CINCINNATI (WKRC) — Patients and staff at UC Health’s Blood Cancer Healing Center now have expanded access to yoga, tai chi, meditation and nutrition programs as part of the next phase of the center’s integrative medicine program launched this week.
The program includes offerings in a wellness suite on the top floor of the UC Blood Cancer Healing Center, where low- or no-cost classes are available to help address symptoms and challenges that can come with a cancer diagnosis. The therapies are intended to reduce fatigue and pain and help manage symptoms while complementing — not replacing — clinical trials and other conventional care.
Patients and staff at UC Health’s Blood Cancer Healing Center now have expanded access to yoga, tai chi, meditation and nutrition programs as part of the next phase of the center’s integrative medicine program launched this week. (WKRC, Provided)
The University of Cincinnati Osher Center for Integrative Health provides activities, including a community learning kitchen focused on healthy eating and nutrition, along with guidance aimed at addressing mental health challenges that can accompany serious illness.
Sonya Verma, a yoga instructor, said participants have told her, “They note that their chronic illness did not go away, but they’re able to manage it.”
Cady Cornell, director of community and public health at UC Health, said, “It’s a way to reground and recenter myself.”
Dr. Sian Cotton, director of the Osher Center for Integrative Health, described the approach as combining conventional medicine with evidence-based therapies and lifestyle support.
“Integrative health or integrative medicine is about combining the best of our conventional modern medicine approaches with the best evidence-based, nonpharmacologic therapies and a focus on healthy lifestyle,” Cotton said.
Jennifer Woods, a tai chi instructor, said, “Finally, in the West, medical science is recognizing that taking care of the whole body and the mind is as important and enhances the more clinical side of medicine.”
National trials are ongoing to continue learning about the medical benefits of these therapies, both with and without conventional care.
The Osher Center is offering a number of free classes in March. Click here to see the schedule. The programs are open to the general public.
