By Christine Saari, MA, C-IAYT
As both a breast cancer survivor and a yoga therapist, I know how disorienting the cancer journey can be. A diagnosis brings change at every level of life. There are the physical effects of treatment, the emotional weight of fear and uncertainty, and the long process of adjusting to new realities in survivorship or ongoing care. Many people describe feeling as if they no longer recognize themselves in their body, in the mirror, in their relationships, or really in any aspect of daily life. Everything changes quite suddenly, and the loss of control can feel terrifying.
Yoga therapy for cancer provides a safe and individualized way to navigate the rollercoaster of treatment and its aftermath. It can support you through changing side effects, the process of surgical recovery, and the emotional weight of trauma, anxiety, or depression. Unlike a general yoga class, yoga therapy for cancer is one-on-one care, designed around your specific needs and limitations. The practices are gentle, adaptive, and always centered on your safety, specific goals and needs. Most importantly, they give you something you can do to feel more calm, supported, and connected to yourself. There’s no need to attend a public yoga class. Yoga therapy gives you short practices you can use at home to help you cope with treatment and beyond.
Below are examples of how yoga therapy can support people with cancer at each phase of the journey.
Cancer Diagnosis: Managing Anxiety and Uncertainty
Hearing the words “you have cancer” can trigger overwhelming anxiety, decision stress, and fear of the unknown. Yoga therapy can help ground you in the present moment and bring steadiness to your body and mind. Presence makes it possible to face decisions with clarity and a sense of agency. It puts the “self” back into self-advocacy.
Many cancer survivors emphasize how essential self-advocacy is. Yet, when you’re under extreme stress and anxiety it can be difficult to feel connected to yourself at all. Yoga therapy offers practices that rebuild that connection so your voice can stay strong, even when the path ahead feels uncertain.
Practice: BreathSync™ for Anxiety
This practice uses yoga for anxiety by coordinating movement and breath between two simple postures: Table Pose and Child’s p=Pose. Inhale into Table Pose. Then, exhale into Child’s Pose with a slightly longer breath out, pausing gently at the end of the exhale. For comfort in Table Pose, place yoga blocks under your hands a little in front of the shoulders to ease wrist pressure. In Child’s Pose, sliding a folded blanket or towel between the heels and sitting bones can reduce strain on the knees and hips, making the posture more restful.
This pattern calms the nervous system, quiets racing thoughts, and gives you a sense of control in the midst of uncertainty. It supports you in approaching life-changing decisions with greater clarity and a stronger connection to yourself, even when the way forward feels unclear. Many people find it especially helpful before doctor’s appointments, when stress can cloud memory and make it difficult to take in important information.
Cancer Treatment: Coping with Surgery, Chemo, and Radiation
Treatment often changes how you feel and how you look. Fatigue, pain, physical changes, side effects, and loss of energy can leave you feeling disoriented and disconnected from your body.
Yoga therapy provides safe, adaptive practices that support your body’s natural ability to heal itself through gentle movement and rest. Simple, personalized practices you can do on your own can help you feel more at home within yourself during treatment.
Practice: Gentle Joint-Freeing Movements After Surgery
After clearance from your surgeon, gentle movements can support lymphatic flow, manage edema, pain, and constipation, and aid overall recovery. Early on, this may be as simple as moving your fingers and toes with slow, even breathing. Over time, you may progress to small shoulder and hip movements. These include flexion and extension, abduction and adduction, and external and internal rotation. All should be performed within a pain-free, tiny range of motion, coordinated with the breath.
These movements are adapted from the Mukunda Stiles Joint Freeing Series Sequence (IAYT resource here). A yoga therapist can help tailor the sequence to your needs. Yoga therapists often recommend a chair for support and encourage a smaller, gentler range of motion than is typically shown. The goal is to create ease and gentle lubrication of the joints, never to force movement or work through sharp pain.
Practice: Meditative Walking
Slow, mindful walking can help ease gastrointestinal side effects of surgery and pain medications, such as constipation, while also calming the nervous system.
Gentle movement works with your nervous system to ease the fight or flight response. This lowers the impact of excess cortisol, and creates conditions that support healing.
Practice: Prana Nidra During Chemotherapy or Radiation
The practice of prana nidra is a guided meditation and restorative practice. It helps people facing serious health challenges ease fatigue and rebuild vitality.
Prana nidra involves passively observing the breath while visualizing energy flowing through the body. On the inhale, imagine energy moving through the limbs in one direction. On the exhale, imagine it moving back through the limbs in the opposite direction.
Prana Nidra helps manage fatigue, calming the nervous system’s response to medical trauma. It may also ease systemic dysregulation, such as menopausal symptoms from chemotherapy-induced ovarian suppression in women.
At Yoga Therapy Associates, we are offering free access to a guided Prana Nidra recording. This was first shared with participants of the Smilow Integrative Medicine Virtual Retreat as part of the survivorship program. The retreat was presented by Christine Saari, MA, C-IAYT, alongside Dr. Tara Sanft and Dr. Gary Soffer of Smilow Cancer Center at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Access the free Prana Nidra recording here.
Survivorship: Coping with Ongoing Symptoms
When treatment ends, many people still face fatigue, joint pain, brain fog, low self-esteem, and the trauma of how cancer has changed their lives. Survivorship can bring depression once the fight-or-flight urgency of treatment has passed and the grief process begins. Yoga therapy provides tools to lift energy, reconnect with the body, and rebuild strength, confidence, and most importantly hope.
Practice: Warrior I with Equal Breathing
To start, move gently in and out of Warrior I pose while using equal breathing (inhale and exhale of the same length). You might incorporate short pauses at the top of the breath. These retentions can invigorate the body and support brain health. Optionally, work towards a short static hold in the posture. Start with 1-3 breaths and work up to 12 breaths as your stamina increases.
Practice: Yoga Nidra for Reconnection
This guided rest practice supports deep relaxation and helps integrate all levels of the self. It can be especially helpful for body image struggles, trauma recovery, and regaining a sense of wholeness.
A yoga therapist can create an audio recording tailored to your pacing and preferred length, the elements you find most helpful, and any areas of the body you wish to avoid. This personalized recording becomes a safe daily practice designed to support your goals and optimize health outcomes for your specific needs.
To learn how therapeutic yoga nidra supports health and how our Five Kosha Yoga Nidra Method personalizes it for your needs, see Yoga Nidra as Medicine: A Holistic Approach for Health and Healing and The Five Kosha Yoga Nidra Method: Your Personalized Health Solution.
Living with Cancer: Maximizing Quality of Life with Yoga Therapy
For those living with metastatic disease or ongoing treatments, yoga therapy focuses on comfort, vitality, and preserving quality of life. The aim is not to push, but to nurture and maximize energy.
Practice: Gentle Movements of the Spine
Seated in a chair with a tall, lengthened spine, practice the six directions of the spine in a small, pain-free range of motion: forward bending, back bending, side bending to each side, and gentle twists in both directions. These movements help maintain mobility and support circulation while managing chronic pain.
Practice: Yoga Nidra for Energy Regulation
Rest practices like Yoga Nidra for Cancer are typically done for 20-60 minutes in the late morning prior to lunchtime. This protocol can reduce fatigue, manage chronic pain, and help conserve precious energy. Ultimately, making time for rest allows space for more joy and connection in daily life.
What It’s Like to Work With a Yoga Therapist If You Have Cancer
Starting yoga therapy can feel overwhelming, especially if you already have a calendar full of medical appointments or find it hard to get out of the house. The good news is that yoga therapy is often done virtually by telehealth. Many people choose a mix of in-person and online sessions depending on how they feel and what phase of treatment they are in.
You also don’t need to commit to weekly appointments. The pace and frequency are tailored to your needs, energy, and goals. Even if you are not yet cleared for physical movement, yoga therapy can still support you. Breathwork and guided meditation are powerful tools for managing stress, calming anxiety, and supporting mental health, no matter your physical condition.
Each session is individualized, safe, and supportive. The practices give you space to rebuild trust in your body, find calm in your mind, and feel more like yourself again.
For a more personal perspective, read here about how Christine Saari, MA, C-IAYT, author of this article, used yoga therapy during her own breast cancer treatment.
If you’re navigating the challenges of cancer treatment, trauma, anxiety, or the emotional weight of a medical journey, Christine would be honored to support you. Her private yoga therapy sessions provide a gentle, compassionate space to engage with your healing process through movement, breathwork, or meditation practices tailored to your needs.
You’re warmly invited to book a virtual session with Christine for yourself or a loved one. Learn more about Christine here.
An Invitation to Healing: Yoga Therapy for Cancer
Wherever you are on the cancer journey – diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, or living with cancer – yoga therapy offers practical, evidence-based tools to help you cope. These practices provide not only relief for the body, but also strength for the spirit and calm for the mind.
You don’t have to face this alone. With the right support, you can reclaim a sense of ease, comfort, and even joy along the way.
Yoga Therapy Associates offers private one-on-one sessions in Connecticut and telehealth options nationwide.
Schedule a free consultation or book online today to explore how yoga therapy can support you through diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, or living with cancer.
Learn More About Oncology Yoga Therapy
Discover how yoga therapy can support patients with cancer, including a case study on “How Yoga Therapy Helped a Woman Suffering From Metastatic Breast Cancer.”
