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Supporting the Nervous System with Yoga Therapy During Cancer Care

According to the National Cancer Institute, “the nervous system is the major controlling, regulatory, and communicating system in the body. It is the center of all mental activity including thought, learning, and memory.”

According to the Cleveland Clinic, the nervous system is “the control network which connects all systems”. Basically, this system is responsible for our sensory, integrative, and motor functions.

In this blog, we’ll talk about how important the nervous system is, what happens when cancer attacks this system, and how yoga therapy for cancer can help support this bodily network.

Nervous System: The Body’s Control Network

The nervous system is composed of different subsystems and organs namely: central nervous system, peripheral nervous system, and the different subsystems which we’ll discuss below.

The Central Nervous System (CNS)

The CNS is composed of the brain and the spinal cord. This system is primarily the processing center of the body.

The brain controls our thoughts, learning ability, movements, and senses. On the other hand, the spinal cord is responsible for carrying messages back and forth between our brain to the many nerves throughout the body.

The entire CNS is responsible for coordinating different body activities. A disease, such as cancer, can reduce the effectiveness of such coordination.

The Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

The PNS is composed of the ganglia and the nerves that lie outside our brain and spinal cord. These nerves typically run through the head, neck, and body. They also serve as little distributors of messages to and from the central nervous system.

The PNS is subdivided into the somatic and the autonomic nervous systems.

Somatic Nervous System

This system is composed of the nerves that link the brain and the spinal cord to skeletal muscles that are responsible for voluntary movements and sensory processing.

It typically detects mechanical stimuli such as pressure, vibration, and light touch. It also detects temperature and painful stimuli.

Autonomic Nervous System

This system is responsible for the regulation of the body’s involuntary physiological processes. These processes include digestion, blood pressure, respiration, heart rate, and even sexual arousal. The autonomic nervous system also has the following distinct divisions:

Sympathetic Nervous System: This division carries signals that mobilize the body, especially during stressful situations, known as our “fight or flight” response.

Parasympathetic Nervous System: This division carries signals that promote the relaxation and recovery of the body, especially after stressful situations.

Each of these systems play an important role in ensuring that bodily processes are functioning properly. This is also why yoga therapy for cancer affecting these nervous systems tends to focus on improving the functions of these parts.

So how does cancer negatively impact the whole nervous system?

How Cancer Impacts the Nervous System

Cancer cells, unfortunately, can also grow in the nervous system in the form of neuroblastomas, brain tumors, and glioblastomas. These can damage the nerve tissues.

Cancer cells invade these tissues which can cause pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness. They can also compress the nerve roots. They can also impact a person emotionally, such as stress, depression, and anxiety. They can even cause cognitive changes and memory loss.

The Role of Yoga Therapy for Cancer in Supporting the Nervous System

There are a variety of benefits that can help support a person’s nervous system going through yoga therapy for cancer. These include the following:

Mindfulness, meditation, and breathing practices can help lower stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline.
Dopamine and serotonin levels can increase.
The person’s cognitive function, memory, attention, and processing speed can improve.
Savasana and yoga nidras can help support the PNS.
Increased GABA levels can help reduce anxiety.
Top-down and bottom-up techniques can help regulate the entire nervous system.

Conclusion

When cancer affects the nervous system, yoga therapy for cancer can help alleviate the symptoms through various practices. It’s important to take note of which proper techniques and practices will be the most beneficial and effective for the person receiving care.

Are you a yoga teacher or healthcare practitioner looking to incorporate yoga and mindfulness into your practice? Are you interested in learning more about Yoga and Cancer Care? Please check out our annual Yoga and Cancer Care Training - as well as our comprehensive yoga therapy certification at Prema Yoga Institute.

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Supporting Immunity with Yoga Therapy During Cancer Care

Cancer is a disease that affects a lot of people not only in the US but also worldwide. From 2016 to 2019, the survival rate for cancer is 68.7%. The shocking statistic is that approximately 41% of people in the US will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Fortunately, there are various health programs that are in place to help those with cancer, including yoga for cancer patients.

As a disease, cancer attacks various systems in a person’s body. One of these systems is the immune system. Read on to know more about what the immune system is, how cancer affects it, and how yoga for cancer patients can help support their immunity.

What is the Immune System?

According to the National Cancer Institute, the immune system is a complex network of cells, tissues, and organs that help the body’s defense system against infections. They usually include white blood cells and organs and tissues of the lymph system. Some of these are the thymus, spleen, tonsils, lymph nodes, lymph vessels, and bone marrow.

This system fights bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi. With the help of the immune system, the body flushes out these things from the body.

When the immune system is compromised, the body is unable to remove these from the body. As a result, the person gets sick.

How does Cancer Affect the Immune System?

When immune cells grow uncontrollably, certain kinds of cancer can occur. These are leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma which affect the immune system directly.

These result in immunosuppression, or the reduced ability of the immune system to fight unwanted foreign objects in the body. Cancer damages the overall function of this particular system and has a huge impact on the T cells, natural killer cells, and dendritic cells.

When the immune system is not working properly, chronic inflammation and other conditions can occur.

How Can Yoga Support the Immune System

Yoga for cancer patients offers a variety of health benefits, especially to the immune system. First and foremost, it downregulates pro-inflammatory markers. It reduces cytokine IL-1beta, IL-6, and TNF-alpha, which are pro-inflammatory markers.

Yoga for cancer patients also helps improve the respiratory function of cells. Improved cells will help ensure that they are functioning properly.

Additionally, yoga for cancer patients can help lower stress levels. It also helps improve sleep, resulting in better quality of life for the individuals.

Most importantly, yoga therapy helps ensure better lymph circulation.

Conclusion

Cancer is a condition that affects various systems of the body, including the immune system. Yoga for cancer patients has shown different benefits that can help improve such conditions.

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Helpful Hints for Every Kids’ Yoga Instructor

Yoga can be a very fun activity for children. A session can be a space for them to move their bodies while also interacting with other kids. Yoga is more than just movement, after all.

But how do you create an environment where kids can safely learn yoga and enjoy it? This is where a certified kids' yoga instructor can truly shine. Through effective sessions and playful activities, you can help these little ones get the most out of yoga.

In this blog, we’ll share helpful hints that any children’s yoga teacher can use:

Creating Classroom Agreements

Set up a classroom agreement with all of the participants. These can include being present, respectful, and responsible. If you are handling elementary school and above groups, it will be best to come up with the agreement together. Use the yamas and niyamas - the ethical rules of yoga in the Yoga Sutras - as your guide.

Be sure to also clearly identify the specific situations that warrant the removal of the participant from the session.

Being Relatable

To make the yoga sessions fun and interesting, it's important to get to know the participants. Talk to them about their likes and dislikes and incorporate them into your sessions.

Eliminating Distractions

Distractions are fairly easy to get the attention of young ones away from you and what you're teaching. Be sure to eliminate distractions, including unnecessary background noises.

Incorporating Expressive Arts and STEAM

Depending on the age group of participants you are teaching in a yoga session, you have to make sure that you're using age-appropriate materials into your movements. These include science, music, and art. Doing so will help you reach children with varying types of intelligence.

Incorporating Sensory Experiences

As much as possible, make sure to incorporate sensory experiences during your sessions. These include visual, auditory, tactile, vestibular, interoception, and proprioception. While incorporating everything in the entire session may not be logically possible, incorporate them where the participants are amenable.

Modeling

When breathwork exercises and movement, be sure to use modeling. The modeling method is where you perform the movement or activity and then explain the rationale of each step. Doing so helps the kids understand what the activity is for and why they are doing it.

Using Repetition

While children may be eager to learn, it's also important to help them retain the movements and postures that you are teaching them. Repetition will be the best course of action so there's time for integration.

Have a Backup Plan

Since you will be dealing with youngsters with different personalities, there can be instances when your planned session doesn't work out. That's okay. Just be sure to have a tried-and-tested backup plan that you can use.

Using Repetition

Conclusion

Teaching a kids’ yoga session can be successful with the help of these tips as well as going through certified kids’ yoga instructor training.

Interested in training to become a Yoga Alliance Certified Kids Yoga Teacher? Our Yoga Alliance-approved Kids’ Inclusive Yoga Teacher Training course is online, and focuses on sharing yoga with all kids! Please check out all the information HERE.