Meditation improves breast cancer survivors’ emotional well-being

Mindfulness-based meditation plays a vital role in improving breast cancer survivors’ health challenges, which they face after treatments, a new study has revealed.

Yaowarat Matchim, a former nursing doctoral student; Jane Armer, professor of nursing and Bob Stewart, professor emeritus of education and adjunct faculty in nursing, found that breast cancer survivors’ health improved after they learned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a type of mindfulness training that incorporates meditation, yoga and physical awareness.

“MBSR is another tool to enhance the lives of breast cancer survivors,” Armer said.

“Patients often are given a variety of options to reduce stress, but they should choose what works for them according to their lifestyles and belief systems.”

The MBSR program consists of group sessions throughout a period of eight to ten weeks. During the sessions, participants practice meditation skills, discuss how bodies respond to stress and learn coping techniques.

The researchers found that survivors who learned MBSR lowered their blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate. In addition, participants’ mood improved, and their level of mindfulness increased after taking the class. Armer says, for best results, participants should continue MBSR after the class ends to maintain the positive effects.

“Mindfulness-based meditation, ideally, should be practiced every day or at least on a routine schedule,” Armer said. “MBSR teaches patients new ways of thinking that will give them short- and long-term benefits.”

Armer says the non-pharmaceutical approach works best as a complement to other treatment options such as chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

“Post diagnosis, breast cancer patients often feel like they have no control over their lives,” Armer said.

“Knowing that they can control something—such as meditation—and that it will improve their health, gives them hope that life will be normal again.”

The study has been published in the Western Journal of Nursing Research.

Meditation helps fight tumour

Alternative therapist Brandon Bays, known across the Western world for her energy medicine, has brought her book, "The Journey", a life-healing guide and the story of her battle with tumour, to India, the country which had started her on the spiritual path in the 1970s.

Brandon`s "Journey" therapy is linked to accessing the infinite intelligence and repressed memories stored in human cells - for the release of negative energy - through "yoga meditation, guided visualisation, herbs and nutrition".

Brandon`s spiritual journey began with Indian philosopher J. Krishnamurthi whom she met at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1974. The meeting aroused her curiosity about India.

"I started coming to India - and met the seer, Muktananda. I became his disciple. After Muktananda passed away, his successor and disciple Gurumai (the mother seer) became my guru. I learnt siddha yoga from her," Brandon told IANS here.

Her spiritual quest led her to Ramana Maharishi and his disciple Poonjaji. "Poonjaji gave me blessings for `Journey` - and named the work I do as energy medicine," Brandon said.

After 18 years of practising energy medicine, lifestyle therapies, stage shows with famous motivational speakers and self-help gurus like Anthony Robbins, vibrant vegetarianism and a blissful married life, Brandon`s life fell apart at the age of 39 in 1992 when she was diagnosed with a tumour in the pelvic region.

The tumour had grown through her stomach to touch her diaphragm. The pelvic mass was crushing her organs - and Brandon was bleeding internally.

"Here I was doing all the right things...I just did not want to believe that it was happening to me," Brandon recalled.

One day while meditating, Brandon realised that "she could not zip up her trouser... not even the loosest one".

"I looked six months pregnant...I was ashamed," she said. Brandon sought an appointment with a surgeon-cum-integrative medicine practitioner in California.

"She said I had to have a surgery - the internal bleeding could kill me. I literally begged her to give me some time when I left her office so that I could heal myself without surgery," she said.

The doctor gave Brandon a month.

Brandon was in a state of panic. And as she walked out into the sunshine, she stopped short.

"In front of me was this beautiful memosa tree with golden blooms. I was arrested by its beauty and my mind started to wind down. I was flooded with gratitude - it was a beautiful feeling and I knew that I would be guided to heal," she said.

Around that time in 1992, "a lot of research was under way in the field of cell therapy (cellular healing)". If "one could feel the emotions healthily, then the cell receptors would open releasing the blocked energy", Brandon said.

"Doctor-turned-spiritualist Deepak Chopra, who was associated with the Boston Medical Hospital, said he had gone through hundreds of case studies of people who had survived serious illness - by some active grace or some spontaneous event connected to the infinite intelligence of the body getting access to cell memory. It helped old cells to slop off and replicate into healthy cells, curing illnesses," Brandon said.

One day during a massage therapy session, Brandon felt her mind falling away while resting with her eyes closed. The chamber was suffused with light.

"I fell down through the emotional layers into my soul - and was guided mentally to the tumour spontaneously (in a state of meditation). It was like a black cavern - and there was cell memory of childhood abuse and domestic violence. I faced down 30 years of pride, arrived at acceptance and uttered - I forgive you mum," Brandon said.

A week and a half later, the tumour began to shrink in size, she said. And in six-and-a-half weeks - after two similar journeys - it disappeared. The doctors declared her tumour-free, she said.

The personal miracle was the beginning of her brand of medicine "Journey" - and her new life as a survivor.

Her book (published by Harper Collins-India) was released last week. Bays will host a series of energy healing and transformation workshops in the capital in January and February to share her experience with people "from all walks of life".