Tag: breast cancer thriver

Book Review: The Places That Scare You

Taking another short break from our journey through the 8 limbs of yoga, let’s look at another fantastic read.

When I saw this title, I just knew I needed to read this book. For breast cancer survivors, myself included, fear is one of the biggest hurdles we face in learning how to thrive after treatment. Pema Chodron’s The Places That Scare You; A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times is a must read for anyone looking to learn how to navigate the ups and downs of life with more equanimity, a more open mind, and a more peaceful heart. Whether your challenge is breast cancer or any other normal life hurdle, like divorce, financial struggles, loss of a loved one, or natural disaster, this book will help you learn to overcome the habitual thought patterns and behaviors that feed our fears, anxieties, and suffering.

Fear is one of the things I talk about a lot with my cancer thriver friends. No matter how good we feel, how far out we are from diagnosis, or how great our prognosis is, fear of recurrence is just something that is always there, lurking in the back of our minds. And fear of recurrence has so many facets: fear of more treatment and its attendant toxicities, fear of disability or loss of vitalilty, fear of having to tell our families, fear of death, fear of how that will affect our loved ones, and on and on. And these fears can crop up at any time, sometimes prompted by some new pain or other unrelated illness, sometimes prompted by annual imaging or bloodwork, sometimes when we see someone else experience a cancer recurrence, and sometimes for no reason at all. But then, for whatever reason, our brains descend into this vicious cycle of worst case scenarios, visualizing all the awful possibilities, until we make ourselves physically ill and overcome with fear and dread.

While this is a common, completely natural, and normal reaction to traversing cancer survivorship, we would all probably love to learn some tools that might help us reduce the suffering that this cycle of fear causes. And this is where this book comes in. Pema Chodron is an American Buddhist nun, and a prominent Buddhist teacher, known for her kind, humble, humorous, and gentle wisdom. Drawing from a number of different Buddhist teachings, she offers the reader a number of different tools meant to help us navigate life’s ups and downs with more grace and ease, and less suffering and angst.

Importantly, this teaching reminds us that it is not ideal to try to squelch or forcefully suppress our negative emotions, nor to be harsh with ourselves when we lapse again into patterns that we know are not in our best interest. We learn to be gentle and compassionate with ourselves, sometimes just learning to sit with whatever the situation is and let it be, whether that is anger or irritability or fear or sadness. When we learn to really be present with ourselves in times of difficulty (instead of trying to escape using our old habits, be they alcohol, over-exercising, busy-ness, consumerism, or what have you), we develop an openness to all of life’s experiences, an understanding of the reality of life as ever-changing, a loving-kindness toward ourselves and all of our imperfections, and a compassion for others going through similar experiences that makes us feel more connected. We learn to let go of our fixed opinions, our judgements, our attachments, and our aversions, in favor of a more open mind and heart. Instead of letting the difficulties of our lives harden us and make us jaded and closed off, we learn to lean in to the experiences and come out instead more peaceful and tender-hearted. In all of these ways, then, we begin to transform. Things that used to scare us or make us angry no longer hold that power over us, as we naturally learn to respond in healthier ways. And as we do so, our daily experience becomes more tranquil, more relaxed, and more joyful, even on the difficult days.

Going through cancer is a serious challenge. Literally life-threatening and life-changing. So it isn’t easy to just learn a trick or two and all of a sudden be fine and perfect. It takes practice. But we really can learn to overcome many of its challenges more easily if we put in the effort and the time and just believe in ourselves. We have that power.

If any of this sounds good to you, pick up this book. I just finished reading it for the second time, and I know it will be one I’ll want to read over and over again on my journey.

Namaste

Going within

Continuing along in our discovery of Patanjali’s 8 limbs of yoga (we’re having fun, right?!), let’s explore the 5th limb, pratyahara. Although the 8 limbs don’t need to be practiced in any certain order, and it isn’t like you have to graduate from one limb to move on to the next, I do believe that developing some practice in the first 4 limbs definitely helps us as we move further along in our journey. And that is definitely true as we move into pratyahara.

Pratyahara is sometimes described as a withdrawal of the senses, or a withdrawal of our awareness away from the senses, a turning inward, or a focusing of our awareness inward, away from the outside world, away from our thinking mind, and toward our inner space, that place of peace, our true self, our higher self. We’ve mentioned the idea of yoga as an inner journey, or a work-in, and pratyahara is key to that exploration. Importantly, it isn’t a forceful stomping out of our thinking mind or our sense perceptions, but a gentle shift away from them and toward our inner space. I like to think of pratyahara as turning a bright spotlight from one direction to another, and as we develop the ability to consciously shift that light of awareness, we not only proceed along that path of inner exploration, but we also master the ability to shift our awareness at will. So that when old habitual behaviors or thought patterns begin to arise, we are able to quickly and easily pivot away from them and toward the healthier habits we are developing.

So why do we need pratyahara? Well, because it is so common, in modern culture, for us to be constantly fixated on the outside world, on our outer experience, driven by what we see in the news or on tv, what we hear on the radio, the things that we taste or smell, what is going on in social media, what the advertisers tell us we need, whatever activities we have to do with work or the other responsibilities that keep us busy. We are trained to constantly be thinking of and striving for that next experience, that next dinner out, that next career milestone, that next photo for instagram, that next pair of yoga pants (#attacked). And we spend very little time just being. Just sitting still with ourselves, exploring how we truly feel deep inside, considering what we truly want (not what our bosses, friends, or the media tell us we should want), taking in a beautiful sunset or really relishing that delicious cup of coffee. As you know, staying focused always on the outside world keeps us feeling anxious, worried, and inadequate. While turning our awareness inward and focusing more on our inner space cultivates peace, contentment, and joy.

As cancer survivors, not only do we have all of the normal things to be distracted by and worried about (will we get that next promotion, who went on a better vacation and posted it all over social media, whose kid is better at soccer or got a better scholarship than ours, what is happening to the economy, etc), but we also have a whole host of other pretty heavy concerns that can overwhelm our minds (will I live to see my kid get married, will my husband still be attracted to me, will I be able to get through this round of chemo, will I still be able to do my job so I can keep my health insurance, will the cancer come back?). So it is completely natural and expected that our minds can get swept away in a whirlwind of anxieties. Pratyahara can be a huge help, teaching us to bring our focus and attention away from all of those worries, and instead tuning in to our inner space, our inner peace, that sanctuary inside of us where everything actually is ok (even if it isn’t on the outside).

So back to the idea of how the first 4 limbs help us cultivate pratayahara. Practicing the yamas and the niyamas helps us to be better able to re-orient our minds, to notice those unhealthy thought patterns, and to see when we are getting swept away, or when we are focusing outside on things that truly aren’t important. Asana practice is a perfect training ground for focusing our awareness inward, on our bodies, our breath, and our inner energy. This is why I’m always saying thing like “stop and breathe a moment and just feel your body”. This is practice and training to be able to turn our awareness inward at will. When we practice it over and over on our mats, we get good at doing it, so it will happen more easily out in life when we are challenged. Pranayama, similarly, almost automatically leads us out of our thinking mind, by triggering that relaxation response deep in our nervous systems, setting us up to be able to easily slip into pratyahara.

So these 8 limbs of yoga truly are a masterful and methodical path that will lead us to a healthier, happier, more peaceful, and more joyful life. IF we just take the time to practice them. Do yourself a favor and give yourself the gift of yoga.

Namaste

Running is hard

Taking a short break from our journey through the 8 limbs today, let’s talk about embracing the totality of our experience, including both the delightful and the difficult parts, as Pema Chodron encourages us to do in today’s quote. This of course relates to several areas of yoga philosophy, such as non-attachment and contentment, or learning to find our happiness and joy even when things aren’t going exactly the way we would like them to. This is a hard pill to swallow, but such an important one, in that it trains us to not allow our life circumstances (which inevitably change and sometimes really suck) to direct our inner experience, our state of consciousness, our bliss. Too often we allow that outer experience, or the way we perceive that outer experience, to ruin our mood, to block our ability to see the beauty all around us, to obscure all the things for which we are grateful, to interfere with our happiness, and to cover up our true state, that deep inner sense of peace and bliss. Who wants to go around like that??!

I know at least that I do this, because I’ve been doing a quite a bit of it the past few days, and especially today. I’m writing this blog to help pull myself out of it. You all know that I am an avid yogi, and have been practicing yoga for many years. My practice is strong and full, and while I can’t do everything I’d like to be able to do, in general I am very happy and fulfilled by the state of my yoga practice. I feel like my body is strong and resilient, and perhaps in as good a shape as I have been in for many years. For some crazy reason, I decided that I would sign up to run a 5k through a cancer support group that I love, called SheStrong. I hadn’t gone on a run in over 5 years, though I do walk and hike a little bit here and there. In the past (like in my 20s and 30s), I used to run now and then, but whenever a breast cancer run came up (like the Komen or others that were annual things in Tucson), I would just go out and run them without any real preparation. This year, I gave myself a little over 2 weeks to prepare for this 5k, thinking that should be ample time. I started out slow, and ran 1 mile, and then a few days later 2 miles. Then on my third run, I decided to try a different pair of shoes (which I now realize wasn’t too smart), and overall felt a little stronger running, BUT I finished the run with some moderate pain in one ankle (I think it’s an Achilles tendon issue). At first, I thought it was just the shoe, and that it would resolve quickly. I did the usual, ice, ibuprofen, rest. The pain got a little better over the following few days, though never resolved completely. This morning I decided to go try to run again (in my original better shoes), knowing that I might have to go slow, or even stop a few times throughout the run. Sadly, I couldn’t run at all. Walking was ok, but every time I tried to run, or even jog at the slowest possible pace, the ankle pain really flared up. I wondered whether I ought to just keep going and push through the pain. But I decided that wasn’t smart, and that I might make the injury worse if I did that. But I felt pretty dejected, frustrated with my body, disappointed that I will probably have to walk, not run, the 5k (which is in just 1 week) if I can even finish it at all. My usually strong and resilient body doesn’t feel quite so. 🙁

However, as I was walking back from my failed run, I was lucky enough to be able to look out over the ocean, breathing in a nice warm ocean breeze. I took a few nice deep breaths and I realized how silly I was being. Is it really that big of a deal if I can’t run the 5k? I mean, my dear friend just started chemotherapy this week for recurrent ovarian cancer, and she is staying positive and strong. Surely I’m not going to whine over this ankle injury and let it ruin my attitude and my day. So I came back to everything I’ve learned through yoga philosophy AND through my own cancer experience. Here are a few of the important ones:

  1. Patience. I know the ankle will heal and I’ll probably even be able to run again someday if I just give it the time it needs to recover. If you’ve read my prior blogs, you know patience is NOT my strong suit, but boy does having cancer give you a big dose of it. I guess I just needed another dose this week. Thanks Universe.
  2. Ahimsa, or non-harming, in this sense toward myself. I must listen to my body and really hear what it needs, rather than force my will and desire to complete some task on myself and end up worsening my injury. I must not let my ego result in self-harm.
  3. Contentment and gratitude: Even though I couldn’t run, I was able to go for a short walk and breathe a little ocean air. I am grateful that my body is as healthy as it is, and for all of the other things I am able to do, including my yoga asana practice, which isn’t really limited by the ankle injury. I recognize that so many others have more difficult problems than I do, and I am really fortunate in so many ways. A minor ankle injury really isn’t that big of a deal.
  4. Non-attachment. What is the big deal about running this 5k anyway? It really isn’t important,except to my ego. Just let it go.
  5. Self-study, what can I learn from this last week? I learned that, while I am very strong and capable on the yoga mat, other forms of exercise tax our bodies in different ways, and I need to be a little more cautious with my body. After all, I’m no spring chicken (as my mother recently told me LOL), and my body has been through a lot in the last 4 years. I learned lessons in patience, ahimsa, contentment, gratitude, and non-attachment as above. I learned that I have some control over how I respond to things that happen. I can choose to be upset and frustrated and feel dejected and weak. Or I can roll with the punches, brush off that negativity, remember how much progress I’ve made in my recovery in other areas, be kind to my body and allow it to heal, cultivate self-love and compassion, and find the joy in today, whatever that looks like.

So that’s my story today. I’m working on developing inner strength, inner peace, equanimity, and unwavering joy, by embracing both the delightful things and the difficult things in my life. But I’m not perfect by any means. That is why I continue to practice, continue to study, continue to learn, and continue to grow. So that I might be the best human being I can be. Yoga helps us do that. Running, I’m not so sure about (LOL, just kidding! I’ll try again once I am healed).

Namaste friends

The 8 limbs of yoga in cancer survivorship

By now you’ve heard me say 100 times “yoga is so much more than just asana (postures)”, and you’ve seen discussion about individual yamas or niyamas in some of my blogs, so you may be thinking “what in the world is she talking about?!”.

The original written text on yoga, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, written nearly 2000 years ago, outlined an 8-limbed path to freedom or enlightenment, a holistic guide for all parts of our lives. Yoga asana, or the physical postures/exercises, now commonly understood to equal “yoga” is really just one of these 8 limbs. So let’s learn, briefly, about the whole system.

1. Yamas: Moral guidelines, restraints, how we deal with the world

2. Niyamas: Duties, inner observances, how we deal with ourselves

3. Asana: physical postures

4. Pranayama: breathing practices

5. Pratyahara: withdrawal of/from the senses

6. Dharana: focus, concentration

7. Dhyana: meditation

8. Samadhi: Bliss, enlightenment

In a fabulous TED talk, I recently heard a woman (who is a psychotherapist and a yoga teacher) describe Patanjali’s 8 limbs as “the original cognitive behavioral therapy”! And it truly is! It is a comprehensive guide to practices that will positively affect every corner of our lives, making us kinder, happier, healthier, more peaceful, more patient, more understanding, more fulfilled human beings, more in line with our true selves and our purpose. And maybe, eventually, with enough practice, we reach that place of pure joy and bliss, completely free from suffering of any kind. I believe that we, as cancer survivors, can benefit from this path and these practices as much (or maybe more) as anyone!

So asana is just one part of the system. However, it can be a great starting point, and a springboard to developing our practice of all the other limbs. For example, asana practice clearly encourages pranayama, pratyahara, and dharana. And with time, your asana practice truly becomes a moving meditation, or dhyana. So as we grow our asana practice, we automatically develop in the other areas as well.

It is important to clarify that yoga is not a religion. This system of practices is compatible with whatever spiritual or religious tradition you already identify with. In fact, as you progress in yoga practice, you may become even more connected to whatever spiritual practice you currently have, because of the way yoga helps us become more in touch with ourselves, understanding our true natures, our higher selves, our inner wisdom, and our truth.
If you are interested in more, and how this relates to cancer recovery specifically, check out my educational video on the topic.

In any event, keep practicing and know that if you begin to feel better in general, more peaceful, physically healthier, more at ease in your own skin, more connected to those around you, more compassionate, and more joyful — those are sure signs that you are doing it right, and yoga is working for you, regardless of what your postures look like.

Namaste

Be kinder to yourself

The first of the yamas (from Patanjali’s 8 limbs of yoga) is ahimsa, most commonly translated as non-violence. As you may know, the yamas and niyamas of Patanjali’s 8 limbs are guidelines for the way we think, behave, and interact with ourselves and the world. For more detail on the 8 limbs, check out my educational video on the topic, and stay tuned for my next blog post, in which I’ll spend a little more time on the topic in general.

Today’s thoughts are on ahimsa, or non-violence, but really thinking about ahimsa as it relates to ourselves, as well as others. Ahimsa is traditionally thought of in terms of avoiding violence or harm to other humans or to animals. I think this interpretation is pretty obvious to most people. But perhaps more important is the idea of avoiding violence toward ourselves. There are many ways that we might unknowingly be expressing violence toward ourselves, from abusing our bodies though excessive diet or over-exercise, to over-working and stressing our bodies and minds to the point of exhaustion, to violent thoughts toward our bodies and ourselves (“I’m so angry that my body developed this cancer”, or “I hate the way my body is since my cancer treatment”, or “Why can’t I just be over this already?”). The Buddha famously said “You, as much as anyone in the universe, deserve your own love and affection” (there is some controversy as to whether he really said it, but I like it one way or the other). And it is true. It is easy to always focus our energy and efforts on those around us or our work, prioritizing the needs of others over our own, in fact maybe never even considering our own needs. But we must learn to really listen to our own bodies and spirits, to hear what they need, and to be kind, patient, and gentle with ourselves.

After all, consider what your body and mind have been through, and how amazing they are to have carried you through your life and all of its challenges to this point. Despite everything, our bodies are resilient and strong, persevering though toxic treatments, healing wounds, and recovering. Our minds are strong and adaptable, able to handle the stresses of regular life and those associated with cancer and cancer treatment on top of that! Just take a moment to recognize how amazing you really are. Direct some gratitude to your body and mind for carrying you through, and then allow yourself to feel kindness and compassion for yourself growing from the inside. As you begin to cultivate this love and understanding for yourself, you will naturally feel those same feelings begin to grow toward those around you. This is the beauty of ahimsa, for ourselves and for those around us. Just as Pema Chodron says, “Be kinder to yourself. And then let your kindness flood the world”.

Namaste

Just a reminder

Happy Friday beautiful people! I’m just thrilled at how we are growing, with new members and followers each week! Keep up the awesome work with developing your yoga practice, and feel free to contact us if you have questions or need anything.

But also remember to be gentle with yourself. If you need days to just snuggle up with a great book and a cup of tea, don’t be hard on yourself for doing so. Listen to your inner wisdom and give yourself whatever you need. Sadhguru said “Discipline does not mean control. Discipline means having the sense to do exactly what is needed”. This is such an important lesson in yoga AND in cancer recovery. This is one of the ways to interpret brahmacharya, one of the yamas from Patanjali’s 8 Limbs of Yoga, here translated as right use of energy. Right use of energy means learning to listen to your body, to listen to your soul, and to really understand what you need to do, and act accordingly, to do exactly what is needed, as Sadhguru described. Learn to push when you have the energy for it, and to rest when your body needs that. Learn to be around people when that helps and raises your energy, but to have quiet solitude when that feeds your spirit better. This will teach you to remain in a perfect state of balance despite all of life’s ups and downs.

So I hope you are enjoying your friday, whatever that looks like for you. Maybe a super vigorous yoga practice, or maybe a quiet relaxing evening at home, or whatever it is you need today. Just make sure your soul is getting as much exercise as your abs.

Namaste

Flash sale!

Tomorrow is my official 4 year cancerversary! To say I am grateful to be alive and healthy is the understatement of the year. It has been quite an amazing 4 years with lots of changes, challenges, scares, and obstacles. But also lots of joy, blessings, gratitude, and growth. And the realization that (as a good friend and former patient used to say) there IS life after cancer! I’m so blessed to be physically well, to be surrounded by beautiful family and friends, to live in a gorgeous place with a healthy vibe, to feel emotionally strong and resilient, and to be able to pursue my passion – which is sharing the profound benefits of yoga with cancer survivors everywhere!
So let’s celebrate with a FLASH SALE! If you’ve been thinking about joining our unlimited video membership, and you want to learn how yoga can help you recover from cancer with more grace and ease, now is a great time! Starting NOW through tomorrow night, get 50% off the price of your membership by using the discount code “4yearswoot” at checkout! Look forward to practicing with you.
🧘🏽‍♀️💖🌸💖🧘🏽‍♀️

http://www.yogawithleona.com/product/yoga-with-leona-unlimited-membership/

Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?

Everybody loves a little Bob Marley, right? His music is so beautiful, soulful, fun, and relaxing. And some of his lyrics are really provocative. I love this one: “Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?”. In today’s culture, I think we often allow ourselves to stay so busy that we never even give ourselves time to ask these sorts of questions. To really look within and think about where we are, whether we are happy, whether there are changes we would like to make, and how to go about doing that. Instead we just mindlessly run from one engagement to the next, accepting this as our life, and not really thinking any more about it.

I know, because I used to be that way big time. About 8 years ago or so, I went to an all day yoga workshop with my step-daughter, who is actually the one who got me started in yoga in the first place (thank you, Erika!). It was a really great workshop with an amazing international teacher who was visiting Arizona. During one of the breaks, Erika and I were working on some of the things we had just learned, and I was watching her do a posture and trying to help with the new alignment tips. The leader of the workshop saw us, and came over, saying “Are you a yoga teacher? You should be a yoga teacher”, to which I sort of scoffed and said “Yeah right, I wish!”. He looked puzzled, and said “Why not?”. And I said “I’d have to quit my real job”. “Being a yoga teacher IS a real job”, he replied. I felt like such a dick. I didn’t mean to suggest that it wasn’t, but rather just that it wasn’t my real job. But that moment transformed me. I thought “well why can’t it be my real job?”. Just because I trained for 10 years in medicine and had then been building my practice for some years too, did that mean that I had no choice in the matter? That I had to do that forever, and couldn’t change gears and have a second, different career? I mean, why not? And that was the moment that opened my eyes to the possibility of truly changing my life to whatever I wanted it to be. To whatever would really make me happy and fulfilled.

Yoga encourages us to really look within. People often say yoga isn’t a “work-out”, it is a “work-in”, and this is a perfect description! Yoga encourages us to take the time to really feel our inner bodies AND to really listen to our inner wisdom, or intuition. This is sort of the opposite of mindlessly running around like chickens with our heads cut off. If we take the time to really listen and feel, we can then learn what we need to do next. Maybe nothing needs changed. Maybe we are perfectly happy and healthy and we are doing everything right. Then we just keep on as we are. But probably, for most of us, there are at least a few areas in which we could improve, or where we could develop better habits to make us healthier in body and/or mind. So give yourself some time to really think about what is most important. What really brings you joy? What fulfills you and makes you feel most content at the end of the day. What makes you feel your best? Maybe it is super simple, like watching your kids play football in the backyard. Maybe it is your work. Maybe it is having a quiet glass of wine at the end of a busy week with your partner and sharing your deepest thoughts. Maybe it is growing a garden, or learning to cook healthier foods. Maybe it is preparing for a 5k, or some other fitness outlet, or taking some classes on-line or at your local community college. As strange as it sounds, use your cancer as an opportunity to take a time-out and really look and listen to what you want and need, and then make the effort to prioritize accordingly. If you are really busy, maybe you need to cut some things out of your life to make time for the things you want to do? Stop watching tv, or looking at social media? Set better boundaries at work and stop staying late? Stop reading Leona’s blog (No! LOL). And you don’t have to do it all in one day. Little by little, work toward the things you want. Even if takes months or years. Your mental and physical health is in your hands. Empower yourself to take control.

So find some time this week, whether it is on your mat or somewhere else. Open your eyes, and look within. Are you satisfied, with the life you’re living?

Namaste

Learning patience

I have said before that research has shown that one of the qualities common to people who cope best with a cancer experience is being able to look at the experience as an opportunity; an opportunity to learn something, for personal growth, or to change one’s lifestyle for the better. So I have tried to embody this in my own cancer experience, seeing all of the ways that I have grown and become better as a result of my breast cancer, rather than focusing on any of the perceived “negatives”. In fact, if we really think about it, many of those “negatives” might actually be turned into positives if we can just train ourselves to see the things that we have learned from them.

One of the biggest lessons that I continue to learn from my cancer journey is patience. Anyone who knows me knows I have historically been one of the most impatient people alive. It makes me a terrible cook! LOL I am always watching the proverbial pot that then never boils! But I have finally realized that my impatience also makes me suffer unnecessarily. If I can just learn to be more patient, to trust that things happen when they are supposed to, to release my desire to control everything and my need to have things happen on MY timeline… then I can have so much more peace in my mind, and thus truly feel better all the time. I mean, why obsess over something when that will NOT make it happen any faster, right? So this really was a lesson that I needed to learn. And man, did having breast cancer give me a big serving of it! I always imagine a big spoonful of whatever I needed to learn being shoved right into my mouth. Mmmmmmm patience.

From the very first week of my diagnosis, waiting on my biopsy results and special stains, I just could not get the information fast enough. Then during chemotherapy, a couple of times my treatment got delayed because the meds didn’t arrive at the clinic, or there was some snafu with the insurance. And waiting that week (that seems like a year) for PET scan results to arrive! All of these things drove me really crazy, and challenged me to come back to my breath, to realize that my stress would not make things happen any faster, but instead just make me feel physically ill and miserable for however long I wound up having to wait. I learned (very slowly, admittedly) to just breathe deeply, release my impatience, accept whatever timeline the universe had in mind, and recognize that there was plenty of beauty in my life at that very moment that I could enjoy while I waited. In fact, I read some advice from Eckhart Tolle that said (paraphrasing) that we should learn to release the idea that we are waiting, that next time we are made to wait in the doctor’s office or in line at the post office, and when it is finally our turn and the person says “sorry to have kept you waiting”, we respond “oh, no problem, I wasn’t waiting, I was just enjoying the view” (or watching the kids, or enjoying a magazine, or whatever thing we find around us that can be interesting or enjoyable, rather than boiling up with irritation that we have been made to wait). Isn’t that great advice? So I try to use that. Full disclosure, I still get pretty impatient when waiting for those PET scan results or something sortof scary like that. But I am dramatically better than I used to be. And I thank my cancer experience for that. I am a much happier, more patient, less irritable person, thanks to breast cancer.

Interestingly yoga is a great teacher of patience as well. As you know, if you have practiced any yoga at all, our bodies aren’t often able to do certain things right away. It can take months and years to build the flexibility and strength that it takes to get into certain asanas. And so it is a key teaching in yoga to learn to NOT be so attached to the end result (yoga postures aren’t like prizes or badges that we collect or perfect), and to be content with just working on ourselves wherever we are on any given day. To recognize that all of the good stuff, the growth and the transformation, lies in the journey, not in the destination. So we must cultivate patience every single day on our mats, and recognize that wherever we are today, is right where we are supposed to be. We must open our eyes to whatever we are experiencing right now, rather than rushing off to a future time when we might reach some distant goal.

So whether you struggling with waiting on important steps in your cancer journey, or you are on your mat and working on a new asana, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said “Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience”. And if you find it difficult, you’re not the only one, so be patient with yourself 😉

Namaste

Find your inner joyfulness

Deepak Chopra said “Health is not just the absence of disease. It’s an inner joyfulness that should be ours all the time; a state of positive well-being”. As breast cancer survivors, we focus so much on the cancer-related stuff- labs, scans, medicine and side effects, follow up appointments- that sometimes it is easy to forget that we must continue to cultivate that state of positive well-being in our whole selves. Yes, of course it is wonderful and we feel immense relief and celebrate each time we get good test results, and we say “I’m cancer free!”. But we must learn to also place importance and attention on the rest of our being. We must remember to cultivate that sense of inner joyfulness, so that it can remain with us in the good times and the bad, when things are going great and when things occasionally get rough. This way we can learn to navigate all of those different situations with equanimity, with grace, and with ease. We are unf*ckwithable, as I like to say!

So what does it mean to you? What helps you to increase that sense of inner joyfulness? For some of us, it is as simple as spending time with those we love. For others, it might be time alone in nature. Maybe it is some type of spiritual practice, prayer, or meditation. Maybe it is exerecise, yoga, reading great books, petting your cat, or quietly sipping a great cup of coffee on a rainy morning. Spend a little time and really think about what things in your life increase your sense of inner joyfulness. What makes you feel truly good inside? And then figure out how to prioritize those, and spend more time doing them! Life can get busy and we often place importance on all of the other things we need to do. But remember that these little things are just as important to our true wellness as is taking our medication or doing certain medical treatments. And this is a part of our wellness that we CAN control. So give a try to letting go of your worry and thoughts about the cancer, and focus on cultivating your inner joyfulness. I think you will like how you feel.

Namaste