When the Yoga for Cancer Teacher Got Cancer

What happens when you are suddenly on "the other side of the mat" as a yoga for cancer teacher?

I’ve sat with people facing a cancer diagnosis for years. Taught gentle breath-led movement to women in headscarves, held space for tears and silence in a hospital yoga room, trained yoga teachers in how to support people through the physical and emotional landscapes of treatment and recovery. I knew the research. I knew the practices. I knew the power of this work.

Morven Hamilton - Yoga Teacher and Breast Cancer Survivor

And then, I got cancer.

I was already a restorative yoga teacher, working in a cancer care centre, teaching people with all kinds of diagnoses. I was also a mum to a three-year-old, juggling snack requests with class planning. Life was full, but steady. I thought I was on the other side of the yoga mat, so to speak—the helper, the guide.

So when I received my diagnosis, I was obviously shocked—and if I’m honest—just a little bit embarrassed. Shame is a very common response to diagnosis. It's a sad fact, but there it is. I was a yoga teacher and a cancer care professional. I’d built a whole career around supporting people through cancer, and yet here I was, with a diagnosis of my own. It felt ironic. It felt surreal. And it felt, strangely, like I’d let the side down, or exposed some terribly unformed part of myself. (Spoiler: I hadn’t - watch this space for an article about cultural perceptions of cancer and how toxic they can be.)

The cancer, thankfully, was small and caught early.

I had surgery and chose not to go through radiotherapy, even though it was offered. I recovered well. I didn’t feel unwell, really—I just had to heal from the operation. But of course, cancer isn’t only about the body. There’s the mental and emotional unraveling that comes with a diagnosis. The "what if?" and "what if it comes back?".

The night I came home from the hospital,

I had a glass of wine and went to bed, dazed. The very next morning, I got onto my mat. That’s where I always go when things feel too big. I moved slowly, gently, breathing into my belly, trying to find some thread of familiarity in a very new reality. Yoga didn’t fix anything—but it anchored me. It reminded me I still lived in a body. A body that could move and feel and soften. That I could be present in myself, even when everything around me felt a bit unreal.

For the first few days I walked around in a bit of a daze, trying to process it all. I didn’t talk about it. Not with many people, and certainly not with my professional yoga community. I didn’t want to be known as the “yoga teacher with cancer.” I didn’t want that to become the headline. I needed time. Time to figure out what had happened, time to recover, time to be quiet.

So I stayed quiet. For years, actually.

It’s only now, really, that I’m beginning to share this part of my story more openly. I’ve come to see that this experience, while not one I’d have chosen, has deepened my understanding in ways I never expected. I now teach Yoga for Cancer trainings from three very different but interconnected perspectives: as a yoga teacher, as a cancer care professional, and as someone who’s lived through a diagnosis. That lived experience has given me a new layer of empathy, insight, and appreciation for how much nuance there is in the cancer experience.

It’s also reminded me that there’s no one right way to respond to a diagnosis.

Some people need to share everything on a blog or a Facebook page—and that can be incredibly healing.

Others, like me, need to turn inward for a while. To feel it in private. Both are valid. All are valid. The key is finding what feels right for you.

So here I am, finally speaking. Because I want to help normalise talking about cancer—not just in the hushed tones of clinics and treatment rooms, but openly, and humanly. And to remind people that yoga isn’t about being invincible. It’s about being real. It’s about coming back to yourself, even, and especially, when life throws you a curveball like cancer.

Are you a yoga teacher or clinical health professional who wants to develop their professional skills in supporting people with cancer through yoga?

Visit the Yoga for Cancer training page to find out about how you can skill-up. I teach a compassionate, whole-person approach to Yoga for Cancer. Get in touch if you want to talk 🙏

Yoga for Cancer Training