Research on Tibetan Yoga for Women with Breast Cancer
Ligmincha Research Director Presents at National Conference
Ligmincha’s Director of Research Alejandro Chaoul-Reich presented results of a study investigating the effects of Tibetan yoga for female breast cancer chemotherapy patients to worldwide researchers at a recent national conference in Boston.
The Society of Integrative Oncology held its 12th annual conference, whose topic was "Integrative Innovation," in Boston, Massachusetts, November 13–16, 2015. The conference brought together researchers from all over the world to present and discuss the latest research in integrative oncology.
Ligmincha International has been partnering with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center since 1999, with Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche as the main adviser. Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., professor and director of Integrative Medicine at MD Anderson, served as the principal investigator of a large study on the effects of a Tibetan yoga practice for women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy, funded by the National Cancer institute, with Alejandro Chaoul-Reich, Ph.D., faculty at MD Anderson and director for research of Ligmincha International, as a co-investigator.
Alejandro presented the results of this study involving almost 300 women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy and randomized into three groups: one practicing Tibetan Yoga (TY), which included the Nine Breathings of Purification and the external Tsa Lung movements from the Bon Mother Tantra; one practicing selected stretching movements (ST) from a breast cancer manual that were similar to Tsa Lung; and a third group which was a waitlist usual care control group (UC), that could receive the Tibetan Yoga practices after the end of the protocol.
Women in the Tibetan Yoga group reported fewer daytime disturbances related to sleep one week after treatment than ST and UC. In particular, those women in the TY program who practiced more than twice a week reported better sleep efficiency and sleep quality up to six months after the intervention was over.
"This may not come as a surprise to practitioners,” Alejandro says, “and it emphasizes the importance of including mind-body practices in our lifestyle.”
In addition, Alejandro led two workshops in collaboration with other institutions (one with Cancer Treatment Centers of America and the other with Columbia Presbyterian Hospital from New York), sharing some of the ways that the Tibetan meditation from our Bon tradition are been shared in a lay way to patients and caregivers at MD Anderson since 1999.
Through these presentations we continue to expand Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s vision of bringing Tibetan Bon Buddhist contemplative practices in contemporary lay settings.
