When I was in my early 20’s I had a job teaching 4th and 5th-grade students, in Peacham, Vermont.
Since I had just returned from India where I was studying yoga, meditation, and organic gardening, as well as the health benefits of sound (kirtana), I incorporated yoga and breathing into these classes. The emphasis was on the role of “mindfulness” in a life well lived.
I got fired.
The termination note actually wrote that I was promoting “paganism”. Back then Vermont was very, very conservative, not how it is now. Life cycles, doesn’t it? I digress.
Presently, yoga is not just done by “nuts” and “hippies” but by many.
The Science of Yoga
Science, in fact, has just shown that yoga reduces unhealthy inflammation in the body and brain! Especially in cancer patients.
Research suggests that yoga helps reduce fatigue and inflammation. (Especially in older cancer survivors.)
Also, research has found that a “sedentary” lifestyle at the time of cancer diagnosis - for older adults - raises their mortality risk.
So much for being a paganistic practice, ha!
Cancer survivors may experience long-term inflammation from both the cancer and its treatment. This inflammation is correlated with an increased risk of cancer recurrence.
Research from the University of Rochester Medical Center recently presented at the 2023 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology shows that yoga can help reduce fatigue and inflammation and improve the overall quality of life for older cancer survivors.
Other research from the Instituto de Medicina Integral in Brazil reported older adults who had a sedentary lifestyle at the time of cancer diagnosis were at a higher risk for early death.
Of course, not everything is always about inflammation.
I was a yogini, practicing hours of yoga, meditation, cleansing, forgiveness, etc., and still got multiple cancers.
Diethylstilbesterol (DES)
Ultimately, it turned out these were due to exposure in the womb to the most powerful endocrine disruptor ever invented, diethylstilbesterol (DES). DES was the first synthetic estrogen, 50 times more powerful than our natural estrogen, prescribed to pregnant women if they “spotted” and might be at risk of a miscarriage.
DES was also prescribed in prenatal vitamins (365 different prenatal vitamins from 1938 to 1971 contained DES). It was found in much of our meat as it was also dumped into our feed lots to make steak more tasty.
DES was finally banned in 1971 as the most powerful Class I Carcinogen but not before millions of pregnant women and unborn babies were exposed between 1938 and 1971.
DES is no longer taught in schools as the public health tragedy it was. When I meet new docs, many of them have not heard of DES.
My mom was given DES both to thwart a threatened miscarriage, in injections and she also got it in her prenatal vitamins. All this was disclosed and proven in her birth records retrieved from Michael Reese Hospital (where I was born) where it was widely used back in the day.
DES blocks the protective action of the grand dam tumor suppressor gene, P53. So even though I was a seasoned yogini, which should tamp down inflammation, my tumor suppressor gene which was supposed to be “watching my back” by killing early cancer cells, was damaged.
That is one reason I am on such a mission to call for “Green Pregnancies” and for detox before conception, to attempt to have healthier children in today’s toxic world.
Many chemicals in today’s chemical soup, such as phthalates found in almost all perfumes, can contribute to nasty health issues in our children, especially as they start to grow up very similar to DES.
Excess toxic exposure can override even healthy practices like yoga.
What good do anti-inflammatory lifestyle changes make, if we don’t address the “root cause” of pro-inflammatory issues, such as improving our air, food, water, and regulatory actions? Yoga is great, but we need leaders that see that many industries are maximizing profits over maximizing humanity.
Knowledge is power.
Dr. B.
References:
Sustained Mild Inflammation in Cancer Survivors: Where to from Here? JNCI Cancer Spectr. 2022 Jul 1;6(4):pkac054. doi: 10.1093/jncics/pkac054. PMID: 35900189; PMCID: PMC9420042.
Links between Inflammation and Postoperative Cancer Recurrence. J Clin Med. 2021 Jan 10;10(2):228. doi: 10.3390/jcm10020228. PMID: 33435255; PMCID: PMC7827039.
Meeting Abstract | 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting I SYMPTOMS AND SURVIVORSHIP DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2023.41.16_suppl.12111 Journal of Clinical Oncology - published online before print May 31, 2023 Effects of yoga vs placebo on inflammation among cancer survivors: A nationwide multicenter phase III randomized controlled trial (RCT).
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322910
So true.
The last paragraph says it all!!!!