Meditation and guided imagery exercises can help calm your mind and body while you cope with cancer treatment or recovery.

Many people find that mindfulness techniques (like those highlighted below) help them relax, reduce stress, fatigue, pain and depression, and support healing and recovery.

If you'd like to try these techniques in a class setting, the UCSF Patient and Family Cancer Support Center offers free meditation and guided imagery classes for people with cancer and their caregivers.

In addition, UCSF's Osher Center for Integrative Health offers guided imagery and meditation audio recordings that can be streamed online for free or downloaded for a cost. Or, read on to learn more and start practicing on your own.

Meditation

People have practiced meditation for thousands of years. The form of meditation discussed here is called "mindfulness meditation" or awareness practice, a simple but powerful form of meditation. The goal of mindfulness meditation is to become "mindful" or aware of what is happening in the present moment.

Most of us spend our time in reaction mode. We are reacting to what we like or dislike or what we wish would happen. We respond to things based on past experiences, both good and bad. We are literally "lost" in thought, thoughts about the future and thoughts about the past. We are rarely "there" for the present moment, for what is actually happening now.

Meditation is about rediscovering the present moment. When we slow down our normal activities enough to notice what is actually present, we find that gradually, some kind of space opens up inside us. We feel more intimate with ourselves, more connected. This space allows for awareness and perspective, both of which help with accepting the challenges of life. We find that we can allow things to be as they are and that we can learn to "be" with whatever comes up in our hearts and minds.

You can experience the benefits of meditation through a simple daily practice.

How to get started

Posture

It is best if you can sit on a cushion on the floor or in a chair with your back as straight as possible without straining. If you are sitting in a chair, let both of your feet touch the floor. Let your hands rest in your lap or face down on your thighs. In whatever position you choose, imagine yourself sitting in a relaxed but dignified posture.

Start to meditate

Begin by just becoming aware of the fact that you are sitting. Imagine your body as an envelope filled with all of you. It can help to feel where your body touches the surface on which you are sitting. Perhaps you feel the touch of your feet or legs on the floor, or the weight of your buttocks on the chair or cushion. Allow yourself to settle into your body and into the moment.

Many people close their eyes as they meditate to help them focus. If you prefer to leave them open, gently rest your gaze on the floor a few feet in front of you.

Focus on breathing

Gently bring your awareness to your breathing. Notice where the movement of your breath is strongest. It may be the in-and-out movement through your nostrils or the rising and falling of your belly. Notice where the movement of breath is strongest for you.

Once you settle on an area where the breath is strongest, stay with noticing the movement of breath. See if you can really feel the breath as the belly rises and falls. Sometimes it can be helpful to very quietly note to yourself, "rising, falling." Repeat to yourself softly, "rising" as your belly lifts as you inhale, "falling" as your belly drops as you exhale. This can help you to keep your attention focused on the breath, but it is not meant to replace the actual experience of feeling the breath rise and fall through the belly.

Gently work with the mind

You will probably notice very quickly that the mind has wandered off. Maybe you noticed a breath or two and then, before you realize it, you are off into some thought or feeling and have forgotten all about the breath. This is just fine. It happens to everyone. As soon as you realize that you are lost in some thought, very gently but firmly bring your attention back to your breath. Be willing to begin again. Be gentle with yourself.

Guided imagery

This exercise helps you relax using whatever way you find easiest: progressive muscle relaxation, body scan relaxation, breath counting, imagining relaxation flowing through you like a warm waterfall or gentle mist, or other techniques.

To get started, imagine yourself in a beautiful, safe retreat in nature. Use all your senses. Here are some examples:

  • Garden scene. You watch fluffy, white clouds in a blue sky, while you inhale the fragrance of flowers and feel a gentle breeze on your cheek.
  • Mountain scene. You feel the enjoyment of your muscles walking on a path. You smell the pine trees warming in the sun or dip your feet into a cool mountain stream and let your foot rest on a round, slippery stone.
  • Seashore scene. You feel the sun warming your shoulders, you wiggle your toes under the sand to find the cool, and you hear gentle waves hissing as they pull back from shore.

As a general wellness promoting exercise, spend as much time there as you like, imagining yourself moving and feeling just the way you would like to. See, feel, and experience yourself doing whatever represents a picture of your optimum health.

To work on a specific physical or emotional difficulty, imagine it and study it carefully for a few moments. Then call up an image of the same problem, now in a completely healed state. Imagine the problem changing into the healed image. End by focusing on the healed image.

You may wish to draw or write down some thoughts about your imagery session.