| Let Yoga Come to You..!. |
Yoga for Cancer Patients a Prescription for Sleep,
Vitality
May 20, 2010, 6:06 PM EDT
By Tom Randall
May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Touch toes. Downward dog. Breathe. It’s a yoga routine that
cancer doctors have prescribed for years without evidence it would do much good.
Today, the biggest ever scientific study of yoga finds their instincts were right.
While yoga doesn’t cure the disease, its stretching and breathing exercises did
improve sleep, reduce dependence on sedatives and help cancer patients resume the
routine activities of everyday life, according to a 410-participant study being highlighted
at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago next month.
Health insurers and government programs don’t pay for yoga even as mounting
evidence from dozens of smaller studies show benefits for treating chronic disease.
Today’s research and more than $5 million in additional tests funded this year by the
National Institutes of Health may convince skeptical doctors and provide scientific
evidence to allow coverage.
“Clinicians should now feel pretty comfortable prescribing gentle Hatha yoga or
restorative yoga for their patients,” said Karen Mustian, lead author of the study and
assistant professor in the department of radiation oncology and preventive medicine at
the University of Rochester Medical Center. “The data from this study is one of the first
steps in the direction toward insurance coverage, but we’re not there yet.”
Doctors at Beth Israel Hospital in New York aren’t waiting for more studies to start
prescribing yoga. The hospital is one of the few facilities in the country to offer
personal yoga therapy instruction for all of its sickest cancer patients.
Fighting Leukemia
David Goldberg, a 30-year-old computer programmer and recreational athlete, learned
earlier this month that he has leukemia. The cancer cut short his five-mile runs and
pick-up basketball games even before his diagnosis. Goldberg hadn’t considered
yoga until checking into Beth Israel’s emergency department a few weeks ago and
learning of his disease.
“I was certainly a little skeptical, but so far it’s been very helpful in relaxing me, getting
me in a good state of mind,” Goldberg said before a 20-minute lesson in his hospital
room. His instructor wears a mask to protect Goldberg, whose immune system has
been weakened by five rounds of chemotherapy. “I’m hooked up to a machine, so I can’
t totally forget that I have this. For me, it’s just an amazing experience to feel where my
body is and what I’m experiencing.”
Cancer Meeting Highlight
The yoga study released today by the cancer group is one of more than 4,500 reports
showcased at this year’s meeting of 30,000 oncologists. Doctors have been
especially interested in yoga’s muscle-toning stretches and meditative breathing,
which practitioners say clears the mental fog of chemotherapy and the chronic fatigue
that plagues some survivors for years.
In the Rochester study, about 8 out of 10 cancer survivors reported significant sleep
impairment that affected their lives before the study. Half of the patients were assigned
to yoga classes twice a week for one month. By the end of the trial, 31 percent of yoga
patients no longer had the sleep disruptions, twice the recovery rate of patients who
didn’t take classes.
Yoga practitioners also reported a 42 percent reduction in fatigue, compared with a 12
percent reduction for the control group. Yoga users decreased the use of sleep
medication by 21 percent, while the control group actually increased reliance on
sleeping drugs by 5 percent.
Learning More
Scientists still don’t know exactly what makes yoga work, said Lorenzo Cohen,
professor of behavioral science and cancer prevention at the University of Texas MD
Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Cohen and his research group were awarded a
$4.5 million U.S. grant this year for the biggest yoga and meditation study. His
research will compare yoga to meditation and to stretching and will analyze economic
benefits from increased productivity at work.
“Once we can show an economic impact, you’ll start to see changes,” Cohen said in
an interview in New York. “Companies want to provide services that keep their
employees healthy and productive.
“The concept that the brain can change if you put it into different states is a whole new
wonderful science that’s emerging,” Cohen said.
Yoga began in India as a combination of physical and mental exercises. Historians
have traced its roots back thousands of years to references in Buddhist and Hindu
texts. In Western practices, muscle-stretching poses are accompanied by meditative
breathing exercises. About 15.8 million Americans practiced yoga in 2008, according
to a study commissioned by Yoga Journal.
The health benefits of yoga have been explored in scores of smaller studies looking at
everything from weight loss to depression. Previous studies were too small to be
considered definitive, and they are difficult to compare because most of them use
differing definitions for just what “yoga” is.
Skepticism at First
“Ten years ago, there was almost complete skepticism from oncologists, but now
most of them are coming around” said Woodson Merrell, chairman of the department
of integrative medicine at Beth Israel. Merrell’s center is completing its own studies
comparing patient improvements before and after the hospital’s holistic cancer floor
was finished in March 2009.
Beth Israel’s yoga program was developed with celebrity instructor Rodney Yee and
the Urban Zen Foundation set up by fashion designer Donna Karan, whose husband
died of lung cancer. The hospital’s cancer floor also offers acupuncture,
aromatherapy, a meditation room called the “Sanctuary” and massage chairs for
patients and visitors.
Integrating Mind, Body
“We’re not talking about using a Ouija board and using fern leaves instead of
chemotherapy,” Merrell said. “We’re talking about relaxation techniques to integrate the
mind and body -- instead of feeling disconnected from this cancer that’s in you, to feel
that you’re a whole human being and you’re going on this path toward healing.”
For Goldberg’s fight against leukemia, yoga is a series of slow, gentle stretches,
beginning with his feet and ending in his shoulders. The reclining poses are followed
by guided breathing instructions that encourage him to let go of the sounds of the
hospital and to focus on his thoughts and the sensations of his body.
After his session, Goldberg told his instructor that a headache that had been bothering
him during a visit with his family had disappeared and his outlook on the world was
little bit brighter than before. His doctors said his positive attitude is a strong medicine
and his prognosis for recovery is good.
--Editors: Angela Zimm, Bruce Rule
Vitality
May 20, 2010, 6:06 PM EDT
By Tom Randall
May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Touch toes. Downward dog. Breathe. It’s a yoga routine that
cancer doctors have prescribed for years without evidence it would do much good.
Today, the biggest ever scientific study of yoga finds their instincts were right.
While yoga doesn’t cure the disease, its stretching and breathing exercises did
improve sleep, reduce dependence on sedatives and help cancer patients resume the
routine activities of everyday life, according to a 410-participant study being highlighted
at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago next month.
Health insurers and government programs don’t pay for yoga even as mounting
evidence from dozens of smaller studies show benefits for treating chronic disease.
Today’s research and more than $5 million in additional tests funded this year by the
National Institutes of Health may convince skeptical doctors and provide scientific
evidence to allow coverage.
“Clinicians should now feel pretty comfortable prescribing gentle Hatha yoga or
restorative yoga for their patients,” said Karen Mustian, lead author of the study and
assistant professor in the department of radiation oncology and preventive medicine at
the University of Rochester Medical Center. “The data from this study is one of the first
steps in the direction toward insurance coverage, but we’re not there yet.”
Doctors at Beth Israel Hospital in New York aren’t waiting for more studies to start
prescribing yoga. The hospital is one of the few facilities in the country to offer
personal yoga therapy instruction for all of its sickest cancer patients.
Fighting Leukemia
David Goldberg, a 30-year-old computer programmer and recreational athlete, learned
earlier this month that he has leukemia. The cancer cut short his five-mile runs and
pick-up basketball games even before his diagnosis. Goldberg hadn’t considered
yoga until checking into Beth Israel’s emergency department a few weeks ago and
learning of his disease.
“I was certainly a little skeptical, but so far it’s been very helpful in relaxing me, getting
me in a good state of mind,” Goldberg said before a 20-minute lesson in his hospital
room. His instructor wears a mask to protect Goldberg, whose immune system has
been weakened by five rounds of chemotherapy. “I’m hooked up to a machine, so I can’
t totally forget that I have this. For me, it’s just an amazing experience to feel where my
body is and what I’m experiencing.”
Cancer Meeting Highlight
The yoga study released today by the cancer group is one of more than 4,500 reports
showcased at this year’s meeting of 30,000 oncologists. Doctors have been
especially interested in yoga’s muscle-toning stretches and meditative breathing,
which practitioners say clears the mental fog of chemotherapy and the chronic fatigue
that plagues some survivors for years.
In the Rochester study, about 8 out of 10 cancer survivors reported significant sleep
impairment that affected their lives before the study. Half of the patients were assigned
to yoga classes twice a week for one month. By the end of the trial, 31 percent of yoga
patients no longer had the sleep disruptions, twice the recovery rate of patients who
didn’t take classes.
Yoga practitioners also reported a 42 percent reduction in fatigue, compared with a 12
percent reduction for the control group. Yoga users decreased the use of sleep
medication by 21 percent, while the control group actually increased reliance on
sleeping drugs by 5 percent.
Learning More
Scientists still don’t know exactly what makes yoga work, said Lorenzo Cohen,
professor of behavioral science and cancer prevention at the University of Texas MD
Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Cohen and his research group were awarded a
$4.5 million U.S. grant this year for the biggest yoga and meditation study. His
research will compare yoga to meditation and to stretching and will analyze economic
benefits from increased productivity at work.
“Once we can show an economic impact, you’ll start to see changes,” Cohen said in
an interview in New York. “Companies want to provide services that keep their
employees healthy and productive.
“The concept that the brain can change if you put it into different states is a whole new
wonderful science that’s emerging,” Cohen said.
Yoga began in India as a combination of physical and mental exercises. Historians
have traced its roots back thousands of years to references in Buddhist and Hindu
texts. In Western practices, muscle-stretching poses are accompanied by meditative
breathing exercises. About 15.8 million Americans practiced yoga in 2008, according
to a study commissioned by Yoga Journal.
The health benefits of yoga have been explored in scores of smaller studies looking at
everything from weight loss to depression. Previous studies were too small to be
considered definitive, and they are difficult to compare because most of them use
differing definitions for just what “yoga” is.
Skepticism at First
“Ten years ago, there was almost complete skepticism from oncologists, but now
most of them are coming around” said Woodson Merrell, chairman of the department
of integrative medicine at Beth Israel. Merrell’s center is completing its own studies
comparing patient improvements before and after the hospital’s holistic cancer floor
was finished in March 2009.
Beth Israel’s yoga program was developed with celebrity instructor Rodney Yee and
the Urban Zen Foundation set up by fashion designer Donna Karan, whose husband
died of lung cancer. The hospital’s cancer floor also offers acupuncture,
aromatherapy, a meditation room called the “Sanctuary” and massage chairs for
patients and visitors.
Integrating Mind, Body
“We’re not talking about using a Ouija board and using fern leaves instead of
chemotherapy,” Merrell said. “We’re talking about relaxation techniques to integrate the
mind and body -- instead of feeling disconnected from this cancer that’s in you, to feel
that you’re a whole human being and you’re going on this path toward healing.”
For Goldberg’s fight against leukemia, yoga is a series of slow, gentle stretches,
beginning with his feet and ending in his shoulders. The reclining poses are followed
by guided breathing instructions that encourage him to let go of the sounds of the
hospital and to focus on his thoughts and the sensations of his body.
After his session, Goldberg told his instructor that a headache that had been bothering
him during a visit with his family had disappeared and his outlook on the world was
little bit brighter than before. His doctors said his positive attitude is a strong medicine
and his prognosis for recovery is good.
--Editors: Angela Zimm, Bruce Rule
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
A division of Rochester Yoga and Wellness Garden
servicing the Rochester, Henrietta and Canandaigua area.
servicing the Rochester, Henrietta and Canandaigua area.
|
The most rewarding Yoga I provide is Yoga for individuals, couples or groups who have specials needs.
therapeutics as well as Yoga for Seniors.
Allow me of offer you Yoga in your home or my studios. I will special design a program that fits your needs
and schedule.
Call 585-703-4676 for free consultation.
Providing Yoga and Meditation guidance in Canandaigua,
Bloomfield, and all of the Ontario County and Finger Lakes.
Warm-hearted - over 35 years experience
Yoga....holistic, pure and proven.
therapeutics as well as Yoga for Seniors.
Allow me of offer you Yoga in your home or my studios. I will special design a program that fits your needs
and schedule.
Call 585-703-4676 for free consultation.
Providing Yoga and Meditation guidance in Canandaigua,
Bloomfield, and all of the Ontario County and Finger Lakes.
Warm-hearted - over 35 years experience
Yoga....holistic, pure and proven.
Are you recovering from an injury? Utilize the
healing science of yoga to improve and You
Individual
Always wanted to try yoga? Looking for ways
to deepen your personal practice? Take a
private yoga session, where you will receive
customized and key postures to begin or
improve your practice.
Pair up with a Neighbor or a
friend!
Also offering:
Meditation practices
healing science of yoga to improve and You
Individual
Always wanted to try yoga? Looking for ways
to deepen your personal practice? Take a
private yoga session, where you will receive
customized and key postures to begin or
improve your practice.
Pair up with a Neighbor or a
friend!
Also offering:
Meditation practices
With yoga, you will
improve your:
Muscle strength and tone
Balance
Mental Focus
Physical Stamina
Agility
Immune system functions
Blood Pressure
Lung capacity
Spiritual awareness
Flexibility
General overall fitness
Sports injuries
Sleep
improve your:
Muscle strength and tone
Balance
Mental Focus
Physical Stamina
Agility
Immune system functions
Blood Pressure
Lung capacity
Spiritual awareness
Flexibility
General overall fitness
Sports injuries
Sleep
Grounded By Yoga now in
Rochester NY!
Rochester NY!
Naples, NY 14512, Lima, NY, 14485 and Clifton Springs, NY 14432, Mendon, NY 14506. Honeoye Falls, NY 14472