Healing Yoga for Cancer Survivorship is a gentle yoga program specifically designed to promote health and well-being for cancer patients and survivors. The DVD is divided into chapters of 5-10 minute practices with easy to follow instructions for proven practices including:
- Setting an intention to focus the mind toward a goal for healing and set the tone for the practice
- Chanting uses simple sound practices to enhance body and breath awareness
- Mudras to reduce anxiety and enhance immune function
- Breathing techniques to promote healing and relaxation
- Reclining and seated postures to reduce pain and constipation, and promote the movement of lymph through the body - they can be used as a warm-up or stand-alone practice on days when energy is low.
- Kneeling and standing postures to build energy, strength and stamina
- Supported restorative postures to induce deep relaxation
- Body Scan to enhance body awareness and focus
- Final Relaxation and guided meditation to create ease in the body, mind and spirit and envision healing on all levels
A Review from Richard Rosen
A recent survey estimates there are nearly 15 million cancer survivors in the US. While there are a number of therapeutic modalities available for them, survivors are increasingly turning to yoga for support and relief. In Cheryl Fenner Brown’s Healing Yoga for Cancer Survivorship DVD we have a most useful contribution to the field of yoga therapy. Cheryl is a long-time teacher and yoga therapist whose healing approach includes not only a series of yoga postures (asanas), as is typical in general of DVDs of this type, but also a unique selection of more traditional practices, such as chanting, hand gestures (mudras), and conscious breathing (pranayama).
Cheryl adjusts her teaching in several ways to make the practices completely accessible to the average viewer. The postures, for example, are divided among four categories, reclining, sitting, kneeling, and standing. This allows the viewer to choose exactly the right exercises he or she needs for any situation, whether what’s wanted is a vigorous or more passive practice; moreover, Cheryl’s extensive training has taught her how to both modify poses according to the student’s capacities, and to make the best use of props, such as yoga blocks and chairs, when an extra "helping hand" is called for.
But it’s not only what Cheryl teaches that makes this DVD useful, it’s how she teaches as well. That is to say, her style of presentation adds to the DVD’s therapeutic effectiveness. First and foremost, she emphasizes caution, which not only keeps the viewer safe, but helps to gradually build in him or her an authentic self-sense, which is after all the ultimate goal of yoga. At the outset of the practice, she also has the viewer set an intention for the work ahead, which is squarely in the yoga tradition, that helps keep the practice on the right course. When it comes to the physical practices, her instructions are clear and straightforward, and she’s always careful to explain to the viewer exactly why he or she is performing the practice and what benefits can be expected.
