FREE EVENT FOR Oncology Yoga TEACHERS
Tending to Death: Yoga Therapy at End of Life
Wednesday, June 4th
at 1pm (EST)
They say death is part of life. Sadly, many people with a lived experience of cancer have learned that dying is a synonym for “giving up” “failing” and “losing the battle”. What if death were instead known and respected, a contract with life itself, and endings well practiced? How can we help people be strongly embodied and in their life, at the same time as preparing to leave both when they die?
Join Anne Pitman as she offers thoughts on lifting the veil on our cultural death phobia, studies the language of death, and helps us begin our own work, as yoga practitioners, approaching our inevitable last breath. Guided by a case study, we’ll explore how to support our clients contend with their mortality, first with compassionate human presence, then offering subtle breath, gentle movement, and yielding practices to approach death compassionately and mindfully, even in the face of pain, fear and anxiety. Let’s bow to śavāsana (corpse pose) to cultivate a practice that brings death into the centre, befriended and honored. Tari will lead questions and discussion after the presentation.
About Anne Pitman
Anne Pitman (M.Sc., C-IAYT) is the Co-Director of The School of Embodied Yoga Therapy, the Co-Author of Yoga Therapy Across the Cancer Care Continuum and an Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa. She is a Research Consultant, Program Coordinator and Certified Yoga Therapist at the Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre, offering evidence-informed one-on-one care for those experiencing shock, grief, anxiety, depression, treatment side effects, trauma and persistent pain. Her Year to Breathe program is a year-long svādhyāya practice for yoga practitioners, teachers and therapists to befriend their own grief and mortality, resource a love of life and widen their availability and authenticity in professional practice. At Bad Dog Studio, Anne offers slow inquiry-based, non-insistent practice, workshops and co-regulated, compassionate care for the multitude of human shatterings and life’s mysteries. She regularly speaks at medical, complementary healthcare and yoga therapy conferences on diagnosis shock, the unrecognized grief of cancer and the tender practice of accompanying people facing their dying days.
Yoga Therapy Across the Cancer Care Continuum by Leigh Leibel and Anne Pitman.
The word ‘cancer’ can spark fear and sets off a flurry of appointments, tests, and decisions, often leading to interminable waiting for diagnostic results and next steps. This book will prove essential to health professionals interested in yoga as a therapeutic intervention in the management of the complexities associated with a cancer diagnosis.
Several yoga4cancer Certified Teachers were honored to contribute to the book. Our hope and goal is to advocate for safe and effective support for cancer patients and survivors worldwide.
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