My journey with Doctor Madan Bali started the summer of 2002. I was undergoing chemotherapy at the Montreal Jewish Hospital for my breast cancer. I was then forty years old, mother of teenage twins (a boy and a girl), working professional and married to a loving husband. Doctor Bali helped me go through the treatments by teaching me how to relax, meditate, practice yoga and keep working on acquiring a sense of optimism. His approach towards life helped me face cancer; it was so uplifting and powerfull that I wanted to share it with other women touched by cancer. I then founded a community support program (with the help of amazing friends) under the umbrella of the Quebec Breast Cancer foundation (QBCF) in which yoga (among other services) taught by Doctor Bali and teachers trained by him would be offered. To this day, hundreds of women have benefited from this program.

When I realised how Doctor Bali’s methodology of yoga was appreciated by breast cancer patients and suvivors I wanted to take it to another level: conduct an evidenced-base research study on it to inform and touch more people in the medical community and the general public on it’s potential benefits.

I returned to University in 2004 to do a PhD on The Impact of the Dr. Bali yoga program on the quality of life of women diagnosed with breast cancer during chemotherapy. The results have shown that the program can improve depressive symptoms and aspects of quality of life.

Many more projects inspired by the work of Dr. Bali are the focus of my personal and professionnal life and I will be eternally grateful that I met this extraordinany man.

When my mother passed away two years ago, Dr. Bali visited her at the hospital and although she was in her final moments I will never forget when she told him: “You bring me light!”

Dr. Bali, my life in the aura of your light is significant. I love you and thank you for allowing to me to share your wisdom and vision with others.

— Dominique L.