Foundations Yoga and Mindfulness for Cancer

Confidently include people with cancer in your yoga classes

A unique compassionate, whole-person approach

BACK TO ALL TEACHER TRAINING

Foundations Yoga and Mindfulness for Cancer

TRAINING DATES:

Self-paced

LOCATION:

Online

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PRICE:

£120

Get the Course

Foundations Yoga and Mindfulness for Cancer

Would you like to...

be able to share yoga safely and compassionately with people affected by cancer?
tailor your own yoga practice to the impact of cancer
learn the basics of mindfulness for health?
welcome cancer patients confidently into your classes?
skill-up - improve your yoga teaching and your CV?
get to grips with the deepest teachings of yoga?

This is a course for yoga teachers, students and cancer care professionals who want to share yoga safely and compassionately with people affected by cancer. Lead teacher Morven Hamilton guides you through this comprehensive, experiential course which provides you with everything you need to know to start working with cancer patients and survivors.

THE AIM

The on-demand online course will give you a foundation in sharing yoga and mindfulness with people affected by cancer.

Become knowledgable about the basic anatomy and physiology of cancer
Get an introduction to the Healing the Whole Person teaching methodology
Learn how treatment can affect yoga participants
Learn how to adapt some common Hatha yoga poses for people affected by cancer
Get sequences that will help people suffering from common side-effects of treatment
Learn mindfulness meditations specifically for people living with pain and illness.

Overcoming Barriers to Teaching Yoga for Cancer

Teaching yoga to those affected by cancer can feel overwhelming. You may wonder if you're qualified, how to approach it, or whether yoga is even appropriate. This course will help you move past those concerns with confidence and clarity.

Why Yoga for Cancer is Different

Yoga for cancer isn’t just "gentle yoga." It’s a specialized approach that considers the physical, emotional, and energetic impact of cancer and its treatments. Learn why a tailored practice is essential for supporting those on this journey.

Yoga as a Healing Modality

Yoga has the power to heal beyond the physical body. Discover how movement, breath, and mindfulness can nurture resilience, ease discomfort, and support recovery for those living with and beyond cancer.

Understanding "The Big C"

Cancer is more than a diagnosis—it’s a life-changing experience that impacts all areas of life and the wider community. Gain insight into the realities of living with cancer, the fears and emotions that come with it, and the role yoga can play in bringing comfort and empowerment.

Teaching Yoga for Cancer Safely & Compassionately

Safety is essential when teaching yoga for cancer. Learn how to adapt postures, offer modifications, and teach with compassion, ensuring your students feel supported and empowered.

Mindfulness for Health – What Is It?

Mindfulness is a powerful tool for healing. Discover how mindful awareness can reduce stress, improve well-being, and support both physical and emotional recovery.

Becoming a Mindful Teacher

Bringing mindfulness into your teaching enhances the experience for both you and your students. Learn how to stay present, listen deeply, and create a nurturing, supportive environment.

Connection & the Deepest Teachings of Yoga

At its heart, yoga is about connection—to ourselves, to others, and to life itself. Discover how to bring the deeper teachings of yoga into your work with cancer patients.

Creating a Safe Space

A healing environment is more than just a yoga mat—it’s a space where students feel seen, heard, and safe. Learn how to create an atmosphere of trust, comfort, and care.

Looking After Yourself

Supporting others starts with taking care of yourself. Learn self-care practices to stay balanced, energised, and emotionally resilient as a yoga teacher.

LEARNING MEDIA

Taking care to nurture all learning styles, the course is presented using a blend of video, audio recordings, presentation with slides, text and useful audio transcripts of meditations which you can use as templates for your own teaching

Overview

The course at a glance:

Overcoming barriers to teaching yoga for cancer
Why is yoga for cancer different from normal yoga?
Yoga as a healing modality
The cancer journey
4 ways you can support cancer patients
Cancer treatment and side-effects
3 sequences to use in your yoga class
Mindfulness for Health - what is it?
Becoming a mindful teacher
Four mindfulness practices for cancer recovery
Connection and the deepest teachings of yoga
Teaching yoga for cancer safely and compassionately
Creating a safe space
Developing empathic listening skills in a cancer care setting
Looking after yourself
Enhancing your yoga teaching skills

Payment can be made online when booking. When you have confirmed your booking, you will receive an email with a link to the Teachable platform where you can do the course.

Get the Course

COURSE FORMAT

The Foundations Yoga and Mindfulness for Cancer course is on the Teachable platform. The course material is divided up into short segments, to make self-paced learning at home more manageable. The course follows a natural progression from an overview of cancer and its place in a yoga setting, to modifying for typical symptoms and side-effects in your yoga class to mindfulness for health. We also look at the bigger picture of how this approach is informed by the deepest teachings of yoga.

Buy the course by clicking the Get the Course button, and you will then receive an email with the code to access the course on Teachable. You will then have lifetime access to the Teachable online course.

As a thank you for your interest in our training, you will receive a bonus PDF on the Subtle Body system of yoga. We hope you enjoy and look forward to hearing from you.

Yoga teachers - have you ever felt frozen when someone in your class mentions cancer?

You’re not expected to be a doctor, but you do need to skill-up to keep people physically and emotionally safe.

Let’s bust some myths that may be stopping you from being the inclusive teacher you want to be.

Myth #1
I can’t make a difference without medical knowledge

FACT
Your role isn’t to diagnose - it’s to support. With the right tools and awareness your Yoga skills can be therapeutic.

Myth #2
Cancer care is too complicated - I’ll never understand enough to be helpful.

FACT
You don’t need to understand every treatment.
Learn to understand the person in front of you.

Myth #3
I might make things worse

FACT
When vou know what to avoid and how to work without risk.

Myth #4
I’m limited in what I can achieve through Yoga

FACT
Yoga offers support that medicine often can’t: rest, embodiment, connection

I am glad you feel cautious, because it shows you are responsible and that you really care about looking after people.

But we do want to make yoga available to the people who most need it!

If this speaks to you, my Foundations of Yoga for Cancer one-day course coming up on 21st June at Bristol School of Yoga will give you the insight to know how you can help, and when it’s appropriate to refer on.
Practical. Inclusive. Trauma-aware.

Drop HEAL in the comments or find the link in bio to find out more + book your spot.

You are still in time for the early bird price 🐧
9.30 am - 4.30 pm Bristol School of Yoga
21st June

@bristolschoolofyoga
#yogaforcancer #yogateachers #yogawestonsupermare #yogabristol #yogatherapy #bristolyogateacher #bristolyogateachertraining

A shared Ayurvedic meal with our wonderful teacher trainees. They are all ready for their final teaching assessment next month (you’re invited!)

I am blown away by not only the skill and knowledge they are already displaying, but the fact that they are all brilliant and all completely different teachers.

Come and join us on June 7th 10am and 11.15am for their co-taught classes. I’m sure they would appreciate the moral support and you will see how wonderful and individually gifted they are.

This has been the most profound and inspiring journey. Collaborating to make magic happen is where it is at ❤️🧘‍♀️

#whatsonweston #westonevents #yoganorthsomerset #yogabristol #yogatraininguk

Stop wrestling with your thoughts! Willa Blythe Baker describes thoughts as "pranic events". They are energy moving within our physical form.

Beginners meditators try to bat away the thoughts, considering them to be adversaries to the goal of thoughtlessness. When we relax into a meditation practice, we can welcome thought and become interested in its patterns, flows and physical sensations.

The thoughts you are having now - what do they feel like as a physical sensation?

A shape?
Vibration?
A weight?
Tingling?
Sparkling?

As a meditator, it's important to know that you are not your thoughts (they do not define you or necessarily represent fact), but also that you are your thoughts (they are part of being human and our condition is to think).

If you are a meditation wrestler, try letting go a little, let the thoughts swirl around and watch them. See if you find more freedom that way.

I highly recommend @willablythebaker's book The Wakeful Body, to anyone who is interested in learning more about somatic movement and mindfulness. Her approach is wise, embodied and gentle. She sees the body as the door to self-realisation, and offers a highly practical approach to understanding that for yourself.

Happy Friday!

#meditation #mindfulness #willablythebaker #somatics #embodiedmovement

Still sounding like your teacher? Or speaking in that “yoga voice”?

You’re not alone. As a new teacher, I used to channel my teachers' voice, not realising that it was ok just to be me and that I wasn't expected to be perfect.

Most of us start there- borrowing language, repeating cues that sound vaguely profound, hoping we sound like we know what we’re doing.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of “fake it till you make it” 🧘‍♀️

Your real voice comes from an articulated felt-sense of movement and a lived experience of the teachings of yoga - with a helping of self-belief.

That’s something you already have - you don’t have to wait until you have more experience.
Your experience is just as valid as someone who has been teaching for 30 years.

Why? because yoga is the study of what it means to be human, and you’re already human. And, YES, YOU ARE CREATIVE. Sorry about the shouty caps but I am on a mission to make everyone understand this. Creativity is not just for the gifted few - it is in your DNA.

For a detailed blog post on how to find your authentic voice, you can leave the comment VOICE below or head over to my bio and click the link.

Here are a few ideas for finding your voice and stepping out onto the mat as the one and only you.

1. Think of your class as a story and you are the storyteller. What’s the theme, the plot, the structure of your story?

2. Keep a yoga book that inspires you by your bed and read a bit of it every night. Jot down ideas that inspire you

3. Keep going to class and doing your own practice. You will learn something every. single. time.

4. Magpie inspiration from songs, poems, films, novel, nature -it doesn’t have to be explicitly yoga related. Keep a photo album or notes in your phone of inspiring ideas

5. Go to classes with teachers who show up proudly and unapologetically as themselves and absorb their confidence (even copy it for a while until yours starts to shine through, remember fake it til you make it)

I’d love to hear your ideas on how you stay inspired and keep the magic unfolding ✨ Let’s chat in the comments

#yogateacher #yogateacherlife #yogateachersuk #yogawestonsupermare #yogateacherproblems

If you’re unsure how to support students facing cancer, you’re not alone.

It can be tough to know where to start, especially when it comes to modifications and creating a safe, nurturing environment.

Would it help to have the tools, knowledge, and confidence to make a real difference?

💫 Join us for a one-day workshop on Foundations of Yoga & Mindfulness for Cancer, where you’ll:

* Learn practical tools to support cancer patients in your classes
* Discover how to modify asana to suit individual needs
* Deepen your understanding of the physical and emotional challenges of cancer
* Gain confidence in holding space for students with cancer

Date: Saturday, 21 June 2025 Time: 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM Location: Bristol School of Yoga

This workshop is perfect for yoga teachers who want to expand their skills and provide compassionate, tailored support to those who need it most.

Spaces are limited! Book your spot today.

Comment FOUNDATIONS and we will send the link to more info directly to your DMs 🙏🏻

@bristolschoolofyoga

#yogateachers #yogabristol #bristolyogateacher #yogaforcancer #ukyogatraining #bristolschoolofyoga

I love this version of the Sun Salutation that can be done in bed! Please share with someone you know would benefit 🧡

Over the weekend, I was sharing Yoga for Cancer Training with hospice staff from all over the country, who want to use yoga to benefit their patients.

Many of the patients in hospice care are bed-bound, so I devised a complete yoga practice that would be safe for this group of people.

It is even possible to do a complete yoga practice without moving the spine at all and doing peripheral movement and breath work.

Join me in Bristol for a one-day intensive on Foundations of Yoga for Cancer where you will learn how to confidently welcome people with cancer into your yoga classes, and exactly when to refer on.

21st June
Bristol School of Yoga

Open to yoga teachers & clinical health practitioners.

The full teacher training course takes place this October. DM for details 🙏🏻

Comment FOUNDATIONS to have the link to details sent directly to your inbox.

I hope you will join us in this movement to make yoga available to those who need it most

I’m grateful to @jivanaheyman for sharing this sun salutation in his book Accessible Yoga.

@bristolschoolofyoga

#yogateachers #yogaforcancer #yogatraining #yogatherapy #yogabristol #yogateachersbristol #bristolyogateacher #bristolyogateachertraining #bristolschoolofyoga

By day, Zoe is a cancer researcher investigating the immunology of AML.
 🧘‍♀️ In 2024, she also became a yoga teacher and, being an incredible woman of many talents - she’s also an Ayurvedic chef!

After years working with patient samples—without ever meeting the people behind them—Zoe felt called to bridge the gap between lab and life. Training to teach yoga for cancer offered that bridge.

Despite being squeamish (ports and PICC lines were... a journey!), she pushed through her fears.

Supporting two women through 3-hour one-to-one sessions not only deepened her understanding, but helped her realise she was more capable than she ever believed.

Now, she’s developing a 6-week programme for patients at The Christie Hospital in Manchester. Each session will centre on a theme—like rebuilding strength or easing fatigue—with time afterwards to share tea, food, and connection. The evidence is strong that healing happens in community.

Zoe’s journey is part of something bigger.

✨ Join a growing movement of teachers committed to alleviating suffering—and making yoga accessible to those who need it most. ✨

I’ll be sharing this work in Bristol on the 21st June for a one-day intensive at @bristolschoolofyoga

The 40 hour Teacher Training will run in October this year.

Comment HEAL for details of upcoming courses and the early bird offers to your inbox.

Find Zoe at @lily.and.lotus 🧘‍♀️

@bristolschoolofyoga

#YogaForCancer #TraumaInformedYoga #CancerSupport #YogaCommunity #YogaHeals #AccessibleYoga #bristolyogateacher #bristolyogatraining

Peeling off my tape pants 👖 (not a fashion trend, promise). I was simulating life post-pelvic surgery—restricted movement and breath, discomfort, and compromised balance —so I can really understand, in a training environment, what my students are going through.

This is what yoga for cancer training should look like: embodied, empathetic, and human.

1 in 2 people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. So if you’re a yoga teacher, ask yourself—is your yoga really for every body?

When you teach yoga to people affected by cancer, it’s not enough to know yoga. You need to understand what it’s like to walk that path—physically, emotionally, spiritually.

That’s why my Yoga for Cancer training is experiential. We embody what it feels like to recover from surgery, move through fatigue, and face uncertainty—so you can teach with genuine compassion, confidence, and care.

🧘‍♀️ Join me in Bristol at @bristolschoolofyoga for a one-day intensive this June. Learn how to safely welcome people with cancer into your classes—and when it’s appropriate to refer on.

I offer this work because I know how precious a tool yoga and mindfulness can be to anyone going through cancer. I’ve personally seen it transform lives and help people to live better.

📅 21st June | 9.30am–4.30pm 🐦 Early bird until 1st June 🎁 First 5 bookings get free lifetime access to my online course: Simple & Safe Yoga + Mindfulness for Pain

Drop “SKILL UP” in the comments and I’ll send the info straight to your inbox.

@bristolschoolofyoga

#yogateachers #yogaforcancer #yogatraining #bristolyogateacher #bristolyoga #yogabristol #bristolyogacommunity #bristolyogastudio #yoganorthsomerset #bristolyogateachers #bristolyogateachertraining

All ready for Yoga for Cancer Training for hospice staff this morning. I love this work 🙏🏻🧡

#yogaforcancer #yogatherapy #yogatraininguk

Yoga teachers often get this wrong about Mindfulness.

Edit: and let me be clear, when I talk about Mindfulness (with a capital M) I mean the body of work brought to us by Jon Kabat-Zinn, father of modern mindfulness, rather than its broader understanding.

Because I had done a lot of meditation, including Vipassana courses, I thought I knew everything worth knowing about Mindfulness back in 2013.

Then I met a more senior yoga teacher who patiently taught me what I was missing. He introduced me to Christophe André's book Mediter Jour Après Jour (he was French - luckily I'm a French graduate or my life may not have changed the way it did!). I started to understand that Mindfulness teaching is full of nuances and offers different windows through which to view the foundational concepts of yoga and mindfulness.

These different perspectives and alternative framings resulted in shifts that led my whole life to be infused by the teachings of compassion, non-judgment and equanimity. Mindfulness was the bridge from the mat into the world. That's why I went on to do advanced Mindfulness teacher training and why I am so passionate about sharing it with others.

Mindfulness does not stop you getting stressed, feeling annoyed or being an occasional bundle of neuroses and anxiety. It helps you cope with a life full of ups and downs.

💬 What are your thoughts on this? I'd love to hear your take.

🧘‍♀️🧘‍♀️

Mamas & yoga 🧡🧘‍♀�️

@omnipotentialmwm

#yogawestonsupermare #yogateachers

✨ Sometimes it’s hard to trust the process ✨
 We didn’t plan to lose our old space—but sometimes the path to something better begins with an unexpected closing door.
 Now, we’ve found a new home for our 200hr yoga teacher training. One that holds the quiet, the questions, the tea (endless tea), the stillness.
 It’s not just a new venue.

It’s a new beginning—for us, and for our next cohort of trainees. Could that be you?

This training isn’t only about learning to teach yoga. It’s about what unfolds when you commit to showing up, staying present, and letting the process shape you. 
I am not being melodramatic when I say that my 200 hour training was a rebirth for me. I emerged as myself but even more - somehow this process brings out the best in whomever undertakes it.

I can’t wait to welcome our new trainees to The Phoenix Studio. We’re only 30 mins from Bristol, 30 mins from Glastonbury and 15 mins from Weston.
 💬 Want the details for our January training? Drop a 🕊️ below or DM us “training” and we’ll send you everything you need to know.

#BristolLife #BristolYoga #YogaInTheWestCountry #FromHereWeBegin #200HourYogaTraining #yoganorthsomerset

What? Oh I can’t actually do the pose! I’m completely smashing not caring whether I can do it or not though.

20 years ago I was very ambitious about wanting to achieve complex and difficult poses. As a new yoga teacher I thought my students would expect me to be able to “perform” all of the asana.

Slowly, I learned that teaching “advanced” poses is alienating for many, and can make people feel excluded.

I had been putting my unreasonably high expectations of myself onto my students.

Thank you, handstand, for teaching me that not doing a handstand will develop my yoga more than doing one will.

Does this resonate with you? What’s your handstand?

Happy Friday ☀️

#yogalife #yogaoffthemat #yogajourney #loveyoga #yogateachers #yogapractice

And it’s a wrap!! I loved meeting some of you this afternoon at our zoom webinar - An Introduction to Yoga for Cancer. I’m glowing from spending time with lovely people ✨

We delved into many topics and had a practice together where I shared some simple and safe yoga and mindfulness that you can start doing straight away. 🧘‍♀️

I also shared a special offer on upcoming Yoga for Cancer Courses in Bristol at @bristolschoolofyoga and online 📚

If you missed it, don’t worry you can still get the recording.

Just drop WATCH into the comments and I will link you in.

#yogaforcancer #yogateacher #yogabristol #yogatherapy #yogatraining #mindfulnessforcancer

It’s today!✨

Join me live this afternoon or catch the recording. I’ve been busy preparing a free introductory session for you to learn how to support your clients and loved ones who are going through cancer.

It’s not enough to know about Yoga – I’m going to share with you a whole-person approach to sharing yoga and mindfulness safely and compassionately with people affected by cancer. To be able to support your clients students and loved ones as well as as they deserve, you need to know the landscape of cancer.

comment HEAL and I will drop the link to register straight into your inbox for you.

Live attendees will receive a special offer on upcoming courses 🧘‍♀️

Can’t attend live? Register anyway and I will send you the recording afterwards.

I really love sharing this work with people. It’s heartfelt, rewarding and fascinating.

#yogateachers #yogatraining #yogawebinar #mindfulness #yogateachersofinstagram #canceryoga

Are you a yoga teacher or health professional who wants to support people affected by cancer through embodied, mindful practices?

In this 1-hour introductory session, you’ll learn: ✨ How yoga and mindfulness can support cancer care
🧘‍♀️ Trauma-informed, cancer-aware teaching principles
💛 A gentle guided practice you can use or adapt
🙋‍♀️ Q&A + resources to continue your journey

Whether you’re new to this work or looking to deepen your understanding, I will offer insight, inspiration, and next steps.

Don't worry if you can't join live. Register and you will receive the link to the recording after the session. Let me know your questions and I will answer them during the session.

Introduction to Teaching Yoga and Mindfulness for Cancer
🗓️ Wed. 30th April 1.30 - 2.30pm BST | 💻 Live on Zoom | 🎟️ Free

💬 Comment HEAL for the registration link

#yogaforcancer #mindfulness #traumainformedyoga #yogateachertraining #yogaforhealing #yogacommunity #cancercare #yogaforhealth

Read this book if you want to learn about how the metaphors that we attach to cancer are harming those among us who are living with cancer. Let’s change the narrative!

Susan Sontag wrote this book in 1978 and it’s still relevant today.

We still associate a cancer diagnosis with an external manifestation of poor decisions or emotional repression. We still talk about societal problems as “cancers”. We still construct our narrative around cancer with military language.

If you want to learn exactly how this happens and how it’s affecting the 50% of our population who will have a diagnosis in their lifetime, take a couple of hours to read Illness as Metaphor. It’s fascinating and will help you to be a better supporter to anyone you know going through cancer.

If you want to work in the yoga space with people affected by cancer - it’s vital that you educate yourself about the cultural baggage people carry around with them.

💬 Comment HEAL to register for my free Introduction to Yoga for Cancer webinar

📌 Wednesday 30th April 13.30 - 14.30 BST

I’ll be discussing how to start sharing yoga and mindfulness safely and compassionately with people affected by cancer.

Yoga teachers - look out for my next YAPTA video on The Five Kleshas (afflictions) and the Cancer Narrative @yogaallianceprofessionals

Big thanks to @edenmagic_ for the book reco!

#yogateachers #yogatraining #yogaforcancer #yogacpd #yogabristol #mindfulnessforcancer #cancer #yogatherapytraining

You’ve got to know when to stop. Anyone else have afternoons like this?

This started off as a “things I wish I’d known” kind of post.

Then, as I was writing it, I gradually realised that all the “mistakes” that make me cringe and kick myself (present tense!) are born of the qualities that have made me stick at it all these years and which have driven me to keep growing and improving.

TBH, I hope always to be a new teacher. I’m always learning, always training and if I’m not making mistakes and never feel nervous, it means I’m not growing.

I’m not saying there haven’t been any out and out blunders. Putting a hand on a student’s boob by accident during an assist was plain carelessness and there is a long list of those that I might talk about in another post, if I am ever feeling confessional.

But in truth, the only real mistake you can make as a new teacher is the one where you hang back out of fear, don’t try things because you are worried you’ll fail and stop yourself from growing because you think you’re not worth it.

Believe me, your students don’t care if you make a mistake - they’re there because they like YOU and they do think you’re worth it.

For all the teachers on my training courses my greatest wish is that they follow their hearts and keep making those mistakes 🧘‍♀️🧡✨

#yogateachers #yogawestonsupermare #yogatraining #200ytt #yogaforcancer #yogateachersofinstagram #yogateacherslife

Yoga teachers, this is a gentle, non-invasive practice you can start doing straight away with your students who have cancer.

 This gentle neck stroke isn’t just soothing—it’s healing 💚

1️⃣ Lymphatic drainage – Light touch helps move lymph, which can reduce swelling and support detox.
 2️⃣ Soothes the nervous system – Slow, mindful movement signals safety and connection to your body, easing stress and anxiety.
 3️⃣ Mindfulness – Anchors your awareness into the body and away from thoughts, helping calm the mind and soften emotional overwhelm.

A small movement can have a big impact.

I’m hosting a free webinar next Wednesday where I will cover:

🪷 The physical, emotional + social impact of cancer (a brief overview)

🪷Surprising ways yoga can support healing and recovery

🪷How to welcome students into the yoga space with sensitivity + confidence

🪷 Simple, safe practices you can begin sharing straight away
⁠
Plus a Q&A about upcoming CPD + trainings:

📍 21st June – One-day workshop @BristolSchoolofYoga

📍 13–16 Oct – 40hr Online Teacher Training (Yoga Alliance Professionals accredited)
⁠
📅 Comment LEARN for the webinar registration link straight to your DMs. I’d love to see you there! 💫

@bristolschoolofyoga

#YogaForCancer #YogaTeacherTraining #yogateachers #CPDYoga #TraumaInformedYoga #YogaHeals #CancerSupport #YogaForHealing #Yogateachersofinstagram #bristolyoga #yogalondon

An easy, safe pain management technique you can start using immediately. Save for future reference and share with anyone you know who needs this!

🦶🏿 Foot rolling is a deceptively gentle, deeply effective way to support the nervous system and ease discomfort. If you don’t have a massage ball, try using a broom handle, wooden dowel, or any firm ball you have at home.

Please note, this practice is not suitable for those suffering from hand and foot syndrome where the skin on the foot is inflamed and tender due to cancer treatment side-effects.

How to practise:
Begin with gentle, scribble-like movements to awaken the tissue. Then roll slowly from heel to toe, covering the full length of the sole. When you find areas of tension or stagnation, pause and circle gently around them with awareness.

Why it works:
This technique stimulates the sense receptors in the feet that can modulate pain signals in the nervous system. According to the Pain Gate Theory, activating these receptors may help interrupt pain pathways at the level of the spinal cord, offering a sense of relief and ease.

Tip: this practice also helps to hydrate connective tissue in the foot, encourages lymph flow and can help improve balance.

If you’d like to learn more and explore more practices like this in a supportive and informative space, you’re warmly invited to my free webinar:

🧘‍♀️ Yoga for Cancer: Supporting the Whole Person
📅 Tuesday 30 April | 🕖 1.30-2.30pm (BST) or catch the recording

In this live, interactive session, we will:
✨ Explore the physical, emotional, and social impacts of cancer
✨ Discover how yoga can offer meaningful support — often in unexpected ways
✨ Learn how to welcome and care for people affected by cancer with greater sensitivity and confidence, in the yoga space.
✨ Share safe, accessible yoga practices you can begin using straight away

📌 Comment LEARN to register.

@bristolschoolofyoga @lauragilmoreyoga

#YogaForCancer #PainManagement #YogaTherapy #SupportiveCare #CancerSupport #MindBodyConnection #PainGateTheory #YogaForHealing #TraumaInformedYoga #NervousSystemSupport

When working with people affected by cancer, the yoga mat becomes a space for reclamation — not performance 💛

As yoga teachers supporting individuals through or after cancer treatment, it’s vital to shift the focus from achievement to pleasure.
⁠
These 5 cues are designed to help students reconnect with their bodies gently, honour what’s present, and experience a sense of agency, ease, and safety in movement:

1. “Seek out what feels good in your body right now — and do more of that.”
💫 After surgery, chemo, or radiation, the body may feel foreign or fragile. This cue gives permission to follow what feels safe, nourishing, or even subtly pleasant.

2. “Ask your body how it wants to move in this pose.”
🌀 Instead of guiding toward an ideal shape, this empowers students to move in ways that support lymph flow, breath, or emotional release. Tiny shifts, swaying, or stillness — all are honoured.

3. “Does this movement feel nourishing? If not, change it.”
🪷 Cancer treatment often removes a sense of choice. This cue offers it back. Let students know they can opt out, modify, or make up their own version of the pose at any time — and that it’s not just okay, it’s wise.

4. “Breathe into resistance — physical or mental. If it’s ready to let go, it will. If not, offer it compassion.”
🌬 There may be areas of the body or psyche that hold trauma, fear, or discomfort. We don’t force change — we meet resistance with breath, and trust the pace of healing.

5. “Let your inhale take you away from the pose. As you exhale, explore softening into it.”
🌊 This breath-led approach gently reinforces that the student is in charge. There’s no rush to deepen or ‘progress’ — just an invitation to move with the nervous system, not against it.

✨ Offer students a way to feel at home in their bodies again.

As teachers, our words matter.

🧡 Share with a fellow teacher who works with cancer recovery and comment LEARN to be sent details on how to register for the next free Yoga for Cancer webinar 🙏🏻

#OncologyYoga #CancerSupportPractices #YogaForCancer #YogaForHealing #yogateachersofinstagram #TraumaInformedYoga

Overwhelm and impostor syndrome often show up right at the edge of something meaningful.

I speak to a lot of yoga teachers who long to help their students clients and friends with cancer who don’t feel they are qualified to teach people with cancer because they have not gone through it themselves, or because they are worried about hurting people.

If you have ever questioned your readiness, please know that doubt doesn’t disqualify you, it shows that you care deeply. This is work that we do because we care.

I have seen yoga transform the lives of countless people going through cancer and their families. This work really matters.

Let’s talk about it. Have you ever felt this way? Share in the comments - you’re not alone.

Share this with someone who needs to see it.

#yogaforhealing #yogateachersofinstagram #impostersyndrome #youbelonghere #yogateacherproblems

Shortly after my cancer diagnosis, I was chatting to a dear friend who told me that it was important for my healing to understand "why I got cancer". I interpreted this to mean "why I had given myself cancer".

It was not something I was ready to hear and, although I love this friend very very much, I realised they would not be part of my "team" on my cancer journey.

To be honest, it's something I am still not ready to hear and I strongly disagree with the viewpoint that cancer is an external manifestation of our stuff and that the disease is a gift from the universe that will help us to work through it. No.

✨ Everything happens for a reason” isn’t something you say to someone in the middle of cancer treatment.

Let’s stop trying to reframe cancer as a gift, or a sign.

Instead — let’s offer presence, honesty, and tools that support people exactly where they are.

Yoga doesn’t sugarcoat pain. It helps us hold it, gently — and maybe, find a little light in the dark. Let's be honest, cancer sucks and it's not fair.

You don’t have to turn pain into a positive. You just have to meet it with compassion.

What’s your take on the “cancer as a gift” narrative? I’d love to hear your perspective👇

#yogaforcancer #spiritualbypassing #cancersupport #mindfulyoga #healingjourney #traumainformedyoga #yogateachersofinstagram #cancersucks #yogateachers

If you went to India and asked a yogi about yoga, they probably would not talk to you about poses and stretching! Because that’s not what yoga is about.

Most of us started yoga because we were attracted by the physical practice.

Some people find that’s all they want.

And some of us discover a whole new way of life.

Yoga is a worldview, a philosophy, a practice, a community and a manifesto for peace.

If you feel like it might be time to take a new path, we would love to hear from you. Deepen your practice, expand your knowledge, do what you love and gain a professional qualification.

Our next 200 hour training starts January 2026 at The Phoenix Tree Studio - we’re 10 minutes from Weston-super-Mare, 30 minutes from Bristol and 30 mins from Glastonbury.

Drop me a comment below if you would like to learn more.

#200ytt #yogatraining #yogateachertraining #whatsonweston #yogabristol #yogawestonsupermare #yogasomerset

Yoga teachers: focusing on your breath is not always a good thing!

After being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019, my body was in a state of shock. The things that had previously calmed me now made me feel more anxious.

Breathing is often the go-to advice for calming down — but have you ever felt like it made things worse?

In some cases, hyper-focusing on your breath can heighten anxiety, especially if you’re already feeling overwhelmed. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Curious to learn what to do instead? I break it down in today’s post.

👉 Tap through to learn an alternative breathing practice that has been shown to be effective for people with trauma and shock, and my go to's after diagnosis for calming my nervous system.

When our nervous system is stuck in a state of high arousal, we need something different from our yoga practice. Thankfully the vast tool box of yoga practices still has plenty to offer if we learn to adapt.

I help people to work sensitively in a yoga setting with people affected by cancer.

If you would like to learn more about sharing yoga safely and compassionately with people affected by cancer, drop HEAL in the comments and I will link you in to a free download of my Yoga for Cancer e-book, which gives you what you need to make a start.

#yogaforcancer #mindfulnessforcancer #yogaforcancertraining #cancersucks #yogatherapy #yogateachers

Yoga teachers - did you realise that your students with cancer are grieving?

We do not have to be bereaved to experience grief - grief can come in many forms and is a response to the trauma of loss. For the majority of people, a cancer diagnosis represents loss.

The trauma of loss can have a significant impact on our health, especially in the three months following the event. After diagnosis, we grieve our health, our life as we knew it, our future as we imagined it, the person we used to be, among other things. We also can experience pre-emptive grief where we grieve the people we may lose in the future.

Grief is stressful, and there are things we can do as yoga teachers to support our students when they are grieving. I have recently published two free tutorial videos on the Yoga Alliance Professionals YAPTA platform to give guidance on how grief manifests after diagnosis and what we can do about it.

Comment SUPPORT and I will link you into the videos, which are free and available to anyone who wants to learn.

@yogaallianceprofessionals

#yogaforcancer #mindfulnessforcancer #cancersucks #yapta #yogaallianceprofessionals #yogateachers #yogateachertraining

My word for the weekend - magic! It’s not something we do, it’s something we are ✨✨✨

Look out for the dates for Garth Barns 2026 coming soon 🌱

Thank you to @onlylovekitchen, @thislittlelifeoflily and @garth_barns for generously sharing your skills and your wisdom to make our retreat an unforgettable one.

Thanks also to an incredible group of guests and the synergy we all created. I am so loved up!!! ❤️💖💜💙💛💚

#yogaretreatuk #yogaweekend #yogaandsingingretreat #walesretreat

Sometimes it all comes together to make perfection. Verdant mid-Wales in the most glorious weather, a beautiful group of souls, phenomenal food made with a smile by Becky @onlylovekitchen and a venue as close to perfection as you can get.

So far we have had Yoga, singing in the sun, cold water swimming in the lake, a nature walk with the inimitable Veronica, Lost Spells in the woods, Reiki with Lily @thislittlelifeoflily , sound immersion, and more Yoga.

Tomorrow- hula hooping with Lily – woman of many talents.

I hope this weekend lasts forever 🤞☀️🧘‍♀️🧡

Our 200 hr Yoga Training Venue for future courses couldn’t be more ideal. The Phoenix Tree in North Somerset is peaceful, beautiful, spacious and wonderfully equipped with the best facilities.

We said goodbye to our former venue at Parklands this year, and although these changes are never welcome, they always turn out for the best - we’ve found our home.

Our next 200 hour Hatha and Mindfulness course starts in January 2026. If you book now you’ve got plenty of time to get started on the reading list 😊

The Phoenix Tree serves easy travel from Bristol, Glastonbury, Weston, Bath, Cardiff and Exeter.

Comment READY if you would like to see our course prospectus.

#200ytt #yogatrainingcourse #yoganorthsomerset #yogawestonsupermare #yogabristol #westonevents

The next of our “teacher features” 😊 Natalie @akasadanceandyoga who graduated from our yoga training in July 2024, is shining her sunny smile at her yoga students in Clevedon.

Natalie had her dream job as head of dance dept. In a Bristol school prior to starting the course.

She was just looking for a new purpose and to start a class alongside her full-time teaching role.

She’s not the first and she won’t be the last…it’s a story as old as time. Guess what? She fell head over heels in love with teaching yoga so she’s dropped two days at her school and is following her passion.

It takes a lot of courage to step away from a secure, salaried job to go self-employed but when you know, you know.

Natalie’s mat-based yoga, chair yoga and adult dance classes are thriving in and around Clevedon and she’s about to launch Baby and Me yoga and dance. Her first retreat day Aroma Yoga is coming in May - yoga with essential oils.

People often start the course looking for one thing and finish it with a whole lot more besides. I can’t describe how inspiring and transformational a 200 hr yoga training is - if you are curious then get in touch.

Our next course will run January- September 2026

#200ytt #yogabristol #yogawestonsupermare #yogateacher #westonevents

200 hour Yoga Training is a path of powerful transformation, whether or not you are planning to teach yoga. The 200 hr course has a habit of showing you a new dharma (path or purpose) which will be unique to you.

Fiona graduated from our 2023/4 course last July and, full of inspiration and new skills, immediately started offering mindfulness art workshops in the community. Not long after that, she completed specialist training with LV Chair Yoga, Yoga for Cancer and Yoga with Essential Oils. Her offering continues to grow - check out the post to find out how she did it.

You can find and follow Fee @fiona.griffiths.yoga

Our course, with an emphasis on somatics and mindfulness, is designed to bring out the unique yoga teacher within you. I am always so touched at the end of the course when the trainees do their final assessed practicum, how completely different and wonderful they all are.

Meet more of our graduates in coming posts!

#200ytt #yogatraining #yogateacher #yogatrainingcourse #yogawestonsupermare #yogabristol #yoganorthsomerset

This strange animal was seen roaming around the yoga space on our yoga training weekend. Any idea what it might be? It seems friendly 😀

#yogatraining #yogawestonsupermare #yogateachers #200ytt #yogapose

We are now accepting applications for our November course!

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We have recently relocated to a beautiful new venue with excellent facilities, lots of parking and in a quiet, semi rural setting just a 10 min journey by car or bus from Weston-super-Mare town centre.

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Our yoga teacher training course is designed to bring out the unique teacher within you. If you are looking for an adaptive, inclusive approach to yoga and mindfulness then get in touch and we can arrange a discovery call to see if we are a fit!

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Drop READY in the comments and I’llsend a link to your inbox so you can learn more about our wonderful course

Our course is open to yoga students with 2+ years of consistent practice.

#yogatraining #200ytt #yogateachers #yogawestonsupermare #whatsonweston

The body is the vehicle for awakening.

In our western dualistic cartesian paradigm, the body is often seen as secondary to the mind. The body reminds us too much of our animal nature and we sublimate the intellect while trying our best to subjugate and control our embarrassing, earthly bodies which are prone to telling little tales about us. The truth that the path to self-realisation is through the body is written into Buddhist, Tantric and Yogic texts dating back thousands of years. If the soul were to have a home, where else would it be? However, people who work with the body are seen as less intelligent and useful than those who cultivate their mental agility.

While we all are privy to current thinking that the body and mind are not separate things, we are unable to reconcile the cartesian dichotomy in our minds or our bodies without patience, time and focus. When we are alienated from our bodies, we are lost. Somatic movement brings you home to your body and back in touch with your inner peace. The body really can be your sanctuary.

After a poll of my regular students who are all keen to do a course on asana techniques, I am running a course starting 12th March on Embodied Alignment. I am really excited about this one. Here's a brief rundown:

Week 1: Moving with the Bones – Explore skeletal alignment for easeful movement.
Week 2: Moving from the Soft Tissue – Discover fluidity and strength through fascia and muscles.
Week 3: Grounded in Wisdom – Find stability by deepening your connection to the earth.
Week 4: Playing with Gravity – Harness opposing forces for space and strength.
Week 5: The Art of Slow – Experience the power of slow movement and micro-adjustments.
Week 6: Painting an Inner Landscape – Create an inner map and move with confidence.

Drop EMBODIED into the comments if you would like more info on how to join us 🧡✨

Teach Yoga for Cancer - There's still time to enrol on our online course!

Our 40 hour accredited training course will equip you with the knowledge and skills to confidently share yoga and mindfulness with people affected by cancer. You will be supported during the course and beyond with ongoing mentoring and comprehensive resources included in your course fee.

"I want to thank you for a wonderful course. It’s comprehensive in scope and yet you manage to make it feel gentle and supportive. A real achievement" - Jo, 2024 course participant

We have bursaries and payment plans available if you are on a budget. Talk to us!

In the course, I support you to confidently:
🧘‍♀️ include people with cancer in your group yoga classes
🧘‍♀️ work effectively one to one with cancer patients
🧘‍♀️ design courses for groups of people affected by cancer
🧘‍♀️ compassionately hold space for yourself and others
🧘‍♀️ teach mindfulness for health

Who is this course for?
✨ yoga teachers
✨ professionals who work with people affected by cancer
✨ serious students of yoga

What do you receive?
🙏 a thorough course manual for your ongoing reference
🙏 a ready-made 6-week customisable yoga course for cancer
🙏 free lifetime access to my Simple and Safe Yoga and Mindfulness for Pain course
🙏 meditation and yoga nidra transcripts which are ready for you to use

We have spaces on our upcoming course starting 22nd March.

Drop a comment below if you would like more details.

When working with people affected by cancer, we have to know not only yoga, but the landscape of cancer and its impact on the whole person.

In our Teach Yoga for Cancer course, we endeavour to learn that landscape in an embodied and integrated way, using the five koshas model of understanding a human being as many strata of being states. Yes, we are a body but we are also a mind, a heart and a part of the whole.

The whole person approach to yoga for cancer explores in-depth the body, mind, spirit and relationships in the context of cancer so you can teach safely and with authenticity.

In addition to 40 hours of accredited training, you receive:

🧘‍♀️ a six-week ready made yoga for cancer group course

🧘‍♀️ yoga nidra and meditation transcripts ready to use

🧘‍♀️ free lifetime access to my Simple and Safe Yoga and Mindfulness for Pain course.

🧘‍♀️ One year of free mentoring after the course end

Our next Teach Yoga for Cancer course starts March 22nd 2025.

We offer £100 discount to those working for charitable organisations.

Comment HEAL for details

#yogateachers #yogateachertraining #onlineyogatraining #yogaallianceprofessionals

Our yoga teacher training weekend …

🙏🏻 healing chant and Sanskrit with Sarena
🧘‍♀️ creating original yoga class plans
💪 learning about anatomy with goo and tangerines
❤️ is Rosie the skeleton in love? There’s something different since Valentines

We’re now accepting applications for the 25/26 course starting in November.

#ytt #200ytt #yoganorthsomerset #yogabristol #yogawestonsupermare

The best way to find your voice? Use it. We are on week 5 of our 8 week chakra course on Wednesday evenings - the 5th chakra is Vissuddha, the throat chakra. When the throat chakra is blocked or under-active we struggle to articulate our thoughts and express how we really feel.

I struggled with being heard since childhood - unable to articulate, talking so noone could hear and having an all-out system shutdown when speaking in front of groups. That may surprise you to hear, as many of you will know me as someone who is confident in public speaking, which I am - now. I've undergone a huge transformation since I started yoga 26 years ago.

Since teenage years I've been treated as if I were stupid or "too quiet" for this reason, frustrating as I know I am smart but I was always betrayed by my lack of voice. My saving grace was music and singing - my mum is a music teacher and I grew up singing with my family everywhere we went - once, on holiday in Anglesey, the other campers nicknamed us the "singing tent".

Later, I started chanting and I always found that when my practice of sounding was strong, I was comfortable articulating my thoughts to others and could express myself authentically. Along with a regular yoga practice and determination to keep putting myself in situations I dreaded, I gradually started to enjoy public speaking. However, like a lot of women, being comfortable with being heard is still something I'm working on.

I am dedicated to helping others to find their voice and use it. Twice a week, groups of women gather together to sing in a totally non-judgmental space, just enjoying the music. If you are looking for a space to use your beautiful voice, get in touch 🧡🧡

It’s been 7 full weeks since I threw myself out of my front door into Baltic conditions to get covered in mud and have every cell of my body scream WTF! at me. Just the idea of running produced a hard NO from my post-viral body, until this morning.

I’m normally on here advocating for rest, however it’s equally important to give yourself a regular kick up the butt if you have the resilience.

I run because it makes me feel unfettered, free from responsibility and connected to Nature. I have no stuff, no problems - it’s just me, my doggy and the elements 🐶

Drop a YEP in the comments if you can relate and let me know what you do to feel amazing that other people might think is bonkers. Are you an early morning meditator, a cold water dipper, a fell runner? I’d love to know.

NB Seemingly gratuitous panting because I had just run up Sand Point.
Anyone watching this who claims “Weston-super-Nightmare” is a dump, just forget you ever saw this and go back to telling people not to bother. We don’t want our beauty spots getting over-crowded 😉

#selfcare #lovewhereyoulive #antifragility

I absolutely love crafting specialist yoga workshops and this session for @goodgrieffest was a great project to take on.

Yoga is a vast toolbox of techniques we can draw on for self-soothing, finding peace and feeling whole and connected. It was an honour to be invited to share some of these tools to help those who have experienced loss.

The emotions of grief, like any emotions, are experienced in the physical body. The trauma of loss is stressful and that stress can manifest in many ways that can make life more difficult. The grieving body needs time, care and comfort. The grieving body needs a friend. In this seminar, I share how we can teach the body to trust us, resulting in a feeling of safety and how to befriend emotions and lean gently into the physical manifestations of grief.

If you would like some support with navigating grief and loss, Good Grief Festival's course When Grief Is Complicated might help. There are several speakers delivering a total of 7 sessions, which began last Saturday. You can still enrol for the course and catch up with recordings, and it's only £25 for the entire course. Contact Good Grief Festival for how to enrol.

Tea delivery! You’re welcome.

The next mini-retreat is coming soon. I’ll get baking 🧡

There’s no special benefit to doing headstand sequences that you can’t get from other, less complex poses.

The point of doing gymnastics is simple - play!

Let your practice become more somatic, mindful and meaningful over the years, but don’t forget to lark around now and again.

Entering my 49th year, the best start to my day was a little party-for-one on my yoga mat 🎉

#yogateachers #yogapractice #ageingyogis #ageingdisgracefully

Happy birthday to spring! And me!

Celebrating with Moana 2 and Pizza Express today - Isla insisting on coming with me 🙄

Imbolc singing walk with Rachel Dadd at Ashton Court tomorrow.

Happy Imbolc to you 🌱

You need to rest and you also need to move. Is this a paradox? Not necessarily.

This is the practice I did this morning, after 6 weeks of being under par, knowing I need to just stop so my body can heal. I moved slowly and stayed close to the ground, making sure I included varied, rhythmic movement. I rolled a lot and got every plane of my body in contact with the floor. I felt energised and clearer afterwards 🧘‍♀️

Lymphatic fluid is a huge part of our body’s detox system - it transports rogue cells, virus cells, dead cells and cancer cells out of our bodies. Facilitating the flow of lymph is a key part of staying, or getting, well.

For those who have had lymph nodes removed, stimulating lymph flow can help prevent lymphoedema, a condition where lymph fluid collects in the body and causes swelling.

If you, your friend or client are too low on energy to move - know that just breathing can help draw the lymph to the thoracic duct behind the breastbone. The thoracic duct is the main processing plant for toxins to be moved into the digestive system and out of the body via urine.

#yogatraining #yogaforcancerrecovery #ytt #yogateacher #yogaforcancer #lymphoedema

Garth Barns in Wales is a balm for the soul - a sauna, its own lake, luxurious, individually designed accommodation and a beautiful yoga hall with underfloor heating - not to mention Becky from @onlylovekitchen and her incredible food! We'll be yoga-ing, singing, walking, sauna-ing and having a well-deserved break from the merry-go-round of life 🌷🌈

Our remaining availability is as follows:

🛌 Basic en-suite room x 1 (can be double or single occupancy)
🛏️ Two spaces in a triple occupancy en-suite room

Get in touch if you would like to join us!

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@yogabynatureuk

"Morven delivers a fascinating and wide-ranging course, drawing on her own extensive and diverse knowledge and practical experience but also integrating the topic-specific guidance of a range of external tutors, enabling students to garner a wealth of information and ideas informed by immersive first-hand experience. Being an adult learner, stretched literally and metaphorically with new skills and concepts, is undeniably difficult but, from the outset, Morven’s students are made to feel welcome, seen, respected and supported; a strong sense of camaraderie and an informal, but purposeful, mutually supportive, learning environment swiftly develops as a result. Beyond the necessary learning of the asana canon in greater detail, the course provides the opportunity to turn inward and discover a great deal more about ourselves. The study and practice of the subtler aspects of yoga (the potentially life-changing tools such as pranayama or meditation), of anatomy (fostering a more respectful appreciation that moves beyond superficial appearances), and of historical and philosophical context, afford ample opportunity to look more objectively and compassionately at our own reactions and patterns, at our relationship with our minds and bodies. Regardless of whether your intention is to teach or not, this is a fantastic and beneficial course to undertake!"

Becca - 200 hour training graduate

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200 hour Yoga Training Course with Yoga by Nature

Am I Good Enough for Yoga Teacher Training? 😬

In the beginning, it’s easy to look around and think, “She’s more flexible,” or “He knows way more than I do.” But everyone’s on their own path. Some people might have been practicing yoga for a decade. Others might have only just stopped calling it “downward doggy.” (Actually I still call it that)

200-hour Yoga Training in Weston-super-Mare

No Time for a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training? Here’s How to Make It Work (Even with a Busy Life)

On my course, you are met exactly where you are - we are flexible and I am a busy mum myself so I know what it's like to have 10 plates spinning and feel burnt out. Still, we love our yoga and what we love recharges us.