If you peek into the shower of love and confidence coach Navi Bliss, you might see some breast jiggling going on. Chatting to her recently about the link between breast cancer and bras, Navi told me that it might be difficult for her to give up wearing the garment since she has large breasts. However, as someone who worked as a massage therapist for 12 years, Navi understands the importance of lymph flow for body health, and is well aware that a bra constricts the tissues in that area, preventing the free circulation of lymph and other fluids.

Can Boob Bouncing Replace Bra Burning?

Instead of throwing away her bras, Navi has incorporated breast bouncing into her daily self-care routine. “Every morning and evening, I jiggle each breast for approximately a minute, maybe more, until I can feel the fluid drain and the breast becomes lighter.”

Navi came up with the idea of boob bouncing from her massage therapy training, where she learned how the lymphatics in your breast work differently than the lymphatics in the rest of your body. “The rest of your lymphatic system operates by using valves to move fluid, but your breast tissue works only by movement as there are no valves in the lymphatics of your breast. When you wear a bra all day, the fluid doesn’t circulate. So, shaking it out is one way to get it to move without having to go braless,” she explains.

Rebounding

As a two-time breast cancer survivor, I’m covering all my bases (and uncovering my breasts) to try to ward off a recurrence of the disease. I not only have given up bras, but also, like my friend Navi, bounce my boobs. However, I don’t use the same method. Instead, I jump up and down on a mini-trampoline every morning. It’s a practice known as rebounding that I have made part of my breast cancer prevention regimen.

A 1980 NASA Study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that 10 minutes of trampoline exercise provided a greater physiological output than 30 minutes of jogging, making it a more efficient workout for combating muscle and bone loss associated with spaceflight. Compared to running, the study concluded that the biomechanical forces on the trampoline give a greater gravitational stimulus to the body’s systems with less strain on the joints.

Better Bones

Beyond these NASA study findings, trampoline companies such as Springfree offer a long list of the benefits of jumping up and down on one of their products. Aside from improving cardiovascular fitness and strengthening the muscles, can trampolines prevent or even reverse bone loss? As an older woman who has undergone chemotherapy and thus is more susceptible to osteoporosis, whether or not rebounding can protect bone density is an important issue for me. The jury is out on that in terms of peer-reviewed studies. Nevertheless, my own DEXA bone density scans showed slight improvement after I had incorporated trampoline exercise into my morning workout routine.

As I bounce on my trampoline, I swing my arms back and forth. This does wonders to dissipate any stiffness or achiness in my finger joints. Sometimes I might wake up feeling that and rebounding seems to be an excellent antidote.

I also have developed the habit of climbing any steps I encounter at a light jogging pace. For me, it seems to take less energy than slowly trudging up them. I get into a rhythm of movement and reach the top much faster. According to Google’s AI overview of the topic, jogging or running up stairs is an excellent form of high-impact, weight-bearing exercise that can increase bone density, particularly in the hips and legs, by stimulating bone-forming cells called osteoblasts. In addition, the breasts will get some healthy jiggling action, bouncing up the stairs.

The 70% Bounce

I adjust the height and frequency of my trampoline bounces according to how my body feels that day and try to stay within 70% of the maximum I could do. And no, I never jump as high as does the lady you see in the red dress. Does anyone? As you’ll find out later in this article, she’s not even real. However, the way I bounce would make a much less impressive picture. Usually my feet barely rise more than an inch from the surface of the trampoline. If I’ve slept in the wrong position and woken up with neck pain, I might skip bouncing entirely for that day.

For an effective bounce, it’s essential to ensure that your trampoline is in good condition. I got my first one at a yard sale and discovered the bungee-style elastic straps had lost much of their flexibility and that the trampoline surface was sagging. Although bungee-style trampolines are considered gentler and more joint-friendly for low impact workouts, I prefer the metal-sprung version I have now as it seems easier to get a good bounce on it. I made a point of spraying the springs with TC11 as a protectant as I had heard that rust can shorten the life of metal-sprung trampolines.

Bare-Breasted Bouncing

The biggest reason I jump up and down on my own mini-trampoline is to help stimulate and circulate lymph flow. I get my boobs jiggling up and down just like my friend Navi does in the privacy of her shower. She can do her jiggling naked, but I can’t quite do that on my deck, where I might be spotted by my neighbors. However, I make sure I wear loose clothing. I used to wear a swimsuit, but then realized I was defeating the purpose because my boobs were too constricted to bounce freely. Yes, sexy tight workout gear might make my figure look slimmer and more alluring, but I believe that I’m better off bouncing in boring baggy attire. One of the main reasons I do rebounding is to get my body fluids circulating, especially in the breast area, so the last thing I need is tight clothing that impedes my lymph flow.

In addition, I generally wear natural, preferably organic, cotton when I exercise. I would not want to feel petroleum-based artificial fabrics rubbing up and down on my body, especially if I were sweating from my workout. My Toxic Fabrics article describes how hazardous chemicals may leach from man-made fibers into the body, causing unpleasant side-effects. Sadly, when I was searching for a picture of a woman on a trampoline to accompany this article, all I could find were fitness teachers leaping about in bright, clingy, spandex gear. I had to create an AI image to get someone rebounding in loose clothing.

Occasionally, I’ll move my mini-trampoline inside to my living room and do what I feel is the best for my body—bare-breasted bouncing. My boyfriend is quite a fan of this and would like me to do my rebounding indoors more often.

Boob Bouncing as a Two-Person Exercise

How about getting your significant other, if you have one, to assist with the breast jiggling? Navi, as a professional love and confidence coach, has her own views about that: “For me, my self-care routine is my self-care routine, and breast jiggling is part of that. I also have a 12-step skincare routine that is non-negotiable morning and night. I do affirmations alongside it. I love to be loved and appreciated by others, but I always start by loving and appreciating myself.”

In contrast, I’m quite happy getting my boyfriend involved in breast jiggling activities. My mini-trampoline is only big enough for solo exercise so we cannot bounce together. Maybe I should consider getting a larger one. However, I have to admit that my guy initiates plenty of jiggling in the bedroom and I am convinced that my breasts are much healthier as a result.

Breast Jiggling after Cancer

In the “Sex and Cancer” chapter of my memoir, My Wild Ride: How to Thrive After Breast Cancer and Infidelity, I describe how gentle jiggling by the boyfriend I had at that time helped my breast return to normal the second time I had breast cancer.

This was not the case when I went through my first diagnosis and treatment of the disease. After I had radiation on my left breast in 2007, my husband declared, “It feels dead and the skin is like leather.”

He would never again touch my breasts during lovemaking. Perhaps his callousness came from the fact that he was bonking another woman on the side at the time with pristine boobs untouched by the medical profession.

I had just started dating another man when I received my second breast cancer diagnosis on the right side in 2014, undergoing a lumpectomy as well as chemotherapy and radiation treatment. My new boyfriend never stopped caressing my bosom. Amazingly I found that my breasts became fuller and more alive than they had been before the lumpectomy. My radiologist, who had seen them both before and after the surgery, chemo and radiation, agreed. Had the gentle breast jiggling accelerated recovery from the cancer treatments?

“I like that theory,” my radiologist told me. “At the very least, massage increases blood flow and the oxygenation of tissues, which certainly can promote healing.”

Perhaps in the future, cancer clinics will have some studly stallions on staff, giving lumpectomy ladies therapeutic sexual massage to jiggle their breasts back to vibrant health.