Movement is Medicine: One Yogi’s Breast Cancer Journey and the Tools That Helped Through the Hard Times
Click to watch Mel’s Video
Melanie M. is a recent KAB Give Back Grant recipient, and now teaches yoga and plays sound baths for cancer survivors and those who’ve been diagnosed to aid them in their own treatment and recovery journeys. We love her story and we know you will too.
As this video shares, I first started teaching yoga in Afghanistan when I lived and worked there. I taught yoga as a volunteer for 2.5 years on three different bases to military service members and civilians from NATO countries and all over the world.
Because I enjoyed teaching yoga so much I decided to get certified; 4 months after getting certified I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I will always be grateful for that sequence of events because I was able to get certified and learn more about meditation, breathwork, and yoga while I was strong and healthy. These were the tools that I used to help me mentally and physically go through my diagnosis, surgeries, and recovery.
It took a year before I was cleared to return to work in Afghanistan. During that time I had a unilateral mastectomy, fertility preservation, and 5 surgeries for reconstruction. I did not have to do chemotherapy or radiation because I qualified for the Oncotype DX Test and my score came back low. If you have early-stage, ER-positive DCIS cancer, you may be eligible for the Oncotype DX Test, which is a genomic test done on the tumor. This test issues a score 1-100 indicating the chance of cancer recurrence. If the score is low enough, which mine was, research has shown there is no extra benefit in doing chemotherapy while taking Tamoxifen. My treatment for cancer recurrence is to take Tamoxifen for 10 years.
I chose arguably the most difficult type of reconstruction for a yogi. I did a PAP flap, which is a natural tissue reconstruction where tissue, fat, blood vessels and nerves are taken from the upper and inner thighs and used to reconstruct the breast. This means large incisions were made on the upper and inner thighs of both legs (right below my butt). It was very humbling because I literally could not bend over for months and months. This meant I could not physically do yoga for months and months.
During this time, my yoga practice consisted of breathwork and meditation, which strengthened my overall yoga practice and reminded me that yoga is not all about asana, or physical poses. As my legs healed I was able to move and bend and stretch little by little. It took me over a year to feel comfortable fully squatting and to do deep stretching yoga poses again. I knew that when I returned to work in Afghanistan I would want to teach yoga again on base. This kept me motivated to keep up my practice even though my body was still recovering and had permanently changed, especially my legs.
After I was cleared to return to work, three months later I began teaching yoga again. This was a major milestone for me.
Before returning to the U.S. after my second tour in Afghanistan, I went to Bali for a month. It was here I immersed myself in yoga, breathwork, and sound healing. I tried a variety of different sound therapies: Tibetan bowls, crystal bowls, gongs, and kirtan.
During one class I remember suddenly feeling very emotional and began weeping. For several days I felt a huge emotional release. I realized that I had healed physically as fast I could to return to work after cancer, but I hadn’t allowed myself the space to heal emotionally from some of those painful and traumatic experiences.
This experience made a big impression on me and influenced me to get certified in crystal alchemy sound healing later on.
I returned to the U.S from Bali in January 2020, just before the pandemic lockdown. It was during this time I began teaching yoga to the breast cancer community virtually. This was my first time teaching yoga to the cancer community and it was as a volunteer.
I taught at different organizations’ events. I was able to get a scholarship for a Yoga for Cancer Recovery teacher training, which helped increase my knowledge and understanding of the unique needs of teaching yoga to the cancer community. I currently teach private yoga classes to cancer survivors and through various organizations and am getting a second certification in Oncology Yoga this month.
In February 2022, I completed a certification in crystal alchemy sound healing, and now play a sound bath at the end of each of my yoga classes. I was motivated to get this certification to promote deeper healing for those that I teach. So far it’s been a great experience playing sound baths to the cancer community. I have a set of 6 crystal alchemy bowls that were carefully picked out in consultation with my teacher. These bowls make up an “Endocrine Set”, with each bowl corresponding to a major endocrine gland.
Sound is energy, and can go where physical touch and words cannot go. The soothing sounds from these bowls help the body and mind relax, which promote healing at a deeper level, and also help with grief, loss, anxiety, and pain, to name a few.
I am so grateful for my yoga and sound healing practice. These two things have helped me physically and emotionally heal from my cancer experience, and continue to help me as a survivor. It is my passion to share these healing practices with others. I regularly lead classes with the mantras, “Movement is medicine” and “Sound is medicine” because I truly believe this.
Teaching yoga to others is my passion because I love to see the impact it has on the participants. When I taught in Afghanistan, yoga class was a place where we could step back from the stresses of work and let the body and mind relax. I loved seeing everyone in savasana at the end of class, resting.
I remember one Navy CAPTAIN (O-6) thanking me for teaching yoga because many in his command attended my classes and loved it. I invited him to class and he politely turned the offer down with a laugh and a very common excuse, “I’m not flexible.” Well, this CAPTAIN’s Senior Chief was a regular attendee and one evening brought him to class. After that first class this CAPTAIN kept coming back each week. He said his wife was happy that he was going to yoga class, and I know that he enjoyed the classes. It was really amazing for me to see so many military service members (and civilians) get into yoga while deployed. Some even became yoga teachers.
I started teaching private virtual yoga classes to cancer survivors during the pandemic. This has been a really amazing experience for me too, and to see how much they look forward to class each week and how it helps them physically and mentally.
I asked one of the breast cancer survivors I teach weekly to think of the mantra for class one week. She had just been cleared to do physical activity again after a major reconstructive surgery. Her mantra was, “My body got me here before, it will get me here again.” I am crying as I write this because it was such a powerful mantra she came up with, and believed. And I can say that her body has got her here again! We have been doing yoga every week for months now, and she is doing yoga just like before her last surgery. Her body has recovered. It has been such a powerful thing for me to be a part of cancer patients’/survivors’ healing.
I am fairly new to playing crystal alchemy bowls, but as soon as I got certified I started playing them at the end of all of my yoga classes and playing sound baths for different cancer organizations. This has also been a very powerful experience for me.
After one of my recent sound baths, someone sent me this message: “Thank you so very much for holding space for all of us in the community and for your beautiful performance. That was my first sound bath and I absolutely loved it… I haven’t felt this peaceful in years. Yesterday was my 2-year cancerversary and Sunday is my birthday. You’ve given me such a beautiful gift! Thank you so much.”
I teach with my heart and with the understanding of what it’s like to have gone through a cancer recovery myself, and to have experienced trauma. I don’t do this for money. For all of the hundreds of hours of yoga teaching I have done over the past six years, I have only been paid once (and that was last month for a class I did for an app). All of the other classes I taught as a volunteer, as a service. It’s my hope that one day I can teach full-time.
For those that are just embarking on their own breast cancer journey, I am sorry you have to go through this. But, there are so many resources for the breast cancer community, like Keep A Breast!
You are not alone. I encourage you to connect with others through an organization that you feel drawn to. I also encourage you to keep your body moving, even if it’s slow shuffle walking after a surgery (which I have done for weeks). Find whatever flavor of movement you like, and do that a few times a week. Movement truly is medicine, and there are research studies that have shown that physical exercise helps prevent recurrence. Wishing everyone a Happy World Health Day!
MELANIE M.
CONTRIBUTOR
Mel is a 4-year breast cancer survivor. She is a certified yoga teacher and certified in crystal alchemy sound healing. It is her passion to teach the cancer and military communities yoga and to play sound baths for them. She loves seeing others recognize the healing benefits of these practices in their lives. Mel is also a proud plant mom and is mildly obsessed with her air fryer/toaster oven.
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