Yoga for Cancer Survivors - Start Here!

Gentle Yoga for Cancer!

Survivors, Family, Friends, Caregivers are all welcome.

(Note: From the moment of diagnosis on - You are a cancer survivor !!!)

Today I am able to share one of my biggest passions with the Cancer Community in my new home in Orlando, Florida and across the world in video format. (A short background with oncology and yoga can be read here: About Cristina). Tuesdays between 11 - 12 we hold Yoga for Cancer Survivors, Family, and Caregivers at the Dr. Phillips Cancer Center. (Local? Find us here: UF Cancer Center).

No matter where you are in your cancer journey: just diagnosed, currently in treatment, cancer free for years, a spouse / child / sibling /friend of someone battling cancer - yoga has something to offer your mind, spirit, and body. Yoga offers tools to mindfully address the physical and emotional obstacles that are placed onto our path.

“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”

- Rainer Maria Rilke

In sharing yoga with my class on Tuesdays, I also want to share it with those unable to make it to their mats here in Orlando. If practicing at home please make sure you treat yourself with kindness and love, if something is uncomfortable: modify or stop. Reach out to me! I’m happy to help find a different modification or solution to allow you connect with your breath and body in a way that works for YOU :)

How can yoga help?

An excellent book for those interested in diving deeper is: Yoga For Cancer by one of my mentors Tari Prinster (A cancer survivor and Yoga Instructor). Much of what you read here is inspired by this wonderful book (As well as: my patients / practitioners over the years, medical literature now supporting yoga/complementary medicine, and my own personal yoga practice.)

Cancer treatment: chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery focus on particular parts of the body, types of cells, or systems where the cancer is found. However, the effects are not just local, cancer treatment upsets the balance of the whole body.

“No organ is an island” - French geneticist Gerard Karsenty

Yoga addresses an overall sense of wellness in the whole body: the interconnectedness of brining balance / alignment before, during, and after cancer treatment. As we explore movement on our mat we will work to bring balance to both the turmoil of the external and internal. I will continue to update this site and page with all the wonderful benefits the yoga practice has to offer. Until then please enjoy our first flow - Modified Warriors in the next post.

Namaste

The light in me honors the light in you