In the course of my many years of supporting people with cancer I have come across several misconceptions about what ‘yoga for cancer’ is and what is required of a yoga teacher to work with this population. In addition, cancer can be a highly charged subject area. Most people are affected by cancer in one way or another and it’s not uncommon for people to have strong feeling or beliefs about working with people who have or are recovering from cancer.

Recently, I encountered several strong opinions about my work in this field and felt it helpful to clear up some of these misunderstandings. Here are some of the most prevalent myths about teaching yoga for people affected by cancer, and why they often miss the mark.

It is October as I write this which it both breast cancer awareness month and menopause awareness month. I’m really happy that both of these important women’s health issues have much more public awareness around them these days. What is often overlooked though is how often these are not always two separate issues and that breast cancer quite often leads to an early menopause.

When we think about grief, especially in the context of cancer, it's natural to associate it primarily with death and bereavement. However, based on my extensive experience working with people undergoing cancer treatment and recovery, I've observed that grief is a significant part of the process in ways many do not expect. It’s not just about the end of life but about the many losses that come with a cancer diagnosis.

One of the big decisions to make when we take holidays is whether we continue classes with a cover teacher, or not run them while we are away. This can be a more loaded decision when we are working with people who have cancer.

Although Yoga for Cancer may seem like a niche area to train in, are you aware that the diagnosis rates in the UK, and I presume the rest of the western world, are nearly one in two? That makes half the population who will have some kind of diagnosis at some point in their lives.

I often get yoga teachers reaching out to me with lesson planning questions along the line of, “I have a student who has just been diagnosed with cancer, what should I teach and what precautions are there?”, or “what asana practises are best for breast cancer, I want to support a friend who is going through treatment?”

What do people think about or picture when they hear the word ‘yoga’? For most people this will be some kind of posture, and probably one that is difficult to achieve! Even as yoga teachers fully aware that yoga is more than exercise, when we think about teaching yoga for cancer the tendency is to think first of suitable and adapted asana practises.

Recently I had a lovely experience in class with two women on either side of their surgery recovery. Both of them have had a mastectomy and reconstruction. One of them was totally new to class and the other has been coming to class for a few months. The latter, lets call her Hanna

I had an interesting conversation with a private client recently who joked about how she dresses up for her consultant appointments. As the conversation unfolded some deeper truths came to light about what was behind that.

A new lady joined my class several weeks ago who is recovering from surgery and chemotherapy. At our first meeting she explained her cancer journey so far and how she wasn’t feeling herself and was keen to ‘get back to normal’.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. The deeper you go the calmer it gets”, said the scuba dive master as I headed out over very choppy Thai waters feeling very seasick.

Have you ever tried bed yoga?! Ever thought of teaching it as a home practise to your students? I usually start my classes with …

My yoga for cancer chair class is a chatty one: it’s a small group and we sit in a circle, so it lends itself to conversation. In last week’s class…

Cancer is something that affects us on a personal as well as a professional level. We need to be conscious of this as people who work with cancer.

Have you ever received any unsolicited advice? It seems to be a common occurrence for people living with cancer.