Does yoga help breath cancer patients?

University of Alberta research fellow Amy Speed-Andrews has examined how a specialized Iyengar yoga program for women currently in the treatment for breast for breast cancer, and who have completed treatment, makes a difference in their recovery.

For two years groups of study participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire about their physical and mental health at the beginning of a 10-week session of Iyengar yoga and again at the end. After analyzing the data that was collected, Speed-Andrews, from the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, found that after yoga 94 percent said they had improvements in their quality of life; 88 percent felt better physically; 87 percent reported being happier and 80 percent were less tired. Other improvements were reported in body image and in decreased levels of stress, anxiety and depression. This is significant, considering breast cancer treatments often leave women in pain, immobilized, tired and depressed.

Controlling your breathing is an important part of yoga. In yoga, breath signifies your vital energy. Yoga teaches that controlling your breathing can help you control your body and gain control of your mind. Ensuring an overall feeling of well being. At Yoga Wellbeing we have seen significant changes being made in our clients lives because of yoga. So if you have had a stressful day and are low on energy book a private session or pop down to one of our classes for more information click here.

Yoga is an excellent for stress relief.Research has also shown that Hatha Yoga if practiced regularly, has a significant impact on muscular strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. Studies done on a group of people practicing yoga revealed that after eight weeks the flexibility of this group improved by 14% to 35%.

The physical and mental benefits of yoga provide a natural counter-balance to stress, and strengthens the relaxation response in your daily life. The Yoga that is practiced all over the world is actually called ‘Hatha Yoga’ a component of the wholesome Yogic practices.

You can counter the effects of stress to your body through yoga’s breathing exercises and other relaxation exercises. These exercises try to achieve deep quietness in the mental and physical state to alter your emotional and physical responses. After performing such exercises, you will soon notice that your heart rate decreases, as well as your muscle tension and blood pressure.

Stressed out individuals carry a great deal of physical tension in their bodies. In these cases the natural unblocking effected by yoga postures are helpful. When one rests between postures, abdominal tension is released from the body promoting deep breathing. The benefits of yoga postures (asana), breathing (pranayama), and meditation (dhyana) include increased body awareness, release of muscular tension and increased coordination between mind-and body.

Breathing – Controlling your breathing is an important part of yoga. In yoga, breath signifies your vital energy. Yoga teaches that controlling your breathing can help you control your body and gain control of your mind.

When we are totally relaxed by using the techniques Yoga has to offer, our system slows down the body’s processes and actual changes occur. These include slowed metabolism and respiration, pupil constriction in the eyes, and the central nervous system is calmed or taken off “alert status”.

We’ve talked a lot about helping provide access to yoga for under-served and at-risk youth. But there’s another population equally in need of yoga’s healing and meditative benefits: the elderly. Physically and economically challenged older people often can’t affird £10 a class–or keep up with the vigorous vinyasa flow.

Frank Isak knows this. The 78-year-old yoga teacher and founder of Silver Age Yoga has made it his life’s mission to get older people on the mat. He goes to them (in senior centers, libraries, and churches), keeps it simple, and tailors his classes to help offset some of their common health issues: osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes, weight gain, and poor circulation.

Best of all, his classes are totally free. Iszak, who escaped to the U.S. from forced labor camp in communist Hungary in 1958, lives for seva, tirelessly working to improve the lives of others.

“Our basic goal is to make their lives better–for whatever years they have left on planet Earth,” he says of his students. Sangha, too, is an important part of the Silver Age formula: Lonely elderly people get a chance to connect physically, mentally, and spiritually with a community
focused on feeling better in the world.”

In your yoga journey, there will probably come a time when you wonder just how some Sanskrit term applies to daily life or how the physical practice of asana relates to yoga’s. Fortunately, people have been writing books about yoga for thousands of years.

Arriving at a coherent understanding of this rich and varied tradition takes time. Books can become great friends and guides along the path. Here, we’ve gathered a small library of titles we think provide a broader understanding of the practice and a deeper awareness of how yoga can transform your life.

Because there are literally hundreds of books to choose from, we have decided to limit ourselves to titles that were published within the past 10 years—a limitation we thought might aid in our quest to answer that eternal question: How is the ancient practice of yoga relevant to my life right now? This article is meant to be a sampler of yoga literature, a little something to whet your appetite.

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda The classic spiritual memoir, first published in 1946, still resonates with practitioners today who are looking for self-realization.

The Heart of Meditation: Pathways to a Deeper Experience, by Sally Kempton (aka Swami Durgananda) How to transform—rather than transcend—your emotions with a wide range of meditation techniques. Out of print, but well worth tracking down.

Yoga Anatomy, by Leslie Kaminoff Ever wanted to look inside a yoga pose? This book’s excellent illustrations show exactly what’s happening in the body in 75 asanas.

                                 Last week we spoke about Yoga Bliss and all it’s brilliant goodies that it has to offer. This week we are talking about Sweaty Betty and the amazing control legging.

These truly are the answer to your legging nightmares. They are a really comfortable length, keep there shape and are very high waisted. They hold in everything, before you have even started exercising.

They are a great product for the down dogs, no baggy material hanging around and it makes it a much easier for the yoga teacher to see what position you are in.

If you need any more information then just visit the Sweaty Betty website and surf at your leisure - http://www.sweatybetty.com/

What a bright night. The park was flooded in sunlight, don’t always believe everything you hear from the weatherman.

I am still getting the strange looks from the tube people for carrying a bag with eight yoga mats in it. By the amount of attention my bag of yoga mats generate you would think I was carrying a sack of sharp and dangerous objects. It seems interesting enough to divert the commuters attention away from Jordan’s latest on the front of the London Light.

Anyway moving onto the class. Just a quick dog update, we had a bit of interest from a greyhound but Monni didn’t get her leg licked this time. One of the girl’s commented on how lovely it was to feel the sun on her face and how it added to the poses. Another said that she enjoyed breathing in the fresh air when she was in the relaxation pose, adding that it cleared her head on a Monday evening. Most of the group enjoy the chance to stop the mind chatter and stop there minds from acting like a monkey jumping from one tree to another. I think we could have all stayed in savasana (relaxation pose) with the sun shining on our faces for a little bit longer.

Until next week Regents Park Yoga in the Park group, let’s all keep on doing our good weather dances. It seems to work.