Breast cancer patients and survivors in the High Country
have a valuable resource in avid athlete Kathie Billing, who is
using her passion for exercise to improve cancer patients’
quality of life.
A member of the Cancer Resource Alliance, Billing has been teaching
a Pilates and Yoga based exercise class at the Health and Wellness
Center specifically for women who have been diagnosed with breast
cancer.
Through a grant donated by Tri-Cities Affiliate Susan G. Komen
for the Cure, Inc. the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System
has been able to provide the Pink Ribbon Program, Post-Operative
Workout Enhancement Recovery free of charge.
Founded by a breast cancer survivor, the Pink Ribbon Program is
designed specifically for women who have had a mastectomy and
are looking for a way to improve physical and emotional health.
“Emotionally, what the class helps with is it decreases stress
and tension,” Billing said. “It is a support program,
but more about learning to physically empower yourself, increase
your strength and your flexibility.”
Billing uses a combination of Yoga and Pilates skills to help
women receive moderate cardiovascular exercise, with a strong
emphasis on stretching muscle groups that are largely affected
by reconstructive breast surgery.
“In Pilates and Yoga, it is a lot about finding your breath
and connecting that breath to your body, mind and spirit. Some
comments that I have gotten from students in my class are that
the breathing (techniques) allow you to be more mindful in stressful
situations, you can go back and rely on that breath to get you
through stressful times, doctor’s appointments, chemotherapy
treatments, scans, getting test results,” Billing said. “Of
course, with the breathing, physiologically it helps with increasing
lung capacity, so naturally it will increase oxygen to your cells
and for stretching throughout the core area.”
Strengthening the core muscles in the body is a central focus
of both Yoga and Pilates, which the two define as the abdominals,
oblique, hip flexors and chest muscles.
In two forms of reconstructive breast surgery, muscles from the
lower abdomen or lower back are used; yet, in Billing’s experience,
she found physical therapy for recovering patients can be scarce,
and physicians don’t always recommend a specific place to
go.
Having started an interest in Yoga before her surgery, Billing
continued as part of her own physical therapy and noticed a significant
benefit in the areas affected by her scars.
“We encourage a lot of the opening of the heart and the shoulders,
so the breathing allows you to be able to open up your chest and
stretch these muscles and tissues that have been compromised,”
she said.
Billing said the physical aspects were not the only benefits she
experienced through increased exercise.
“It is very challenging for a breast cancer survivor to put
their shoulders up, take their shoulders away from their ears,
and stand out there, leading with their heart,” she said.
“It is opening up a whole different emotional barrier when
you open your chest up. I can speak from my experience in the
past, and still from time to time, I shut down and doing my chest
openers and heart openers I’ll loosen it emotionally on the
mat.”
Billing also conducts a Pink Ribbon Walking Program for women
with breast cancer to inspire one another to lead more active
lifestyles.
The program helps participants by charting their own progress
and with group walks on Wednesdays. Billing also offers a few
incentives, such as massage packages and free Wellness Center
memberships for those who complete the workout program after 12
weeks.
Billing and two other survivors from the walking program completed
the Susan G. Komen Charlotte Race for the Cure Oct. 4.
“I did the competitive 5k and then went back and ran with
the two other women in the noncompetitive race,” Billing
said.
But the best aspect of the race, according to Billing, was the
unification of breast cancer survivors.
“At the end, each survivor gets balloons for how many years
they have been a survivor, and then we release them together as
a group. It was great,” she said.
The Pink Ribbon Program Pilates and Yoga classes are held at the
Appalachian Regional Healthcare System’s Wellness Center
on Boone Heights Drive on Mondays from 12 to 1 p.m. and Wednesdays
from 6 to 7 p.m. On Wednesdays, the walking program is held 30
minutes before class, from 5:15 to 5:45 p.m.
Contact Billing at (828) 262-0098 for more information or to register
for the programs.
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