Staying active before, during and after cancer treatment helps you physically and mentally. In our Movement program, we’ll give you tips and advice for finding the right form of exercise, help you understand activity guidelines, and offer classes designed to help you through cancer and beyond.
Stay Active, Stay Strong
Exercise is powerful medicine. For many years, people with cancer were told to rest and avoid exercise, but we now know that during and after treatment, exercise can improve your energy levels, sleep quality, depression and anxiety levels, and immune response, along with dozens of other benefits.
In general, you should aim to get 150 minutes (30 minutes a day, five days a week) of moderate-intensity physical activity a week to receive the most benefits. But research has shown that, for cancer survivors, just three 30-minute sessions of aerobic exercise a week can reduce anxiety, depression and fatigue. During cancer treatment, exercise can help even for those with advanced-stage cancers.
Our Movement program will:
- Help you create an exercise plan that matches your current fitness level and is appropriate for your diagnosis and phase of treatment.
- Teach you exercises that are fun and easy to learn.
- Give you tips and advice to stick with your program for the long term.
Stick With It!
Cancer treatments can be draining and leave you with side effects that make exercise feel like the last thing you want to do. Here are a few tips to help get you through those moments.
Do what you can because every little bit helps. Even five to 10 minutes of walking or movement improves your health, if that’s all you have the energy for.
Make it social. Take a walk with a friend or play soccer with your children or grandchildren. Having other people around boosts your mood and keeps exercise fun.
Write it down. Keeping track of how frequently you exercise can keep you motivated. So can scheduling it into your day—when you treat exercise like a doctor’s appointment or another important event, you might find yourself more likely to stick with it.
Our fitness classes and seminars are led by instructors with credentials in physical therapy and fitness instruction. All sessions are held online via Microsoft Teams, unless otherwise specified on the event page.
Fitness at Diagnosis, During Treatment and After Treatment
This seminar will teach you about the benefits of exercising from the moment of diagnosis, through treatment and recovery, and beyond. You’ll learn which types of exercise are appropriate, how exercise can help you manage side effects and how treatments can affect your energy levels. You’ll also get fitness advice to help you recover and prevent future cancer diagnoses.
View the upcoming dates
Laughter Yoga
You know what they say: Laughter is the best medicine! At Laughter Yoga, you’ll learn unique combinations of breathing, fluid movements and voluntary laughing to make you happier and healthier.
View the upcoming dates (First Monday)
View the upcoming dates (Third Monday)
Moving With Purpose
Movement is medicine, and for anyone seeking a gentler movement practice to complement and facilitate healing of body, mind, emotions and spirit, this class is for you. Move with purpose to reduce stress and increase flexibility, mobility, stability and strength. Join the class to learn how to personalize movement to adapt to your comfort and health needs.
View the upcoming dates (Second Thursday)
View the upcoming dates (Fourth Thursday)
