How many of you do yoga?

I've been a regular bikram yoga practioner for five years--averaging about 3-5 sessions per week. I love it. It is truly my calling. I continued bikram after  my lumpectomy (went to bikram with my drain!), and throughout DD AC, 12 weeklyTaxols,  33 radiation tx.  Two times a week without fail.  It absolutely helped me to feel empowered, as though I was flipping off cancer, telling it to go to (insert whatever word you feel comfortable with here).  My bikram community was also key to my journey.  My fellow students were a tremendous help and support for me, and for 90" 2 times a week I was not thinking about breast cancer, not thinking about anything, just doing.

I also walked/hiked and lifted weights regularly throughout tx. All of it--cardio/bikram/weights has been a part of my life for years and I was not going to give it up.

My dx (I don't like to include it always as I don't like my dx/tx path to define me) ILC 2 c 6/11 nodes grade 1 st. 2 dx 9/29/11. Excisional biopsy/lumpectomy with clear but close margins. AC DD x 4, 12 taxol, 33 rad tx, BMX/immediate recon ahead.

Claire in AZ

I don't like any exercise that involves other people and/or specific movements that I struggle to master. Yoga is also slow and has a tinge of being a mental thing as well, which turns me off.

I started yoga this winter because I had heard that it was gentle but good exercise and I felt I needed something in addition to the walking that I do. I have found that it helped with the SEs of the Femara/Aredia combo that I'm on - the achiness and stiffness that made moving difficult is almost gone. My ROM has also improved significantly. My yoga teacher is aware of my limitations due to LE and adjusts moves and poses for me when necessary.

Leah

Unfortunately, as a former yoga enthusiast, BC has really put a dent in my practice. I've been scared off by the lymphedema risk with downward dog. It's just not yoga to me without it.  I'd like to hear from the Bikram folks, because my PT suggests that is a double whammy for LE.  I don't have LE, but I get achy if I overdo it with yoga or weightlifting.

I used to do yoga before I was dx in 2008.  I have permanent nerve damage in my right arm plus LE.  It would be nice to know some variations on poses so an not to aggravate the LE. NJ

I practice yoga mostly at home and occasionally at an alternative treatment center founded by my oncologist. During my neoadjuvent chemo, I found that yoga was very beneficial in helping me to move past pain caused by the chemo as well as the Nuelast shot I received the day after infusion. I had been practicing daily yoga for about six months prior to being diagnosed with triple neg. breast cancer and I was happy to find relief from symptoms as well as a sense of normalcy and power over what was happening to my body through this journey. Yoga helped me to recover much faster from chemo. I had surgery on 5/29 ( BMX) I woke at 4 AM to do yoga before my surgery, to calm and ground myself. during my visit today w/ PS, I asked again if I could do yoga. She answered NO. I am disappointed but will follow her advice. I am, however doing simple mat asanas (poses) with my lower body to stretch out and keep active other than my daily walk. Yoga is an amazing way to keep fit and you can start at any fitness level and Benefit from it. I will be practicing yoga forever!

Yoga has been my savior in my whole experience. I practiced hot yoga 3 to 4 times a week prior to diagnosis. I lost alot of weight and that is actually how I found the lump. During my treatment I was weak and could not practice, but worked with my yoga teacher on basic poses and meditation. In fact, she attended several of my chemos and did guided meditation with me. As soon as I had enough hair to have the courage to go to a class, I went back and my recovery has been fast and easy. I practice about 5 times a week and will attend teacher training starting in July. Wanderlust actually took place a half hour from my house. I went last year and it was amazing.

I have been practicing yoga on and off for about 10 years.  Unlike some of the previous posters, I am not a fan of Bikram, or hot yoga.  I do enjoy a warm room since it makes it easier for my joints to move,  but I have asthma and too much heat makes it hard for me to breathe.  I practice both hatha and a type of yoga called Yen yoga.  I enjoy them both and have received so many benefits from both methods over the years.  Hatha is a bit more physical.  It is good for your bones because it is weight bearing.  It is good for your flexibility and strength.  It is good for concentration, relaxation and focus.  It helped me so much during the time leading up to my surgery.  It relaxed and calmed me.

Yen yoga is a type of practice where you hold poses at for at least 90 seconds, preferable longer.  You don't stretch all the way to your edge. You go right up to your edge and then back off a bit and just stay in that position and relax and breathe.  Over time, you will soften deeper into the pose.  Most of these poses are done seated or lying down.  Holding these positions for a extended period of time will allow the fascia that surrounds the bones, joints, muscles, and tendons to  relax and release and will allow energy to flow more freely.   The acupuncture points that are used in Chinese Medicine are held within the fascia and holding these poses can allow the chi or energy to flow more freely and without restrictions. This is a very powerful practice and can   bring deep well being and healing.  I found a wonderful book called Insight Yoga by Sarah Powers that explains the theory behind Yen Yoga and shows photos and gives instructions on how to do the poses.  It is a very centering and peaceful practice and it has helped me get through the past year of my diagnosis and surgeries.  I really do recommend this practice.

I think yoga has many benefits especially when going through something like this bc journey.  It is important to find an instructor whom you are comfortable with and one who is certified and experienced. Don't ever allow an instructor or anyone else to push or force you into a position or go deeper into a pose.  That can cause injury.  Use your time on the mat to breathe and let your mind be free of worry and anxiety. Sometimes feelings and emotions will bubble to the surface during your practice.  Let them be, feel and experience them.  It is a good thing to feel what needs to be felt.  And if possible, try to stop during your busy day and remember what it feels like to only focus on your breath and let go.  It will rejuvenate you and help you handle whatever life brings your way. 

Nemaste.... 

I trained as a yoga teacher several years ago and while I'm not currently teaching, I definitely have used my training and off-the-mat practice to help with my healing from BC. The physical practice of yoga is such a small part of what Yoga is (notice the intentional capitalization). The style of yoga that I practice primarily is Anusara, which can be summarized in a simplified way as a balanced combination of Attitude, Alignment and Action. In the reverse order, Action=what you do, Alignment=how you do it, and Attitude=why you do it. That's my own personal interpretation of the teachings of Yoga and how I apply them to my life. When you practice the physical poses on the mat, you get to experience those three elements in your body. But that's really just a metaphor for the "big picture" of things. I hope I've explained that clearly enough.

So as I was recovering from my surgeries last year, the Action part of that equation was very limited (no upper body weightbearing exercise for close to six months), but that didn't mean I still couldn't focus on the Attitude and Alignment parts. As much as I could, I remembered to have gratitude every day that I still had a body, and that it was GOOD, and just because part of me had developed these cancer cells that needed to be removed didn't mean I should just roll over and give up on life. (Yes, I'm very cut-and-dry about things, that's my flavor of wit for ya). Being positive-minded was a choice I actively made and just because I had gotten BC wasn't going to change that.

As for the Alignment part, the "how", that's where remembering the breath helped. I'm now a runner. You have to breathe in order to run. Being aware of the breath, that's the yoga part, the "way in", as some meditation teachers explain it. So first I walked, then I ran, and all the while I breathed, and that's how I practiced my Yoga. You don't need a mat, not really. Though the first time I finally came back to class, I cried hysterically. I had been working so hard not to miss what I loved, i.e. that feeling of all parts of me working together in unison... the word "yoga" after all means "union"... body, mind and heart... action, alignment and attitude... you find the right balance for yourself and that's how become the best "you" you can be, regardless of what crap life might throw at you.

Hope my ramblings help.  

I started Hatha yoga the fall after my springtime dx and mx. Sometimes when I was doing chemo I just couldn't. So I didn't. Now 3 years out I go twice a week at 0800-0930. The evening classes were impossible, I wanted to be asleep. Downward dog is sometimes a challenge. But overall I think it was the best thing I could have started to do for myself. My yoga teacher is aware of my dx. She and many members of my class have seen me without hair, with nappy hair, skinny and now much rounder. They know that I know how to pace myself and trust me to do it. I particularly like the exercises which are good for lymphatic drainage, and the hysterical (well maybe just crazy) laughter which often accompanies our postures.

Wow, well said orangemat! I think that the ability to feel grateful for my body even during chemo, etc. was VERY important in my recovery.  The fact that I could still trust it with so much even when I felt terrible was very healing for me.

L to the K, I do have lymphedema (even though I have great circulation, etc.), and feel it really is a crapshoot sometimes who gets it. I manage it with yoga and other exercise (and compression), and I think it is important that you listen to your body when doing yoga. Definitely with LE there is no "one size fits all approach." I certainly don't feel that I developed LE because I was not fit though...I prefer to blame it all on BC

Hi ladies, thank you for allowing me to post.  My name is Kate, and I created the video "Yoga for Breast Cancer".  I created it for my mom who lived for 23 years with metastasized cancer, and wanted to alleviate her symptoms and give her calm and healing energy.  Based on the success of the first video, we have donated over 1000 videos to the PA Breast Cancer Coalition and other charities, and were able to produce "Healing Yoga for Cancer", which is more of a beginner video and excellent for low energy days and for anyone in active treatment or with limited range of movement (for example, it does not include any downward dog or poses that would aggravate or cause lymphedema).  I would love to send anyone on this message board a free video of either DVD, in hopes that you will find it helpful and healing.  If you'd like a free video, just shoot me an email at info@yogaforcancer.com and include your address and the video you would like mailed.  I wish you all blessings on your healing journey!

Namaste - Kate

Since my diagnosis, I have completely abandoned my yoga practice. It has been a major source of tension for me, but since I have been so fearful of more pain, I figured I was doing the right thing. Reading your posts makes me feel empowered!

Badger, sounds like you have a wonderful teacher!! How fortunate!

Hadley, one of your comments cracked me up. The type of yoga I usually do has the same identical sequence of poses every dang class....so you would think I would know the names by now. But I still have no clue what the heck they are called, I just have learned the sequence, lol. And, just yesterday in class the instructor adjusted me in a position, holy moly...prior to her doing that, I KNOW I have obviously never hit that pose right. So, honor where you are. It's a journey, not a destination : )

I enjoyed Yoga before breast cancer and it's even more important to me now. I do Hatha yoga 2 days/week, yoga/pilates one day and power step 2 days/week. Exercise is my key to managing the se's from Arimidex and I schedule my days around my classes.

I have mild LE in my left arm and I always wear a compression sleeve in my classes. Other than that, I've not had to modify my yoga workouts. Dependent poses so far have had no effect on my LE. In my Power Step class, we do interval training with weights and I'm careful to not max out that arm...I keep it at about 80%. So far, so good.

Yoga (and my cardio/toning class) has been a tremendous benefit to me in my recovery from surgery and in minimizing the se's from my ongoing treatment with Arimidex. I never miss a class and have even progressed to part-time teaching Hatha Yoga.