For a cancer patient, yoga helps in releasing stress and improving sleeping patterns. Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual discipline. According to the definition in Wikipedia, the individual who practices yoga works to attain the state of having a perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while they’re meditating on the Supersoul.

How I Went from Cancer Patient to Ironman Triathletebit.ly/Ln1O25

— Dianne Burnett (@DianneBurnett) July 4, 2012

Just how and when did Yoga started?

Nobody can tell when Yoga started, but it’s without doubt Yoga is literally written in history. People found many stone carvings in the Indus Valley that was approximately 5000 years old. The stones have the figures of Yoga positions which were drawn on the discovered stones.

The tradition of Yoga has always been passed on individually from many teachers to their students engaging in practical demonstrations. The formal techniques that are now being applied by many students are believed to be an assortment of experiences by a lot of individuals many years ago.

The eight well known steps of classical yoga are the following:

1. Yama which means restraint, to refrain from violence, lying, stealing, and the likes.
2. Niyama is observance
3. Asana is physical exercises
4. Pranayama is a breathing method
5. Pratyahara is the form of preparation for meditation and described as withdrawal of the mind from the senses
6. Dharana means concentration, the ability to hold the mind on one object for a specified time.
7. Dhyana is meditation, the ability to focus on one thing that is indefinite.
8. Samadhi which means absorption

Yoga arrived in the United States in the late 1800s but it wasn’t practiced mainstream until 1960s.

Yoga as an alternative cancer treatment

Yoga is a mixture of stretching exercises and deep breathing. In a yoga class, you’ll be placing yourself and your body in various positions which demands bending, twisting of the body and stretching. The main benefit it brings to cancer patients is it gives short term stress relief and long-term stress management benefits. An individual who has cancer is usually stressed in many ways.

a. They could be thinking too much of their disease that they can’t do the things that they would like to do. Which made them emotionally stressed.
b. They could also be physically stressed as a result of pain
c. Lastly, spiritually stress because they might be questioning why these things are happening to them. Asking why God permitted this kind of disease to enter their bodies.

Yoga quiets the mind; the practitioner or patient becomes aware of his emotions and understands to substitute negative thoughts to positive or neutral ones. However, for yoga to be effective, research indicates cancer patients must take part in yoga 2 to 7 times weekly. It’s known to help improve sleep and reduce the fatigue our body amasses everyday of our lives.

Those are just a few of the benefits of yoga for cancer patients. Even so, your doctor’s advice is also required. Yoga is a superb option for everyone not only to people who have cancer. Check out the following article included in a series of alternative cancer treatments.

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Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.

The word “cancer” was translated by Celsus (28 BC – 50 AD) from the Greek term, “carcinos”.  Hippocrates first developed the word, “carcinos” to describe growths and chronic ulcers and it is not known if what he was describing at that time is the same as what we now call ‘cancer’.

But, “cancer”, like all diagnoses are only names of processes that the body is undergoing to maintain balance and health (homeostasis).  In fact, the chemicals (cytokines) produced by “cancer” and the chemicals produced by healing wounds are basically the same; they stimulate new blood vessel growth (angiogenisis) and tissue proliferation.  That’s a really good and necessary process for healing wounds but it’s not so good if it is a tumor or other forms of cancer.

This is the reason why “cancer” has previously been referred to as, “the wound that wouldn’t heal”.  The only reason that a wound will not heal is if whatever caused the wound to occur in the first place continues to occur or if the body is too overwhelmed to heal because of a lack of energy and raw materials (nutrients) to replace old cells and build new ones OR if there are too many different “attacks” on the body from trauma, poisoning and other environmental conditions.

Clearly, what we call, “cancer” then, is our body’s extraordinary effort to keep us alive.  In fact, all that the body ever does is attempt to maintain balance and function.  With this in mind, one realizes that to “go to war against cancer” is to go to war against our body’s attempt to resolve a problem.  It really makes no sense and, in fact, it is also clear that this method of dealing with cancer is based on the false premise (belief) that “cancer” is a “thing” that is in our body and that we must “kill” it.

What really must happen is that we must eliminate the reasons that are causing the body to go through these processes, provide the appropriate nutrition and eliminate tumor(s) in such a way that we don’t harm the body’s ability to heal.

Thomas Lodi, MD
Internal Medicine
Homeopathic Physician
Metabolic Medicine
Integrative Oncology
Certified Nutrition Specialist

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Joan Valentine - A Foundation for Natural Cures, Inc. - Provides education and integrative medicine solutions to those suffering from cancer and their families.