190: Yes To Life Show with Robin Daly MBE - Episode 190190: Yes To Life Show with Robin Daly MBE - Episode 190
UK Health Radio Podcast
Host Robin Daly talks with yoga specialist Vicky Fox about how yoga can support people affected by cancer, from managing fatigue and anxiety to adapting movement for different stages of illness. They also discuss integrative oncology, men’s reluctance to join yoga classes and simple practices that help people feel more in control of their health.
43:46•24 Sept 2026
Not Just Posing: How Yoga Supports People Living With Cancer
Episode Overview
- Yoga can help with common side effects of cancer treatment, including anxiety, fatigue, lymphedema risk and menopausal symptoms.
- Maintaining or rebuilding muscle mass through appropriately challenging yoga supports energy levels and daily functioning.
- Yoga is adaptable for almost anyone affected by cancer, from active treatment through to end of life, by shifting emphasis from poses to breath, meditation and subtle practices.
- Bringing attention to breath and thoughts can calm the nervous system, reduce worry and give people a sense of space and perspective.
- Integrative approaches that respect both medical treatment and whole-person practices like yoga can help people feel more in charge of their own care.
“You become the CEO of you because you're the only person that knows what it feels like to be you.”
Cancer treatment can leave people feeling exhausted, anxious and very much like life has been taken out of their hands. This conversation between host Robin Daly and yoga specialist Vicky Fox shows how yoga can gently hand some of that control back. Vicky talks through the growing research on yoga for people affected by cancer, from mindfulness and meditation helping with anxiety, to early work around lymphedema, menopause symptoms and peripheral neuropathy.
She explains why fatigue is such a huge issue and why keeping muscle mass matters so much: standing in the shower or carrying shopping can feel like climbing a mountain, so her classes are gentle but still strong enough to help rebuild or maintain strength. You’ll hear how Vicky adapts yoga for almost anyone, including those with metastases or at end of life, stressing that yoga isn’t just about poses on a mat.
Hand gestures, breathing practices and relaxation can all be shaped around someone’s current health, with safety as a priority but without wrapping people in cotton wool. A big part of the chat looks at integrative oncology and yoga’s whole-person approach. Vicky uses the ancient yogic model of the body as ‘multi-layered’—physical, breath, mind and something deeper—to explain how a few minutes of focused breathing can calm the nervous system and create tiny pockets of peace during a very frightening time.
As she puts it, “the fact that I can witness my thoughts means I'm not my thoughts,” a perspective that can be life-changing when fear and worry are running the show. The pair also tackle why so few men come to yoga, how role models and online classes might help, and why talking openly about side effects such as pelvic floor issues matters.
If you’re living with cancer or supporting someone who is, could yoga be the extra tool that helps you feel a bit more like yourself again?
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