What to do when Cancer strikes?

Sitting in the hospital these few days, watching my grandmother drift in and out of sleep, I can only wonder how yoga can help someone in the 4th stage of Cancer. It wasn’t a case of us having known and battled it out for months. We just found out last month, and as a family decision, we kept the diagnosis from her. We also decided at the age of 80, she was too old for any radiation and chemotherapy. So we are sticking by our decision, and trying to make the last days of her life a comfortable and… I’d like to say pain-free, but it’s not a condition I can choose.

Out of curiosity, I googled ‘Yoga and cancer’, just to see if there was anything that Yoga could do for someone in my grandma’s shoes. I found a statement issued by Yoga guru, Baba Ramdev , who once claimed that Pranayam could cure cancer and raise CD4 cell count in AIDS patients. His grouse was “But the irony is that instead of giving me funds for further research on cancer and other genetic diseases, the Health Ministry has slapped a notice on me,” he said.

Well, not to discount Yoga, or his abilities as a Yoga guru, I feel that to be making such claims requires a commitment to those who trust in your words. It isn’t so much as the medicinal properties of Yoga which eludes the understanding of allopathic medicine. That, I believe Yogis all over can attest to. What I feel is the problem is, if patients decide to abandon all treatment, and adopt a path of rigorous (or to the best that they can) yoga practice, should the disease still continue to spread, how does one deal with that? Think of the anger, disappointment and backlash from the patient and their family members which would be directed at the person who said ‘Yoga can cure Cancer’.

With all that, and in the presence of someone so frail and tiny lying in bed, I could only think of having her do some pranayama.

Nadi Shodhana Pranayama (Channel Cleaning Breath)

1) Gently close your right nostril with your thumb. Inhale through your left nostril, then close it with your ring/pinkie finger. Open and exhale slowly through the right nostril.

2) Keep the right nostril open, inhale, then close it, and open and exhale slowly through the left. This is one cycle. Repeat 3 to 5 times, then release the hand and go back to normal breathing.

This pranayama helps me to calm and centre myself, especially when I am feeling particularly anxious. Also, whenever I sense a headache coming on, this is the first tool I’d pull out of my yogic tool box.

So for my little raisin grandma lying in bed, I put my fingers on your nostrils for her, and told her to relax and try breathing in from one nostril, and out from the other. She did this for a couple of breaths, and proceeded to fall asleep.

Some might attribute that to the meds she’s been taking, but I’d like to think instead, that this pranayama did serve her well. People seem to always equate yoga with asanas, but the more subtle benefits of practicing meditation and breathing only further deepen my believe that sometimes doing less, can be doing more.