A Breast Cancer Awareness Month Reflection

Hey there, Yogi 💗

October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month — a time to honor strength, remember resilience, and hold space for everyone whose life has been touched by this journey.

But it’s also a moment to pause and reflect on something we all share: how we see our bodies.

Many of us carry quiet fears — about aging, illness, or change.
Yet when we reconnect with our bodies through breath and compassion, fear softens into something gentler: awareness, gratitude, and love.

Today’s issue is about transforming fear into care — using mindful movement and breath to rediscover peace with your body.

The kind of peace that lets you stand before a mirror, breathe deeply, and see not what’s missing or changed, but what’s miraculously still here.

Yoga Deep Dive
Santosha — The Art of Finding Peace in Change

When fear lives in the body, it shows up as tension, fatigue, or disconnection.

In breast cancer survivors, this disconnection can run deep — many describe feeling like their body is no longer their own.

But yoga, at its heart, is the practice of coming home.

Ancient teachings call this santosha — contentment — not as passive acceptance, but as sacred trust.

Santosha is the second of the Niyamas (yogic principles for self-discipline) in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

It’s often summarized as “contentment,” but not the passive kind that asks you to simply accept everything.

True santosha means choosing peace even when perfection is gone — a steady flame that keeps burning when outer circumstances flicker.

In the context of breast cancer recovery, body image, or any major life shift, santosha becomes radical.

It’s the courage to say:

The Two Layers of Santosha

1. Acceptance of What Is

This is the surface practice: acknowledging the reality of what’s here.

• The scar, the fatigue, the emotional waves — none of these make you less whole.

• Instead of pushing them away, you breathe them in.

2. Gratitude for What Remains

Deeper santosha means finding joy in the smallest remaining gifts — a gentle breath, a sunrise, the warmth of tea on your hands.

• Gratitude expands your inner space, even in times of loss.

• The more you notice what’s still here, the less you cling to what’s gone.

This is the alchemy of santosha: turning loss into light.

💞 A Reflective Exercise: “What Is Still Here?”

Take a few quiet moments today and ask yourself:

• What is still strong in me?

• What is still beautiful?

• What do I still love, even after all that’s changed?

You may write them down or speak them aloud while placing your hand on your heart.
Each answer is a thread connecting you back to Santosha.

🌙 Embodying Santosha in Practice

When you step onto the mat — or even when you can’t — try this:

• Move gently, without chasing performance.

• Replace “I wish I could” with “I’m grateful I can.”

• End every practice by thanking your body, even for what it couldn’t do today.

Your body may have changed — but your capacity for presence hasn’t.
That’s santosha: the quiet confidence that what you are is already enough.

Practice of The Day
A Mirror Ritual for Self-Reconciliation

You’ll want to carve out a few quiet minutes for this practice, maybe tonight when everything slows down.

Find a space where you won’t be interrupted. Bring a mirror, a candle (if you have one), and your favorite playlist.

Because what you’re about to do isn’t just movement. It’s a shift.

You’ll see your reflection not as something to critique, but as someone to care for.

And you might realize — perhaps for the first time — that your body has been waiting for you to come home.

🌿 Step 1: Create Your Space

• Dim the lights. Light a candle if you have one.
  Let this moment feel sacred, even if it’s brief.
  

• Stand or sit where you can see your reflection — in a mirror, a window, or even the black screen of your phone.

• Place one hand on your heart, the other on your belly.
  Inhale for 4, hold for 2, exhale for 6.
  With each exhale, imagine releasing judgment.

• Whisper:

🌷 Step 2: Move into Mountain Pose (Tadasana)

• Stand tall, feet grounded, spine long.

• Inhale, lift your arms overhead, palms open.

• Exhale, slowly release them down — as if you’re letting go of everything you’ve carried for too long.

• Repeat this 3–5 times, moving slowly, eyes soft on your reflection.
  
  You may notice emotion rising — a lump in your throat, warmth behind your eyes. Let it come.
  
  This is the body remembering it’s safe to feel again.

🌺 Step 3: Speak to the Reflection

Now look into your own eyes, in the reflection.
Not critically — curiously.

Say softly:

Pause.

Notice how your breath deepens as you say the words.

Then wrap your arms around yourself, feeling the real weight and warmth of who you are, then say:

After these minutes, don’t rush away. Sit quietly for a moment.

You might feel lighter — not in your body, but in your being.
Your breath will feel more open.
Your mind quieter.
And your heart… softer toward the body it’s been fighting for years.

This is what self-reconciliation feels like — quiet, real, whole.

Yoga in Everyday Life
Mirror Work for Self-Worth

Next time you look in the mirror, take a moment to simply see yourself — without judgment, comparison, or analysis.

Notice your breath. Notice the life that moves through you.

Then think of one part of your body you’ve judged, avoided, or wished were different.

Place your hand over there.

Breathe.

Whisper: “Thank you for staying with me.”

Every time you replace fear with gratitude, you begin to transform not just how you look at your body, but how you live in it.

Healing isn’t about returning to who you were.
It’s about honoring who you’ve become.

✨ Your Story Matters

If you or someone you love has faced breast cancer, your story has the power to light the way for others.

We’d love to hear from you!

Reply to this email and tell us all about it: your experiences, lessons, and moments of courage.

We will share it (with your permission) in our upcoming issue to inspire others walking the same path.

This October, may we all learn to see our light, not despite our scars, but through them.

With compassion,
— The Yoga Daily Team

P.S. If this practice touched you, share your reflection with us. You might be surprised how many hearts you’ll touch.