Cancer Management 101: Using your Breath for More than Breathing
Breathe in deeply to bring your mind home to your body.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
You don’t have to be an expert in the practice of meditation to use your breath to calm your mind and your body and to also create a healing practice.
According to Wikipedia, breathing (or ventilation) is the process of moving air out and in the lungs to facilitate gas exchange with the internal environment, mostly to flush out carbon dioxide and bring in oxygen. It goes on to note that all aerobic creatures need oxygen for cellular respiration, which uses the oxygen to break down foods for energy and produces carbon dioxide as a waste product. Breathing, or "external respiration,” brings air into the lungs where gas exchange takes place in the alveoli through diffusion. The body's circulatory system transports these gases to and from the cells, where "cellular respiration" takes place. Pretty remarkable!
Breathing is one of the many amazing things our bodies do naturally, so learning to tap into the power of that action can have incredible benefits when it comes to how your body processes the medications you receive throughout your cancer journey and how your mind and body help you navigate the challenges along the way.
The purpose of our creating The Breathing Room on how to Breast cancer is to have a safe place and a comforting space you can turn to for easy-to-use tools and techniques especially chosen to help you learn to use your breath as a key piece of your cancer journey’s navigation system. Specifically, to help you cope with some of the biggest challenges during your treatment.
How does using the practice of breathwork help?
Nausea
To calm the nausea waves that begin at the back of the throat and can cause gagging
To ease the tension in the base of the stomach that can trigger severe nausea and vomiting
Fatigue
To breathe into the density of the tiredness you will feel, at times, rather suddenly
To help you relax and take short naps that help your body recover energy
Pain
To help you direct your breath to the pain points in the body
To ease tension in specific pain in the body — especially nerve or joint pain
Anxiety
To help calm your mind and allow you to release tension in your body through breathing
To help slow down your heart rate
Sleep
To help ease you into deep sleep, which is key for restoration of the body
To shift your focus from ‘worry thoughts’ by learning to concentrate on your breath
The above is just a brief sampling of the types of challenges and how breathwork targets the issues to help you get through it. Did some of these examples surprise you? I know the concept of using breathing for some of these hurdles seems a far reach, but it can absolutely work, because I’ve done it and am still doing it today, and so can you.
Once you understand that your breath is a powerful tool, you will be able to take advantage of the many tools, techniques, and practices on breathwork in The Breathing Room, where we will help build your sturdy toolkit for this journey…one breath at a time!
Now breathe in deeply through your nose, release it through your mouth and know you have just taken another positive and important step in your journey on how to Breast cancer!
With love,
Amelia O.
