Some researchers at the Medical Center in Houston, Texas have provided health professionals with new insights into the link between yoga and fitness. They have been studying the improvements exhibited by a group of female patients who have had yoga lessons twice weekly. The women, all of whom had undergone surgery for breast cancer, found that the yoga helped them to overcome the usual side effects of the prescribed treatment-- surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

Their comments underscore the strength of the link between yoga and fitness. One woman praised the way she felt after several weeks of yoga. She credited those classes with helping her to learn “how to breathe deeply and slowly.” She found that such slow breathing helped her to deal better with any tense feelings.

The researchers demonstrated real satisfaction with the findings from their study. One researcher said, “It was gratifying to see that we could make a clinically significant difference in the quality of the life of these women.” That same researcher echoed the comments made by some patients. She said, “This shows yoga can ameliorate the treatment-related side effects that accumulate in cancer patients over time.”

Surgery and radiation can rob a woman of feelings of elasticity and flexibility. A woman who has lost such feelings is apt to think that she has become less fit. Yoga can help to restore any woman’s elasticity and flexibility. That is why there is such a strong connection between yoga and fitness.

Research groups at other medical facilities have examined the way in which the link between yoga and fitness can benefit patients with other types of cancer. They have found that yoga, when used along with adherence to a vegan diet, and when supplemented with other moderate exercise, can slow the speed with which early stage prostate cancer will progress to a more alarming stage.

A third finding delivers important information to any adult between the ages of 40 and 65. It reveals yet another health condition impacted by yoga. Weight loss might be aided by sticking to a regular yoga routine. It is at least clear that yoga can prevent middle-age weight gain.

Patients who entered the yoga program at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center were asked to make a 6-week commitment. In return for that commitment, they got a program designed specifically for women who have undergone breast surgery. Doctors at M.D. Anderson realized that for such women, the link between yoga and fitness demanded an emphasis on breathing and relaxation.

The researchers did not make any false claims. They did not promise any sort of yoga, weight loss connection. In fact, the researchers admitted to one disappointment. They were unable to find any evidence that using yoga helped with depression or anxiety.

While no proof existed that yoga helped to do away with depression, some patients did not feel that they needed real “proof.” One woman said this about the yoga program: “It was great for my general well-being, the feeling that everything’s going to be all right.”