Iyengar Yoga Cancer Book

Iyengar Yoga Cancer Book by Lois Steinberg

This teaching & therapy book shows that though yoga does not cure cancer, practicing modifications of asana and pranayama can alleviate pain from cancer, ease its treatment, and improve one’s quality of life.

Iyengar Yoga Cancer Book includes poses for nausea, headache, or breathing difficulty as well as asana variations for recovery after cancer. This guidebook is divided into nine sections with a forward by BKS Iyengar.

Author: Lois Steinberg, PhD.
183 Pages
Spiral Bound paperback

Section 1: depicts a primary sequence of practice that is low risk for all students; the modified poses are for complete comfort and rest. Included within the sequence are the gentle, intermediate, and progressive variations for each posture according to the condition, capacity, and tolerance of the student.

Section 2: portrays a basic sequence for nausea, headache, or difficulty in breathing. This sequence may be practiced in lieu of the primary sequence when these conditions are present.

Section 3: presents a sequence for the secondary stage of practice to enable the student to move forward after recovery from cancer to improve their health and move onto a regular practice.

Section 4: is not a sequence, but is a framework that includes categories of asana that depict possible variations to progress and improve the condition of the body and mind for the tertiary stage of practice. This section should enable the student to further improve their health, and move onto a regular practice. The student modeling the poses in the first four sections had a mastectomy and breast reconstruction after a diagnosis of breast cancer. She did not require further treatment and is cancer free.

Section 5: portrays a woman who survived pancreatic cancer and,

Section 6: a man who had an operation on a brain fistula. The latter was included to show how to focus on balancing the nervous system and brain.

Section 7: is a case study of a woman with breast cancer who developed a typical reaction to chemotherapy that needed to resolve before surgeons could perform a lumpectomy.

Section 8: shows how a man practiced after a cryoablation procedure for his prostate cancer. Their stories and practice are shown, not as prescriptions, but as examples of how to work with different students.

Section 9: depicts some pranayama/ savasana set-ups for breathing exercises to recover energy, restore health, and balance the nervous system and brain.