Yoga for Cancer Recovery: new day and new location!

This class is open to anyone who is currently going through cancer treatment, who has completed treatment or is a co-survivor or caretaker of someone living with cancer. My intent is to create a safe community where we can come together with our shared bond and just feel better. As a breast cancer survivor, I can attest to how much yoga helped me.

Classes will now be held a beautiful, peaceful studio in Carlsbad/La Costa.

Location: PureBarre La Costa, 7720 El Camino Real, Suite E, Carlsbad, CA 92009

Day/Time: 10:30am on Thursdays starting in December.

Benefits of Yoga:

•Learn to handle the effects of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation

•Experience healing techniques for the mind, body and spirit

•Boost energy, improve mood, learn relaxation and breath techniques to combat fatigue, stress, and pain

•Restore flexibility, strength, range of motion, enhance lymphatic flow, digestion and circulation

Classes are donation-based. What does this mean exactly? It means that each week, you pay what you can. The suggested donation is $5-15. But, if you can't make a donation, that is fine. I understand the financial difficulties associated with this journey.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to call me or email me at claire@oceansoulyoga.com.

Please bring your own yoga mat.

Last Day of Treatment Eve

Finally, the night before the last day of cancer treatment. Coupled with the simmering excitement for this milestone is the huge anticipation for Todd and my trip to Australia on Friday. Three sleeps to the adventure of a lifetime!

Well, I am having a challenging time sleeping because I am so excited about all of it. Todd and I are zooming around in a flurry of preparations: walking shoes, trial size shampoo (yes shampoo people: I have an inch of hair), laundry, laying out outfits, going for increasingly longer walks to build up my stamina, choosing what to pack, and and and.

Today was full of positives: I stopped by Yoga Swami and completed the paperwork to start the weekly Yoga for Cancer Recovery classes on Thursday October 7th. It will be offered at 4pm on a donation basis. I have a key and everything so, it is on!

Then, I picked up my cast from Anne Krell, the beautifully talented artist who painted it. Check it out! If I haven't written about this before, several weeks ago I was casted by the ladies from Keep-a-Breast.org for an upcoming Breast Cancer Awareness event being held at lululemon Carlsbad. It was an interesting experience and I must say like nothing I've ever participated in before. This group raises breast cancer awareness using art: www.keep-a-breast.org. They are amazing.

In the middle of all of that, I taught two yoga classes, caught up with several of my good friends on the phone and online. Then, I returned home to be surprised by Todd with a pre-vacation/end-of-treatment present.

The second to last radiation was a piece of cake. This is the eighth week that I've driven to Scripps every weekday. I cannot wait to turn in my hospital bracelet. I cannot wait to not enter those gates. I cannot wait to stop changing into hospital gowns on a daily basis. I cannot wait until tomorrow at 3pm.

Freedom.

Yoga for Cancer Recovery Class begins October 7th at Yoga Swami

It is official: beginning October 7th, I will be offering an ongoing weekly Yoga for Cancer Recovery class at Yoga Swami in Encinitas on Thursdays at 4pm.

This class is open to anyone who is currently going through cancer treatment, who has completed treatment or is a caretaker of someone living with cancer. My intent is to create a safe community where we can come together with our shared bond and just feel better. As a breast cancer survivor, I can attest to how much yoga helped me.

Benefits of Yoga:

•Learn to handle the effects of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation

•Experience healing techniques for the mind, body and spirit

•Boost energy, improve mood, learn relaxation and breath techniques to combat fatigue, stress, and pain

•Restore flexibility, strength, range of motion, enhance lymphatic flow, digestion and circulation

Classes at Yoga Swami are donation-based. What does this mean exactly? It means that each week, you pay what you can. The suggested donation is $5-15. But, if you can't make a donation, that is fine. I understand the financial difficulties associated with this journey. I merely would like to cover my cost of renting out the beautiful space where we can hold class.

Yoga Swami is located at 912 S. Coast Highway 101, Encinitas.


If you have any questions at all, please feel free to call me or email me at claire@oceansoulyoga.com.

Please bring your own yoga mat.

Grow, baby, grow!

The cancer recovery yoga series continues to go well at lululemon. The last class in the series will be Thursday September 9th. I'm so grateful that I've been able to offer this free series at lululemon Carlsbad. Once I return from Australia, it looks like I'll be offering a weekly donation-based class in Encinitas at Yoga Swami.

Today is the first day of a three day weekend with nothing really scheduled: lovely and relaxing. And, it appears that the sun is actually going to show through the heavy marine layer that has been cloaking San Diego since Thursday. Come on sun!

I can't wait for my radiated red skin to heal up! The skin under my arm has now blistered, broken up, rubbed raw a few times. It doesn't seem to matter how much ointment I slather on it, the location just sucks for healing purposes. I had the last radiation to that area on Thursday and the final 7 are just to the lumpectomy incision. I'm optimistic that the rest of the area will be healed by next week.

Todd and I are leaving for Australia in less than two weeks! I cannot believe it. The days are taking shape and so is my vacation wardrobe. I've lucked out with finding some shorts and walking shoes and a few other fun things that scream vacation time! Sydney! Melbourne! Great Ocean Road!

And, I am willing my hair to grow fast enough that Sheila, Sydney, Britney and Gisele are shadows of my past! I'd love to be able to go to Australia with a bare head and not worry about any wigs. Well, I'll be honest, I'm not simply willing it, I've got Ovation slathered on my head with the shower cap on top.

If you missed that photo from a few weeks ago, scroll back to see it. I look the same but, now I have my own eyebrows and eyelashes. A lot of eyebrows. It is amazing how fast the hair is coming in! At this rate, I will have Brooke Shields brows circa the 1980s. I've got an appointment with my hairdresser on the 16th, the day before we leave, to put some color on this head. I have no problem walking around with a crew cut but, it shan't be a predominantly silver one. No way. No how.

I'm so happy to be almost at the end of this ride. I found the lump on January 2nd and treatment finishes on September 15th. The light at the end of the tunnel becomes brighter by the hour.

Amazing day!

Today was amazing. Amazingly brimming with familiar and new faces, positive energy, interesting conversations, lots of yoga and simple happiness. The San Diego sunshine beamed down, bathing everything in a bright, soft light.

The morning began with Yoga for Cancer Recovery at lululemon. We've extended the series so, there will be two more Thursday 9am classes at the store. It is amazing (sorry to overuse the word but, it just fits) that a group of like-minded students meeting each week has turned into a little community already. I feel so blessed to be a part of something this special. When I return from Australia, we'll just move the beautiful group to a new, permanent location.

Today, I was contemplating how often I felt stuck this year. Just up against a brick wall, no progress, no options, no prospects. Sitting in the house recovering from surgery or chemo or the ailment of the day. I had to drop so many of my regular classes and clients because of cancer. At times, despite my best efforts, I worried a lot about what I was going to do once treatment was done. Would I be able to make up for lost time? Were all those opportunities lost to me forever? Faith in the unknown, prayers and love allowed me to believe that this unchosen path of breast cancer would lead me to something new. Something powerful, true, and life-changing.

I've known for a long time that I'm meant to teach and to write on a grand scale. I remember back to 1997, when I was so miserable practicing law that I would cry each morning in the shower on the way to work. I knew then that I wanted to teach yoga and to write, reaching as many people as possible. This path is leading me to doing so in ways I could never have envisioned. My life is full of beautiful opportunities.

And, if that isn't a silver lining, I don't know what is.

Riding the waves

Fluctuations seem to be dominating these days. One minute, I feel calm, peaceful and centered and the next moment melancholy descends. I guess the good news is that these shifts are fleeting and I am confident that they will pass.

On a positive note, the first Yoga for Cancer Recovery class at lululemon went great this morning. I was lucky enough to have a fellow teacher, Irina, assist me. Seven students came and I am hopeful that they enjoyed the class as much as I enjoyed teaching it. Patti, my wonderful wig lady, came and loved it! I'm so thrilled that I could give back a little bit to her. I can't wait for next week, same bat time, same bat channel. I also learned that there is another class offered at the Cancer Center in Encinitas on Tuesday mornings so, I'm going to partake in that one next week.

On a less positive note, once a week, I get weighed and meet with the doctor to check in on how I am feeling. I don't understand why they weigh me? Are they afraid they might fry too many pounds off of me? As I drove through McDonalds, yes McDonalds, this afternoon, I don't think there is any danger of me wasting away. I've been doing a lot of emotional eating this week: goes with the fluctuations I suppose! The good news is that I could taste the salt on the McDonalds french fries. Hallelujah!! The taste buds are back!

I digress. I had an interesting conversation with my Radiation Oncologist this afternoon. When he asked me how my energy levels were, I replied that they were great, probably because of all the supplements I'm taking. Well, he and the nurse jumped on the supplement soapbox. They informed me that I could take a multivitamin but, not take any antioxidants. Apparently, radiation is oxidizing and the antioxidants could prevent it from working. Really. Seriously, I cannot fathom how the death rays could be thwarted by some antioxidants.

Wouldn't that be like me trying to fight off an armored tank with a slingshot? I don't buy it and I am going to continue to take them.

Actually, my energy level is most likely attributable to the acupuncture that I've been receiving. And, it is only the second week of radiation. I understand that it is cumulative and I've got five and one/half weeks to go.

What may kill me is the parking lot at Scripps. It is a perilous lot, with at least half the drivers too blind to see, too drugged up to drive or too upset to navigate. I swear, if Seinfeld were still on the air, the Scripps parking lot would serve as fodder for at least a week of episodes. I need a chauffeur! But, I better make sure I'm dropped off right at the curb or one of the aforementioned vehicles will run me down.

Tomorrow is Friday!