After being diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma, 38-year-old Jessica Beal signed up for a Life Now Tai Chi online course. She has since done another two courses, including a Yoga and a Meditation course. She shares how the Life Now courses helped her during a time of uncertainty.
Hearing the words 'you have cancer' came as a sudden and unexpected shock to Jessica.
"The week before I was doing a hike with my partner and was having trouble breathing, so I joked that I needed to do more cardio – it turned out I had a collapsed lung," she shares.
Jessica was rushed to hospital where they treated her collapsed lung. The doctors ran some additional tests and discovered she had stage 4 lymphoma.
"Because my diagnosis was so sudden, I knew I needed to do as much as I could to look after my mental health".
Jessica signed up to our Life Now Tai Chi course while undergoing chemotherapy treatment.
She says, "going through cancer, there was so much stress of so many unknowns, so having the consistency of a program like this was really helpful".
The course not only helped her psychologically, but it also gave her a reason to keep moving each day. "I could only do the opening sequence before I was super exhausted and couldn't move anymore, but just having that consistent reason to get out of bed, it kept me moving which was really important."
She adds, "I wasn't physically able to go anywhere because I didn't have an immune system, so doing the online course was perfect."
After 12 rounds of chemotherapy, Jessica's treatment was successful, and she is now cancer free.
For anyone thinking of signing up to a Life Now course, Jessica says "there are only positives to gain".
Research shows that exercise and meditation can help to reduce stress and anxiety, improving quality of life for people affected by cancer. Our Life Now Program offers free of charge introductory Exercise, Meditation, Mindfulness, Mindful Art, Tai Chi and Yoga courses at locations across Western Australia and online.
Registrations are essential. Eligibility criteria applies.
