How Yoga Benefits Ethnic Minority Breast Cancer Survivors
The Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has spent some time researching how yoga benefits ethnic minority breast cancer survivors. The study incorporated previous yoga studies that focused on Caucasian populations and how it improved quality of life. These results were already published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
What this study saw is that yoga benefits women of all ethnic backgrounds. But it also found that ethnic minorities had a significant improvement in psychological distress, fatigue, and spiritual well being, where as without yoga they suffered a below average quality of life with their breast cancer
The study covered 12 weeks and during this time women in early stages of breast cancer were divided into two groups of 44 one group took part in yoga classes weekly while the other did not. The yoga group were taught Integral Hatha yoga techniques, a gentle form of yoga that incorporates breathing, stretching, and mediation.
When the overall well being of the two groups was measured those in the yoga group had a decline of only 2% where as those in the other group had a much larger decline at 13%.
Women found the breathing and relaxation exercises the most helpful. It is especially helpful in women who are undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
Yoga helps to strengthen a woman’s resolute and determination to fight the disease. It does this by providing a form of exercise that even those who are sick can undertake, and by teaching the very important skills of meditation along with breathing and relaxation techniques.
The overall outcome of the study showed Einstein’s team that yoga did in fact positively impact ethnic minority women fighting breast cancer.
