Healthy Living Magazine

A medical procedure, as traumatic as chemotherapy, requires patience, strength, and a fierce desire to get well. Chemotherapy affects the entire body and mind, causing patients to feel weak, tired, and sometimes, hopeless. The process of healing must involve the mind as well as the body.

A positive attitude can go a long way toward healing. Laughter Yoga, Yogic relaxation techniques and meditation are powerful methods for keeping one’s mind in a positive mode. A positive mindset is just as important as physical recovery, and Yoga ultimately helps one experience the best physical, mental, and emotional health.

On the physical level, patients must gradually build back strength and stamina by eating healthy and beginning to be more active. If given the chance, the body can be a powerful instrument for self-healing. Restorative Yoga poses and breathing can be an extremely therapeutic way to navigate back to a healthy mind and body.

Yogic Breathing

Stress is a large factor when dealing with any serious illness. Breathing and meditation are healthy ways to release the stress and negative thoughts and energy from the body. Breathing deeply, and fully, is a simple form of meditation that helps chemotherapy patients focus on filling the abdomen and lungs with clean air – then, pushing it out. Belly breathing can be accompanied by positive visualizations to increase healing within the body.

Patients should find a quiet, comfortable spot to sit or lie. Breathe in through the nose, filling up first the belly, then the chest until full. Then, slowly let the breath out through the mouth. Patients may also choose a mudra to channel healing to specific parts of the body. Meditations can also be accompanied with positive mantras, or affirmations, such as – “I am strong and healthy.,” or “My body will heal itself with time and effort.” Belly breathing can be done anytime, anywhere, to release anxiety and encourage healing within the body.

Yoga Postures

Any of the many Yoga poses can benefit recovering chemotherapy patients. Depending on one’s energy level, ground-based (seated, supine. or prone) Yoga postures may be better for days when energy is taxed. Additionally, Yoga poses can easily be modified with blankets, bolsters, chairs, blocks, straps, or other devices. Patients should do only what feels right for their body. Sometimes, it is nice to focus on something besides the pain for a while, concentrating instead on relaxing, breathing, and stretching. Patients can focus on a specific area of the body that feels tight, to release any joint or muscles tightness, or they can opt for an overall body stretch. Patients should start out slow – doing only what they can. They will soon realize their body is strong and capable. This will encourage them to continue practicing Yoga throughout the healing process and beyond.

Yoga for Healing

Healing, Restorative, or Therapeutic Yoga does not have to be complex, physically taxing, or vigorous. Patients, who are new to Yoga, can begin by learning one or two poses to practice on a regular basis. Repeating a sequence each morning, or evening, can be a powerful routine to help the healing process, by building strength and agility.

Most of us are interested in our health and there are numerous things that we can do in order to protect our health and even to improve it. Although it is really going to depend upon your personal circumstances and desires, there are some things that all of us can do which is going to make a difference that will be seen very quickly and felt for the long term. Here are a few tips that can help you to be healthy and enjoy that health for a long time.

One of the most important things that you can do for your health is to change the way that you eat. If you are eating at fast food restaurants or eating prepackaged foods, you are likely getting a lot of chemicals in your body that can damage your health. You do have the opportunity to change the way that you eat, however, and you can do so fairly easily. The real secret to changing your diet does not lie in making big changes immediately, but rather it is in making small changes over the course of time. How is that possible?

Many people who try to change their diet take the bad foods out of it right away. This can lead to withdrawal symptoms that are quite uncomfortable, especially when you consider how addictive some of the substances that we eat happen to be. Instead of removing bad foods from your diet, try adding good foods into your diet. If you have plenty of good food around the house, such as organic apples or Bosc pears, you will be much more likely to eat them. You can have organic fruits delivery straight from the farm set up on a weekly or biweekly basis so that those foods will be available for you. The more good food you add into your diet, the more bad food will naturally be removed from it.

Another thing that is very important for your health is exercise. I’m sure that you are well aware of this fact but it is more than just getting exercise regularly. The type of exercise that you do can help you to see more results in a shorter amount of time, if you are able to exercise smartly. Instead of spending hours at the gym or walking for an hour or more daily, do interval exercises and high intensity training so that you can get the exercise over with quickly. Not only are you going to be more likely to stick with it if you exercise in this way, you will see better results in a much shorter amount of time.

One other suggestion that I have for you is to make sure that you are staying hydrated at all times. Dehydration can cause many problems to the body, including chronic problems if you are dehydrated for long periods of time. If you drink plenty of water, making sure that it is filtered, you will likely see benefits to your health that will be noticeable quickly.