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 photo courtesy of Pam Walatka/Special to the Town CrierSusan Harrington balances in a variation of the Eagle Pose.
My friend Susan Carter Harrington let out a sigh as she settled into the bridge pose in her Los Altos Hills home, saying it felt good to be doing yoga after her surgery, a bilateral mastectomy for breast cancer. She has been incorporating yoga into her recovery program under the tutelage of Rebecca Snowball from Yoga of Los Altos.
Harrington, who has been studying yoga for years, was up and about just a few days after her operation and feels that her good recovery and prognosis are based on a number of factors, including yoga. She also credits abundant help from family and friends and a lifetime of good health practices, such as good nutrition (low-fat, unprocessed foods) and plenty of exercise – and keeping current with her mammograms.
There is nothing new about postoperative yoga. Yoga, thousands of years older than surgery, is the oldest health-improvement practice in the world. Not a quick fix, yoga is a practice that one does routinely over a period of years.
Starting yoga right after surgery, if you have not done yoga before, would be a terrible idea. Yoga students learn to listen to their bodies and know when to stop. If you were to jump into postoperative yoga without experience, you could hurt yourself.
Even if you are familiar with yoga, whether or not it could be beneficial in postoperative recovery for you is a matter for you discuss with your doctor.
“The first thing postoperative patients should do before trying yoga is to ask their surgeon what he or she recommends,” said my longtime internist Los Altos resident Dr. Vivien D’Andrea of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. “Only their own surgeon will know what is appropriate depending on the type of surgery.”
My friend and neighbor plastic surgeon Dr. George Commons recommends, “Let pain be your guide. If it hurts, do not do it.” Commons said that postsurgical activity is an individual, customized thing based on the surgery. In general, deep breathing and leg movement are the keystones to recovery, with gradual increases from day to day.
Deep breathing is the core of yoga. If you practice yoga, you know how to breathe deeply. Most yoga postures have something to do with exercising the legs. A knowledgeable patient could pick the postures that don’t disrupt the site of the surgery.
“Yoga is a nice gentle way to open up the chest and also open emotionally,” Harrington said.
Snowball, a licensed Anusara Yoga teacher and a Certified Vinyasa teacher, instructs: “Open to Grace ... open to the energy of your spirit that carries you to a deeper connection to your Self and All that is. Lengthen the sides of your body, lift your heart and gently draw the head of your arm bones back, relax and soften between your shoulder blades.”
Snowball suggests that students “Surrender, take a deep breath, focus on what you can do ... and know that you don’t have to do it all. Just do today.”
Yoga, said Harrington, can help you find calmness, clarity, and oxygen, while contributing to your connection with the rhythm of life.
Pam Walatka is a 30-year resident of Los Altos Hills and teaches yoga for the Los Altos Hills Parks and Recreation Department. Follow her on twitter.com//pamwalatka.
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