6 REASONS WHY ALL TEACHERS NEED YOGA FOR CANCER TRAINING
1) The Numbers of people affected by cancer are high
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.
To put this into another context, in the UK alone there are over 1000 new cases diagnosed every day according to Cancer Research UK. The good news is that survival rates are continuing to increase, with more cancer being cured and managed than ever before. So people are living longer with and beyond cancer.
When we combine these two numbers, both the high number of new diagnosis and the high number of people surviving we can see there is a huge population that is affected by cancer. This is hardly then a fringe area!
I am hearing more and more from teachers that students in their class are receiving diagnoses, and it is very likely that as a yoga teacher cancer will show up in your class at some point. This is especially true if you work with people from midlife onwards, although of course cancer can occur at any age.
2 ) The holistic support yoga can provide is huge
In my twenty years plus of supporting people with cancer, I have seen the myriad ways that yoga is hugely beneficial to people going through cancer treatment and for their long-term recovery. As teachers, we all know yoga is more than asana and works holistically, taking into account the mind, emotions and spirituality as well as the body.
According to Cancer Research UK, research has shown that practising yoga can help people with sleep, tiredness, anxiety, depression and stress. These are all important issues for people living with cancer. In addition, it is now well understood that staying active before, during and after treatment helps to reduce the side effects and improve many areas of wellbeing such as improving range of movement, easing stiffness, maintaining a healthy weight, increasing strength and in some cases reduce the risk of recurrence. Macmillan UK suggest that it is helpful to focus on these key areas:
aerobic activity – this is particularly good for your heart and cardiovascular system.
muscle strength exercises – these strengthen muscles, bones and joints
flexibility exercises – these can help prevent injuries and strains
balance exercises – these are good for building strength.
These are all things we can cover very well in a yoga class!
What I have also found is that there is a great opportunity to help empower our students through their yoga practise to reconnect with themselves, gain more confidence and agency in their wellbeing. We can teach them tools to manage symptoms when they are outside of class. A yoga class is also a place where people can find community, connection and support from others which is another important benefit we can offer at a time when many people can feel cut off from normal life and isolated.
3 ) People going through cancer treatment have specialist needs
So we know a regular yoga class is helpful for most people with cancer but as we also know the range of yoga practises and styles available is huge. Not everything is going to be suitable or beneficial and this will vary according to the people you teach and their individual needs.
Some people may have had surgery or be going through chemotherapy. Some may be struggling with fatigue and nausea. Some may have a catheter inserted long term for administering drugs, some may have a stoma. Others may be managing lymphoedema or are wanting to preventing its onset following lymph node removal.
Some students may feel their biggest goal is manging their stress and anxiety so they can sleep again, others may prioritise regaining mobility and strength so they can return to a hobby they love. Some will have had a long yoga practise prior to diagnosis and others may be trying yoga for the first time.
It is important to understand your student, their medical situation and what their needs and goals are in coming to a yoga class. We then can create a class that is actively beneficial. We need to adapt our teaching and yoga to the student and not try to get the student to adapt to our class.
4) There are long term effects of cancer and treatment that need consideration
Whilst it is wonderful that long term survival is so much better than it used to be, we need to bear in mind that at the end of treatment there is no ‘going back to normal’. As, in it’s rare that mind, body and lifestyle return to being the same as pre-diagnosis.
On a psychological level, many people tell me how they are changed by the experience. This is sometimes for the better, such as having better perspective on life and knowing what matters to them, and sometimes there can be emotional hangovers such as fear of recurrence that never fully go away.
Most people have an emotional crash when their treatment is complete. This is completely normal after an intense and stressful period of time where they may not have felt able to process all the feelings they had at the time. We can offer a supportive space to help people move through that phase.
There are also long-term physical effects either from the cancer or the treatment, such as the possibility of developing lymphoedema, having a permanent stoma, early menopause and loss of fertility to mention a few. All of these need to be taken into account in our teaching even when the cancer is long past.
Yoga can also play a huge role once treatment ends and the regular contact and support from the medical team is very much reduced.
5) Medical teams and cancer charities are recommending yoga as a safe way to stay active
As more is understood about the benefits of staying active before, during and after treatment, and more research is being done, there is now a recommendation to cancer patients form their medical teams to do so.
Of course there are lots of activities that are beneficial but yoga is often recommended as being a safe and helpful activity. As I mentioned, we can cover the main areas needed physically such as strength, mobility and balance as well as offering ways to help fatigue, anxiety and depression.
Many of the people who come to my Maggie’s class are tyring yoga for the first time having been recommended to come by someone on their oncology team. We are currently oversubscribed at the centre and are creating ways to support more people through our yoga program there.
When we think about how many people are affected and that medical teams are recommending yoga, it is easy to see how important it is that we have enough trained teachers to support the hundreds of thousands of people affected.
6) Training keeps you and your students safe so more people can practise.
Even if you don’t wish to become a full specialised yoga for cancer teacher, as we have seen, cancer is likely to show up in your class at some point whether as an existing student or as a new enquiry. What I have heard from people coming to Maggie’s is that their needs weren’t being fully met in general yoga classes.
Typically, there were to stories: either the teacher was trying to be inclusive and took them in the class but then was able to adapt appropriately or the teacher felt unqualified and unsure so turned them away out of safety concerns. In either case the student didn’t get suitable yoga!
Even a foundation level of training will give you enough knowledge to know when and how you can safely teach someone and when you need to refer to a specialist teacher, keeping both you and your student safe and confident. It will also give you the understanding of the holistic needs not only of the person with the diagnosis but also their loved ones.
This means you will be able to keep supporting existing students and expand the number of people you can teach. As a specialist teacher you will be able to work with more complex cases and potentially support people through their whole cancer journey and beyond.
My dream is that everyone with a cancer diagnosis has access to a suitable yoga class.
Will you join me?!
To find out about training opportunities click the links below: