Sunday, February 8, 2015

Cancer & Yoga: My experience

An amazing experience of remission through Yoga
by
Kamini Bobde

Ram when he came to do Yoga


My brother Ram, had suffered cancer of the Lymph node in 2003. He had gone through chemotherapy but side the effects kept bothering him years after the cancer treatment.

Two major fall out of the chemo treatment were fall in the blood platelet count and diabetes. Because of this he had low energy levels, frequent headaches and loss of body mass.

Ram knew I was having good results with yoga with my students for a whole range of health issues. He called up and said he was keen to try Yoga to correct the imbalances in his body. We decided to give it a shot.

He flew down to Bombay from Chennai sometime in last week of Aug 2013. For a week we did morning & evening sessions. Ram along with my two other brothers, Thyagarajan & Lakshman, has been national level Badminton champion. So Ram caught on well the important parameters to keep in mind while doing Yoga and how the practice of Yoga was distinct from other fitness oriented exercises.

I visited Chennai twice more that year to check on his progress and fine tune his practice.

Here is feedback from Ram on the changes he experienced and reproduced below are also the changes that were recorded in his medical check-up before and after the Yoga practice.

First signs of improvement manifested in higher energy levels and no recurring headaches. The most heartening change was weight gain and muscle build up in the body. When he started the practice his weight fluctuated between 67 &  68 kg. In about a months time, he weight was 71kgs. Since then he has not looked back. Now, his energy levels are so high that it is a kind of a joke in the family.

Ram's victory over  cancer is also his general jovial and positive dispensation in life. Thus even when he took up Yoga, he took it up with confidence and a positive attitude.

This is what Ram has to say about his experience and below are 6 set of medical reports before and after Yoga from April 2013 to Dec. 2014.

"As one can see from medical reports below that in Jan 8, 2014, my platelet came down to 2900 low and 2600 and 3100 etc. At this point of time I started feeling very low and used to get head aches in the morning. I used to feel tired and sleepy the whole day.
The symptoms were similar to that of chemotherapy. I did realise that I was sort of sinking. 

At this juncture I had to do something drastic to bring my count to normal so as to live as a healthy person.This is when I thought of learning yoga from my sister.
I have not looked back since then. When the count was low my weight used to fluctuate between 67 kg to 68kg.
But after yoga it bounced back to 70 kg and above. Max being 71 kg.

Apart from these changes the major and fantastic change was in my physical parameters.   All the muscles in the arms and legs came back.

When the count was low, I was still playing Shuttle badminton but could not hit the shuttle from my lobby to the opponent's lobby. But now after the count has come to normal and muscles build-up, I am able to hit the shuttle very well. Badminton has always been my barometer to gaze my strength and physical condition.

Other unique advantages I observe after yoga is :
1.     my lungs are extremely clear.
2.     my digestion has improved tremendously.
3.     generally eating out in hotels used to give me stomach upsets, but no longer.
4.     At present my platelets are still below normal, but not very low, I continue doing yoga, giving positive messages and auto-suggestion to my mind and body to bring the platelets to normal.
5.This challenge we will face together has a guru and disciple"


The Medical reports from April 2013 to Dec. 2014.



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