Yoga for Cancer Care
September 18, 2025 November 6, 2025
with Zoe Smith
SERIES OF CLASSES

Yoga for Cancer Care is an eight-week programme for anyone at any point along a cancer journey (diagnosis, post-treatment, long-term treatment, watchful waiting, etc). You do not have to have any prior experience with yoga. 

The sessions will last 90 minutes each, consisting of ~75 minutes of gentle yoga followed by an optional social where there will be some herbal tea available and a nourishing snack provided by Zoe. 

Each week will have a different theme, all of which are designed to help you both mentally and physically along your cancer journey. The sessions will all follow a similar outline, encompassing a variety of yoga including breathwork, meditation, mindful and somatic movement, hatha and restorative yoga postures, and yoga nidra. Each week will link into the next, with each theme building upon the previous. There will be a variety of options in every pose, with each being thoroughly explained and demonstrated, ensuring you can find a position that is both comfortable and suitable for your energy levels at that time. 

We hope that this programme gives you some time each week to rest and restore, as well as strengthen and find resilience, as appropriate.  This course will also provide you with tools that you can use at home to alleviate some of the side effects of cancer care, such as anxiety and fatigue, amongst others.  We hope that you also benefit from a relaxed and friendly atmosphere where you are able to build connections with others going through similar or adjacent experiences. 

Yoga is not a cure and the science is still evolving, but there is some evidence that yoga can help to mitigate the side effects of cancer treatment resulting in an improved overall quality of life. The results of a randomised clinical trial for breast cancer patients showed that patients who received mindfulness meditation and yoga postures alongside their standard-of-care treatment had significantly reduced anxiety, depression and improved health-related quality of life (Liu et al., 2022). Other studies have shown benefits of yoga and pranayama (yogic breathwork) relating to sleep quality and fatigue, as well as reduction in cortisol levels: a marker of inflammation (Dhruva et al., 2012; Danhauer et al., 2009; Bower et al., 2015).