towards an analysis of the practice of

yoga . Body and Society, 13(2), 25-46.

Vadiraja, H., Raghavendra, R., Nagarathna, R., & Nagendra, H. (2009). Effects of a

yoga program on cortisol rhythm and mood states in early breast cancer patents undergoing adjuvant radiotherapy: A randomized controlled trial . Integrative Cancer Therapies, 8(1), 37-46.

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Spinazzola, J., Rhodes, A., Emerson, D., Earle, E., & Monroe, K. (2011). Appication of

yoga in residential treatment of traumatized youth . Journal of the American Psychaitric Nurses Association , 17(6), 431-444.

Mori, M., Elsayem, A., Reddy, S., Bruera, E., & Fadul, N. (2012). Unrelieved pain and

suffering in patients with advanced cancer. American Journal of Hospice & Paliactive Medicine , 29(3), 236-240.

Mehta, P., & Sharma , M. (2010). Yoga as a complimentary therapy for clinical

depression . Complementary Health Practice Review , 15(1), 156-170.

Shannahoff-Khalsa, D. (2005). Patient perspectives: Kundalini yoga meditation

techniques for psycho-oncology and as potentia therapies for cancer . Integrative Cancer Therapies, 4(1), 87-100.

Thygeson, M., Hooke, M., Clapsaddle, J., Robbins, A., & Moquist, K. (2010). Peaceful

play yoga: Serenity and balance for children with cancer and their parents. Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, 27(5), 276-284.

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