Today Jill and Dana and I watched and followed Yoga for Breast Cancer Survivors, from Esther Myers Yoga. We don’t normally do this in our Friday yoga practice; in fact we have never done it. But I have had two separate private restorative lessons with women dealing with breast cancer, one past the therapy and one in the throes of it, and I am thinking about some sort of class for breast cancer survivors.
One of the women I did a lesson with sent me the link to Esther Myers Yoga. Esther had a background in Iyengar yoga, and then worked with Vanda Scaravelli, whose approach was slightly different. Her mother and sister had breast cancer, and she was convinced she would not get it, but she did, and it ultimately led to her death. Read her story.
I loved this DVD and plan to buy a lending copy. Esther leads the participants through a gentle sequence that starts and ends with relaxation. Her style is kind and personal, and she says things I’d never thought of. At one point she’s talking about grounding down through your feet, and she talks about receiving the diagnosis of cancer, how you feel as though the rug has been pulled out from under you. I haven’t had this experience and would never have thought of it that way but it made perfect sense.
Although the DVD is aimed specifically at breast cancer survivors, I thought of a couple of friends dealing with other forms of cancer who could definitely benefit from it.
For the three of us today, it was a perfect gentle practice.
Addendum: I offered this DVD to a friend who has had breast cancer. I talked about how good the DVD was and how much I liked Esther. My friend said, “Is she still alive?”
“No,” I said.
“Did she die of breast cancer?”
“Yes,” I said.
“No, thank you. I can’t watch it,” she said. This made sense to me.
Practice Notes 