Yoga for Cancer and Chronic Illness (YCAT)

Adapting Yoga safely for people facing cancer and chronic illness.

This four-day residential intensive for Yoga teachers, Yoga therapists, and health care professionals is the in-person portion of YCat Level One. YCat is a research-informed approach to adapting movement, breath, relaxation, and meditation for people living with cancer or chronic illness. You will learn to meet each student where they are, safely and with presence, at any stage of treatment or recovery.

Sandra Susheela Gilbert, director of YCat, has spent two decades teaching Yoga in hospitals, infusion centers, and research settings.

YCat was created by the late Jnani Chapman, who saw how much people in cancer treatment suffered from side effects that well-adapted Yoga could ease. It grew into a three-level training rooted in Integral Yoga. The training pairs medical and scientific grounding with Sri Swami Satchidananda’s teaching on the Yoga Sutras: how the practices help teacher and student alike steady the mind through pain, illness, and loss. Yogaville, where those teachings took root, is a natural home for this work.

How the Training Works

YCat Level One is a 75-hour hybrid training. The April intensive at Yogaville is followed by live online sessions led by Sandra. Completing all 75 hours earns the YCat Level One certificate. Level One stands on its own, and it also counts toward the full 300-hour YCat training, which continues with Level Two (150 hours of mentoring and online groups) and Level Three (75 hours).

Registration on this page is for the April intensive at Yogaville. Registration for the online sessions, which runs through YCat, opens soon.

What You’ll Experience

• Adapted asana: movement modified for fatigue, pain, and the physical effects of treatment.
• Breathing practices: pranayama adapted to calm the nervous system and support energy.
• Deep relaxation and guided imagery: techniques for easing stress, pain, and anxiety.
• Meditation and chanting: practices for steadying the mind through uncertainty.
• The Yoga Sutras in practice: Sri Swami Satchidananda’s teachings on suffering, illness, life, and death.
• Medical foundations: the essentials of cancer, chronic illness, and aging that inform safe choices.

You Will Leave With

• A framework for adapting practices to each person
• Gentle sequences suited to treatment and recovery
• Relaxation and imagery practices you can use immediately
• Greater confidence serving students facing serious illness
• Progress toward the YCat Level One certificate

Who This Is For

This training is for Yoga teachers, Yoga therapists, nurses, and other health care professionals who serve people with cancer or chronic illness, whether in clinics, hospitals, studios, or at home. It also suits teachers who want to make their classes safer and more welcoming for students living with illness.

Open to Yoga teachers and health care professionals.

Curriculum

• Biology and physiology of cancer
• Common chronic illnesses and aging
• Effects of treatment on body and mind
• Safe adaptation of asana
• Pranayama for people in treatment
• Deep relaxation and guided imagery
• Meditation and chanting
• The Yoga Sutras on pain, illness, and death
• Grief and loss after diagnosis

Continuing Education

IYTA CE certificate: $10 fee (free for members), ce@iyta.org

What Past Participants Say

One of the best program leaders that I have experienced. Her knowledge was great, but what really came through was how much she cares. ~Mary S.

I feel I learned more than I thought I would, especially about the witnessing and mind-body connection. Susheela has a way of teaching that is very natural and makes the students feel very comfortable, rather than stressed. ~Anna L.

Susheela was extremely knowledgeable and drew from personal and professional experience to bring real meaning and understanding to this learning process. It was a pleasure to learn from her and spend time with her. ~Pam W.

The YCat curriculum is so needed in the world. Teaching breath, awareness, and movement to those with cancer and chronic illness offers them a practical, valuable tool they can use in their daily lives. It empowers people with cancer and chronic illness to participate in their own healing. As a yoga teacher, facilitating this is very satisfying. ~Karen D.