Yoga Therapy and Remembering Who We Really Are with Dr. Lois Ramondetta
As you acquire more educational degrees and higher levels of career achievement, you can gradually forget yourself. Having a mindfulness practice, however, can help you remember.
Dr. Lois Ramondetta knows how easy it can be to lose your sense of identity in pursuit of academia and career ladder climbing. She’s a University of Texas professor, a trainer of residents and fellows in GYN cancer care, and a researcher of HPV cancer prevention and gynecologic cancer management. And through becoming a certified yoga therapist, she has taken a journey back to herself.
In this episode of the Words of Love podcast, you’ll learn how yoga (and other mindfulness practices) can help you rediscover who you are. You’ll also hear about some yoga therapy practices you can implement that Dr. Ramondetta uses and teaches, and so much more!
6:55 - Do you need to crash and burn to refocus?
11:24 - Dr. Ramondetta talks about her journey back to herself (and how yoga played a big part)
18:08 - The five layers that exist within every person’s anatomy in yoga therapy
20:28 - The missing piece that comes with forgetting who you are and the crisis developing within the healthcare profession
23:26 - What it felt like to crash and burn for Dr. Ramondetta
25:59 - How teaching yoga has changed for Dr. Ramondetta since 2017 and a few of the methods she uses
30:43 - How yoga as a way of life can help you be more mindful, healthy, and blissful
33:28 - How the Western world treats the “Who am I?” question and how practices like yoga are changing things
38:02 - Why some of the earliest and greatest scientists were also profound spiritualists and how thoughts become things
43:19 - How Dr. Ramondetta is studying the impact of yoga in cancer patients
46:54 - A couple of Yoga Sutras that help you with healthy detachment and discovering your cause of suffering
About Dr. Lois Ramondetta
Dr. Lois Ramondetta, now in her 26th year at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, is a Professor in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine where she provides surgical and chemotherapy directed patient care as well as resident and fellow training for all gynecologic cancers. She also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Palliative, Rehabilitation, and Integrative Medicine at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Her clinical research has focused on HPV cancer prevention, management of gynecologic cancers with specific focus on cervical cancer, as well as supportive care during cancer treatment. She has collaborated on several clinical-translational trials targeting the adrenergic pathway and stress responses. She has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles.
In 2008, she co-wrote the book “THE LIGHT WITHIN” with Deborah Sills, PhD published by William Morrow that explores the sanctity of the doctor patient relationship. To better care for patients, she became boarded in Hospice and Palliative Care in 2010. In 2017, she began her Yoga Teacher training (200 hr, 300hr) and most recently became a IAYT Certified Yoga Therapist and a diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine in 2020. She has been teaching yoga since 2018. She is currently the PI on a trial randomizing Yoga Therapy to women undergoing treatment for cervical cancer and continues to exploring new methods to incorporates stress reduction/wellness techniques into her patient’s lives.
Mentioned in Yoga Therapy and Remembering Who We Really Are with Dr. Lois Ramondetta
The Light Within by Lois M. Ramondetta, M.D. and Deborah Rose Sills
Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, M.D.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Sri Swami Satchidananda