How Trauma-informed Restorative Yoga for recovery makes you feel safe after cancer and chronic pain
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
How one client found relief, reconnection and renewal after breast cancer and back injury
Introduction
Recovery from serious illness is rarely just a physical process. Alongside the surgeries, the treatments and the clinical appointments, there is often a difficult personal journey happening beneath the surface: learning to trust your body again, finding the courage to slow down, and allowing yourself to be cared for.
This is the story of Sandie, a breast cancer survivor living with chronic back pain following spinal surgery. Over six weeks, we worked through my Relax and Renew® programme, drawing on the teachings of Judith Hanson Lasater and the therapeutic application of trauma-informed Restorative Yoga for recovery, pain management and nervous system regulation.
What unfolded over those six weeks, as well as physical improvement was, in Sandie's own words, a massive transformation.
The Challenge
A history of illness, surgery and pain
Sandie is five years on from a breast cancer diagnosis. In that time, she has undergone six surgeries, including spinal surgery following a mid-thoracic spinal fracture sustained in a horse-riding accident. She lives with persistent pain in her back, neck and arms, and has been under the long-term care of a spinal surgeon.
Her daily life is shaped by that pain. We’re talking about more than background discomfort. It’s constant, relentless and present from the moment she wakes up.
"I'm in a lot of pain constantly all day long."
Holding everything together
Like many women navigating serious illness alongside the demands of professional and family life, Sandie had developed a well-worn pattern of pushing through. She is highly capable, resourceful, and deeply accustomed to being the one who coped. Asking for help, let alone allowing someone else to care for her, did not come naturally.
When she started the programme, she described being emotionally raw after a particularly difficult week. Her nervous system was unsettled. She was not sure she could switch off. And she was not sure she was ready to let someone else take over.
The Approach: Trauma-informed Restorative Yoga for recovery
The Relax and Renew® method, developed by Judith Hanson Lasater, is the gold standard of Restorative Yoga, using carefully positioned props, including blankets, bolsters, bricks and supportive padding, to allow the body to rest fully in each pose without effort or strain. The emphasis is not on stretching or strengthening but on creating the conditions for the nervous system to move from a state of activation into genuine rest.
As a certified Relax and Renew® Level 2 practitioner, trained directly with Judith Hanson Lasater, I designed Sandie's six-week programme around her specific history: the chest and spinal surgeries, plus the emotional weight and stress from years of holding everything together.
What each session included
Each session was built around deeply supported postures chosen to be safe and appropriate for her surgical history and pain levels. These included Supta Baddha Konasana, Viparita Karani, Mountain Brook, supported twists, Salamba Supta Virasana and Burrito Savasana, among others.
Every pose was set up with meticulous attention to detail: the height of the bolster, the weight of the blanket, the position of her head and arms. After each pose, feedback was gathered on her physical sensations, emotional state and energy levels, allowing the sessions to be adapted as the weeks progressed.
Breathwork and mindful awareness were woven throughout. The therapeutic relationship itself, the experience of being guided, supported and cared for by someone else, was understood from the outset as an essential part of the work.
The journey
What restorative yoga feels like when you are in chronic pain
Sandie arrived at the first session guarded and in significant pain. She was unfamiliar with restorative practice and uncertain about whether she could truly relax. What she noticed, even in that first session, was the difference that skilled, attentive propping made.
"Because you're in the right position and fully supported, those tiny tweaks feel amazing to do. In a regular yoga class, you don't always get that same precision. The supportive element here makes those adjustments so much better and more effective."
How Restorative Yoga session helped reset after trauma
Several weeks in, Sandie came to a session after what she described as a difficult week. She arrived unsettled and physically depleted. By the end of the session, something had shifted noticeably.
"I came here after an odd week. To leave here today feeling protected, loved, cared for... it's put me back to where I was before. The trauma has all gone now. I've re-focused. It's put me back to normal again."
Why allowing yourself to be cared for is part of the healing process
One of the most significant threads running through the six weeks was Sandie's gradual shift around care and support. She had always been the capable one, the person others leaned on. Allowing someone else to tend to her was unfamiliar territory.
A moment that captured this shift came during a Burrito Savasana, a pose in which the body is gently wrapped and cocooned in blankets.
"I used to swaddle my boys when they couldn't sleep, wrap them up like little cocoons, and they always loved it. But I'd never experienced it myself until now. And having it done for me... oh my gosh, it was just so comforting, so safe. I felt totally held."
Nervous system regulation beyond the mat: Building self-awareness
As the weeks went on, Sandie noticed that the effects of the sessions were beginning to extend beyond the mat. She was developing greater awareness of her own body and nervous system, and learning to draw on that awareness between sessions. "Every time I come, it feels like a reset button has been pressed. But now I'm also learning to consciously reset on my own, even outside of our sessions."
Outcomes and impact
Physical: from constant pain to measurable relief
The physical changes across the six weeks were significant and, in one instance, independently verified.
After two sessions, Sandie reported that her back pain had reduced from a score of 9 to 10 out of 10 down to a 4 or 5. Her overall sense of wellbeing, which had dropped sharply, returned to her personal baseline of 9 to 10.
"I feel six feet taller. It's just eased everything off physically. The overall general wellbeing feels like I've been away for a fortnight after a few minutes on the mat. It just completely recharges you."
Perhaps the most striking validation came from her spinal surgeon. During a routine appointment partway through the programme, he remarked unprompted on the change in her posture.
"He said he wouldn't have known it from looking at me because my posture was so good. I told him I've been practising Restorative Yoga and consciously working to correct myself, and he said it's definitely working and will be helping. That felt amazing to hear."
She also described the sessions as the only time in her daily life when she experienced complete freedom from pain. "This is the only time I get to be in no pain at all, which obviously affects the mental side. It makes me feel more relaxed and happier and content as there's no pain."
Emotional: safety, calm and self-compassion
Emotionally, the six weeks represented a significant reset. Sandie moved from a state of guardedness and chronic tension to one of calm, safety and self-connection.
The experience of being held, both physically in the poses and relationally in the therapeutic space, was repeatedly identified as deeply healing. It was something she had never allowed herself before.
"The ability to completely switch off knowing that you've been cared for is beyond belief."
Mental and mindset: self-awareness and sustainable change
By the end of the programme, Sandie described a transformation in her relationship with herself: her body, her pain, her capacity to slow down, and her willingness to ask for support.
"Where I was when I first met you and where I am now are worlds apart. I feel so much more capable of managing my pain, my mindset, my self-care. Everything. It's been a massive transformation."
She also spoke to the broader significance of what she had learned, not just about restorative yoga, but about the nature of healing itself. "I've learned that restorative yoga isn't just about the poses. It's about being restored, like when you lovingly restore something that's been worn down. It's about letting someone support you. I've never been the kind of person to ask for help, but over these six weeks, I've realised that allowing someone to help you is a powerful part of the healing process."
Reflection
Sandie's story is not unusual. Many women in midlife, particularly those who have navigated serious illness, surgery, or long periods of chronic stress, arrive in a state of sustained depletion. They are still functioning. They are still showing up. But underneath, they are running on empty.
What this six-week programme demonstrated is that the body, given the right conditions, has a profound capacity to rest, reset and recover. Restorative yoga, practised with appropriate therapeutic skill and genuine care, offers something that is difficult to find elsewhere: a space where the nervous system can genuinely let go, where pain can ease, and where the experience of being held, physically and relationally, can begin to shift long-held patterns of self-sufficiency and suppression.
The changes Sandie experienced were not the result of extra effort or strict discipline. They were the result of rest, attention, and the simple but radical act of allowing someone to care for her.
If you are recovering from cancer treatment, surgery, or long-term illness, or if you are living with chronic pain and the exhaustion that accompanies it, this kind of work may be more relevant than you think. It does not require you to be well enough for a regular yoga class, or strong enough to push through. It simply requires you to arrive.
About the Relax and Renew® Method
Relax and Renew® is a trademarked Restorative Yoga method developed by Judith Hanson Lasater, one of the world's leading yoga teachers and a pioneer in the therapeutic application of yoga. It is recognised internationally for its evidence-informed approach to relaxation, nervous system regulation and recovery from illness, injury and chronic stress.
Managing cancer or chronic illness and work
If you are navigating work alongside a health condition or cancer diagnosis, my free guide may be a useful next step. Five Ways to Manage Chronic Illness or Cancer and Keep Your Job offers practical strategies drawn from lived experience, including small, sustainable steps to protect your wellbeing while continuing to meet your responsibilities at work.
