Yoga as a Somatic Practice: Reawakening Trust in the Body

By Dr. Doreen Wiggins for Yoga Medicine®.

The Body Remembers, and Yoga Helps It Heal

For many people recovering from breast cancer, reconnecting with the body can feel complicated. The same body that carried them through diagnosis and treatment may also feel foreign—changed, scarred, or untrustworthy. As an integrative breast surgical oncologist and yoga teacher, I’ve witnessed how yoga becomes a bridge home—a way to listen, soften, and rebuild trust from the inside out.

Yoga isn’t only about stretching muscles or finding balance on the mat. It’s a somatic practice—an embodied experience that reawakens communication between the body and brain. Through mindful movement, breath, and awareness, yoga strengthens interoception—the ability to sense what’s happening inside. When that inner dialogue is restored, healing deepens. The nervous system begins to feel safe again, and the mind can recognize the body not as an adversary, but as a wise ally.

The Science of Embodiment

We often say that yoga “changes the brain,” but how does that really happen? Each posture, breath, and moment of awareness sends signals from the body to the brain through afferent sensory pathways. This gentle feedback loop activates regions of the brain that support attention, emotion regulation, and memory—areas often disrupted by cancer treatment and stress. Research shows that yoga can improve cognitive function—particularly what’s called fluid cognition, or the brain’s ability to think flexibly and adapt. Interestingly, restorative and gentle forms of yoga appear most beneficial in this area. Slowing down allows the nervous system to integrate new patterns safely and effectively, supporting what neuroscience calls neuroplasticity—the brain’s capacity to heal and rewire.

Inflammation, the Silent Disruptor

Chronic inflammation—fueled by stress and treatment side effects—can impair brain function and mood. Yoga helps to quiet this process by reducing inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and TNF-α while balancing the body’s stress response. Over time, this biological shift supports neurogenesis and emotional resilience, helping practitioners feel clearer, calmer, and more connected.

A Practice for Noticing and Connection

When we teach yoga to cancer survivors—or anyone healing from an illness—we’re not just guiding movement. We’re helping them rediscover safety in their bodies. This means leading with compassion, pacing gently, and honoring interoceptive awareness. Encourage students to notice internal sensations—how breath expands the ribs, how the heart softens after an exhale, how stillness feels steady rather than empty. As yoga teachers, we create the conditions for neuroplastic change by teaching students to inhabit, notice, deepen awareness of their own bodies again.

What the Research Recommends

Oncologic professional societies, including the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), now recommend yoga as a supportive therapy in survivorship care. Evidence supports yoga’s ability to ease fatigue, anxiety, sleep disturbance, and cognitive fog—without side effects.

The emerging research is exciting: studies show increases in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)—a key molecule for brain growth—and improved connectivity in areas responsible for focus and emotional balance. Science is catching up with what yoga practitioners have long known: healing happens when we feel safe enough to listen inward.

Coming Home to the Body

Yoga is both ancient wisdom and modern medicine. It teaches that healing isn’t only a physical process—it’s an act of remembering wholeness. Each breath, each posture, each moment of embodied awareness reweaves the dialogue between body and mind. “Yoga is a somatic practice—an embodied experience that reawakens trust in the body.”

Through that trust, the body remembers what it’s always known: how to heal, how to rest, and how to return to itself.

References:

1. Bower JE et al. Yoga for cancer patients and survivors. CA Cancer J Clin. 2021;71(3):187–206.
2. Gothe NP, McAuley E. Yoga and cognition: A meta-analysis of chronic and acute effects. Psychosom Med. 2015;77(7):784–797.
3. Kiecolt-Glaser JK et al. Yoga’s impact on inflammation, mood, and fatigue in breast cancer survivors. J Clin Oncol. 2014;32(10):1040–1049.
4. Streeter CC et al. Effects of yoga on the autonomic nervous system, gamma-aminobutyric acid, and allostasis in epilepsy, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Med Hypotheses. 2012;78(5):571–579.
5. American Society of Clinical Oncology and Society for Integrative Oncology Guidelines. J Clin Oncol. 2022;40(17):1916–1948.

Important Health Advisory
The information within this article is not meant to replace medical care or preventative measures. You should consult an appropriate healthcare professional to determine if the exercise and information in this article are appropriate for your physical, medical, and psychological conditions.

If you are a yoga teacher, you should convey this message to your clients.

Yoga Medicine®