I am a breast cancer survivor and yoga teacher. When I was fifty, I started a yoga practice on a hunch it would ease menopausal symptoms. It did! That was sixteen years ago. Today, I am an example that it is never too late to start, never too late to change. Yoga made me feel younger and stand straighter. I sleep better, my weight is good, and my bones are strong.

I found yoga a powerful tool to manage the daily challenges of cancer treatments as well as the side effects and life-long vulnerabilities they create. I discovered yoga was more than a way to stay healthy. It gave me emotional support and spiritual comfort so needed during recovery.

I was curious why yoga was doing so much for me. My research made it clear why yoga strengthens the immune system, thus providing, among other things, protection against a cancer reoccurrence.

All that was ten years ago when not much was heard about yoga’s healing power. Since then, I’ve developed a carefully constructed system of yoga poses and sequences, each one based on needs of cancer survivors.

My practical guide to the benefits of yoga for all cancer patients will be published in my book, Yoga Prescription: Using Yoga to Reclaim Your Life During and After Cancer. The strongest benefit of yoga is empowerment: the ability to do something self-affirming, away from the medical environment. Yoga is a means for taking the reins of healing into our own hands. It is a self-prescribed action plan for a healthy future.