Prakriti Yoga

For the purpose of this page I will focus on my journey with yoga and healing since I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It is very personal to share this story and it has taken me some time to come to this point. I am passionate about helping others through healing illness and motivating people to stay healthy so I hope that this inspires and empowers others to take control of their health, minds and emotions no matter what challenges they face.
I have been practicing yoga for over 17 years. In 2015 I was drawn to a 500 + hour teacher training course at Agama yoga in Thailand. After the 3 months of intense training I understood that yoga was much more than I had previously been taught at schools in the west, it is a complete system to understand the universe and the self. I became passionate about delving deeper into these teachings. Since then I have spent my time in between my home in Australia and my Yoga School in Thailand. In August 2016, I was at Agama teaching classes and studying advanced levels when I discovered a lump on my breast. After some tests I was told by a doctor (in a very reputable Thai hospital) to keep an eye on it and that it might have to be cut out if it changed, but I was told it definitely was not cancer. At this point (the 24th of August 2016) I became extremely focused on disintegrating this lump with natural methods so that I would not require surgery. Diet, purifying my body and an intense yoga practice became my focus. In October I felt the lump grow so on the 24th of October, I went to have it looked at and was told in was cancer. The doctor coldly informed me I had a decent chance of survival, which was not what I expected to hear, he told me to get on a plane to Australia asap. I had to pack up my life in one day and find someone to take over my position at Agama. When I arrived home, it was confirmed that I had cancer. It was not any normal cancer either it was a nasty one. I have always been an extreme person so I found it strangely fitting that it had to be an extreme cancer. Triple negative is a rare form of breast cancer that is generally very aggressive and the most likely kind to come back if you do beat it (a very negative thing to be told when you trying to get your head around the situation at hand). My world had been turned upside down and the news just kept getting worse. The lump was growing so fast it was visibly sticking out of my breast, I could feel it grow every day.
Decision time:
I had some life changing decisions to make and no time to make them because the tumor was growing at a rapid rate. The doctors wanted to get it out when they realized how quickly it was advancing which meant surgery (that would forever change my body) then chemo, radiotherapy, a lot of drugs. This was all happening so quickly, it was hard to believe it was happening to me, so many things went through my mind. At first I wondered if it was a test. A massive test to prove to the universe I was worthy to teach all this knowledge I had learnt since becoming a yoga teacher. Yoga, lifestyle and diet can heal just about anything including cancer, this was what I had learnt and strongly believed (and still do even more strongly). Yet I had been doing many of the techniques that heal cancer in the last 2 months for the "lump" (that BTW had been cancer all along it was misdiagnosed) and they had not stopped it growing. The doctors at Peter MacCallum cancer center were stressing to me that I had no time. I knew this was true more than they did because I could feel it growing at an alarming rate. This was, and still is a life or death decision. All I could think was "But wait I am an alternative minded Yogie I am not going to do all those horrible things to my body I can heal this naturally". Yet I had been doing so many natural methods and this thing was about to explode out of my breast. I had never known much about cancer but I was quickly educating myself and even though I do believe that Yoga can heal a slow growing cancer I have now realized that every cancer is different and every situation is different. I had no time to waste I decided to hit this thing with everything available to me. I love life and my survival instincts had kicked in, I knew it had to come out and had to be stopped with something as toxic as it. I decided I would combine orthodox treatment with yoga and alternative medicine. I was not going to let the cancer center completely take control of my health, they are good at looking at things from one angle but I was determined to attack this with a more holistic approach. I started a strict diet, exercise and yoga regime. I am a fighter and I am stronger than I ever gave myself credit for and this is the time to draw on all my strength and fight for my life. I was adamant I was not going to get sickly and look like a cancer patient. So I took on this cancer that had invaded my body using everything I knew and started researching information on diet, exercise and alternative methods to compliment chemo. I fast for several days around each chemo treatment I will explain the theory behind this on this page. I am now half way through chemo and I am healthy and full of energy so its all working. I also recovered extremely quickly from the surgery and my scars healed well too.
Mentally and physically I am dealing with this situation and life changing turn of events really well. I thank the universe that this has come at the time in my life I am most equipped to deal with it. Through Yoga I have learnt to calm my mind and control my moods and emotions which is so important to healing. Yoga has taught me how to keep my body energized and strong. I have also done a massive amount of research on the use of diet, herbs and several other forms of alternative medicine.
The Journey:
I had surgery on November 16th and chemo commenced as soon as I was healed enough that they could start it on 12th of December. There are so many things that go along with these invasive treatments. Having your lymph nodes removed alone is life changing. After the surgery you are forever at risk of an incurable condition called Lymphedema (looks like elephantiasis of the arm). There is very little information about prevention of this condition. I have since devised a yoga program to move lymph fluid to prevent this condition. I have another problem called cording that is also a result of the surgery. This should go away but is restricting me from regaining the full movement of my arm. There is also very little help or information on this. I have been working on it with yoga practice and self-massage and its nearly gone.
Chemo has a massive list of horrible side effects. To prevent and lessen these I have done a lot of research on herbs, diet and fasting. This has been working extremely well and I am staying fit and healthy. Apart from hair loss (the toughest part of this is psychological) and a few minor things I have not experienced any severe side effects. There are also fertility issues, I will talk about methods to remain fertile at a later stage on this page. Cardio exercise is very important as chemo has the potential to damage the heart so I have been doing interval training and recently had a test that showed my heart is in the same condition as when treatment started and my fitness has actually improved.
On this page and in the workshops and retreats I will facilitating I will explain techniques and practices that are beneficial for everyone regardless if your healing or just wanting to stay healthy. After the chemo I will also be having radiation. Though this journey I will explain what practices I am doing to kick cancers ass! And stay fit and healthy. Namaste