(Edmonton) Treatment for breast cancer often leaves women in pain, immobilized and feeling tired and depressed. University of Alberta research fellow Amy Speed-Andrews has examined how a specialized Iyengar yoga program is helping breast cancer survivors stretch and breathe their way through recovery.

Speed-Andrews, from the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, says past research hasn’t focused on any specific type of yoga, which is what makes this study about Iyengar yoga unique.

“People have done studies with yoga and breast cancer but they haven’t specified what type of yoga they were doing so it’s hard to replicate studies and build an evidence base for its benefits,” she says. 

The work began with doctoral fellow Clare Stevinson, who started the study before Speed-Andrews arrived at the U of A. Stevinson started data collection by asking participants to fill out a questionnaire at the beginning of a 12-week session of Iyengar yoga and again at the end.

“They were asked general health-related and disease-specific questions about symptoms from treatment, surgery and how that effects their quality of life. Then we looked at different psychosocial aspects like depression, anxiety and body image,” said Speed-Andrews.

Speed-Andrews analyzed the data that was collected over a two-year period and found that after the yoga, 94 per cent said they had improvements in their quality of life; 88 per cent felt better physically; 87 per cent reported being happier and 80 per cent were less tired. Other improvements were reported in body image and in decreased levels of stress, anxiety and depression.

She was encouraged by the results, adding, “This provides incentive for future larger, randomized, controlled trials to examine in greater depth the benefit of yoga for breast cancer survivors.”

Iyengar yoga instructor Judith Mirus designed the specialized program for breast cancer survivors in consultation with the daughter of yoga master BKS Iyengar. Mirus says seeing the women during their practice is proof it’s making a difference.

“Energy, balance, relaxation, I was surprised by how powerful that is for them. You can see that when you have them in the poses,” said Mirus.

Mirus is a breast cancer survivor herself and says yoga helped get her through treatment.

“My control of quality of life and my control of my mental functioning—because you do get ‘chemo brain’ and your memory is affected—all that was much more manageable because I had something very concrete to use and that was yoga.”

Speed-Andrews recently published a paper in the journal Cancer Nursing. She plans to add an additional component to her research once the next session of Iyengar yoga classes begin this September and wants to examine how Iyengar yoga effects these women’s joint range of motion, upper body strength and balance.

“We’re hoping to eventually extend the research by examining the benefits of the program for women with advanced breast cancer.”