Yoga for the cure of breast cancer

Yoga for the cure of breast cancer: A new initiative supports KOMEN Germany in breast cancer screening

28.12.2012

On Sunday, January 20, 2013, at 2:00 pm between Starnberg and Stralsund, yoga classes, which are not solely devoted to the classic New Year's resolution, start to do more sports and reduce stress. In the first nationwide yoga class "Yoga for the Cure", participants in about 60 studios simultaneously provide information about breast cancer. The coaches waive their fee, and the participants donate a contribution, which benefits 100 per cent the non-profit association for the cure of breast cancer KOMEN Germany.

"Yoga for the Cure" is an initiative of the Offenbacher Yoga teacher Stefanie Ebenfeld, who fell ill with breast cancer in 2011, and her colleague Ramona Lauer. Stefanie Ebenfeld was able to draw much strength from yoga in the exhausting post-treatment. After experiencing at the Frankfurt "Race for the Cure" in September, how the charity run draws public attention to breast cancer and at the same time supports ill patients, she turned her experience with Ramona Lauer into the project "Yoga for the Cure". "We want to show affected women and their families that it is possible with yoga to be courageous in dealing with the disease, never giving up, and always seeing one's inner strength as part of the healing process," she says. For the yoga class on January 20, however, non-affected people are invited to do something good by moving and relaxing and others by donating for early detection and at the same time hold in public awareness that annually about 72,000 women and 500 men fall ill with breast cancer.

Participants can expect a wide range of physical and mental exercises from Asian health education, from Hatha yoga for beginners to more agile variants such as Power yoga, Ashtanga or Vinyasa. "We are particularly pleased that some health insurance companies such as BKK Advita or Schwenninger Krankenkasse support our initiative and point out that their websites contain risk reduction and aftercare with yoga," says Ramona Lauer.

The proceeds will be used by KOMEN Deutschland to inform company employees about the early detection of breast cancer and to identify ways to minimize breast cancer risk. The participants of the nationwide charity yoga class also receive information from KOMEN Deutschland in the studios, for example with the early identification card.

The participating studios are spread over the whole republic. Focus region is Rheinmain, but also in Munich, Hamburg or Berlin "Yoga for the Cure" is offered. Addresses and further information can be found at www.yogaforthecure.de.

Also read:
Yoga relieves menopause discomfort
Pilates exercises
Grief burdens the heart
Digressive thoughts make you unhappy

Picture: Jürgen Reitböck