CCNM Integrative Cancer Centre (CCNM ICC)

The yoga classes, designed for cancer patients, were very good for temporarily relieving pain. However, the instructor did not seem to understand cancer-related pain. Whenever any participants reported pain to her, her response was to ask questions -- sometimes in a teasing tone -- to find out what we did wrong to cause our pain, seemingly unaware of the subtle victim-blaming messages in her questions. If she was a yoga therapist (vs. regular yoga instructor) working with a cancer clinic, she ought to have known that a lot of our pain was caused by our medications even without us explaining this to her. Yet, even after some of us explained this to her, her implicit victim-blaming questions did not stop or change. Nor did she ever responded to our pain by asking about, or at least making a general comment on its possible link to our treatment. It was a cruel irony for us to experience the positive effects of the exercises and, at the same time, the negative effects of being made responsible for our suffering, when the alternative to not "causing our own pain" was to let cancer kill us.
Jul 27th, 2020

I have been here for massage - you can book massage or acupuncture even if you don't have cancer - and the experience was professional and attentive.
Oct 15th, 2019