A private Saint John’s Health Center fundraiser at the home of Saint John’s Foundation Trustee Mary Flaherty on Thursday successfully raised funds to support the creation of a new Yoga Program for patients undergoing breast cancer treatment and those at high-risk for developing the disease.
The yoga event fundraiser included actress Kate Beckinsale and celebrity yoga instructor Mandy Ingber.
Maggie DiNome, MD, Director of the newly developed High-Risk Clinic at the Margie Petersen Breast Center at St. John’s, said she was thrilled with outcome of the event.
Dr. DiNome said yoga has been shown to reduce treatment-related fatigue and increase blood flow to the body to clear toxins that can accumulate during treatment.
“In addition, yoga successfully reduces stress, which has been linked to increased risks of breast cancer,” Dr. DiNome said. “Because of the many demonstrated benefits of yoga, we want to be able to offer classes free of charge to our patients to help them restore health while treating disease and to reduce their risks for breast cancer.”
The new Yoga Program will be part of an overall wellness program that is integral to the High-Risk Clinic that will incorporate complete cancer genetic-risk assessment, nutritional counseling, stress reduction through yoga therapy, massage and acupuncture.
The Center will provide education and resources for patients at high risk as a complementary component to the Breast Center.
The Yoga Program will offer free weekly yoga sessions to patients on Mondays from 11 am till 12 p.m. in the Flora Thornton Conference Room on the third floor of Saint John’s Health Center.
The class will be taught by certified yoga instructor and breast cancer survivor Kamla Subramanian, and she will lead participants through a set of gentle, therapeutic yoga exercises adjusted for each participant’s level.
For more information about the new Yoga Program, email yogaprogram@stjohns.org or call 310.582.7100.
