Yoga Therapy Across the Cancer Care Continuum

Facing cancer calls for skilled, equitable, and compassionate support. Yoga therapists are part of an evidenced-informed health care team uniquely qualified to support whole-person community care throughout the continuum of the cancer experience, professionally and with tender-hearted humanity. Yoga Therapy Across the Cancer Care Continuum:

- Describes the unique emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual experiences of people at each stage of the cancer care continuum (including diagnosis, acute treatment, no evidence of disease or living with chronic disease, cancer recurrence, and end of life) and the responsive support offered by the breadth of individualized yoga therapy care.

- Explains the biology of cancer and the challenges associated with type and stage of malignancy, as well as adverse side effects of conventional treatment (surgery, radiation, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, targeted therapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant), comorbid health conditions, and their impact on the whole person: mind, body, and soul.

- Shares the unique perspective of 40 oncology yoga therapists with exceptional expertise working with diverse cancer populations in academic medical centers, hospitals, clinics, studios, in-home, and via-telehealth; includes clinical experience and scientific research that highlights relative contraindications and clinical "pearls".

- Explores a unique model of yoga therapy that is informed by ancient yoga philosophy and modern biomedical research, reinforced by skillful and compassionate therapeutic relationship, intelligent yoga practice, and the tender-hearted humanity of co-regulation and resourcing for both patient/client and therapist.

- Highlights practical and professional considerations for yoga therapists and yoga teachers working in cancer, including scope of practice, informed consent, safety considerations and contraindications, liability insurance, waivers, clinical notes, co-assessments, and essential referrals to allied health care professionals; integrating yoga therapy into healthcare.

- Acknowledges disparity and inequity in cancer care worldwide and advocates for inclusive, safe, and accessible yoga for all people impacted by cancer.

- Calls for the integration of yoga therapy into standard oncology care; discusses barriers, obstacles, and suggestions for the way forward.

- Recognizes Yoga as a time-honored mind-body science originating in ancient India. Yogic teachings presented in this book are shared with gratitude and utmost respect.

Yoga Therapy Across the Cancer Care Continuum is essential reading for all oncology professionals interested in yoga as an evidence-informed therapeutic intervention to improve the lives of people with cancer and for self-care, including physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, physical therapists, psychologists, social workers, acupuncturists, yoga therapists and yoga teachers, and all allied health professionals - as well as people with cancer and survivors, their families, and caregivers.

List of Contributors:
Karen Apostolina, Marsha D. Banks-Harold, Cheryl Fenner Brown, Marianne Woods Cirone, Amelia Coffaro, Nischala Joy Devi, Christa Eppinghaus, Teri Gandy-Richardson, Chandrika Gibson, Sandra Susheela Gilbert, Sadie Grossman, Suveena Guglani, Kate Holcombe, Sharon Holly, Kelsey Kraemer, Tonia Kulp, Johanne Lauktien, Jennie Lee, Annette Loudon, Lee Majewski, Smitha Mallaiah, Sanmay Mukhopadhyay, Bhavani Munamarty, Lórien Neargarder, Charlotte Nuessle, Maryam Ovissi, Miriam Patterson, Tina Paul, Tari Prinster, Lois Ramondetta, Kiran Shenoy, Stella Snyder, Doreen Stein-Seroussi, Michelle Stortz, Jennifer Collins Taylor, Robyn Tiger, Satyam Tripathi, Tina Walter

Leigh Leibel, MSc, C-IAYT (she/her)
Leigh Leibel is an integrative oncology specialist based in New York City. Since 2015, she has had a clinical practice in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center where she designs evidence-based mind-body interventions for people with cancer to mitigate adverse treatment side effects and improve clinical outcomes. She completed a summer fellowship in cancer prevention and control at the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI) and holds a Master of Science in Yoga Therapy (Honors) from S-VYASA University, Bengaluru, India. Leigh serves on the Board of Trustees of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO), where she co-hosts the Integrative Oncology Talk podcast and co-chairs the Yoga Special Interest Group. She is currently pursuing a PhD in biomedical yoga research. Find her at www.leighleibel.com

Anne Pitman, MSc., E-RYT 500, RPYT, C-IAYT (she/her)
Anne Pitman is a certified yoga therapist working collaboratively at the Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre and an integration, research and programming consultant, addressing whole-person and community cancer care. She is the Director of the School of Embodied Yoga Therapy, facilitating the skills of compassionate embodied inquiry, authentic therapeutic relationship, and the curation of evidence-informed accessible yoga practice. With over 40 years of experience in educating movement teachers, teaching somatic and Scaravelli-inspired yoga, and pioneering yoga therapy in Canada, she speaks internationally on living with uncertainty, responding to diagnosis shock, recognizing the grief of cancer and the tender practice of befriending death to live this life with profound gratitude. Find her at http: //www.annepitman.ca