MY LIFE Matters - Spring 2022 - 10

Love Your Bones FINDING YOGA
Finding Yoga Through My
Breast Cancer Journey
BY VALENCIA ROBINSON
W
hen I was diagnosed
with breast cancer in
2006, I had no idea what
I needed to do or how
removing my breasts
and ovaries at such a young age could
affect my bones. I mean, who thinks of
these things at the age of 33? On top of it
all, I had four children (ages 3, 4, 5, and 8)
to worry about.
Between the chemotherapy and the
surgeries, my body went through so much
trauma in a short amount of time. As soon
as I finished my course of treatment, my
oncologist introduced me to yoga. After
six months of chemo, a lumpectomy, a
bilateral mastectomy, and bilateral oophorectomy-five
surgeries in total-I had no
strength left to do even the simplest yoga
pose. I was also lethargic because I was a
full-time teacher at a high school. Yoga
was not my priority at all, but I listened
to my oncologist relay the statistics about
the aggressive cancer that I had. She told
me that my cancer was likely to return
within five years and that, when it did, it
would be back with a vengeance.
So, I prayed and struggled through the
yoga classes. At the beginning of my yoga
journey, I would attend a class, do a few
poses, and immediately feel light-headed
and nauseous. The surgeries on my chest
took months to heal and there were issues
with scarring from having my expanders
removed. The most that I could do was lie
in savasana (the relaxed, " corpse " pose)! I
took basic classes and struggled through
them. Down dog, plank, the warrior series-the
poses seemed impossible because
I lacked so much strength in my arms and
core. But I listened to my body, and I took
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MY LIFE MATTERS
SPRING 2022
MY LIFE Matters - Spring 2022

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