Background: Physical activity provides a number of physical and psychological benefits to cancer survivors, including lessening the impact of detrimental cancer‐related symptoms and treatment side‐effects (e.g. fatigue, nausea), and improving overall well‐being and quality of life. The purpose of the present pilot study was to examine the physical and psychological benefits afforded by a 7‐week yoga program for cancer survivors.

Method: Eligible participants (per‐screened with PAR‐Q/PAR‐MED‐X) were randomly assigned to either the intervention (n=20) or control group (n=18). All participants completed pre‐ and post‐testing assessments immediately before and after the yoga program, respectively.

Results: The yoga program participants (M age=51.18 (10.33); 92% female) included primarily breast cancer survivors, on average 55.95 (54.39) months post‐diagnosis. Significant differences between the intervention and the control group at post‐intervention were seen only in psychosocial (i.e. global quality of life, emotional function, and diarrhea) variables (all p's <0.05). There were also trends for group differences, in the hypothesized directions, for the psychosocial variables of emotional irritability, gastrointestinal symptoms, cognitive disorganization, mood disturbance, tension, depression, and confusion (all p's <0.10). Finally, there were also significant improvements in both the program participants and the controls from pre‐ to post‐intervention on a number of physical fitness variables.

Conclusions: These initial findings suggest that yoga has significant potential and should be further explored as a beneficial physical activity option for cancer survivors. Future research might attempt to include a broader range of participants (e.g. other types of cancer diagnoses, male subjects), a larger sample size, and a longer program duration in an RCT. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.