Cancer

I’m a yoga therapist/instructor in LA. Tatiana Urquiza has referred me to you. I assist her weekly during her Yoga for Challenging Conditions class. I’ve just taken on a client whose history is a bit chaotic. She developed breast cancer, had a breast removed (5yrs ago) and recovered fully. A few months later the cancer traveled down to her femur and she ended up having hip replacement surgery. She recovered from that. She is a dancer and dance instructor, very active, very driven. Just recently, her lungs started filling up with fluid. They were drained and right away began to fill up again. She ended up having lung surgery and almost died. Cancer cells were found in the fluid. She tells me that she feels that the drug she was given after her hip replacement a drug called ‘Famara?’ caused her way too much fatigue and may have been the cause for the lung incident.
I’m sorry to say that I have only been able to talk to her on the phone very briefly as she still has a hard time talking and gets pretty tired. She sounds very enthusiastic and is willing to delve deeper into herself to find maybe the root of her disease. She is pretty much home bound with limited mobility, I’m not sure how limited as I haven’t been able to see her yet. My first session with her will be this Friday.
Can you give me some advice as to how to approach her sessions? I have solid knowledge of the koshas (which is the focus of my therapy work) the chakras, pranayama, yoga Nidra, meditation, the prana Vayus, mudras, basic Ayurvedic understanding, biomechanics of the body, and Asana. I’m actually wondering specifically about contraindications for the hip replacement, and pranayamas, postures for pranayama and deep relaxation given the current condition of the lungs. Any suggestions at all will be truly appreciated. I am in the process of getting your book, so you can refer to it if need be. Thank you so very much, Joy and Grace, E

This is much too complicated a case for me to become involved with in this manner. I do not see such cases personally except in rare occasion. My work specializes is musculo skeletal issues not cancer. I would recommend you send this question to esutra@aol.com and let the group give you advice. Also I would suggest that you not do much with hip replacement issue, the contraindicated motions are external hip rotation and full adduction. Blessings. Mukunda