This month in my yoga classes, I’m designing our practices through the lens of strength. Our yoga practices can strengthen our muscles, bones, breathing, spirit, and even digestion!  I’m focusing this week on how we can use our practice to strengthen our bones.
 
My own story is where I start:
 
I have osteoporosis, probably due to a combination of long-term effects of cancer treatments and genetics.  I have no interest in taking a drug to treat it, as long as I can avoid that. I was referred to an endocrinologist a few years ago. When I told him I practice yoga, he said, “You don’t look like someone who falls, and that’s the biggest risk, so I’m not going to recommend that you start taking a drug.”  (Side note: I thought he was going to say, “You don’t look like someone who does yoga.”  Those insecurities are pervasive!)
 
 I was SO encouraged! I even took an online course “Yoga for Osteoporosis” taught by an expert, Dr. Loren Fishman. It encourages me and informs a lot of my yoga practice.
 
One of my sources of information and inspiration about yoga is Dr. Timothy McCall, author of Yoga as Medicine. Here’s an excerpt from his newsletter from a couple of years ago:
 
“While doctors tend to focus on measures like drugs and dietary supplements like calcium and Vitamin D and to raise bone mineral density levels, they may not pay as much attention to what we can do that may make us less likely to fall.
 
In yoga, balancing poses like Vrksasana (Tree Pose) are often recommended, and I believe they have value. But I'm come [sic] to think that dynamic balancing, in which we move slowly in and out of poses, or from one pose to another, may be even better.
 
The way I teach dynamic balancing is to combine slow, subtle breathing with slow, smooth movements in which balance is challenged all throughout the range of motion. This I suspect is far better training for real world situations in which we might fall and break a bone. “
 
~Dr. Timothy McCall, author of Yoga as Medicine. He can be found at: http://www.drmccall.com.
 
 
So, the story is that yoga not only strengthens our bone density, but it can strengthen the muscles that we need in order to prevent ourselves from falling.
 
This is more confirmation that the slow, mindful approach has great benefits!
 
Check out my offerings here: Consider Yoga Learning Center

10/1/2022
 
For many years after my breast cancer diagnosis and treatment in 2000,  I felt the saturation of pink in October – Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  After collecting pink hats from the Komen Foundation’s Race for the Cure, pink paraphernalia at the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, and pink ribbons and pens at my annual mammogram, I felt the pink fatigue. 
 
I understand the need to continue to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research and treatment.  It’s the most common cancer among women in the U.S.   It’s estimated that this year, 30% of newly diagnosed cancers in women will be breast cancers, and that in the U.S., 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer over her lifetime.
 
However, I also know that many other types of cancer have not gotten the attention that breast cancer has.  And I have many loved ones and friends who have experienced those cancers.  So I have at times cringed at the attention to breast cancer – and the preponderance of pink in October.
 
And then I got a new breast cancer diagnosis in February of this year (2022).    My experience was quite different from the first time, and I believe it was at least in part due to the research efforts over the years – technology for earlier detection, less invasive surgery, shorter radiation treatment protocols, and tests that indicate likelihood of recurrence and also likely benefit from chemotherapy.  All of those advances, which benefited me directly, are the result of funding and research.   I’m awed by the changes and grateful to the scientists, advocates, and donors.
 
Shortly after my diagnosis, I met with a nurse navigator who recommended three reliable websites for information about breast cancer. 
 
https://breast360.org/
 
https://www.breastcancer.org/
 
https://drsusanloveresearch.org/
 
 
If you or someone you know might need information or support, I encourage you to take a look.
 
 
Now – why am I writing this on my yoga blog? 
 
It might surprise you to learn that less than 15% of women who get breast cancer have a family member (parent, sibling, or child) who has had it.  That is important to know!
 
There are lots of other factors that may contribute to creating the conditions for breast cancer to develop. (By the way, based on the size and growth factor of my tumor, the doctors speculated that it had been growing – albeit slowly – for about 9 years.)
 
Lifestyle factors are important, including nutrition, sleep, movement, and stress reduction.
 
Slow, mindful yoga can help with these factors – not only to reduce chances of an occurrence or recurrence, but to help manage the diagnosis, treatment, and healing. There’s a growing body of research on how yoga can support cancer patients and those in recovery and beyond. 
 
Awareness is important.  Knowledge and research are, too.
 
So while I still cringe a bit when I see the pink,  I no longer pooh-pooh it.