Healing Through Yoga: A Personal Story for Breast Cancer Awareness Month
by Tara Masjedi
You might know me as the bubbly sculpt instructor in the South End and Back Bay who blasts her music maybe a little too loud (sorry hehe).
However, this month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so I thought I would share my connection and how yoga has helped during this difficult time.
My mom has always been my role model; an immigrant leaving her home and family behind for a better life for her children in the United States. She has inspired me to chase my dreams no matter the circumstance, even when I moved across the country for school and stuck around while she and my father remained in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, in September of 2022, my mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 Metastatic breast cancer, taking her out of remission that she went into 5 years prior.
Though this heartbreaking news coincided with the birth of my 200-hour yoga teacher training, my mom emboldened me to take this as an opportunity to make new friends and deepen my yoga practice that I’ve loved so much.
Over those next few months, I flowed and sculpted with my teacher training class, in lockstep with every inhale and exhale during those difficult moments my mom faced at home.
Though I’ve always experienced yoga as nourishing my body and soul prior to my teacher training, the coinciding of these events expanded my learning to a whole different level.
I fully immersed myself in long weekly sessions, learning more about how capable our bodies are to carry us through swift yet delicate movements yet so strong to lift and balance ourselves with no support needed.
Yoga helped me deepen my appreciation for the simple things in life such as our health, being able-bodied, and being around the people we love and how we can be grateful for such things through grounding ourselves in our yoga practice. I learned to cope in a way where my body was physically in the room following the teacher’s sequence, but my mind was in a different place, away from the problems my family was facing at home.
Having experienced yoga as an outlet myself, both in this situation and otherwise, I felt inspired to create that safe space for my students to escape from their realities and become immersed in the art of yoga. I work to create sequences that can be modified for everyone who attends, and use careful inclusive language to ensure everyone feels comfortable.
For this month of October, Breast Cancer Awareness month, I'm excited to share a special curated playlist that features women who are breast cancer survivors
(including Kylie Minogue and Sheryl Crowe), as well as other upbeat music from all female artists. I’m hoping we can run this dance party all month-long for our friends and/or family members impacted by breast cancer. Wear pink to class if you’d like, and
I’ve organized a fundraising page on Dana-Farber (which some employers may match!) to help fund research for a cure.
