Cancer, Yoga and Psychology This blog analyses positive and negative effects of yoga on the psychology of a cancer patients. Also it deals with the psychology of a terminally ill person. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 1 0 5 86

Articles from Cancer, Yoga and Psychology

Yoga and a shattered dream 2008-09-22 02:25:00 I still remember the day when my late wife Soma went to meet a reputed yoga master along with me. There were few other patients too. The master taught us about yoga and demonstrated different poses and techniques in an easy and excellent manner. He assured us that yoga would cure a patient even if he/she was suffering from ‘last stage cancer’. His way of speaking and intellectual use of words installed a belief in me and Soma. We not only hoped but strongly believed that Soma would be able to win over the fight against the deadly cancer and to enjoy her life free from pain and tension.Soma loved me a lot, her unbounded love for me was so intense that she always wanted to shower more and more of her affection and love on me. I still can hear her singing “we shall overcome someday ….”.Her objective was to make me happier and happier. She knew that I was under tremendous tension because of her health. She started practicing yoga with a strong belief, pure devotion and sincerity. ...

Yoga and Yoga Master 2008-09-19 02:11:00 Yoga and Yoga MastersMy agenda isn’t certainly to denounce the importance of yoga/meditation. These tools are very much powerful and effective. In case of Soma, I have observed reduced side effects of chemotherapy as she was doing yoga.My objective is to highlight two important points:1. Yoga can’t cure a disease but can improve the condition of the patient.2. Postures and procedures of yoga need to be regulated. Whatever is applicable to a healthy person can’t be applicable to a sick person.Later on I’ll discuss these two points in detail.Most of the yoga masters know very well about the physical and mental effects of yoga. But they, may be considering their business prospect, never disclose all the facts related to yoga. They sell a dream to hopeless people disturbed by the severity of diseases and soon those helpless sick people realize the emptiness of his words. This has a devastating impact on the psychology of the patients. This is what I wanted to highlight using differ ...

Cancer and Yoga - My unfortunate experiences 2008-09-16 23:40:00 Soma was diagnosed having cancer on Nov. 2001. She underwent traditional chemo-surgery-chemo-radiation cycles of modern medical treatment. The medical treatment failed to cure it but just controlled the spread of cancer cells for a limited period only. So ultimately, a reputed saint cum yoga master showed us a dream that Yoga could cure cancer whatever was the stage of cancer. With vigor, determination and devotion Soma started practicing yoga/breathing exercise and meditation.SOMA, started yoga/meditation/breathing exercise(pranayam) on 17 Dec, 2005.On July 2006, her brain scan and bone scan revealed that cancer cells had invaded into her brain and bones. She had to receive radiotherapy on brain, shoulders and pelvis. But an earlier scan on July 2005 showed no such growth. Does it imply that, in her case, yoga has failed to control the disease?During last part of 2006, Soma was better, both physically and mentally. We even went out for few pleasure trips and tours. But I noticed that ...

Cancer -- Caverns of Despair 2008-09-15 00:04:00 Soma led a life of lifelessness from July 2007 onwards. Her face was joyous but eyes were tearful. Her attitudes indicated her presence in a different realm, not in this world. She behaved like she was in a hurry, as if someone was calling and waiting for her.A deft singer, simple and articulate lady was transformed into a silent but (may be a reluctant) a seeker of the ultimate truth.One of my cousins, Rajdeep Bhattacharya, an MBA student translated a famous Bengali poem in her memory which summarized her mood during her last few months before she died on Nov 2007.“I look for that eye that beholds this world, and all others, always the eye that guides the suns and stars, so that they lose not their ways.I wade through the caverns of despair. As, blinded, I look for the sight clouded, by cobwebs of life, I wander, looking for my light.Unaware, that it resides in me, high up in the skies of my mind, my guiding star in the seas, the light that I crave to find.”Truly she was searching ...

Brain and Meditation - Cancer and psychology 2008-09-12 13:44:00 Recently I have read an article regarding the effects of meditation on brain which lists the condition of brain during and after meditation. Brain scans were conducted on Buddhist monks and nuns.At the end of this post I have given the link of the site which conducted such a wonderful experiment on brain and effects of meditation. I wish yoga gurus read the article.Advanced neuroscience and scientific tools allow the researchers to observe how Brain acts in different stages of meditation. According to a study, a significant decrease in parietal lobe’s activity was noticed after meditation. This portion of the brain is responsible for orientation. A decreased activity in this area suggests lack of perceiving relations (as of objects) in space.Most of the yoga gurus know about this but don’t prefer to disclose this as it may hamper their business. They are keen to highlight yoga as a tool to achieve physical well being. But certainly this is not the reality. As per ancient scriptures ...

Still is there any hope ?? 2008-08-23 13:56:00 Mediatation or yoga techniques are very much popular in asian countries from ancient periods. We find the mention of breathing exercise in the Gita too. All of these techniques were used as a method to achieve higher mental status.Obviously, if physical condition isn't good enough, one can't attain a higher mental state. So I repeatedly mentioned that yoga/meditation/breathing exercise certainly have a positive effect on our bodies.But in my last article , I have discussed about the negative long term effects of meditation. Mindless application of these very much effective techniques lead to some times devastating effects. In support of this claim, in my last post, I have given links where case studies were done for a longer period rather than 1-5 months.Can we just allow such a tool, which certainly helps to provide a better quality of life, to be applied in a more scientific way? I guess, yes we can. I have almost prepared a post which analyses condition of brain during and after t ...

Yoga - case studies of negative effects 2008-08-17 13:52:00 The experiences that I have so far shared with you is certainly based on my real experience associated my wife, SOMA and her co patients. I have observed them to do pranayam and meditation sincerely for period more than a year. They certainly enjoyed a better quality of life. I can remember my wife even could cook for me special dishes just 4 months before her death. At that time, I didn’t realize that very soon she won’t be around me anymore. But exactly that happened. She started to collapse at an alarming rate, which was beyond anybody’s control. She soon met the ultimate end. Similarly her other co patients died before or after her demise.I have no intention to contradict the established belief that pranayam can cure. All the documentations done regarding the effects of yoga are based on short term basis. I haven’t seen any Long term case study which suggests that yoga can cure. But all I want to say that it’s just a belief. I have received huge emails after my last post. ...

Yoga and Desire 2008-08-10 10:09:00 Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) has scientifically highlighted the positive co-relation between yoga and mind and so body. It’s now beyond any doubt that yoga and other such techniques have a strong impact on brain. Neuroscientists also agree that psychology of a patient is very much significant in deciding the effects of yoga. Psychology of a person, philosophically, is reflected in the nature of his ‘desire’. Inclination towards materialism and/or spiritualism is a reflection of a particular state of ‘desire’. Desire generates passion for something.Desire is a process to create a dungeon around us which allows us to take pride in creating such a strong wall of materialistic happiness with lust and excessive passion like dust and sand used to erect a concrete wall.This passion is the root of all dynamism, anxiety, anger etc. necessary to achieve success or drive off failure regarding materialistic happiness. On the other hand, passion for spiritualism generates internal happines ...

Breathing Exercise - Dark Facts (Cont) 2008-08-08 00:53:00 In my last post, I have mentioned few ‘dark facts’ about yoga in general. The points I have already mentioned imply that the environment plays an important role in the yoga practice.I forgot to mention another very important factor. I’m thankful to Ms Mary to point it out. Here I’m writing about that. Thank you, Mary!! Important to note that once you’ve started to practice pranayam/yoga/meditation sincerely, you must continue. Give a break for a week; you certainly become weak so far as physical and mental states are concerned. (Rational but irrelevant Note: On the right side, I’m offering you a chance to earn few extra bucks. Check if it works for you) Soma, my wife, used to practice pranayam religiously. After practicing it for 5-6 months , twice daily (Morning-1hr and evening-30 mins) without a break, she because of some reasons (I forgot the cause) she skipped practicing pranayam for appr. 10 days. Once she restarted, she couldn’t do it as long as she could do it earl ...

Breathing Exercise - Dark Facts 2008-08-04 04:40:00 Let me explore some ‘dark facts’ related to meditation and other forms of pranayam (henceforth mentioned as pranayam). I believe the effectiveness of pranayam depends on number of factors.1st of all, it is to be noted that pranayam should be practiced in the dawn and dusk. It has some scientific basis. Doing pranayam long (2-3 hrs) after sunrise and sunset will not yield the optimum results. Terminally ill patients, if they want to be cured (if at all pranayam can cure), need to practice pranayam to get the optimum results.Secondly, I would like to mention about food habit. Normally, it is rationally expected that a terminally sick patient isn’t exposed to alcohol or smoking a cigar. Those who are doing pranayam should culture a strictly vegetarian food habit. Well, here I encountered a patient who was a vegetarian, but had a strong desire for non vegetarian foods. If I go by the words of the enlightened persons, I must mention that one needs to curb desire too to enjoy optimum r ...

Pl Note it ........ 2008-08-01 05:16:00 In my last post, I tried to look at the effects of yoga, pranayama and meditation in terms of scientific findings. That certainly establishes my earlier claim that pranayam improves the quality of life of an even terminally patient.But Pranayama, yoga and meditation have unfortunately some unnoticed effects on mind. Continuous and sincere practice trigger a significant change about the approach to life.This is what I'm going to write in my next post. ...

Cancer and Pranayam - Part 2 cont 2008-07-29 11:47:00 A comparatively new branch of science, psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), strongly establishes a positive co-relation between the body (immune system) and mind.According to PNI, prolonged & sincere practice of pranayam and meditation cause a marked influence on brain. These techniques affect both the left and right hemisphere of brain and make both the hemispheres less active. Right prefrontal lobe (responsible for generating worry and anxiety signals) becomes idle due to pranayam and meditation.(Please Note this point)As a result, a significant rise in T-cell and NK cell activities and a fall in blood levels of stress hormones and Herpes Virus. These phenomenons help one to enjoy better quality of life. But it requires achieving a higher mental plane to reduce the brain activities.Although, PNI published a lot of case studies, but all the reports supports the above mentioned results but ends in a sad note, saying that ‘patient died….’.So PNI indirectly agrees that pranayam and med ...

Breathing exercise and Cancer - part 2 2008-07-13 11:42:00 Pranayam is a process of inhaling, holding and releasing breath in a controlled manner. Meditation is a process to free our minds from the earthy matter and gradually moving to eternal bliss. Both of these two influence the body and mind. As a result, if a sick person regularly and properly practices pranayam and meditation, we’ll observe certain improvements in physical and mental health conditions. I have seen many patients, who are doing pranayam, experiencing lesser side effects of chemo/radiotherapy. Certainly these patients enjoy better quality of life in comparison with those who are not practicing pranayam. But the tragedy is that these critically sick patients (like cancer, AIDS and other serious diseases) can’t survive more than expected.Does it mean that pranayam is not a curative process? Well, I still reserve my comments but here I’m posting about the original objectives of pranayam and meditation.We find the mention of yoga, pranayam and meditation in ancient Indian ...

Breathing Exercise and Cancer -- Part 1 Cont 2008-07-10 13:25:00 Pranayama or breathing exercise, yoga and meditation – all are very much popular around the world. The hype is beyond imagination. Different methods and techniques are being advised by the experts to solve both mental and physical aliments. A host of web sites talk about yoga for a price and it seems to me that life is so simple now. Everything is available in a tailor made condition.But reality seems to be not so bright. I mentioned that my wife and few other patients were doing pranayama regularly as directed by a reputed guru. Still, they couldn’t survive and unfortunately everyday some patients, who practiced pranayama sincerely, succumb to diseases. I know a lady of 30 years old who learned and was practicing Pranayama daily for more than a year. The worst thing that happened was that she is now suffering from breast cancer.Yes, like you I have also heard of people who are cured after practicing pranayama. Although I visited all the leading cancer hospitals in India for long 6 ...

Breathing Exercise and Cancer - Part I 2008-06-05 07:15:00 In my earlier posts, I mentioned that Soma (a cancer patient herself) helped her co-patients to boost up morally and suggested those patients to do pranayam (breathing exercise) daily. She herself, with full of devotion, did Pranayam for more than a year. She hoped that it would cure her, but no, It couldn’t. Like Soma, her co-patients too believed so. But except two of seven patients all are no more with us.But it should be noted that all the patients were almost in the last stage of cancer. Also, I want to highlight one very important point that Soma did the Pranayam for more than one year and she died rather peacefully, it wasn’t painful as it was expected.Soma had metastats all over her skeleton, liver and brain. But she wasn’t squirming in pain nor did she lose her consciousness except few hours before last breath. Pranayam couldn’t cure her but helped to sail through peacefully. So I firmly believe that Pranayam is a must for a cancer patient.I’m not sure whether pranay ...