Why Body Image Matters For Cancer Patients
When someone is facing a serious illness such as cancer, which for many people brings up feelings of fear around it being a life and death matter, being concerned about your body image may be considered frivolous, unnecessarily vain or not relevant.
However, in my years of working with cancer patients, body image is quite high on their list of concerns and at the same time I can see the guilt they can feel for having these feelings. This can be a message that is reinforced in medical settings where keeping people alive is the main priority and often quality of life is secondary.
Patients can be told just to be grateful they are alive and not to be worried about other issues.
Far from being vain or shallow, this whole area of body image comes down to four important core issues that are really important for everyone and no less important for cancer patients.
1. PERSONAL IDENTITY
As humans we are more than a mind or soul we are also a body it's how we connect with others and operate in the world. Our body it is very much tied to our identity and how we see ourselves. On a very basic level, if you were to look in the mirror and not recognise the person that you see in front of you that would have a very big impact on your sense of self and who you think you are.
People going through cancer treatment can feel like they have lost themselves. Students have told me that when they look in the mirror it doesn't feel like they're looking at themselves, they feel like that they want the real version of themselves to come back.
It can feel like their body isn't really theirs or doesn't belong to them or is the wrong one, and this touches on the very core sense of where is it that we exist. If we don't feel at home in our body, we are in some sense homeless with all the mental and emotional impact that comes with it. This disconnect from the body can have a huge impact on someone’s mental and emotional health, on their whole nervous system – there is a constant state of unease.
This lack of being comfortable in one’s own skin also hugely affects someone’s confidence, both physically in terms of being confident in what they can do, what their body is capable of; but also emotionally in terms of being able to feel proud, self-assured and able to take bold action when required, to feel worthy and hold healthy boundaries.
2. LOSS OF CONTROL
There are many ways that people can feel loss of control during their treatment and in long term recovery. First of all, there is usually very little consultation or choice around treatment and there is not much active participation that people can take in their treatment – it is something they receive or is done to them. In this way the physical results of their treatment can be hard to live with because these were not things they really chose, rather that they were necessary. It is important to say too that we can have simultaneous feelings about difficult issues, it is possible to feel really grateful for the treatment and for the skilled surgeon and all the care received, and to feel upset, shame or disgust about how their body looks and feel now.
Beyond this, often there are new limits on how much they can control their body image. Many women I speak to find it very hard to manage their weight and that however perfect their diet and exercise, it doesn’t make a lot of difference. Others tell me how their hair just isn’t the same even when it has grown back and there’s nothing they can do about it other than have a different style.
3. LOSS OF PRIVACY
The physical and visible impact of cancer treatment can make it much harder for people to maintain privacy around their health status. Many people I have spoken to, whilst being fairly accepting about their hair loss and confident it will grow back in due course still find this a challenging aspect of their treatment because it is so visible to everyone else. It’s not that they fear judgement but rather unwanted looks and questions from people around them such as colleagues at work or strangers in the supermarket. Most people want to be able to decide who and when they tell their diagnosis to, not to walk around “looking like a cancer patient”. It can also be out of concern for others that they wish to keep their cancer secret from some family members. One private client I had decided not to tell her small children, more than one student has decided not to tell their very aged parent. But this brings up the issue of how to effectively hide their hair loss or find another explanation.
Long term physical remainders such as scars or a mastectomy or having a stoma can make people self-conscious about showing them in public, for example on the beach or swimming pool. Even if they are comfortable with them, again it is the public disclosure of their medical history they want to avoid.
4. PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Having body confidence is an important part of being able to have close intimate relationships. This is an area that is often not talked about during medical treatment, but is an important part of someone’s overall wellbeing.
Many relationships are put under a lot of stress during cancer treatment and long-term lack of body confidence and comfort can have a detrimental effect on someone’s libido and overall sense of being a sexual being. Again, this is not a frivolous or shallow thing to be concerned about, our sexuality is also connected to our creativity, intuition and joy, energetically it is part of our life force. To be disconnected from all this is painful.
For those that are single, many are very anxious about entering the dating arena. Firstly it brings up what and when to tell someone in a way that other aspects of our medical history wouldn’t be part of early dating conversations. Secondly, if we don’t feel confident and attractive and sexual it can be incredibly difficult to put oneself out there to connect with others, or to feel that there is enough to offer someone and at the same time there can be a loneliness and yearning for connection.
What We Can Do As Yoga Teachers:
There are many ways that we can create a comfortable and held space to allow our students to process everything they are experiencing and we can draw on some yoga philosophy to support self-love.
I encourage students in class to connect with their bodies and minds with kindness, self-love, and compassion. Everyone is encouraged to choose what feels right for them that day, with a variety of options rather than a “better” or “advanced” way of moving. We focus on how practices make students feel, such as rooted, strong, expansive or still, rather than what the postures look like.
Comfort and pleasure are key, with soft props and gentle movement that nurture and nourish rather than push. It’s what I call the anti-bootcamp approach!
Making sure that the practise space is welcoming and judgement-free is important too. I like to create a culture where people can come as they are, share experiences, and find connection, support, and friendship. It’s about feeling good in their body, celebrating what they can do, and enjoying a sense of belonging in a caring community.
If you would like to go deeper into how to adapt your teaching and support people struggling with body issues, doors are now open for the next cohort of the 12 Week YFCA Teacher Training Course.
Not only do we have specialist modules focusing on breast cancer surgery and medical menopause, throughout the course you will learn a holistic specialist approach that will transform your teaching and have life changing impact on people with cancer in your community.
If you’d like to connect and find out more you Book a discovery call with me.