Yoga popularity and breast cancer awareness have grown exponentially in the past years. And for good reason. More and more medical professionals are looking at mind-body techniques like yoga to improve quality of life factors, reduce  illness-related stress and possibly affect treatment outcomes in individuals suffering from a chronic or acute health condition.

A 2009 study published in the journal Psycho-Oncology showed that when women with breast cancer engaged in 75 minutes of restorative yoga postures over a ten-week period, they displayed less depressive symptoms and a greater improvement in mood than those women who did not participate in the yoga classes.

Other studies have shown a similar trend, namely that when yoga is part of a woman’s cancer treatment plan, their quality of life increases and their treatment-related symptoms like anxiety, depression and lethargy are also reduced. Medical professionals who recognize how mentally, physically and emotionally taxing a breast cancer diagnosis and consequent treatments can be are calling these handful of studies very significant for women and their cancer experience.

If you or a friend are interested in taking a yoga class as part of your breast cancer treatment, talk with your doctor first and then research yoga teachers and classes in your area that specialize in restorative yoga or illness-related yoga.

October is Breast Cancer Awarness Month. Join our Blogs Against Breast Cancer!

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Yoga Provides Relief to Breast Cancer Patients

If you’re attending the conference, you can expect:

A fun and energetic yoga class specifically designed for bloggers and writers whose passion for sharing their expertise as health advocates finds them sitting behind computers for way too long. With a focus on posture, shoulder alignment, and lower back strength, the class will raise heart rates, stretch hamstrings and lighten the mind. All levels are welcome.

FitBloggin’ is the brainchild of Roni from Roni’s Weigh, a guest author we’ve featured several times and a fantastic weight loss success story in her own right. It’s sure to be a worthwhile time in Baltimore next spring (March 20, 2010).

Learn more about FitBloggin‘.

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Heather Ashare to Host Yoga for Bloggers at FitBloggin’

Guest Blogger JoAnna Ross is the founder of  Yoga By the Dozen, an online company which promotes a healthy lifestyle for kids through their highly acclaimed ‘Yoga By The Dozen’ DVD and their complete line of lifestyle products for yoga. She has been featured on Broadway, “The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” “The Today Show,” and “The David Letterman Show.”

Yoga is becoming one of the newest techniques to help an autistic child develop their cognitive and motor skills; and foster self-confidence and respect. Yoga is a calm place for an autistic child to feel safe in. The classic definition of an autistic child would be problems interacting socially and verbally, limited activities and interests. With the structure of a yoga class, an autistic child starts to develop their coordination and learns how to focus.

I had the privilege to teach an autistic child named Samson. Over the six weeks of class and additional private sessions, I realized his motor skills were changing.

The big question is: “Why yoga? And why pick yoga over other activities like gymnastics and other sports?” The answer is simple. The repetition of doing yoga weekly, plus the calm atmosphere that surrounds yoga, adds to the discipline of the yoga practice itself. Samson’s motor skills developed greatly. Samson was able to move into yoga poses with less coaching and assistance. He was also more determined and focused.

Yoga is like building blocks. If you can’t do the first part of the pose it is hard to go from there. Over time, Samson was able to move his body into these “foundational steps” so that he could build his body into beautiful poses. His confidence soared and his smile was even bigger (if that was even possible) and more importantly he knew he could do anything he put his mind to. Yoga gives the discipline that a child needs to learn a new pose. Yoga also allows a child to be creative in their minds and it was becoming clear that the repetition of doing yoga weekly allowed him to prosper as a child.

Samson is a great yogi and taught me a lot. Just a little bit of patience with these amazing little children makes all the difference in the world.

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Yoga’s Benefits for Autistic Children

The study illustrates a few key points about the mindfulness that a yoga and meditation practice can cultivate and the benefits of physical activity.

While no one can escape the stress of project deadlines and the fear of job security, mindfulness practices like meditation teach employees how key their reaction to workday stress can affect how they perceive their lives and the workplace challenges they confront.

Additionally, most employees who work desk jobs lead sedentary lives which is not only a factor in obesity and diabetes but also in mood disorders like depression. Numerous studies have shown the positive mental health benefits and physical benefits such as improved sleep quality that come from engaging in exercise. And while yoga may not be the first form of exercise that comes to mind when one thinks of physical activity, certain kinds of yoga have a strong cardiovascular component to them and most all improve strength and muscle tone.

For the millions of  Americans who work, the stress of their everyday office lives takes its toll on their health. But studies like this point to the importance of having workplace policies that encourage employees to take part in mind-body practices like yoga and meditation. Hopefully, as more research is done on the benefits of stress-reducing programs in the office, more and more companies will begin to incorporate such practices as part of their regular employee wellness programs.

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Workplace Yoga Reduces Stress and Improves Sleep

Guest Blogger Aruna Kathy Humphrys writes the blog Teaching Kids Yoga. She trains teachers and parents in kids’ yoga with her groundbreaking course based on Yoga and the Ancient Secrets of Success.

Try these 5 Yoga tools to connect with kids and enhance their health and happiness.

Foster a Good Night’s Sleep:  Table Pose
Without rest, kids won’t be at their best. Certain Yoga poses, like table pose, can relieve restlessness. Do table together or use a timer to encourage kids to hold the pose. It’s a great way to fall into a blissful state.  One eight-year-old boy I know did table pose beside his bed. He held it for over 10 minutes, sweating and shaking, and then got into bed and slept peacefully for eight hours. 

You Are What You Eat: A Healthy Diet

For thousands of years, yogis have made the connection between what we eat and how we feel, and used it to their advantage.  They divide food into three categories:

• Foods that make us hyper (caffeine/sugar),
• Foods that make us sluggish (processed/fried foods),
• Foods that make us alert and calm (fruits, veggies, whole grains)

Choosing the right foods can help learning. Nourish kids through the school day with grapes, carrot sticks, cheese on whole grain bread, rice and bean salad, veggie wrap, or a fruit yogurt smoothie in a thermos for lunch and snacks.

Improve Attention, Focus, and Concentration:  Tree Pose
This pose builds mental muscles! Pick a point in front of you to focus on while you stand on one leg. It’s not physically challenging, it’s mentally demanding. Again, pull out your watch and time the kids. Chart their progress to see the times improve.

Loosen up the Spine and Shoulders: Standing Twists
After sitting all day and then carrying a backpack around, this simple twist can get the circulation moving again. Swing from side to side, as one hand goes back the other touches your chest. It’s great for the hips, joints, and the nervous system.

5. Relax with Yoga Breathing

Full breathing goes a long way when you’re walking the long hallway to a new classroom. Practice five full, relaxed breaths at home so kids remember how to clear their minds before a test or when dealing with a difficult situation.

These five tools may enhance kids’ health and happiness and I’m happy to report they work just as well for adults, too.

Happy back to school!

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Five Yoga Tools for Healthy, Happy School Kids

From trapeze classes to rope classes, some of the biggest exercise clubs in the country are jam-packed with devotees who are swinging, twirling and flying through the air with the help of a few harnesses, nets and swings.

These new classes combine acrobatics with yoga and pilates moves. Similar to these classes is a newly- created yoga called RussYog, or ”Rope Yoga,” started by Teresa and Jasprit Singh. RussYog uses ropes and poles to develop core strength, enhance flexibility and tone muscles.

Whereas RussYog primarily uses two ropes attached to a metal pole, other classes that are cropping up from New York City to Los Angeles use additional props like ropes, trapezes, hammocks and other suspension devices.

Just one look at a few images from this new trend of workouts either inspires you to unleash your inner Mary Lou Retton or makes you cower in fear and trepidation.

Check with your local gyms, workout facilities and yoga studios to find a class near you.

Image via RussaYog.com.

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New Workouts like RussYoga Defy Gravity

Jivamukti yoga founders: David Life & Sharon Gannon

With a meaning like “liberation while living” it is no wonder that Jivamukti yoga has the devoted and loyal following that it does. Started in 1984 by David Life and Sharon Gannon who incorporated their training as Ashtanga yoga students under the tutelage of Ashtanga yoga master Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Jivamukti yoga is a popular and disciplined form of yoga that is practiced all over the country.

Combining both asana, pranayama (breath work) and music, a Jivamukti class is a dynamic yoga experience, both physically and spiritually. A typical class does practice chanting, but beginners are not expected to chime in – only if their comfort and knowledge allows them.

Gannon and Life are two well-recognized faces of yoga. Their book, Jivamukti Yoga, has been heralded from the likes of Russell Simmons and Trudie Styler and includes beautiful asana photographs as well as an incredibly accessible overview of the philosophy of yoga and the intentions behind Jivamukti yoga. Strongly encouraging the basic principles of yoga such as ahimsa, or non-violence, devoted Jivamuktians are staunch vegetarians or vegans. Don’t let that discourage you from sampling a class. Those who are avid followers of this style of yoga credit this relatively new brand of yoga to changing their lives, both inside and out.

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Jivamukti Yoga 101

Ashtanga yoga master Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois

Yoga has become one of the hottest fitness and spiritual practices here in the U.S., but in India, yoga’s country of origin, the face of yoga looks markedly different than what we are familiar with. For the month of June and July, I will be in Mysore, India, the hub of Ashtanga yoga, one of the oldest known forms of yoga that is still practiced with enthusiasm and dedication today. Although this is my second trip to the sacred country of India, these five weeks are different because I am here studying yoga with my family, just a few weeks following the death of Ashtanga master, Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois.

Doing yoga in its fatherland is extremely different than practicing it here in a posh or not-so-posh Western studio. A combination of the sweltering heat and moist humidity, both of which have a near magical way of making your body incredibly open and flexible, and the mere energy of downward dogging on the same ground that yoga was first practiced by mankind is both humbling and awe-inspiring.

As a yoga student in India, one of the realities that strikes me as so profound is that Indians don’t do yoga. Or at least not the way it is practiced here in the States. Yoga is so intricately and deeply embedded in the colorful and dichotomous culture of India that Indians don’t need to practice it like we do. They already “get” the fundamental concept of yoga, which literally means to yoke or unite as in the connecting the mind, body and spirit entities of our selves. 

The kind of yoga you do see regularly in India is the seamless way in which Indians regard their spirituality. Daily acts of reverence, prayer and homage make any foreigner acutely aware of how entrenched this awareness is. Perhaps Indians don’t take yoga classes like we do, but it is quite common to see older men and women sitting not on chairs but on the ground positioned in lotus or padmasana pose – a posture that most of us Westerners can only dream about twisting into. It’s not just their minds that are almost unconsciously aware of their spirituality, but their bodies reflect the openness as well.

While yoga is relatively new to the West, it has been a way of life in India for the past 5,000 years, so it makes perfect sense that this powerfully subtle practice is as much a part of the fabric of their culture as The Declaration of Independence is to ours. Over the course of the next few weeks, I’m going to be sharing my insights and experiences of my weeks in India. From health to food and from yoga to meditation, I’m looking forward to cross-comparing our cultures and absorbing some of the profound knowledge of this ancient yogic land.

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Practicing Ashtanga Yoga in India

A recent study from Duke University Medical Center suggested that when women with breast cancer engaged in yoga postures, meditation and breathing exercises for two months, they experienced less pain and fatigue and were significantly more relaxed.

Although this study was small, just 13 women who have advanced breast cancer,  it does provide the first, tentative evidence for yoga’s potential benefits in this vulnerable population of women with limited life expectancy, says lead author of the study,  Dr. James W. Carson.

Creating harmony and a sense of peace for those coping with cancer is a trying and very difficult process. While mind-body practices like yoga and tai-chi, which have been around for thousands of years, are believed to reduce stress and impart many other health benefits, validating their efficacy in rigorous scientifically-controlled studies is not easy. But this study, albeit small, does provide us with important evidence that illustrates yoga’s powerful effects in helping us react to situations, as serious as they may be, with acceptance and equanimity.

Other studies on breast cancer patients shows that yoga might assist with improving sleep, improving physical strength, boosting energy and enhancing the overall quality of life.

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Yoga Eases Pain of Breast Cancer

After 10 weeks of yoga, people with asthma found relief from their symptoms.

The study followed 20 people between 20 and 65. They were all beginners at yoga. The subjects did yoga with an instructor for an hour, twice a week. They were also asked to do a half-hour session at home each week.

The key point came when poses were practiced during deep breathing. According to lead researcher Amy Bidwell, M.S., this replicates the stress of an oncoming asthma attack.

“I have a number of friends with asthma,” says Bidwell. “Many have side effects from taking medications such as corticosteroids. The main question was whether or not we could reduce their need for medication and improve their quality of life.”

“Modern medicine carries many side effects,” she said. “This is especially true with corticosteroids, which many asthmatics take for quick relief. Yoga is an excellent alternative because there are no side effects. It’s a natural, holistic discipline that can benefit a person’s body in many ways.”

(via: Medical News Today)

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Do Yoga, Breathe Easier