Benefits of Yoga for Cancer Patients and Survivors

[MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to "Cancer in Context." I'm your host, Dr. John Whyte, the Chief Medical Officer of WebMD. You probably have heard me talk a lot in the past about how exercise can reduce your risk of cancer. It might even help in various ways when you have a cancer diagnosis, but what exactly do I mean by exercise?

Now I've learned over the years that you want specifics, so today I'm going to get specific. When it comes to exercise, I want to talk about yoga. Since I'm not an expert in yoga, I've asked Samantha Harris to join me. She's an Emmy winning TV host, bestselling author, and breast cancer survivor. Samantha, thanks for joining me today.

John, I'm really glad to be here and talk to this audience. It's an incredible one.

Well the obvious question is why yoga. What is it about yoga and a cancer diagnosis?

Well when we go through our surgeries, and we're coming out of recovery, or we're in the midst of treatment, we really need a little bit more guidance in a way that's going to be more gentle for our body, but also be able to build the strength, and also reclaim our bodies, right? I mean, here I was in 2014. I had three breast cancer surgeries, the most challenging of which was my double mastectomy.

And so my entire chest wall had been obliterated, basically. I had very, very limited range of motion that I was allowed for the first three weeks after each of the surgeries, where I couldn't even get out of bed. So being able to start a restorative yoga program literally from bed that could begin with just breathwork, which helps to, of course, engage our ab muscles, which we need for core strength. But also, we're going through so much emotionally.

And the stress and anxiety that so many of us feel, as I did coming through my diagnosis, and through surgeries and out, the diaphragmatic breath and the breathwork and meditation guidance, that is very much part of yoga, right? Even if you're just on the mat in Child's Pose breathing for an hour, that is yoga.

And so what yoga allowed was for me to first strengthen my lower body and my core. Once I started to do these adaptive poses that built strength, so that I could get out of a chair with my legs pushing, or sit up in bed using my core strength, because I couldn't use my arms, and my hands, and my chest to get me to move. So that's one thing where the physical movement of yoga is important.

And I do want to point out to our audience that there is a fair amount of data that shows the role of yoga in reducing anxiety, reducing stress, reducing fatigue, specifically in cancer diagnosis, including breast cancer. I want to ask you, were you a practitioner of yoga before your breast cancer diagnosis, or was this something that you adopted primarily after you were diagnosed?

It's a really interesting question that you asked, John, because it shifted for me. I started yoga pre-cancer, honestly, because I thought Madonna had a really great arms. And I was in the world of "Dancing With the Stars," where for eight seasons, I stood next to these professional dancers who were so sculpted and toned. And all I wanted was to be as sculpted and toned as they were, but then cancer blindsided me.

And I was trying to figure out, how can I move my body again? I know I can, once I was given the all clear from my surgeon, I was allowed to walk, and go outside and get some fresh air in nature. But I wanted to be able to build strength again, and I remembered how I felt when I was in yoga learning to breathe, and reducing my stress. And I felt, for the first time in my life, so much stress and anxiety, which I had never felt before once I was diagnosed and in recovery. My daughters were 3 and 6, and so yoga allowed me to go somewhere where I could breathe.

It felt like a cocoon of safety. And then I also was able to strengthen my lower body and my core so that I could have that mobility when I had more limitations with my upper body. And here I was in these Warrior positions, and I started to feel that strength of being a Warrior.

But there's a real physiologic response to yoga that you talked about. But one of the things I was struck by in our conversation a couple of weeks ago when we were chatting. You said to me, John, I liked yoga because it gave me this sense of being present in the moment, and this mindfulness. Because I said to you, I pushed you. I was like, oh. Well what about for prevention, and not just for cancer?

And you really pointed out, it's about being present, and being aware of your body, and listening to your body, which sometimes can help in terms of screening, in feeling a lump, or sensing that something different. So I wanted to hear more about that. So it's great to get in shape and focus on our core, but it's also the sense of being present that for so many of us in this busy world, we don't focus on.

I'm really glad that you brought that up. Because I was physically active and exercise regularly, and because I was doing yoga, and learning about breathwork and staying present and mindful prior to my diagnosis, when I had a clear mammogram, but then 11 days later I found a lump while changing after a workout, I started to listen to my body. And I immediately-- I could have stuck my head in the sand and said, I just had a clear mammogram. I'm going to let it go. But I listened to my body, and that gut instinct, that intuition that says, hm.

Let's make sure it's really nothing. And I saw my long-term OBGYN, who said it was nothing. A month later, still there, but not cancer, right? Had a clear mammogram, went to see my internist. Said no, it's nothing. But because I learned the importance of getting quiet with myself, and the ability to, in the frenetic world that we all live in, no matter what kind of job you have, to stay present in that moment. And that's what allowed me to listen to my body, when after two doctors told me it was nothing, to pursue, to go see someone who looks at breasts every day as their job, and that turns out to be an oncologist.

And that's when we found out that not only was it cancer that was contained within the duct, DCIS, but that it was invasive breast cancer, and after my mastectomy we learned that it had actually advanced further than they thought and had gone to a lymph node. They had taken out 11, but thankfully only 1 lymph node had been involved. So that mindfulness, I'm grateful for, and that's what got me back to the mat after cancer, too.

And that's a great message for listeners. You've now become a yoga evangelist in a way, and you're working with the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Tell us about this work around yoga, yoga works in terms of helping women who may have a diagnosis of breast cancer.

Well, Susan G. Komen does so much to not just fund research and advocacy in D.C., but also to raise awareness, and also to help give the tools that breast cancer patients, survivors, and their community and support system need to get through a diagnosis.

And so they're taking it one step further because Komen understands the importance of how yoga can help us so much, and also help our family members, and our caregivers who are really not focused on self-care when they're taking care of us as patients. And so we've just launched YogaWorks Pink, which is the first ever dedicated yoga and wellness program that has been created for, and tailored to, the entire breast cancer community, so the patients, the survivors, the thrivers, those in treatment, and their families and caregivers.

And what does this program entail?

So first of all, it's live and on demand classes that they get from yogaworks.com/pink. Three months, at no cost to anyone in the community, so that's beyond just those who actually have cancer and are going through treatment, but their families, as well.

Three months at no cost, and where I find the three months being really important, is that's the time after my surgeries and the treatment that really were important to be able to reclaim my body, get my strength back, get my mind right, learn the breathwork techniques, the tools that I learned in yoga now take me through-- beyond the mat, and beyond the cancer, into my healthiest healthy life that I'm leading now.

And so they're offering the program for three months at no cost, and then for those who want to continue, it's all of the discounted rate, but then 25% will go to Komen directly to continue all of the wonderful work that they do.

Now how important is it to get some instruction in yoga? You and I also talked about, I said, it seems kind of dangerous. You could do things wrong, right, if you don't really know what you're doing and no one's observing you, but that might be the more advanced phases. What's your guidance to viewers who might be a little concerned about starting yoga. I'm not limber enough. I can't focus on my breathing.

I'm thinking of it as a contortionist. Those are kind of the stereotypes, so set us right, Samantha, for those viewers who never tried yoga, who might want to. When we think about it, in terms of a cancer diagnosis, breast cancer, cancer survivor, advocate, and that includes men, so let's not forget about men in terms of doing yoga, as well. So what's your message?

Right, because, well first of all, men do also get breast cancer. They are also a key to being that support system for the females who are going through, the one in eight women who will be diagnosed over the course of her lifetime with cancer, so it affects men and women alike. So first of all, there are thankfully so many great opportunities to take yoga online these days, and classes, but they're usually a video that you're just, like you said, you're hoping you're doing it right. And maybe you might hurt yourself. Maybe you won't. So with YogaWorks Pink, we have live and on demand classes.

And what I have learned about YogaWorks instructors, and why they're best in class, is because they'll give a note, a tweak, a suggestion that seems so simple, but I would have never thought it, and it makes all the difference in my pose. So you have access to YogaWorks Pink, but also you have the full access to the entire platform of over 1,300 on demand, and 15 or more live classes each and every day.

Breathwork and meditation were probably the biggest struggles I had coming out of my cancer diagnosis, but understanding as a certified health coach, the importance for longevity, and stress reduction, and lowering inflammation, to integrate those into my life. But what I found is that when I have the guidance of someone talking me through the meditation, or talking me through the breathwork, that's what kept me in it. That's how I ended up getting hooked. And again, those are tools I now use. If I'm sitting in traffic and I'm aggravated, or I'm coming out of a meeting and I'm frustrated, the breathwork comes, and it's like, OK. I just deflated that incredible stress ball that was about to explode.

Samantha, I want to thank you for sharing your story. Tell our viewers how you're doing.

Oh, my gosh. I am, at 49, more fit, healthier, more energetic and vibrant than I have ever been. And I really think in big part, that's to me taking even better control of my health and well-being than I thought. Because I thought I was living a healthy life, and I realized after cancer I needed to live my healthiest healthy life.

I needed to reduce the toxins that were in my body, on my body, and around my body, from the foods I was eating, to my motivation for exercise, to the skin care, and makeup, and all of the products that had endocrine disruptors and carcinogens in them that were really penetrating my body and affecting my health, but I didn't know it. So by being able to take control, and even better control than I realized was even possible, that enabled me to really just embrace life in a whole new way.

Where can people learn more about what you're doing?

SAMANTHA HARRIS: So for the three months free access to YogaWorks Pink, just yogaworks.com/pink. And then for anything with me, follow me on social media because I am really interactive. There's not one breast cancer survivor or newly diagnosed patient who has reached out to me that I haven't gotten back to personally through DM, or through the comments. So SamanthaHarrisTV, like television, both on Facebook and Instagram. Instagram is where I'm really most active, but I love to share the tools of how I've made my changes as well there, so that's the easiest way.

I'm going to follow you right after this.

Well, I'm going to follow you right back then.

Well Samantha, thank you for taking the time today sharing your story, as well as talking about this partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and the role that yoga can play in terms of a breast cancer diagnosis, so thank you.

Thank you. [MUSIC PLAYING]