77
april / may 2017yogajournal.com.sgIf you heard your
calling, we would love
to hear your story.
Write to us at
[email protected]on the role of health coaches—dedicating
ourselves to helping corporate leaders
and individuals become more self-aware
and effective in their professional lives,
and in achieving their life goals. However,
rehabilitation and recovery from the trauma
and suffering of cancer remained my main area
of interest and my life’s calling.
My recovery and remission inspired Nilima
and I to develop our unique approach to
cancer, and we started teaching its application
on a one-to-one basis, and also in group
settings. We chronicled our journey, approach
and case studies in the book‘My Cancer Is
Me: The Journey From Illness To Wholeness’,
published by Hay House (a Spanish edition has
also been recently published).
In parallel, we created an online media
platform(www.cancerawakens.com)to get our
message out to the widest possible audience:
you can take charge of your own healing!
Cancer is catching up with cardiovascular
disease as the leading global cause of death,
and I am now leveraging technology to scale
up my efforts to provide patients, care-givers
and practitioners a range of structured cancer-
coaching services.
While the doctors cure the disease,
who heals the patient?
I believe limited understanding, endless taboos
and collective beliefs block the world from
identifying the underlying reasons and trigger-
points of cancer, as well as potential methods
to heal from it. The conventional medical
establishment of cancer may be barking up a
single, and perhaps wrong, tree.
Western medicine focuses on the disease
and the body part where cancer originates—
for example, the breast, colon or lung—it’s
thus an ‘organ-centric’ approach. I propose a
‘person-centric’ approach. My experience and
work shows that cancer is the result of not
only one’s physical stressors, but also mental,
emotional and spiritual ones. For example,
limiting thoughts and attitudes are ‘mental
stressors’, while negative emotions, such as
anger and guilt, are ‘emotional stressors’. I
strongly believe that accurately identifying and
addressing one’s stressors can lead to greater
immunity. It is also essential for effective
healing.
Looking back, in my case, my stressors
or trigger-points were physical (poor diet,
sedentary lifestyle and frequent international
travel); emotional (tendency towards avarice,
melancholy and rage) and psycho-spiritual
(lack of a spiritual practice and disconnect with
the Divine).
My cancer coaching builds on my life lessons,
and focuses on the following three insights:Cancer arises from within a person, and not
from external or foreign agents, contrary to
what people believe.Cancer needs a new language. Its common
negative connotations—such as ‘monster’,
‘scourge’, ‘internal terrorist’ and ‘death
sentence’—drain hope and create despair.
A positive vocabulary, by contrast, actually
energizes and empowers.Cancer is not a ‘bump in the road’. I
reframe it as a ‘fork in the road’—it can
provide a new direction, towards growth and
transformation.Yoga: The Vehicle, Path
or Destination?
I grew up in Mumbai and was introduced
to the practice of yoga in my teens. It was
mostly physical (Asana) and some breath-work
(Pranayama). When I started working, I had
very little time for any physical activity. But
early in my career, I developed sinusitis, and
so took up yoga again; certain regular practices
(Kriya) cured me completely.
Thereafter work took me to other parts
of India and then Singapore, and my exercise
routine comprised some stretching, walking
and trekking—but very little yoga. When we
moved to London, Nilima had already dived
deep into yoga and gained her teaching
certification. I would, quite reluctantly,
accompany her to the Sunday open class,
where I was clearly out of shape and out of
depth.
Ironically, after my cancer surgery andmy decision against chemotherapy, the first
people we consulted were Nilima’s senior
yoga teachers in London, who pointed us to a
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner
with excellent credentials and a terrific track
record with cancer. He opened us up to the
world of Holistic & Integrated medicine. When
we moved to Hong Kong, I integrated yoga
and meditation (Pratyahara and Dhyana) into
my life and my work. Without any doubt,
I have benefited at every level—physical,
emotional, mental, systemic and spiritual.
I have experienced yoga as a ‘vehicle’
through Hatha Yoga, which has provided the
physical practice, breathing and relaxation; and
as a ‘path’ through Raja Yoga, which focuses
on mental concentration. I have also absorbed
the sincere devotionof Bhakti Yoga, along
with learning the action-as-service of Karma
Yoga. However, Ihave a long way to go, to
fully experience Yoga as the ‘destination’, that
is, the union with the Divine. All I can say is
that as my practice has deepened, I find myself
in contact witha deeper, sweeter, richer and
wiserpart of me. It is a non-cognitive, intimate
and nourishing experience. Not to mention, a
key factor in my healing.Vijay Bhatlives in Mumbai with his wife,
Nilima, an author and spiritual guide.
To read more about him and his work,
go towww.cancerawakens.comor you can
email him [email protected]
Watch Vijay tell his story -
https://tinyurl.com/lmxu2dn