My story
Hi I’m Helen, a breast cancer survivor and specialised yoga teacher for breast cancer recovery in the UK.
When my treatment ended...
I expected relief. Instead, I didn’t fully recognise myself, physically or emotionally.
The most disorienting phase began when treatment ended, when my family and friends could finally exhale, and yet I couldn’t quite breathe out myself.
Many mornings, I stood at the kitchen counter, coffee in hand, and felt tears come before the day had begun. Then I carried on: the emails, school runs, life, work. There was an unspoken expectation that I move forward.
But I realised that I didn’t need more resilience. I needed a space where I could rebuild trust in my body, regain confidence in who I was becoming, and where nothing was required of me.
I found my space through yoga...
When I was on the mat, something in me softened. It wasn’t an instant or dramatic shift, but for the first time in over a year, my body felt safe.
After I got the ‘all clear’, I began volunteering with Breast Cancer Now, and I started to notice how many women exist in that in-between place after treatment has ended, living in the aftermath of trauma. They’re expected to feel grateful, relieved, ‘back to normal’, while their nervous systems are still braced for survival.
My sister had been diagnosed with stage three breast cancer five months before me. When she spoke about ‘after-cancer life’, she half-joked that all of us had post-traumatic stress disorder. Something in me clicked. I realised the diagnosis itself is a trauma to the body, and then the treatment is another trauma layered on top. The women I was supporting were carrying that trauma. Yoga had been my way of releasing it.
I became a teacher...
Deepening my understanding of the science behind yoga.
This experience led me to train as a yoga teacher and to deepen my understanding of the science behind yoga’s impact on the nervous system in recovery.
I created The Reclamation Space for these women. Here, we work gently, with breath, with regulation, and with trust.
In this deeply held space, you are not alone.
The why behind ‘Reclamation’
I chose the word reclamation because this journey is about taking back what cancer tries to change.
When you lose your breasts, or part of them, or undergo reconstruction, you are reclaiming ownership of your body; learning to inhabit it again, as it is now.
During treatment, autonomy can feel stripped away. Even the choices you’re given are shaped by risk and compromise. Reclamation is about restoring a sense of agency – feeling that your body is yours again.
When treatment ends, you’re expected to return to ‘normal’. But your body, perspective, and sense of safety may have shifted. Reclamation is about rebuilding trust: in your body, in your future, in yourself.
This process needs space, gentleness, and support. My yoga classes and programmes are designed to offer exactly that: a space to reclaim your body, your autonomy, and your sense of self.