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Home Resources & Services Mental Health & Wellness For Women

Mental Health & Wellness For Women

Wellness For Women Fighting Cancer

Hope is always looking for ways to connect with and improve the lives of stomach cancer patients.  And Mental Health And Wellness For Women achieve both of those goals.

So, a private group that formed on social media called the Stomach Cancer Sisters, Abigail Mejia and Lexy Elmaksoud Patton, both 28-years old at diagnosis shared this program with us to share with you.

First, the Stomach Cancer Sisters formed out of the common bonds of gastric cancer and being young women in their 20s.  Additionally, in their quest to support one another they developed and implemented a virtual program.

It’s focused on three primary pillars of emotional, mental, and physical health for women of all ages battling cancer.

Periwinkle Awareness Ribbon with Stomach Cancer Sisters - Stomach Cancer Support Groups

Healing With Hannah

The Stomach Cancer Sisters partnered with Hanna Stinson, and Hope For Stomach Cancer to provide a 10-week virtual program.  And you can sample some of the sessions below.  

Please note that all sessions have been recorded.  And you can access them by registering.

Healing With Hannah logo and image collage - Mental Health And Wellness For Women Fighting Cancer

UPCOMING:

SESSIONS 1 -10:

Session 1: Core Yoga

  • Description: This yoga class is designed to help you strengthen your core muscles and create more core stability so you can feel confident in your body’s ability to be strong! During this 1 hour class, we will be sweating, moving in rhythm with our breath and tapping into our bodies infinite wisdom. This class is accessible for all ages and levels. Please have a yoga mat or place in your home to practice, two blocks (or hardcover books) and water.
  • Recording: https://youtu.be/T5-EBoY-PnY

 Session 2: Mental Health & Self-Care Workshop

  • Description: Mental health is an integrative part of our healing processes. It encompasses our emotional, psychological and social well-being. Our mental health affects how we go about our daily lives, how we handle stress and how we make choices and decisions. Wellness is a large portion of mental health. When we prioritise our own healing and self-care, we are able to tend to our own needs while still being able to show up and hold space for others. During this workshop, I will be guiding and teaching ways to adopt healthy and positive mental health practices that you can carry on in your everyday life!

What you can expect for this workshop:

  • Education on Mental Health Practices
  • Education on the different types of Self-Care
  • Journal Prompts & Reflections
  • Inner-Child Meditation

What to bring to this workshop:

 Session 3: Bedtime Yoga

  • Description: This 60 minute bed-time yoga class is designed to help you unwind before bed and enjoy a good night’s sleep. We will be moving slow with longer posture holds. This yoga class is accessible for all ages & levels. Please have a yoga mat, water, a yoga bolster (or two couch cushions or pillows), a blanket and water.
  • Recording: https://youtu.be/gTotjmOnmPk

 Session 4: Embracing Self-Love Workshop

  • Date & time: Wednesday, June 1, 4-5pm PST / 7-8pm EST
  • Description:  Cultivating self-love is an integrative part of our healing processes. When we practice self-love and have healthy self-love practices, we are able to prioritize ourselves and our healing journeys. All too often, we can struggle with cultivating self-love because we lack internal safety. Creating internal safety comes from healing our central nervous systems, which goes hand-in-hand with self-love. During this workshop, I will be guiding and teaching ways to practice self-love and why cultivating self-love from within is so important for healing our central nervous systems.

What you can expect for this workshop:

  • Basic overview of the autonomic nervous system
  • Creating internal safety for Self-Love
  • Different types of Self-Love practices
  • Journal Prompts & Reflections
  • Self-Love Meditation

What to bring to this workshop:

 Session 5: Full Moon Yoga

  • Date & time: Wednesday, June 15, 5-6pm PST / 8-9pm EST
  • Description: This full moon yoga class helps relieve stress that is stored in the body on a physiological level. This class is designed to assist with releasing tension, open the hips and mobilize the lower body. We will be moving in all directions to move our bodies into a state of inner bliss. This class is accessible for all ages and levels. Please have a yoga mat or place in your home to practice, one block (or hardcover book), water, two pillows and a blanket.
  • Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/full-moon-yoga-tickets-296774128407

 Session 6: Therapeutic Art Workshop

  • Date & time: Wednesday, June 8, 4-5pm PST / 7-8pm EST
  • Description: Creative self-regulation comes in many forms, one of those being art. Art is healing, it allows us to regulate our emotions, positively influence our moods and reduces the amount of time we spend in emotional uproar. It has a positive impact on our emotional and mental health. You don’t have to be “good” at creating art to reap the benefits of this type of creative self-regulation. All you need is an open mind and heart to trust that this process allows you a sense of control. In this workshop, we will be connecting to ourselves through art creation, regulating through creative play and enjoying being in company with others who believe art is healing magic.

What you can expect for this workshop:

  • Learning how Art Heals
  • Grounding Meditation
  • Art Creation & Creative Play

What to bring to this workshop:

 Session 7: Yoga Nidra

  • Date & time: Wednesday, June 22, 6-7pm PST / 9-10pm EST
  • Description: Yoga Nidra is a meditative practice that allows us to connect deeper with ourselves through a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping. Yoga Nidra is a wonderful way to reduce anxiety and stress and prepare yourself for a restful sleep. Yoga nidra helps to manage immune function, blood pressure and cortisol levels to assist in aiding a restful sleep. Please have a yoga mat or place in your home to practice, you can also practice this in bed.
  • Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/yoga-nidra-tickets-296793065047

 Session 8: Coping with Stress Workshop

  • Date & time: Wednesday, July 6, 4-5pm PST / 7-8pm EST
  • Description: Stress is often identified as a type of change that causes emotional, physical or psychological strain. This is because stress manifests in the body and is the body’s way of letting us know that there is something that needs our attention or requires action. Stress can manifest in the body as headaches, indigestion, high blood pressure, chest pain, problems with sleeping and intimacy. Chronic stress can lead to emotional problems, depression, panic attacks and other forms of anxiety. This workshop focuses on healthy and positive ways to cope with stress to make living with cancer less consuming over the body and mind.

What you can expect for this workshop:

  • Education around how to relieve stress from the body, mind & soul
  • Movement practice for relieving stress from the body
  • Journal Prompts & Reflections
  • Kosha Balancing Meditation

What to bring to this workshop:

 Session 9: Happy Hips Yoga

  • Date & time: Wednesday, July 13, 9-10am PST / 12-1pm EST
  • Description: This 60 minute happy hips yoga class is designed to help you release tension and stress that is stored in the hips on an energetic level. This class is designed to assist with releasing tension, open the hips and mobilize the lower body, as this is often where we hold stress – our hips! If you sit all day, this class is PERFECT for you! This class is accessible for all ages and levels. Please have a yoga mat or place in your home to practice, two blocks (or hardcover books), and water.
  • Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/happy-hips-yoga-tickets-296799544427

 Session 10: Coping with Anger Workshop

  • Date & time: Wednesday, July 20, 4-5pm PST / 7-8pm EST
  • Description: Anger is an intense emotional state that often stems from a strong uncomfortable or non-cooperative response to potential or real hurt or threat. Each of us show our anger differently, showing up as passive aggression, open aggression or assertive anger. It is important to remember that anger is a secondary emotion, it is a response to a primary emotion, such as fear, loss or sadness. This workshop focuses on healthy and positive ways to cope with anger to make living with cancer less consuming over the body and mind.

What you can expect for this workshop:

  • Education around how to cope with anger
  • Creating your own positive affirmation
  • Journal Prompts & Reflections
  • Gratitude Meditation

What to bring to this workshop:

Session 11: Yoga for Abundance

  • Date & time: Thursday, August 18, 4-5pm PST / 7-8pm EST
  • Description: This session is a yoga class to help you get out of your head and into your body. We will be moving at a moderate piece with postures that will uplift our moods and vibrations! Expect to leave feeling full of sunshine.

This class is accessible for all ages and levels. I will be offering different modifications.

Please have a yoga mat or place in your home to practice, water, two blocks or hardcover books.

Session 12: Virgo New Moon Workshop

  • Date & time: Thursday, August 25, 4-5:30pm PST / 7-8:30pm EST
  • Description: This Virgo New Moon is the time for us to lay down our intentions around self-care, organization and service. This is the time to identify new healthy habits and improvements that you would like to implement. Meaning, get clear on the details of your life – what you eat, the content you consume, your schedule, your time off, the organization of your office, your exercise routine, etc. The cosmic energy that is in the air is all about embodiment, self-care and visualization.

During our time together, we will create a vision on how we want our average day to feel. This Virgo New Moon Workshop is all about embodiment, self-care and visualization.

PAST SESSIONS 1 -10:

  • Session 1: Yin Yoga – This Yin Yoga class is accessible for all ages & levels. In Yin, we hold the postures for longer with the support of props. You will need the following props for this class, a yoga mat or place in your home to practice, water, 2 blocks or books and 1 bolster (if available) or 2 pillows / couch cushions.

Watch the replay now: https://youtu.be/A8HvIEysFTE

  • Session 2: Mental Health & Self-Care – Mental health is an integrative part of our healing processes. It encompasses our emotional, psychological and social well-being. Our mental health affects how we go about our daily lives, how we handle stress and how we make choices and decisions. Wellness is a large portion of mental health. When we prioritize our own healing and self-care, we are able to tend to our own needs while still being able to show up and hold space for others. This session focuses on guiding and teaching ways to adopt healthy and positive mental health practices that you can carry on in your everyday life!

Watch the replay now: https://youtu.be/JsmJt4hIGJA

  • Session 3: Coping with Anxiety – Anxiety is our innate response to stress, often it is the fear of what is to come. We often feel anxious about something that we are anticipating in our future, such as the first round of chemo, surgery, medical procedures, doctors’ appointments, to name a few. Some symptoms of anxiety that manifest in the body and mind are: feelings of nervousness, restlessness or feeling tense, increased heart rate, breathing rapidly, sweating, trembling, feeling weak or tired, trouble concentrating because of the present worry. It is completely normal to feel anxious when you are going through treatment for cancer, living with cancer, or in remission. This session focuses on healthy and positive ways to cope with anxiety to make living with cancer less consuming over the body and mind.

Watch the replay now: https://youtu.be/iMs4ppjRdSc

  • Session 4: Yoga for Anxiety – This session is a yoga class to help relieve feelings of anxiety. Postures that are incorporated into this class are ones you can do anytime you are feeling anxious, even before a medical procedure! This yoga class will help you get out of your head and into your body. Allowing your breath to guide you, as we move through the first half of the class fluidly, ending with longer, static holds and a meditative savasana. This class is accessible for all ages and levels. Please have a yoga mat or place in your home to practice, one block (or hardcover book), water, two pillows and a blanket.

Watch the replay now: https://youtu.be/6-JFopIhhx4

  • Session 5: Exploring Chakra Healing – Discover the Chakra system in a guided conversation with Hannah and begin to understand how you can heal your own energy body in this Exploring Chakra Healing workshop. In this session, you will be introduced to the Chakra System and how you can begin to heal your energy body. We will begin with a sound bowl meditation, a casual lecture on the Chakra system and a brief overview on how to begin to harmonize each chakra. Followed by a chakra meditation and time at the end for questions.

Watch the replay now: https://youtu.be/kH6JlrZlHkY

  • Session 6: Coping with Stress – When living with cancer, or in remission, it is stressful, there is no way around that. Stress is often identified as a type of change that causes emotional, physical or psychological strain. This is because stress manifests in the body and is the body’s way of letting us know that there is something that needs our attention or requires action. Whether you are living with acute or chronic stress, it can have a long-lasting impact on your overall health and wellbeing. Stress can manifest in the body as headaches, indigestion, high blood pressure, chest pain, problems with sleeping and intimacy. Chronic stress can lead to emotional problems, depression, panic attacks and other forms of anxiety. This session focuses on healthy and positive ways to cope with stress to make living with cancer less consuming over the body and mind.

Watch the replay now: https://youtu.be/jWGYsw5o7uU

  • Session 7: Coping with Anger – It is only natural to feel angry because of your cancer diagnosis. Anger is an intense emotional state that often stems from a strong uncomfortable or non-cooperative response to potential or real hurt or threat. Each of us show our anger differently, showing up as passive aggression, open aggression or assertive anger. It is important to remember that anger is a secondary emotion, it is a response to a primary emotion, such as fear, loss or sadness. This session focuses on healthy and positive ways to cope with anger to make living with cancer less consuming over the body and mind.

Watch the replay now: https://youtu.be/CcoWjI0-UTc

  • Session 8: Yoga for Stress Relief – This session is a yoga class to help relieve stress that is stored in the body on a physiological level. This class is designed to assist with releasing tension, open the hips and mobilize the lower body, as this is often where we hold stress – our hips! If you sit all day, this class is PERFECT for you! This class is accessible for all ages and levels. Please have a yoga mat or place in your home to practice, one block (or hardcover book), water, two pillows and a blanket.

Watch the replay now: https://youtu.be/f6QTFRjdBEo

  • Session 9: Chakra Balancing Yoga – This session is a yoga class designed to help balance and harmonize your Chakra System. We will work from the Root Chakra up to the Crown Chakra through different yoga postures, breath-work and chanting. This class is accessible for all ages and levels. Please have a yoga mat or place in your home to practice, two blocks (or hardcover books), water, two pillows and a blanket.

Watch the replay now: https://youtu.be/XqsokOMCHMI

  • Session 10: Somatic Healing & Intuitive Movement – Intuitive movement is a practice of connecting with our body’s internal cues and allowing that to guide your movement. Meaning your body lets you know how long to move in a certain way and the intensity in which you experience that movement. This is a beautiful and organic practice of mindfulness, allowing you to be present in whatever movement you are doing. Somatic healing allows you to tap into your ability to heal by listening to your body, this is done through postures, gestures, movement and use of space. This class is accessible for all ages and levels. Please have a yoga mat or place in your home to move.

Watch the replay now:  https://youtu.be/eP4ET0vjmao