Martin brings joy of yoga to Cancer House of Hope


Patricia “Niti” Seip Martin, founder of Healing Art of Yoga for Ongoing Cancer Recovery, leads Larry Wrinkle, Gladys Hedge, and Jean Walachy in a lateral bend resembling a cross-bar used for securing a gate (Gate Pose Parighasana -- parigha is Sanskrit for beam, cross-bar, and asana means yoga pose or posture). Martin describes the gate as grounding and heart opening, providing a balance of stability and flexibility as a key to personal power. Reminder Publications photo by Lori Szepelak

Nov. 14, 2011

By Lori Szepelak

Correspondent

WESTFIELD — For 10 years, Patricia “Niti” Seip Martin has provided a welcome respite time each week for those battling cancer, as well as for family and friends of cancer patients at the CHD Cancer House of Hope on Court Street.

“What I enjoy most is facilitating a community of mutual support and care, happiness and health,” Martin said during an interview with Reminder Publications. “I love the participants and all they bring to life.”

Martin founded the Healing Art of Yoga for Ongoing Cancer Recovery (HAY) in 2001 for the Westfield site, and is a certified teacher of Integrative Yoga Therapy, Kripalu Yoga and yoga. She is also a grant recipient of Rays of Hope, the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association, and the Council for Aging for several programs she presents free to participants. She has a bachelor’s degree in health psychology from the University Without Walls at the University of Massachusetts.

“I was asked in 2001 to create a program in Westfield for cancer survivors,”Martin said. “Yoga was still on the fringe, however, the health care industry noticed the number of people enjoying the benefits of yoga. The name still says it all — yoga as a healing art for cancer recovery that is ongoing.”

Martin explained that when her mother, Janet Seip, was coping with a second diagnosis of cancer that had metastasized after five years at age 83, she had said to her ‘favorite young doctor in residency,’ “You’ve got to come up with something better than chemo and radiation.”

Martin noted she had the “privilege” of accompanying her mother through the challenge of trying to survive the illness and the treatment.

“When mom passed away just two months after her diagnosis last year, participants of the Healing Art of Yoga rallied around me and gave me strength in a way that modern medicine could not,” she said. “The Healing Art of Yoga is something better.”

Gladys Hedge echoed those sentiments. She is one of Martin’s participants who has benefited from the lessons of yoga in many aspects of her life.

“When my husband was very ill, having difficulty breathing put him in a state of panic and he would ask ‘help me get my breath,’” said Hedge. “I would practice yoga breathing with him, getting control of his breathing calmed him down. I had learned those breathing techniques at our yoga class.”

Hedge explained that through reflection, she has become more aware of what she is doing “not just to my body but also to my emotional being.” Hedge added she has learned to “let go” by exploring body sensations whenever she comes across unpleasant situations, to calm down so she can examine and feel what her body and mind are reacting to, and to practice yoga and breathing techniques often.

“The spiritual side of yoga has manifested in trusting my own insight and intuition, and in listening, truly listening, to the song my heart is singing,” she said.

Jean Walachy, R.N., has also participated in the yoga class like Hedge for several years, which helped her to stay focused while she took care of her father and husband before they both passed away.

“Yoga helps me to reduce stress and increase my focus on my well-being,” Walachy said.

For Martin, yoga means union.

“We practice treating the whole world as one’s family,” Martin said. “We practice physical and meditative exercises that balance and purify mind and body for spiritual integration and wholeness.”

Martin noted that yoga is an ancient time-tested natural remedy for prevention and recovery from cancer and other life-threatening conditions.

“Yoga makes us better human beings, no matter what happens to us,” she added.

Martin’s classes are free for cancer survivors, cancer patients, and their family and friends, including those in bereavement.

“Yoga is a powerful healing art in this personalized approach to recovery within a supportive group,” Martin said.

For more details, call 243-1530.

Currently, Martin is offering a “Yoga for Restoring Energy” class at the Genesis Spiritual Life Center, 53 Mill St., for survivors of cancer of any kind on Thursdays from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. She will offer “Yoga Flow” from Feb. 7 to April 26 at Genesis from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. At the CHD Cancer House of Hope’s Springfield site, 946 Plumtree Road, she is currently offering “Yoga for Restoring Energy” on Tuesdays from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. and on Thursdays from 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. through Jan. 31. She will offer “Yoga Flow” at the Springfield site Feb. 7 through April 26 on Tuesdays from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. and Thursdays from 2:30 to 3:45 p.m.

Hedge is appreciative of Martin’s dedication and encourages others to seek out the camaraderie of others.

“I now explore what I want to do with my life day by day,” Hedge said. “Yoga has been a rewarding, grounding way to connect with spirit, and a doorway into the magic that lives within.”

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