Yoga is a group of physical, mental and spiritual practices which has its origins in India, 5000 years ago. The Sanskrit word “Yoga” comes from the root “Yog” which means “to unite”. In ancient India, Yoga was practiced by various religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The modern day Yoga in the western world is a modification of “hatha yoga” which mainly consists of changing various postures. The mention of Yoga is seen in Rigveda and Upanishads. “The Yoga Sutra Patanjali”, which is a collection of 196 Indian sutras (aphorisms) on the theory and practice of yoga, was written in the first half of the first millennium.
Yoga gained its popularity in the western world when Swami Vivekananda became popular in the west in the late 19th and early 20th century. Later on, various gurus, mostly from India, became instrumental in promoting Yoga in the West. The yoga practiced in the western world consists of a large number of asanas and few practices. On the contrary in India, yoga involves significant physical exercises. Yoga is also associated with medication, at its spiritual core. Yoga is very popular in the developed world, where life is competitive and stressful and is even called the “lifestyle polypill”. Recognizing its importance and popularity world over, the United Nations has declared June 21 as “International Day of Yoga”. Yoga aims at improving the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of an individual. Yoga has a holistic approach aiming at a healthy lifestyle. Yoga is based on five basic principles: proper relaxation, proper exercise, proper breathing, proper diet, positive thinking, and meditation.
When my classmate Dr. Devin Prabhakar and I were learning yoga and meditation from Sivanandayoga Centre, our Yoga Guru Ravi Easwaran told us that he was an investment banker in Mumbai and that he was severely asthmatic while working in Mumbai; He used to get multiple hospitalizations every month due to acute exacerbations of bronchial asthma. And this happened throughout his long career. But everything changed when he quit his job and became a full-time yoga teacher. Pranayama was the secret of the change. Similarly, when we attended a yoga teacher’s training camp near Neyyardam, we came across many individuals who used to suffer from various ailments like bronchial asthma, skin diseases, sinusitis, and peptic ulcer diseases. After they started practicing yoga, none of these people have had to use any medications, because the ailments were addressed by and through specific “kreas”. But it must be jotted in memory, that these are yoga experts who have been practicing yoga for more than a decade; For a layman or a beginner, the practice of “Kreas” is extremely difficult. As a treatment for ‘reflux esophagitis’, a krea called ‘vastra dhauti’ is practiced; in which a strip of wet cloth, is swallowed and then taken out, as instructed by the guru (Hatha Yoga Pradipika 2:24). Similarly Dhauti is divided, into four parts. According to the "Gherand Samhita" they are called antar (internal) dhauti, danta (teeth) dhauti, hrid (cardiac) dhauti, and moola shodhana (rectal cleansing).
Modern medicine doesn’t approve of such practices, however, Yoga and meditation can be integrated into various aspects of modern medical practice. This involves the practice of yoga, to have a healthy life and to prevent many diseases. Yoga and breathing exercises are vital for preoperative preparation, postoperative rehabilitation, to prevent treatment sequelae and relief of pain and other symptoms. For example, in the rehabilitation of cancer patients, yoga and meditation have been tried with varying success.
A study by S. Nicole Culos‐Reed showed that yoga has significant potential and has improved psychosocial scores and they recommended that yoga should be one of the beneficial physical activity options for breast cancer survivors. Similarly, an important study, where the quality of life is analyzed, has shown that yoga is associated with beneficial effects on social functioning among a breast cancer survivor. In a subset of patients, yoga appears to enhance emotional well-being and mood and may serve to buffer deterioration in both overall and specific domains of QOL. A study done by Dr. Nita Nair at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai have shown that Yoga can help in reducing pain, fatigue and emotional distress in breast cancer survivors. The study which had 850 participants, all of whom had been operated on for non-metastatic breast cancer, showed that 52% of women who included yoga in their exercise routines showed emotional improvement as compared to 42% in those who didn’t. Similarly, pain and fatigue were lesser in the group that performed yoga regularly.
In short, yoga and meditation can be usefully integrated into cancer care. It definitely improves the quality of life. Due to its mind and body connections, it may have a positive outcome in the overall success of treatment and rehabilitation. Similarly, yoga can act as exercise and it’s meditative component helps as a stress buster and may prevent diseases in general and cancer in particular.
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Wikipedia Contributors. Yoga. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Available from: https://www.en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yoga &oldid=720180317
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(2)Wikipedia Contributors
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MacGregor K. The Power of Ashtanga Yoga: Developing a Practice That Will Bring You Strength, Flexibility, and Inner Peace. Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications; 2013.
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Manchanda S. Yoga as a lifestyle polypill. J Prev Cardiol 2016;5:881-7
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Wikipedia Contributors. International Yoga Day. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Available from: https://www.en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=International_Yoga_Day&oldid=720025695.
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International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres: The Five Points of Yoga. Available from: http://www.sivananda.org/teachings/fivepoints.html.
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Nicole Culos‐Reed, S. , Carlson, L. E., Daroux, L. M. and Hately‐Aldous, S. (2006), A pilot study of yoga for breast cancer survivors: physical and psychological benefits. Psycho‐Oncology, 15: 891-897. doi:10.1002/pon.1021
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Moadel AB1, Shah C, Wylie-Rosett J, Harris MS, Patel SR, Hall CB, Sparano JA. Randomized controlled trial of yoga among a multiethnic sample. of breast cancer patients: effects on quality of life. J Clin Oncol. 2007 Oct 1;25(28):4387-95. Epub 2007 Sep 4.
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Nita S. Nair, Nishu Singh Goel, Rohini W Hawaldar, Shabina Siddique, Vani Parmar, Aarti Pandey, and Rajendra A. Badwe Yoga in women undergoing treatment for breast cancer: Impact on quality of life in a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Oncology 2017 35:15_suppl, 527-527
Written By
Chandramohan K
Additional Professor
Department of Surgical Oncology
RCC Trivandrum 695011
Cell 9895774393
