Bobby Clennell - Yoga for Breast Care: What Every Woman Needs to Know

From Bobby Clennells Yoga Students

In April 2011 I was diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer in both breasts, and it had begun to spread throughout my lymphatic system. In addition, I developed liquid around my left lung, which caused me to end up in the hospital to have it drained. I quickly turned myself around with an amazing oncologist. I received targeted chemotherapy and suffered no side effects other than hair loss. I finished my chemo mid April and came to Bobbys class a week or two later, at the end of April 2012. My case is unusual in that I lost my breast to cancer but never had a mastectomy. Bobbys class has helped my lymphatic system wake up. I feel the difference after each class, and with each class the movement in my shoulders and rib cage is slowly and surely becoming more and more flexible. Feeling and looking the way I do today, it is hard for me to imagine where I was one year ago.

M. J.

My body and I have made extraordinary strides, and much of it has to do with Bobbys patience, understanding, pacing, clarity, and knowledge. After I was treated with surgery, a lumpectomy and lymphectomy, and radiation, my breast and the surrounding area felt lifeless and tight. I had pain and despair, feeling I had lost my vitality, strength, and flexibility. The yoga opened up the whole area, stretched and enlivened my breast and under the arm. It gave me life and mobility and the understanding that while aging is inevitable and treatment can feel debilitating, I still have the ability to stay open and to grow. I am very grateful.

J. K.

I can definitely say that taking Bobbys class has helped me to imprint a new, better, stronger posture on my body. It has also helped me with stress management during what has been an incredibly anxious period in my life. I feel that theres a direct relationship between Bobbys yoga course and my health generallyand breast health in particular. And Im happy to report that last winter, for the first time in two years (the time Ive been taking Bobbys course) I got a clean bill of health from the breast surgeon.

P. H.

I have been taking Bobbys class for about three years now. My general health (and mental health) has improved since I started yoga after my cancer experience. The mastectomy scarring does not pull as much or cause as much discomfort because of all the stretching we do in the class. All the arm work helps my breast and arm areas in a cosmetic way as well (not as important, I know, but a bonus). Breast health improves with yogic breathing exercises, too.

B. S.

After my son Isaac was born, it was very difficult for me to adjust to the changes in my lifebreastfeeding on demand felt easy, but not being free to go to yoga, for example, was difficult to accept. In part from the strain of nursing, my immune system became depleted, and I began seeing an acupuncturist who was also a veteran of Bobbys class. She reminded me that yoga had to make sense in our own lives, however we were living them. She suggested I do Childs Pose a few times a day. So I did Childs Pose, for a minute or two, three times a day. What was most soothing about this pose was that in the chamber it makes, with your head almost between your knees, there is a space to hear yourself breathe. Its like a little empty womb; its quiet in there, and protected. Doing this pose, my breasts, which were full of milk, reached my thighs and were cradled by them. I was the mother, but in Childs Pose I was the child, and those two mother organs, my breasts, which had nourished a being to twenty pounds without any solid food, were also being mothered. They were the children of my own body in that pose, and they could rest there. This asana and its deeper teaching was a source of great comfort to me, and it helped me to accept the pose that was my life during that first year of being a mother.

M. D.

The most profound thing about breast health classes, to me, is the emphasis on opening the chest. Standing up straight and tall with an open chest and a raised heart is a profoundly effective way to greet the world. I am always content when I am erect and opening. I feel happy, ready, and prepared to deal with everything.

T. R.

The fact that I can rest my brain, even when I am waiting for results of biopsies or MRIs, is a blessing to me. I can stand up straight, have good posture, and thrive in this class. I plan my week and travels around it. When the mammogram technician finished contorting me into all sorts of weird, uncomfortable positions, she said, You must do yoga; it was so easy to work with you.

D. H.

YOGA FOR BREAST CARE

Shambhala Publications, Inc.
4720 Walnut Street
Boulder, Colorado 80301
www.shambhala.com

Yoga for Breast Care: What Every Woman Needs to Know;

text and illustrations copyright 2014 by Bobby Clennell.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Clennell, Bobby, 1943-

Yoga for breast care : what every woman needs to know / written and illustrated by Bobby Clennell. First edition.

pages cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-930485-84-6 (ebook)

1. Hatha yogaHealth aspectsPopular works. 2. BreastCare and hygienePopular works. 3. BreastDiseasesPopular works. I. Title.

RA781.7C582 2014

613.7046dc23

2014028215

Editors: Linda Cogozzo, Holly Hammond, Donald Moyer

Indexer: Ty Koontz

Design: Gopa & Ted2, Inc.

Author Photo: Jake Clennell

Lithographer: Walsworth Print Group

Contents

I am forever grateful to yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar for his genius, his generosity, and his continued inspiration. Heartfelt thanks to Geeta S. Iyengar for her powerful and influential teaching.

Special thanks to Geeta S. Iyengar, Rita Keller, and Kerstin Khattab, authors of Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood, and to Lois Steinberg, author of the Iyengar Yoga Cancer Book, for their tireless and dedicated work in bringing B.K.S. Iyengars work to a wide audience. Their books are an inspiration to us all.

Big thanks to my sounding boards and fellow teachers: senior teacher (and husband) Lindsey Clennell, Brooke Myers, Anna Golfinopoulos, Judith Mirus, Rose Alexander, Vivien Goldman, and the wonderful Richard Jonus.

Thank you to my publishers, Donald Moyer and Linda Cogozzo, for their support and guidance.

And last but not least, heartfelt gratitude to model and fellow yoga teacher Michelle La Rue, whose dedicated practice shines through in my illustrations.