With a rich heritage spanning over five millennia, ‘Yoga’, an ancient Indian discipline, offers a transformative practice through its intricate system of Mudras and Asanas to cultivate a holistic well-being. Derived from the Sanskrit root ‘Yuj’, the word Yoga means ‘to join’ or ‘to unite and represents the harmony, balance and unity of mind and body, thought and action and restraint and fulfilment. Yoga is practised all around the globe due to its transforming and long-term benefits. After understanding the importance, benefits and needs of the Yoga, the world started celebrated International Yoga Day.
Why is International Yoga Day Celebrated?
Having an world wide and universal appeal and being practiced by billions of people all around the globe, due to its significance in holistic well-being and impact on various diseases, the United Nations on 11 December 2014, proclaimed 21 June as the International Day of Yoga, and ever since this day is celebrated to raise awareness worldwide of the many benefits of practicing yoga, and transform yoga into a widespread movement that emphasizes global health and peace.
This year marks the 11th International Day of Yoga, a celebration that transcends borders and promotes unity, with the theme ‘Yoga for One Earth, One Health’. Organised by the ‘Permanent Mission of India to the UN’, this year the event will take place at the ‘North Lawn Area of UNHQ’, with attendees including UN officials, UN Member States and many notable individuals. According to the UN, this year's International Yoga Day will be celebrated under the theme ‘Yoga for One Earth, One Health' - which focuses on yoga's role in building a relationship between humans, nature, and overall wellness.
Can Yoga Cure Cancer? - A study by ‘National Library of Medicine - NLM’
Even though it has numerous physical and mental health benefits, the most widely asked question about Yoga is ‘Can it cure Cancer?’; the reason for this being ‘Cancer’ is one of the most deadly diseases known to mankind and till date we don’t have a 100% effective cure for it, which keeps the research and experimentation ongoing, and everything that is claimed to be effective on health and well-being is questioned and tested by experts.
In this context the American ‘National Institute of Medicine’ which is the world’s largest biomedical library, part of the ‘National Institute of Health’ has conducted a research on the effects of Yoga on cancer-treatment related toxicities, which includes sleep disruption, cancer-related fatigue (CRF), cognitive impairment, psychological distress, and musculoskeletal symptoms, that predominantly occurs before, during and after the treatment. The study was conducted in various disciplines, including patients suffering from various types of cancer, comparing results with patients not indulging in any yoga practices, yoga sessions with varied time durations and many others.
However concluding the study NLM declared that “participation in low to moderate intensity yoga that incorporates gentle hatha, restorative, and Iyengar postures, breathing, and meditation exercises ranging from one to three sessions/ week for 45-120 min per session throughout 1 to 12 weeks may lead to improvements in sleep disruption, CRF, cognitive impairment, psychological distress, and musculoskeletal symptoms”.
There is no significant proof that yoga can cure cancer, but the study shows that yoga can help significantly in cancer treatment regarding toxicities. The study also says that the patients indulging in some kind of yoga practices feel better and show positive behaviour along with noteworthy deductions in cancer treatment-related toxicities, as compared to the patients who do not engage in such activities.