Phase 2 · Four Weeks of Gentle Movement

Part of the 8-Week Supportive Yoga Program After Cancer Treatment

30-Minute Yoga Sequence for Fatigue After Cancer Treatment

Weeks three to six. Some standing, gentle spinal movement, and the same ending.

The middle four weeks add movement, and that matters: in the largest analysis of fatigue, physically active forms of practice worked better than breathing alone. It stays gentle. There is still nothing that puts weight through your hands, still no heated room, and the session still ends on your back with the legs supported.

30 min · Level 1

← Back to the full program

When it helps

For weeks three to six, three times a week. Thirty minutes. A chair, a wall, a strap and cushions. For after your primary treatment has finished, not during chemotherapy or radiotherapy. This is supportive care alongside your follow-up, and it is not a cancer treatment: anything new or unexplained goes to your oncology team first. Never in a heated room. If you have lymphoedema or had lymph nodes removed, keep weight off the arms and hands in the poses, and raise the affected arm on cushions during the final rest. Bone metastases, active treatment, immunosuppression, recent surgery or an unclear lymphoedema all need medical clearance before you start.

Fatigue

Moving matters here. In one meta-analysis, actively physical forms of yoga reduced fatigue more than breathing practice alone did.

Shoulders and chest

Reaching overhead and opening the front of the chest, without any load through the arms.

Sleep

Unchanged. The last eight minutes are the same as in week one for a reason.

Standing, gently

Ten minutes upright with a chair in reach. Sit down at any point and carry on from the chair.

Tadasana

2 min

Mountain Pose

Feet hip width, weight even. Room cool, never heated. Breathe out a little longer than you breathe in.

Standing up and doing almost nothing is a bigger step after treatment than it sounds, and it is where this phase starts.

Learn more about Tadasana

Urdhva Hastasana

2 min

Upward Salute

Arms lifting as far as they go, no further. If one side goes less far because of surgery or radiotherapy, lift it as far as it goes and stop there.

Overhead reach without load. Comparing the two sides each week is a fair way to see what is coming back.

Learn more about Urdhva Hastasana

Parshva Tadasana

1 min each side

Mountain Pose with Side Bend

One arm up and over, reaching out rather than bending down. Small if the side is tight from scarring.

The side body, which shortens quietly around a scar and complains later rather than now.

Learn more about Parshva Tadasana

Virabhadrasana II

1 min each side

Warrior II

A wide stance, front knee bent a little, arms out at shoulder height or lower if that is easier. Hand on a chair if you want it.

The legs doing something, held briefly. Leg strength is what makes ordinary days cheaper.

Learn more about Virabhadrasana II

Uttanasana

2 min

Standing Forward Bend

Knees soft, folding from the hip crease with a long back, hands to the shins or a chair seat. Come up slowly.

A hip hinge with the hands supported. Coming up slowly matters if your blood pressure is still settling after treatment.

Learn more about Uttanasana

Lower down

Twelve minutes on the floor and on your back. Forearms or a chair rather than hands on the mat throughout.

Vajrasana

2 min

Thunderbolt Pose

Kneeling on a folded blanket, or sitting on a chair. Take your time getting down.

The transition, taken slowly. Rushing it costs more than it saves.

Learn more about Vajrasana

Marjaryasana

2 min

Cat Pose

On hands and knees, rounding the back on the out breath. If weight on the hands is a problem, do this on your forearms on a chair seat, or seated over the thighs.

Spinal movement joined to the breath, in a version that keeps load off the wrists and the affected arm.

Learn more about Marjaryasana

Bitilasana

2 min

Cow Pose

Chest forward on the in breath, slowly, in whichever version you chose.

Extension, which is the direction a treated chest and shoulder almost never get.

Learn more about Bitilasana

Bharadvajasana 1

90 sec each side

Bharadvaja's Twist

A gentle seated turn. Smaller again if there is bone involvement in the spine.

Rotation without force, unchanged since week one.

Learn more about Bharadvajasana 1

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

1 min, three times

Bridge Pose

On your back, feet flat, hips lifting a little. Arms resting alongside, no pushing through the hands. Or rest the hips on a block and lift nothing.

The hips and legs, with the arms staying out of it entirely. Both versions are the pose.

Learn more about Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

The ending

Eight minutes, unchanged since week one.

Viparita Karani

4 min

Legs Up the Wall

Legs up the wall, or knees bent with the feet on the floor.

The same four minutes. It has been in every session and it stays.

Learn more about Viparita Karani

Savasana

4 min

Corpse Pose

Flat, covered, affected arm raised on cushions if you have lymphoedema.

Four minutes, with the arm up. That detail comes from the trial that studied this in women with lymphoedema and found no worsening.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 2 · Weeks 3 to 6

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Four Weeks of Gentle Movement, the second phase of the 8-Week Supportive Yoga Program After Cancer Treatment. The program says how often to practise it, what comes before and after, and when to move on.

See the whole program →

Integration

Three times a week for weeks three to six, with the ten-minute evening version on the days that go badly. Judge the dose by the day after: fatigue that is worse for more than a day means less next time, not more determination.

The teacher behind this sequence

Gründer & Autor

Manish Rana

Gründer von Asanaverse.de. Manish schreibt über Yoga, Ayurveda und Meditation und verdankt seine tiefe Verbindung zum Yoga seinen indischen Wurzeln. Mit über 1000 Stunden Yoga Alliance Teacher Training gibt er sein Wissen an die Community weiter.

View profile →

Go deeper into the poses

Every asana in this practice has a page of its own. You will find alignment cues, what the shape actually works on, and the energetics behind it.

Open the Asana Lab

Make it yours

Keep this practice in your library, print it for the mat, or build your own sequence from all 108 asanas.

Create a free account

All sequences

← Back to overview