Let’s face it, perhaps we are getting more used to change as everything does seem to constantly be changing. A great learning that we can’t be attached to anything being a certain way.

The question we would like to pose here is have we and how have we evolved in our relationship with change? Are we still playing out the same patterns of feeling nervous, anxious, stressed when we are asked to adapt or have we ‘deepened’ in our relationship with change.

And you know what?  It is okay if you are feeling those things as for many of us these are ingrained patterns or behaviours that have been with us, in our body, for a very long time.

What we would like to share with you today are ways to support you further during change. Once we have implemented these tools, they are with us for life. We can then keep applying these, consolidate them, confirm them to help out in all of the different situations in life that call us to respond to change.

It is in times of change or the unknown that we are offered the opportunity to either react to what is going on or respond in a way that allows us to grow, expand and evolve .

Reactions are fairly obvious as we can feel the tension that arises in our body when we do react (101 guide to dealing with reactions). We may walk around feeling unhappy with what we are being asked to do such as stay at home and be in lockdown. The other option we have is to respond to the change in a way where we remain open and perhaps not just remain open, but ‘deepen’.

So, what do we mean by the word ‘deepen’? It may sound a bit out there for some of you, but practically it is a simple concept.

What to ‘deepen’ means is rather than engaging in thoughts of what is going to happen next, allowing stress to creep in, getting caught up in emotions and perhaps even aligning to what can feel like mass hysteria, ‘deepenening’ means to consciously not choose those ways of being, but to make another choice.

That choice is to stay with a quality of connection that comes from your inner-most, no matter what. This becomes the focus, your primary focus, and we let go of any attachments as to how things unfold. This becomes an observing, allowing and learning.

To deepen means rather than let your attention be on and allowing yourself to be distracted, stimulated, unsettled with all that is going on outside of you, you develop a very solid connection that is inward and towards your inner-being.

And we all have an inner-being. It isn’t anything out there or special, it is innate within us all. Our inner-being is that place that we connect with and to when we allow ourselves to be still. It is our inner-heart, that divine spark that is within us all – always untainted. We often forget that it is there because we can get caught up in the roller coaster of life.

It is through our connection with our inner-being that we can, through surrender, feel ourselves and stay settled. And this settlement allows us to be in life, yet not be affected by what is going on around us.

To surrender requires us not to control life, or try and work everything out, but it calls for us to have a more tender and loving relationship with our body and allow it to guide us through life. To stay with the body and to hold a consistent awareness of operating/living life from your inner-being and make all of your movements from this place. And because it is an inner movement, it has no limits, the depth is as deep as the universe itself.

Although we may not enjoy being in lock down, we can choose to use this time wisely … and deepen.

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1) Rest and relax

Your body needs to recover. There is a lot going on in the body with all of the various drugs doing their thing. The part you play in the treatment is just as important, so rest as much as you can. Don’t push yourself to do all of the things that you normally do.

If you have never nurtured yourself before, now is the time to start

You will experience fatigue from the treatment and therefore stopping and taking a break to recover is super important. Ask family and friends for support during this time to assist you in what needs to be done day-to-day (refer to point 5).

2) Listen to what you body needs at any given time, moment to moment

This point follows on from the above one. Listen to what your body is telling you. Listen to it intently and honour your body in this delicate process. If it is telling you that you are tired then rest. Listen to what it wants to eat, what it doesn’t want to eat. Notice what zaps your energy and do less of this.

As your energy levels drop due to chemotherapy, learning how to conserve the energy that you have is paramount in your healing process. This can be developed by being aware of how you are with your body and being super gentle and tender with yourself.  For example, when walking, feel your legs and your hips, as you pick up a glass, feel your hands on the glass. By choosing to be with your body in a gentle way you can begin to develop a loving relationship with your body.

3) Introduce gentle exercise into your day  

If you have followed the above two points, you may end up spending quite a bit of time in bed or on the couch. It is also important that when you do feel well enough to, to bring some gentle exercise into your day. Some days it may be plenty to get up and walk from room to room, other days you may make it to the mail box, other days it may be several kilometres. Listen to your body and what you are capable of on any given day.

Gentle stretching and strengthening exercises are important to support you and your body through the treatment. Seek out a qualified practitioner to help develop a program specifically for you.

4) Look after your organs

Chemotherapy not only affects the cancer cells but it also affects the good cells – which is why you can feel unwell through the treatment. Your kidneys and liver are two vital organs that have a lot of work to do whilst you are going through treatment. The kidneys are like your battery pack and your liver is what helps you to detox the chemicals.

You can assist your organs during chemotherapy by; not drinking alcohol as any drop of alcohol will give the liver even more work to do, eating nourishing food, not drinking caffeine and limiting your sugar intake.

5) Allow people to support you. You deserve it

Chemotherapy is a tough time – you don’t have to do it alone. If you have always gotten on and done things by yourself, now is the time to change this pattern.  Ask family and friends for help, they will want to know how to assist you. Get in touch with what you are feeling and learn to express without holding back how they could be of useful.

If at times you don’t feel up for visitors, that’s OK too. Tell them that you prefer to have some time alone to rest but you would appreciate them dropping off a meal (which they could leave at the front door). Accept that others are there to help you if you let them – it is a win win situation. Learn to receive back from others.

Donna Nolan was diagnosed at the age of 33 with breast cancer in 2008 and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

At Yoga & Healing we offer Cancer Support sessions, Yoga, Meditation, Esoteric Healing, Esoteric Connective Tissue Therapy, Yoga retreats and Counselling.  Sessions available at the Yoga & Healing Cammeray, Balgowlah and Balmain clinics. Contact Us to book a session or for more information.

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In essence, yoga is about how to be with our self in any given moment in a quality of energy that is true in connection.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to ‘be with ourself’. This may be because when we start to re-connect, we can experience an array of feelings that we may not want to feel –  such as anger, anxiousness, hardness, raciness or frustration.

So what do we do when we become aware of  these strong unwanted feelings in our bodies and it doesn’t feel pleasant?

What I have found is that if I allow myself to ‘just be’ with these feelings, they are then able to pass through my body. I feel the feeling for what it is, without going into the story behind the feeling. If I keep feeling it as a sensation and if I’m able to just stay with that sensation, it can change.

Sometimes I find that the feeling can be just too intense and I’m unable to stay with it for any period of time. My mind might be busy and the story behind the feeling is too much. I react, perhaps there is judgement or a want for things to be different. That is OK as well, as I know that feeling will revisit my awareness and perhaps next time I am more ready to connect and allow myself to simply just feel what is there to be felt.

However, if I am able to connect with the feeling, locate and feel it in a certain area of my body, stay with it, sometimes it shifts like magic.  I feel a shift in the energy and then sometimes, it disappears. The shift in my body leaves me feeling clear, light and sometimes joyful.

I have found the more I allow myself to feel what is going on in my body without reacting and as it shifts, I am then able to feel the loveliness of me.  As that which was covering up the loveliness of me shifts, I am left with feeling a deeper connection to me. This is yoga and healing.

By Donna Nolan

Donna Nolan offers private yoga/yoga therapy, group yoga classes and offers Esoteric Therapies in Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Sydney city and Cammeray.  Contact us at info@yogaandhealing.com.au

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For us, the practice is first of all about our connection. We spend the first 7 – 10 minutes of every class guiding people to re-connect with their bodies via feeling different body parts and also through gentle breathing to assist them to come back to the essence of who they are. It’s then about taking this connection into movement with the qualities of being steady, comfortable, gentle and at ease.

What we also find important here is honesty. How does my body feel in each movement, how is my breath? Am I truly able to still stay connected to the essence of me (which I connected with at the beginning of the class whilst lying still) in movement? If I am really honest, this is quite difficult. But if I’m unable to hold this quality of movement, am I practicing yoga or am I just exercising the body? Something to ponder….

So if yoga is about our livingness in everyday life – how do I then take yoga off the mat?

Could we consider some simple tools such as – how do I walk? Am I stomping in anger, or rushing ahead with my mind to get somewhere? Or can I be present with my body as I take each step gently? Can I feel my hips as I move? How are my shoulders? My fingertips?

How am I as I stand up and sit down from my chair? Can I feel my legs? Can I sit down on the lounge with a tenderness of being with all of me?

These are just a couple of suggestions. Now just imagine  – you can apply this to everything you do and start to build the quality of how you are in each moment. And how would this feel? It starts to feel lovely in your body as you develop a new sense of how to be with yourself. It’s beautiful, it’s tender – it’s yoga.

Donna Nolan and Alexandra Plane share Yoga and work as Esoteric Therapy Practitioners. They offer group, corporate and private classes and practice in a clinics in Cammeray, Balmain (Inner West) and on the Northern Beaches. Contact them at info@yogaandhealing.com.au

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