Yoga for Cancer | Deborah Shemesh

Yoga is a ancient Sanskrit word that means union, yoking, or oneness. ?A diagnosis of cancer is a sign that somewhere in your body there is a disconnect. ?In most cases a cell or cells randomly split from their original domain ?and began to travel elsewhere in the body creating a new domain, a tumor or tumors that can and will if left untreated invade other body parts. After time a the full blown disease or diagnosis with cancer manifests and can be seen with the visible eye. ?I ask myself, as a cancer patient and someone who is healed from a cancer prognosis, what happened? How did I get the disease, and how did I heal from disease?

I believe that trauma or sadness, grief, shame or some ?other kind of emotional trigger caused the cancer cells to release from it?s core healthy tissue and began to multiply; ?feeding from other cells creating bigger and bigger colonies of invasive or useless tissue called cancer.?Mysteriously, our blood then begins to nourish these tumors, and cancer patients have to undergo surgery to take the cancer tumors out of our body and be on the hunt for other area?s of activity in the body?s system though tests, blood draws, scans, and more. Doctor?s try to bombard the body with anti-agents like chemo and radiation to ?kill? off any residual invader cells. ?A diagnosis with cancer is traumatic on the physical, spiritual and emotional body that the only resolve, at least for me, ?was to go into deep states of silence, hoping to hear what my body was trying to say it needed.

If you think back to being a baby, your body is unable to speak when there is distress, so it cry?s out for more nourishment, more rest, a change. ?When a baby has it?s needs met, it is bubbly, happy, free, curious, playful, and at ease. This is the state that can bring you back to homeostasis. Yoga takes you to a place that is holy and healed.?Yoga is an ancient tool that can take you back to your childlike qualities. ?Yoga encourages you to wiggle, listen, and explore the messages of your body.

I found yoga back in 1972 when I was cancer free and I stumbled upon Hatha yoga at the local Health Club. ?Though it was Westernized and focused mostly on the asana?s or poses, I enjoyed the stillness in the motion, I loved learning how to breathe into a pose without forcing or struggling. Yoga is completely different than aerobic exercises which I also love and recommend, however, yoga is a tool that cancer patients can use that will restore connectivity between mind, body and spirit.

When I practiced yoga I felt a deep connection to my spirit, and a sense of peace. I learned how this ancient practice helped me quiet the mind and I noticed that my body became more flexible. I couldn?t explain the freedom that I felt practicing yoga, but yoga seemed to help me release all anxiety, as I released a need to compete with other?s. It was at The Beverly Hills Health Club, on little Santa Monica Boulevard where I first experienced the nourishing benefits my body received through the consistent practice of yoga. ?At the health club there were no yoga guru?s, just a few teachers who could break down the asanas. In truth I had only my spirit and body to pay attention to. ?In yoga I experienced freedom and was encouraged to receive the nourishment of breath.

I remember that I loved yoga so much, that I would go home and sit in front of a long slim mirror assuming asana positions. Since yoga classes were only offered several times a week I enjoyed the practice of personal yoga in my apartment and used yoga in my modeling career to assume poses for photographers. ? I loved how my body turned and twisted while at the same time relaxed into poses that I only saw in the few yoga books available in the early 70?s. At the health club there were no mirrors when we were instructed on asanas or poses. Sitting in front of the mirror usually naked or draped in fabrics, ?I watched my body and noticed that by shifting my weight a little bit, ?I could not only see but feel, my body become more balanced and flexible. ?I loved yoga so much that after learning a few breathing techniques I was forever hooked and wove those asana and pranayamas into my daily life of working as a model. I practiced various types of yoga, and other forms of gentle movement for years as able.

After my diagnosis of cancer in 1980, I continued to practice yoga in the privacy of my own home. ?I truly believe that the practice of yoga can heal the body of toxics, while restoring the connectivity to spirit. ?Spirit has the potential to give you a deeper perspective of yourself as you embrace the fact that you are more than just a body. Yoga takes you to beyond the boundaries of the mind. The mind is always analyzing, and comparing, the spirit ignites growth, flexibility and restores a sense of well being.

Yoga for cancer patients is my prescription to restore health in the body/mind. ?In yoga all parts of your being are reconnected, and the healthy cells become healthier while opening all blockages in the body. ?In yoga you can express yourself more freely and all the walls of separation are torn down. Through meditative yoga, I believe cancer cell growth can be halted allowing the healthy cells to perform their functions more easily and effortlessly. ?Have the desire to be one with the body, allow your breath to nourish you, and trust that your body knows how to heal itself from a diagnosis of cancer. ?Yoga can create an open space not only in the body but in the mind, and the memory of wholeness returns. ?Yoga is also about surrendering, returning home to spirit. ?Wherever you are in your disease, take time to practice yoga ? yoga is the tool that may restore the memory of health and wholeness.

Yoga is the tool that quiets the mind, and awakens your sense perceptions. ?Allow your body to heal, practice yoga wherever you are and you just may enhance the possibility of your recovery. ? You have no choice after a diagnosis with cancer, except to go within and listen to the messages of your body. Accept and observe your body, do not judge it. ?Observe your body as it transcends and transforms into a more peaceful self through the practices of yoga. ?Don?t be attached to statistics and believe your body knows how to heal itself. Yoga is the tool that distracts you and clears the chatter of your mind and takes you into higher states of healing, all you have to do is let go and learn to be in your spirit.

From peace there is wholeness,

Deborah Shemesh

Source: http://www.deborahshemesh.com/yoga-for-cancer/

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