Join yoga therapist Julie Shaw, MEd, LMT, C-IAYT, for an accessible yoga practice of alternate-nostril breathing in this 5-minute video.

Julie explains how she used the technique, which is often used to encourage balance between the rest-and-digest and fight-flight-freeze aspects of the nervous system, to calm her own responses while going through various stages of a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Currently the curriculum coordinator for the American Viniyoga Institute’s Clinical Applications Program, Julie has more than 35 years of experience practicing and teaching yoga. As a yoga therapist in medical and private settings, she served as a stress management specialist in the Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease and has partnered with physicians at an integrative medical practice. She holds a master’s degree in adult and continuing education and completed massage therapy training to expand her understanding of the fascial system.

During her cancer treatment, Julie notes that she used the skills she learned as a yoga therapist to address the myriad physical, mental, and emotional symptoms she experienced.

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