HEALTH---Yoga and Breast Cancer---Sue Garfield

Yoga and Breast Cancer By EmmyLou Hobgood ------ Age 14 

EmilyLou interview our Iyengar kids Yoga Teacher Sue Garfield.         EmilyLou at 4yrs old with Sue

As I walked into B.K.S  Iyengar Yoga Institute with my mother and my best friend, I realized how long it has really been since the last time I was there. I remembered when I was 4 years old, and I would take classes with Sue in my bikini top and tutu. When we got inside, it was very quiet, with a yoga class going on in the big room. As we were taking off our shoes, we saw Sue.

It had been about 10 years since I had seen her last. She looked exactly the same. She got up from sorting fundraising invitations and ran over to us. She gave my mom and me the biggest hug. We followed her back into the yoga studio, where she beamed like a ray of sunshine. I began my interview with Sue about her experience with Yoga and Breast Cancer for Yoga Angels Press ---YAP.

Q---- What led you to yoga?
A----In the Mid 80's, I had a terrible back pain. Well, the truth is that I hurt my back in a Jane Fonda class. After much dismay, I was sent to Anna Delury, an Iyengar teacher. After that, I only practiced Iyengar yoga.

Q---- What is the difference between teaching yoga and practicing yoga in terms of your own fulfillment?

A----   I looove teaching. But teaching is impossible without practice and it nurtures us so that we have recourses to give. Practice teaches us movement, and replenishes us. But I get the most joy out of teaching.

Q---- How many times were you diagnosed with breast cancer?             

A  ----Once

Q---- What year was you diagnosed with it?
 A---- In 1997

Q--- How did yoga affect your recovery? A -Well, there are several stages of recovery. Yoga helped me regain the movement in my arm. Yoga also helped my nausea from the chemotherapy, and prevented my body from getting stiff. Also, doing yoga every day for about an hour and a half kept me from not thinking about dying. I would only do quiet healing poses. For 18 months after the surgery, I didn't do any active Asanas. I did supported forward bends, passive back bends, and inversions. I continued to teach and teaching kept me from being gloomy. Also, teaching the kids was the highlight of my week. I loved teaching kids.

Q---- What else were major factors in your recovery?
 A----I had acupuncture, I took Chinese herbs, I tried to laugh, and I spent time with my friends for support. I also met a woman on the internet from Philadelphia. She was going through the same thing as I was. We became really good friends, and we could share with each other how we felt. We finally met one year on Thanksgiving. She came to New York so we could meet.

Q---- Did the mental recovery feed the physical recovery, or vice versa?
 A----It's really hard to know. The mental recovery helped the physical recovery. But I don't want people believing that the cancer was caused mentally. People always say, oh if you're stressed you'll get cancer. That's not true. I did not get cancer from my mental state of mind.

Q---- How did you get cancer?
 A----No one knows for sure how anyone gets cancer. I do have a theory, though. When I was a little girl, I grew up in the country on the east coast.  There was a major mosquito problem, and till this day still I can remember the DDT truck coming down the street. We would run behind it, sniffing in the DDT so the mosquitoes wouldn't get to us. It has just been proven that DDT is cancer causing.

Q---- What type of yoga do you feel is the most effective?
A----Iyengar. I only study and teach Iyengar yoga.

Q---- Who inspires you the most?
 A----I think it would have to be myself. I think we all have to look inward to be inspired. Also, my daughter. She has had a tremendous impact on me. I aspire to be her.

Q---- Who do you admire the most?
A----I would have to say my husband and my daughter.

Q---- How long have you taught yoga to adults and to kids?
A---- I taught kids for 5 or 6 years, but I still am teaching adults, and I have been doing that since 1994.

Q---- Is there a difference between how a child responds to your teaching compared to an adult?
 A----When I teach children, I try to catch their energy, and keep a spark in their eye. I also try to keep them moving.  As for adults, I just try to keep them focused. This is one of the quotes that truly inspired me about teaching children: "In 1994 when I was studying in Pune, India, at the Iyengar Institute, I was able to observe the children's classes on Sunday mornings. Everyone was having a wonderful time...students as well as teachers!  I decided that I would introduce a children's class at our Institute in Los Angeles.  Before leaving Pune, I asked B.K.S. Iyengar if he had any instructions or advice for me in teaching children. He told me that I must look in their eyes, and if the spark was not there, I had to stop whatever I was teaching, and begin teaching different poses, or in a different manner, to regain the spark in their eyes.  I heard those words during all of my years of teaching the children." End. 

Words from Subhadra Bowman founder of YAP-Yoga Angels Press. I was more than trilled to read this interview since Sue Garfield was the teacher who taught me how to teach yoga to children. After which in 1997 Yoga Angels was born. I truly believe without the teachings from Sue brought forth from BKS Iyengar there would be no Yoga Angels and no YAP-Yoga Angels Press. Thank you Sue and BKS Iyengar from all the fabulous children some now young adults who now has yoga as apart of their life. Thank you both Sue and Emily Lou for making this interview happened. Sue you truly inspires me.