Yoga is no cure for cancer — but cancer survivors have flocked to it and many health-care professionals have embraced it. Now, through efforts at City of Hope, it has become a tool to raise awareness and funds for cancer research.

A practice going back thousands of years, yoga combines breathing, meditation and movement to unify mind, body and spirit. A growing body of evidence shows it can improve sleep, mood and quality of life for cancer patients. Yoga can improve strength, boost flexibility and relieve stress, too.

A 2008 national survey showed that about 7 percent of the U.S. population — 15.8 million people — practice some form of yoga. About 6 percent of those surveyed indicated a doctor or therapist recommended the practice. Its benefits and growing popularity led City of Hope to adopt yoga as a way to raise awareness.

City of Hope’s Yoga for Hope began as a local event in Seattle in 2009. Today it also includes events in San Diego, San Francisco, Phoenix and Philadelphia, and organizers aim to extend its reach to other U.S. cities, as well. The program has raised more than $135,000 for research, treatment and education at City of Hope.

Yoga for Hope events recruit locally known yoga instructors to educate communities about the spiritual, mental and physical benefits of yoga while raising support and awareness for City of Hope.

Lisa Considine, associate vice president of development at City of Hope, helped establish Yoga for Hope. A cancer survivor, Considine also is an avid yoga student who believes yoga can benefit patients by imparting a sense of peace and serenity.

“As a survivor of multiple myeloma, yoga will always have a significant role in my lifestyle and my lifelong recovery process,” said Considine. “I’m grateful for the way that yoga has allowed me to take control of my health and well-being.”

Several scientific studies have shown that exercise helps reduce cancer risk, and evidence continues to grow. City of Hope researchers are exploring the role of exercise, including yoga, in cancer prevention.

“Recent studies have confirmed that increased physical activity is associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer,” said Katherine Henderson, Ph.D., assistant research professor in the Division of Cancer Etiology. “While we are working to study this relationship further, we are happy to say that a woman can modify or maintain her physical activity to decrease her breast cancer risk.”

At City of Hope’s Sheri & Les Biller Patient and Family Resource Center, yoga classes (held both in English and Spanish) provide City of Hope patients and caregivers a way to help manage the emotional and physical process of treatment and recovery.

“Our yoga program has had a remarkably positive impact on our patients and families by helping to relieve joint pain, stress and fatigue,” said Linda Klein, manager in the Biller Patient and Family Resource Center. “Patients are empowered because they experience their bodies as being capable and reliable again.

“They develop an instant camaraderie, too; they share experiences and realize they are not alone. The benefits extend beyond the class, with breathing and meditation techniques to help relieve anxiety while undergoing chemotherapy or radiation, or when preparing for surgery.”

Considine hopes the Yoga for Hope program will continue to grow and benefit more patients.

“By expanding the Yoga for Hope program, we can help City of Hope teach communities about yoga’s lifelong benefits while supporting vital research,” she said.

Oncology-certified nurses — registered nurses with advanced specialized training in the care of cancer patients — will have a larger presence at City of Hope thanks to the California Masons.

Through this year’s Masons Grand Master’s Project, called “By Your Side,” Masonic lodges in California raised funds to pay for oncology certification training for nurses throughout the state. The project will help 50 nurses at City of Hope receive certification; it also will increase the number of oncology-certified nurses statewide by 15 percent over the next three years.

Grand Master Bill Bray and his wife, Linda Bray, celebrated the project’s success with local lodge members and City of Hope faculty and staff during a reception on May 11 at the Duarte, Calif., campus. The Brays chose the project because of their long history with City of Hope and their understanding of the importance of oncology-certified nurses in the care of cancer patients. — Lisa Considine

Peet’s Coffee & Tea has been a loyal champion of City of Hope since 2004, but this year, the company took its support a step further. Between May and mid-June, Peet’s Coffee & Tea donated 50 cents from the sale of each specially marked, 12-ounce package of coffee — up to $60,000 — to fight cancer and other life-threatening diseases at City of Hope. Packages of the specially marked coffee were sold at more than 700 participating Raley’s, Lucky and Save Mart supermarkets in Northern California, Albertsons and Ralph’s grocery stores in Southern California and QFC food centers in the Pacific Northwest. — Sarah Winfrey

Southern California’s horse racing community united at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., to support City of Hope’s efforts against women’s cancers. The inaugural “On Track to Beat Cancer” event, which raised more than $83,000, was held on the track’s closing day, April 17.

Actress and animal lover Bo Derek, pictured at right, and jockey Chantal Sutherland led more than 2,000 participants on a walk of the track. Derek is a member of the California Horse Racing Board.

Horse racing fans, jockeys, trainers, horse owners and City of Hope supporters at the event got the opportunity to walk the track at Santa Anita, the same stretch traveled by champions such as Zenyatta, John Henry and Seabiscuit. — Laura Kim

Disney Music Group artists Selena Gomez & The Scene, Jonas Brothers and Allstar Weekend, as well as YouTube sensation Christina Grimmie, played to a sold-out audience at Concert for Hope and helped raise more than $600,000 for research, treatment and education programs at City of Hope.

The third annual Concert for Hope presented by Staples drew more than 6,000 fans to the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles on March 20.

Gomez and Grimmie each toured the Duarte, Calif., campus before the event and met with faculty and staff members to learn about City of Hope’s research and patient care programs. They also visited individual patients in the Pediatric Family Center.

The Jonas Brothers are familiar faces at City of Hope; in 2008, they performed at City of Hope’s first Concert for Hope, an event that has grown steadily with the help of City of Hope’s Music and Entertainment Industry group. The brothers also are significant donors to diabetes research at City of Hope through their Change for the Children Foundation. In addition, Miley Cyrus has helped raise more than $3.5 million for City of Hope through her past involvement in Concert for Hope and through proceeds from her Best of Both Worlds Tour.

Concert for Hope co-chairs Bob Cavallo, chairman of Disney Music Group, and Gary Marsh, president of entertainment and chief creative officer for Disney Channels Worldwide, created the event in September 2008. The concert series and its performers, including Jesse McCartney and Demi Lovato, have helped raise more than $2.5 million in support of City of Hope.

“We are fortunate to have the commitment of these talented young artists to help City of Hope fulfill its mission of conducting innovative research and saving lives,” Cavallo said. — Laura Kim

With the U.S. Capitol dome as the backdrop, City of Hope supporters took to the streets as part of Walk for Hope Washington, D.C. Nationally Presented by Staples on April 10.

The inaugural event in the nation’s capital drew about 750 participants and raised nearly $250,000. Walkers embarked from the National Mall and journeyed five kilometers — about 3 miles — through the city surrounding the U.S. Capitol.

The event garnered official support from 16 members of Congress and the backing of Team Markel, headed by Tony Markel, chair of City of Hope’s Power of Hope fundraising campaign. Markel’s team included four busloads of participants who journeyed more than 100 miles from Richmond, Va.

The next Walk for Hope events take place in Chicago and Philadelphia on Sept. 18. For more information, visit www.walkforhope.org. — Darrin S. Joy

City of Hope supporters made their footsteps count against cancer by participating in the Honda LA Marathon and LA Big 5K on behalf of ThinkCure. Thanks in part to their efforts, ThinkCure raised more than $108,000 from the events.

ThinkCure, the official charity of the Los Angeles Dodgers, raises money to fund grants supporting collaborative cancer research at City of Hope and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The nonprofit was one of two title charities benefiting from the 5K and marathon, which were held the weekend of March 19 and 20.

A committed team of City of Hope employees and volunteers gathered funds for ThinkCure in the weeks before the two events. Many then ran or walked in the races to show their support for the cause. — Alicia Di Rado

When Troy and Jake Paul’s mother, Renee Paul, was diagnosed with cancer in 2005, the two boys collected bottles to raise money for their parents’ new charity, Racing for Hope, which benefits research at City of Hope.

The experience prompted the Paul brothers, along with their friend, Nick Medavoy, to combine their desire to help other kids and their passion for basketball into their own charity — Kids 4 Hope — to raise funds for children battling cancer at City of Hope.

The boys hosted their successful annual basketball charity event, which was sponsored by the Beverly Hills Basketball League at the Sports Club LA, on March 20 in Los Angeles. More than 70 children participated in various basketball competitions, raising more than $14,500 to support music and art programs at City of Hope, as well as supply materials for City of Hope’s pediatric playroom and library. —Alicia Di Rado

Sheri Biller, chair of City of Hope’s board of directors, led a group of 29 professional women with one common goal: to raise money for City of Hope’s Sheri & Les Biller Patient and Family Resource Center by participating in the More Magazine/Fitness Magazine Women’s Half-Marathon in New York City. Biller’s team, known as the Resource Racers, raised more than $175,000 through the April 3 event. Over their three years as a team, the Resource Racers have raised more than $320,000. — Laura Kim

Taking in the New York City spring day during the More Magazine/Fitness Magazine Women’s Half-Marathon are, from left, Alicia Lapides, Ditka Reiner, Sheri Biller and Sharon Gantz Bloome.

PHOTOS: KEN CONZ; P.CUNNINGHAM; HUGH WILLIAMS; BENOIT PHOTO; BILL RICH; COURTNEY WEBB; KEVIN KOGA; MARK PAUL; TERRI BLOOM