Massage and Cancer – Amber Joy Young – Offering Care and Support

Gentle Touch To Soothe Pain with a diagnosis of Cancer; Physically and Emotionally

1st January 20265th February 2026Amber_Young

Compassionate touch is one of the many sacred ways we can connect as beings; it is a true honour to be welcomed into a person’s circle of care and to hold healing space.

As the number of cases of cancer, and other manifestations of illness steadily increases in our world, there also exists an increased need to connect with eachother in ways that bring us physically together as humans and support one another.

Touch given with a therapeutic and compassionate intention has the potential to affect an individual physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Gentle massage can soothe physical pain and create space for the mind to come to a place of stillness and greater acceptance of challenges we may be facing in our lives. By being fully present with an individual and honouring pain that may exist, an environment for a deeper level of healing is fostered, and we are reminded that we are not alone.

When I began giving massage therapy to individuals with cancer, through complex care and at end of life; it increased my understanding of human suffering and the ways in which it is a shared suffering. I have witnessed the incredible impact touch can have on an individual when we meet one another in this place.

It’s important to balance all of the unknowns of a cancer diagnosis and the stressful effects of medical appointments with supports and care that; anchor us in our wholeness, support us to integrate the whirlwind of appointments, information, tests and treatments, and help to continually build our resources so we can cope.

Massage therapy is one of many complementary therapies that offers the potential to soothe pain, on a physical and an emotional level, balancing the effects of many medical treatments.

Massage is a safe and supportive therapy to receive when you have a diagnosis of cancer. It is important to understand that there are considerations when receiving treatment, to ensure you receive the best care possible. You want to find a therapist who understands and is open to learning about the disease process in your body and your changing needs. A trained, respectful and educated therapist can provide massage during diagnosis, medical treatments (ie. chemotherapy, radiation, surgery), when in remission, and through palliative care with a terminal diagnosis.

Massage therapy is also a profound support in “the after”. This is a time when cancer did not take a person’s life (they have survived), intensive treatments are over, sometimes supports fall away, there is no evidence of disease, and some folks are adjusting to living with a chronic cancer and a changed body. In this phase, the nervous system is often in a state of dysregulation and needs support that works directly with establishing a sense of safety in the body, and specific care to the brain and spinal nerves. This is often the time a person is processing the lived experience of cancer and is in a dance with acceptance as there is often a lot of change; in a person’s physical body and in the way they navigate and perceive the world. This is a time of deep integration.

Reflecting on my clinical experience over the past 20 years, as well as reference to the reputable studies that have been done, massage therapy has helped people with; pain management, anxiety, depression, disconnection from the body and/or from people, decreased self esteem, body image, muscular tension, sleep issues, stiffness and pain, swelling, nausea, fatigue and feelings of isolation or loneliness. Massage therapy and other forms of bodywork also help to create space to release the accumulation of emotional trauma from our body tissues.

When I enter a therapeutic relationship I often find that a primary goal of our time together is to support the reintegration of a person, reminding them that they are so much more than a diagnosis. Often what is needed most is a safe place to rest, to offer comfort and compassionate care, and to help with symptom relief specific to the individual.

Every person is unique, as is their story, and this requires deep reverence in treatment. The experiences and the stories I have been privileged to share with people through my hands and my heart have shaped me as a massage therapist, as a yoga teacher and how I experience life.

Some general guidelines of important concerns to discuss with your therapist would be:

(adapted from Tracy Walton’s “Massage therapy for people with cancer: Fear and Healing”)

Where is the specific issue you are presently dealing with, and naming how it feels
Current or past treatments (surgery/radiation/chemo/bone marrow transplant/etc.), side effects, complications, and discuss how this will be considered in the massage treatment
Discuss lymph node involvement and risk of lymphedema
Discuss medications and their effects
Blood counts if known, and any clotting considerations
Discuss if dialogue with your Medical Doctor, Oncologist, Naturopathic Doctor would be appropriate and necessary, based on your health history, status, and stage of progression.
A continued update to any changes in your health is essential, and it is also necessary to chart your response to every massage treatment to ensure you are always getting the best possible care.
Most importantly, how YOU are – not just physically, but emotionally as well

This is a simplification and a general look at some key areas that need to be covered when you have a more complex condition and you’re seeing a massage therapist. Not all areas noted above will be relevant to everyone, and in some people there will be a need to expand on the complexity of the above. When these concerns are discussed openly and honestly between you and your therapist, the treatment can proceed with more confidence and a greater depth of trust for everyone involved.

Connecting in this way can pave the path for true compassion and healing, finding our way to wholeness. It is my hope that we as a society can have more conversations about existing fears of the unknown and the fear many have of illness. Perhaps it is possible that we can begin to move to a place where we’re able to embrace the mystery and humanness of life. There is a sacredness in sharing this journey with others through touch, bridging the science, the necessary education of the body and its systems, and the intuitive understanding of massage and hands on healing.

With a deep respect for the human body, and the safe spaces where we can put ourselves back together again.

Amber Young

I teach weekly online yoga classes Thursday mornings from 10:30 – 11:35 am EST, you can join from anywhere (live or with the recording). These classes are suitable for anyone needing to slow down and reconnect with their breath, I offer chair and mat options through the practice.

Consider upgrading to a paid membership, created with the intention to offer guidance whenever you need a little extra support. Enjoy a weekly email, free access to my monthly bedtime yoga class and special practice recordings.

If you’re interested in booking massage therapy with me check out my website for more information

References:

Medicine Hands, Massage Therapy for people with Cancer, Gayle MacDonald (2014)

Course work and Training Manuals, Tracy Walton, LMT, 2003 – 2005

Massage Therapy and Cancer, Debra Curties (1999)

Massage therapy for cancer patients: a reciprocal relationship between body and mind (Sagar/Dryden/Wong, 2007) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1891200/

The body keeps the score; brain, mind and body in the healing of trauma, Bessel Van Der Kolk (2015 )

Somatoemotional Release and Beyond, John Upledger (1990)

Practice Updates

6th July 202413th July 2024Amber_Young

Hello Dear Ones, this is a practical piece, just updating folks in the area about my massage therapy practice as I’ve had quite a few people reaching out.

After my personal healing sabbatical, I’m so excited to be moving forward in my work. It’s been wild returning to hands on work, after receiving so much care myself. I definitly feel a new appreciation for the healing potential when we’re held with compassionate care and clear healing intentions.

The last few weeks I have noticed an expanded capacity and renewed strength inside, feeling into the shift into summer. I am still taking it slowly, and sense this is the way forward for me, a pace I much prefer.

I can’t believe this August I’ll be celebrating my 20 year anniversary as a Registered Massage Therapist, and yet I feel like this is just a beginning, I think in many ways it is.

I’m excited to be welcoming in some supportive spaces for me to offer my care, and I feel so lucky to practice alongside some incredible and gifted humans. This July I’ll be joining The Centre for Health Innovation (formerly Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre), located in the city of Ottawa. For 20 years I have focused much of my care (and training) on individuals through their cancer journey; diagnosis, treatment and beyond. Life handed me my own personal education in the school of real world cancer, which has better equipped me to understand the effects of treatment, the emotional effects, the toll on one’s energy and how the experience changes you.

I’m looking forward to holding this space once again, but with a new perspective, an empathic heart and a deeper understanding.

The outstanding care I received at the CHI, during my own cancer treatment, is a big inspiration for me joining their team. I will be practicing there on Mondays, starting July 15th. Please reach out to them directly to find out more details and to find a space in my schedule, as they handle all bookings within their centre directly.

CHI booking page

I’m also so excited to be joining another space in the fall, which you’ll receive more details as things are clearer.

For those of you who see me in my private space, I will continue to offer healing sessions out here in my forest studio, on this sacred land, nestled amongst the trees. I offer Massage Therapy as well as sessions infused with Sound Therapy and Energy Modalities. If you’d like to see me in my private space, located near Almonte, Ontario, please send me an email directly to book. amber@suryadaya.ca

Honouring the chapter I’m in now, and feeling how important it is to continue my work, in service to life.

If you’re new to me, and are curious about my work and experience, you can explore my website, or check out my bio on the CHI site.

It is a privilege and an honour to do this work in such a supported way. Holding the vision of a world where we all have the support we need to thrive in my heart.

Much love,

Amber

If you’d like to practice yoga and movement classes with me I teach weekly online zoom classes Thursday mornings, and a new monthly in person offering of yoga and sound therapy at the Cedar Hill School House, Pakenham, On (this next offering is scheduled for July 18th)

I also have several different membership options with an ever expanding on demand video library offering you supportive practices whenever you need them through a diverse collection of offerings. Depending on the support you need, memberships range from $6 to $38.

On another note, I’m so excited and dreaming about our next Tending Your Inner Garden offering, starting in the fall of 2024, stay tuned for dates.

Moment To Moment

23rd January 20249th February 2024Amber_Young

Hello Beautiful souls, I’ve been quiet for a while, spending more time on an inner journey than an outward exploration.

When you’ve been through a big moment in your life, it changes you. I know we all know this, but do we remember this for others. People remember you as you were before, and there’s a popular perception that once the event, trauma, birth, illness, death, etc…..is over, it’s business as usual. You look strong, your hair grows back, your back in the community albeit in small ways – so you must be back to how you were before.

The thing is, you never go back to how you were before.

Life changes us, in small and big ways – daily. I’m feeling like we need to give eachother more space to grow and evolve, and relate to one another with this understanding. Try not to put people in a box that fits so tightly there’s no room for growth.

I find there’s often a tendency to compare life to how it was before an event, wanting things to go back to “normal”. What is normal anyways? I’ve always wondered that, what is normal, the term doesn’t even fit in my vocabulary anymore.

I have needed to be on here less, as chemo and the surgery I had on my spine over a year ago has left me with some invisible physical and mental challenges. I’m not going to dive into explaining what those are, but I wanted to acknowledge that they exist. Yes, I survived this bout of cancer and the treatments cancer gave me the opportunity to experience to help me to heal – AND I find myself now learning to live with the ongoing effects of those treatments, a new awareness of my mortality, heightened gratitude, a very different experience of changing energy levels and the reality that I am now navigating life with a blood cancer.

Honouring it all.

I am living a life of truth, satya – the truth of who and where I am. I wonder what your truth is. I know I’m not alone, and neither are you.

I choose life, everyday, and somedays it’s really difficult.

There is a poem I’m reminded of as I write these words. It came to me in the hospital from a dear friend when I was first diagnosed with cancer, and I proceeded to send it out to a circle of support in the hopes of shedding some light on how I was. Now, a year and a half later, I think I actually only now understand the words. I’m going to share this with you (I may have already), as it feels pretty resonant.

For When People Ask

I want a word that means

okay and not okay,

a word that means

devastated and stunned with joy.

I want the word that says

I feel it all, all at once.

The heart is not like a songbird

singing only one note at a time,

more like a Tuvan throat singer

able to sing both a drone

and simultaneously

two or three harmonics high above it—

a sound, the Tuvans say,

that gives the impression

of wind swirling among rocks.

The heart understands the swirl,

how the churning of opposite feelings

weaves through us like an insistent breeze,

leads us wordlessly deeper into ourselves,

blesses us with paradox

so we might walk more openly

into this world so rife with devastation,

this world so ripe with joy.
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

This humaning journey definitly blesses us with paradox, everyday, and I think it’s not about making sense of it all, but instead taking care of yourself in the midst of it – regardless of anyone else’s idea of who they think you are or what you need. I encourage you to try different things to help you find your way to be able to step more deeply into yourself in whatever way that needs to be for you..

For almost 20 years I dedicated my massage and hands on healing practice to working with folks with cancer, trauma, and chronic illness. Maybe this was a crucial step in my training – moving through this experience so that I could truly understand, and honouring a new pace to open my life to a more meaningful moment to moment experience. I look forward to engaging in this work with a new perspective.

I’m writing this piece as I’ve been blocked in my writing. I needed to acknowledge the truth of where I am before I could actually take steps forward for myself, this is part of my process. It’s not “business as usual”, but rather a new way forward. I’m taking my time easing back into my life’s work, AND continuing the dance with my own healing journey – a dance that will be joining me for as long as I am.

Our community has been incredible, and I would not have survived this past year without all of you. I just needed to honour this gratitude again, and again and again! I’m so excited to see where this life takes me, and where we can go together.

I’m slowly starting back to work as you may have noticed in recent updates; classes I’m facilitating and sessions I’m slowly offering. It’s been amazing doing hands on massage therapy and sound healing work with folks again (with limited bookings), especially in this healing forest that has been holding me too. There’s a reason me and my family have landed here on this sacred land – not only to care for the earth, but to heal, and also help people to deepen that connection.

I’m also excited to mention that I was approved for a scholarship (thank you universe) for an accessible yoga training, with Jivana Heyman and an amazing collective, which starts January 25th. It’s a 6 week online program that has serendipitously come to me at the perfect time as I navigate yoga and movement in a new way in my own body. This important work is where I’ll be focusing alot of my attention through to March. I’m excited to see where this takes me.

Thanks for sharing my thoughts,

With so much love

Amber

Introducing my new monthly memberships – these give you instant access with various different tiers to virtual classes, an ever expanding video library, as well as some special bonuses throughout the year. Let me know if you have any questions!

Oak Membership

$38 / month click here to find out more

Willow membership

$23 / month click here to find out more

Cedar Membership

$10/month click here to learn more

Birch Membership (Supporter)

Thank you for supporting me to continue to do this work!

$6/month click here to learn more

Membership rates include HST

I continue to teach online, and I also practice online, this got me through this past year during my cancer journey, when I couldn’t walk and couldn’t drive. Having the option of practicing online (thank you Lisa and Anne) both with live classes and recordings, was the only way that yoga was accessible for me. It has deepened my healing process in ways I can’t articulate.

As I slowly reemerge and hold intentional space once again for folks – I sit with creative ways in which I can best do that.

All monthly memberships automatically renew every 30 days, with the option to cancel at any time. Let me know if you have any questions or would like to find out more!

Stay tuned for my seasonal newsletter coming soon!

The Healing Power Of Touch

10th February 202116th July 2024Amber_Young

Compassionate touch is one of the most sacred ways we can connect as beings; it allows us to move beyond the physical barriers we create and respond to each other in a deeply nourishing and healing way.

As the number of cases of illness in all of its forms increases in our world, there also exists an increased need to connect in this heartfelt healing and loving way, especially as we navigate a world where physical contact has been greatly withdrawn over the past few years.

Touch given with a therapeutic and compassionate intention has the potential to affect an individual physically, emotionally, and spiritually; it can soothe physical pain; and also create space for the mind to come to a place of stillness and acceptance. Through simply being present with an individual and offering comfort, not ignoring their pain or even necessarily trying to fix their condition, an environment for a deeper level of healing is fostered.

When I began giving massage therapy to individuals with cancer, through complex care and at end of life; it increased my understanding of human suffering and the ways in which it is a shared suffering. I have also witnessed the incredible impact touch can have on an individual when one meets them in this place.

My hands have made contact with a person and the separation between us seems to dissolve. I have physically felt and seen peoples bodies soften and rest into the support of the therapeutic massage, the healing intention and my hands. I have watched their breath become deeper and more restful as they respond while the treatment helps to soothe their pain – on a physical and an emotional level. It is in these moments that I truly understand the phenomenal power of touch.

Massage is a safe therapy to receive with many conditions, however this does not negate that there are important considerations when receiving treatment. It is important to ensure you work with someone who understands pathology and the changing needs of the body. With careful modifications, a well-trained and educated therapist can provide massage during diagnosis, during medical treatment, when in remission, through palliative care with a terminal diagnosis and through survivorship.

The benefits, which I have witnessed first hand, are invaluable. Reflecting on my clinical experience over the past 20 years, as well as reference to the reputable studies that have successfully been done, massage has helped people with; pain management, anxiety, depression, disconnection from the body and/or from people, self esteem, body image, muscular tension, stiffness and pain, nausea, fatigue and feelings of isolation or loneliness. It can also help with the emotional impact of the awareness of a problem that needs care, and a diagnosis of any type.

When I enter a therapeutic relationship I also often find that a primary goal of our time together, is to support the reintegration of a person, reminding them that they are so much more than a diagnosis, so much more. Often what is needed most is a safe place to rest, to offer comfort, to offer positive and very human care, and to help with symptom relief specific to the individual

Massage and therapeutic touch have the potential to be such a healing and supportive addition to a persons circle of care. Every person is unique, and every person’s story is unique, which needs to be deeply honoured regardless of what a person is going through. The experiences and the stories I have been privileged to share with people through my hands and my heart have shaped me as a massage therapist, as a yoga teacher and how I experience life as a whole.

General guidelines of important medical areas to discuss with your therapist would look something like this:

(adapted from Tracy Walton’s “Massage therapy for people with cancer: Fear and Healing”)

Whether/how/where issue is currently manifesting
Current or past treatments (surgery/radiation/chemo/bone marrow transplant/etc.), side effects, complications, and discuss how this will be considered in the massage treatment
Discuss lymph node involvement and risk of lymphodema
Discuss medications and their effects
Discuss if dialogue with your medical doctor would be appropriate and necessary, based on your health history, status, and stage of progression.
A continued update to any changes in your health is essential, and it is also necessary to check your response to every massage treatment to ensure you are always getting the best possible care.
Most importantly, how YOU are

This is definitly a simplification and a general look at some key specific medical areas that need to be covered when you have a more complex condition and you’re seeing a massage therapist for the first time. Not all areas noted above will be relevant to everyone, and in other people there will be a need to expand on the complexity of the above information. When these concerns are discussed openly and honestly between you and your therapist, there will be a greater sense of trust and the treatment can proceed with more confidence for everyone involved.

The gift of touch is shared, as is the suffering, and connecting in this way can pave the path for true compassion and healing. It is my hope that we as a society will not continue to embrace the fear of the unknown or the fear of illness, but rather embrace the mystery and humanness of life. There is a sacred element in sharing this journey with others through touch. The people that I have worked with have allowed me to integrate the beauty and the intuition of massage, but also to deeply respect the science behind massage, the body and disease and to see how massage can positively affect a person when the bridge between the science and the art are joined in a mindful way.

With a deep respect for the human body, and the safe spaces where we can put ourselves back together again,

Much love, Amber

(This is a modified piece I wrote – honouring where we find ourselves in the present, previously published with the Victoria Cancer Resource Center newsletter, and the East Coast massage network conference publication on cancer and massage)