It’s that month again—Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I don’t
need a pink ribbon or balloon to remind me—but I suppose it’s a good idea to
give everyone a heads-up now and then so that we all remember this disease is
still out there, and that the battle rages on.
My favorite
passage from my recently published memoir, Yin,Yang, Yogini (about my transformation through yoga and fight against breast
cancer) speaks to this subject. I write, “Before
dinner, I take a walk alone…It’s cold and bright out, and as I’m striding up
the avenue, I nearly turn my ankle on a couple of those sticky balls that fall
from the sweet gum tree. I gaze down at those damn balls scattered all over the
place. Yes, sometimes you stumble on them, and some you avoid altogether. And
some you just kick the f*#k out of your way.”
Okay, so in
the book I did write out the F word, because even though I’m not an angry
person, there’s something to be said for giving a disease like cancer a kick in
the butt. I believe in being grateful
for everything in our lives—even for the challenges—but cancer is something I
don’t want to make nice-nice with. Yes, it taught me some very important
lessons, and I’m thankful that it did not kill me, but I also believe that we
can learn these lessons in other ways, and that the toxic world in which we
live has a lot to do with why so many women are facing breast cancer, even at
younger ages. Each time I learn that another woman has been diagnosed that urge
to kick butt rises up again—I just wish that no mother would ever again have to
explain to her kids the cruel irony that the very breasts that once nourished
them are now threatening her life.
But getting
rid of breast cancer is not so easy as a swift kick, and that’s why I support
breast cancer research and such organizations as Dr. Susan Love’s Army of Women, which is working to find a cause and cure. Please
join me if you can (anyone can join this “army,” you need not be a breast
cancer survivor). You can donate money
if you wish, or simply sign up online to participate in one of their research
projects.
Yes, it’s
October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a perfect time not only to think and
wear pink but also to rise up and kick every form of cancer the f*@k off the
planet! (In a yogic way, of course.)
