Cancer changes us. As humans, we carry with us our life experience. Cancer can change our life trajectory, bring more compassion to awareness (ie. post-traumatic growth), and have us wondering what illusion we were under before we were diagnosed (such as bad things never happen to good people, yikes). It can also leave us nervous, not sure how to proceed in our days and more than a little bit vigilant about our bodies.
Fear of recurrence is very common, sometimes more so for caregivers! Whether you’ve had cancer yourself (and are in, out or consistently in-treatment), are a caregiver or work in the oncology field, there is a lot to wonder about in the aftermath of a diagnosis.
Here is one of the yoga therapy anxiety practices we’ll be playing with at Hollyhock this summer during my Informed by Cancer program (Aug 30 – Sept 3), called “Ventral Vagal Rolling”. It is simple, soft and more often than not, leads us to a parasympathetic embodiment, known for regulating the nervous system. This and all gentle somatic yoga practices are evidence based and non-insistant; every one will be tailored to the abilities and preferences of each participant.
