One-on-One with Alli (8)

Please join Alli and me for a 24-minute gentle yoga practice followed by a great conversation in which she describes her experiences as an enneagram 8 with exercise, meditation, control, and metastasized cancer.

In the video (which is, btw, much more than this one topic), I forgot to ask her about her thoughts concerning war terminology and cancer, so I emailed her. This was Alli’s response:

“cancer & war: I have absolutely thought about this! It is such a pervasive trope that sometimes it is hard not to fall into it, but when I step back and think, it is definitely not my preferred framing, so i try hard to avoid it. First, I think it is just an overused metaphor in so many areas (war on drugs, etc.). And I think it can be defeating to think that you have "lost" the war, with the implication being that if you had only fought a little harder, maybe you would have won. But there are many ways in which it does feel like a fight - and sometimes that mentality can be motivating. So, I think it is tricky and ultimately overly-simplistic. Cancer is incredibly complicated (but I guess war is too!). I have also toyed with some language around symbiosis...as in, as long as I had tools to keep it under control, perhaps I would be ok with living with my cancer. Thinking about being at war with your own body is a challenging and negative thought, so sometimes I try to focus on the positive framing, building my body to be as healthy and effective as it can be, rather than the destructive framing that war language evokes.”