Subash Garg (Eye Cancer Survivor)

It is a known fact that life is full of ups and downs, and one such incident that made me experience the downs of life was the car accident where I injured my leg. I was declared as 35% handicapped. The word handicapped has a way of putting you down and making you feel invalid. I had already been familiar with Yoga, and since the injured leg was making my life increasingly difficult, I decided to return to Yoga. I joined The Yoga Institute in Mumbai, and my guru at that time told me that he was not going to disturb my leg but was instead going to train my mind. This confused me a lot since I believed that my mind was fine.

How Yoga came into my life

But after training for two years, the problems with my leg were cured without having to do anything that required working on the leg. My first exposure to Yoga was when I was six years old when I used to copy my brother, who was 11 years older than me, doing Yoga. I did not know what I was doing then, but Yoga had already entered my life.

Cancer and its relationship with stress

There are different types of stress that are caused by various factors in our lives today. While cancer has other causes and reasons, it can always be traced back to some stress that the person faces in their life. The main aim of Yoga is to treat these points of stress so that cancer and any other diseases associated with stress can be prevented. There are three wellness mantras that are taught in Yoga in order to lead a holistic and healthy life.

Discipline and its importance in leading a routine life

The first wellness mantra that is preached and taught in Yoga is discipline. It is necessary to have a routine that you follow when it comes to Yoga, and it is taught that following this discipline would help prevent diseases. Discipline is essential in order to function properly; it may be an individual, a family or a country. If there is no discipline in the way they function, then they can not survive.

Yug - joining the mind and body

The second wellness mantra that is taught in Yoga is yug. The meaning of yug is joining the mind and body. There are four energy fields that should be maintained in order to live a holistic life. They are the energy fields in the mind, body, intellect and spirit. Yug focuses on practices that join and manage energy fields of the mind and the body. When these two are combined, the intellectual and spiritual energy follow suit.

People generally believe that each of these energy fields constitutes one-fourth of our well-being. That is not true. Each of our energy fields can be maintained through different practices. Our body (1%) is supported through physical exercise, our mind (3%) is maintained through pranayama and meditation, our intellect (6%) is maintained through learning and introspection, and finally, our spirit (90%) is supported through prayer and connecting with the divine.

Chakra meditation to maintain body health

The third and final wellness mantra that is preached in Yoga is chakra meditation. There are seven chakras that are linked to different nodes in our body, which control our wellness and health. There are different kinds of meditation that cater to the wellness of different chakras, which will improve and maintain our health.

How cancer is treated through Yoga

The first thing that Yoga focuses on when it comes to cancer is removing the fear from the patient's psyche. The fear of treatment and the fear of death is one of the main reasons for the increase in stress levels amongst patients. Treating the fear factor amongst patients is shown to improve the breathing of patients and also reduce stress levels drastically. The stress levels, which directly affect the heart and lungs of a person, are prevented through Yoga.

I will not say that cancer patients should not take medical help, but when a person is diagnosed and comes to know that they have cancer, half their hope and energy is gone with the news itself. The first and foremost priority of the patient and their family should be to make sure they do not lose hope and plan their treatment according to the type and stage of cancer they have been diagnosed with.

Importance of holistic treatment in cancer

It is essential for the patient and their family to have a holistic approach to cancer treatment. They have to make sure they do not only rely on medical treatment and incorporate the appropriate diet, exercise, and integrative practices into their plan so that the patient cannot only beat cancer but make sure they reduce the side effects of treatment along and also make sure they minimize the risk of cancer recurrence.