Yoga For Prostate Cancer: What Mr Iyengar, The Yoga Doctors And The Research Say

Surgery, radiotherapy or hormone therapy for prostate cancer, and now the tiredness, the bladder and the worry? You are far from alone. Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in Australian men, and most men live with it, and after it, for many years. This guide brings together what Mr BKS Iyengar, the medical doctors who worked with him and the research say about yoga, pranayama (yogic breathing) and mindfulness for men living with and after prostate cancer. It is about the man, his energy, his mood, his bladder and his sex life, not about the cancer itself. Last updated: 8 November 2026.

By Chris Lalor, Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and certified Yoga Therapist, Flametree Yoga Darwin.

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Does yoga help men with prostate cancer? The short answer

Yes. Yoga for prostate cancer is well worth doing, for how you feel and how you live. In a randomised trial, men who did yoga twice a week through radiotherapy were clearly less tired, and their sexual health scores held up better than without yoga. In a pilot trial, six weeks of yoga before prostate surgery lifted sexual wellbeing, energy and social wellbeing. Mindfulness courses eased worry and low mood, and an Australian online mindfulness programme cut the fear of cancer coming back. What the research measures is fatigue, quality of life, mood and urinary and sexual function. Yoga does not treat or cure prostate cancer, and nothing here says it does.

Behind those prostate trials sits a much larger body of research in people with many kinds of cancer: a 2025 Cochrane review of 21 trials found yoga probably eases tiredness once treatment is over, and a 2024 cancer fatigue guideline says yoga may be recommended then. Most of these trials tested yoga in general, of many styles. No trial has yet tested Iyengar yoga, taught by trained Iyengar teachers, in men with prostate cancer. In our view as certified Iyengar teachers, well-taught Iyengar yoga is likely to go further than the average. Why the kind of yoga matters.

The bottom line: five key moves for men with prostate cancer

1. Go to a yoga class at your level, twice a week, and keep going. The radiotherapy trial used two classes a week for 6 to 9 weeks; the surgery trial, six weeks.
2. Rest well on tired days, rather than stopping. Supported poses over bolsters and blankets let you practise when energy is low. Dr McCall’s pacing rule from his cancer chapter: work, work, then rest.
3. Get to know your pelvic floor. Men have one too, and it matters for bladder control and for sex. Standing poses done precisely are where it starts in an Iyengar class.
4. Bring the worry down with the breath. Slow pranayama and steady attention calm the nervous system. Mindfulness trials in men with prostate cancer found less distress.
5. Start now. New to Flametree, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price, in Darwin or LIVE online. Bring a mate or come alone, but give it 12 weeks.

Who was Mr BKS Iyengar? Iyengar yoga is the style we teach at Flametree. During the 20th century, Mr BKS Iyengar was the major teacher who codified traditional Indian yoga, through his seminal books and widespread teaching. He also pioneered the use of props, so poses can be adapted to almost any body, including a body tired out by cancer treatment. His style is sometimes called modern classical yoga. This guide is part of our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions, and sits beside our wider guide to prostate health and men’s health.

This guide in short

• Overall evidence: Limited. Best study: Ben-Josef 2017 was a randomised trial of men having radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Those who did yoga twice a week through 6 to 9 weeks of radiotherapy were clearly less tired than men without yoga, and their sexual health (erectile function) scores held up better. A 2024 review of 5 studies and 129 men points the same way.
• Mr BKS Iyengar: he wrote no course for cancer. What carries over is his supported, restful approach for fatigue and low immunity, and his rule that every pose must suit the person.
• Dr Timothy McCall, an American medical doctor and yoga therapist who studied with Mr BKS Iyengar, author of Yoga as Medicine: prostate cancer is no. 93 on his list of conditions helped by yoga. He sees yoga as a way to cope, rest and breathe slowly, not a promise about the cancer.
• Dr Krishna Raman: passive, supported poses first during treatment, and force nothing.
• The research: about 15 studies listed below, in men with prostate cancer and in people with many cancers, for yoga, pelvic floor work and mindfulness.
• For men: men do far less yoga than women. Free first classes, a programme that suits them and a mate alongside helped men keep coming.
• Take it further: our free ebook for men, Stay In The Game, the 2027 masterclass on pelvic floors, and classes in Darwin and online.

“Fear and fatigue block the mind. Face both, then courage and confidence flow into you.”

Prostate cancer, and what yoga can help with

The prostate is a small gland just below the bladder, wrapped around the tube that carries urine out. Prostate cancer is common and often slow-growing. Cancer Australia, using figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, estimated 28,868 new cases in 2025. Five-year survival is 96%, and 106,705 Australians diagnosed in the five years to 2021 were alive at the end of 2021. So most men live on after prostate cancer, and how well they live matters a great deal.

Men may be on active surveillance (watchful waiting), or have surgery to remove the prostate, radiotherapy or hormone therapy. Each can leave its mark, and these are the things the yoga research has looked at:

• Fatigue: a deep tiredness that sleep does not ease, common during radiotherapy and hormone therapy.
• Bladder leaks: common after prostate surgery, and usually improving over months, helped by pelvic floor training.
• Erection problems: after surgery or radiotherapy.
• Worry and low mood: about the diagnosis, the choices, and the cancer coming back.
• Hormone therapy effects: such as hot flushes and tiredness.

What did Mr BKS Iyengar teach that helps men with prostate cancer?

In short: he wrote no course for cancer, and we do not claim otherwise. What carries over is his supported, restful approach for fatigue and low immunity, his men’s health work for the pelvis, and his rule that every pose must suit the person. What follows is known from long practice and teacher experience, much of it not yet tested by modern research. Not yet tested is not the same as wrong.

• Low immune system and physical fatigue (Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health, pp. 308 and 312). His courses are largely supported and restful, ending with a staircase breath (Viloma, the breath taken in stages with pauses) and lying in deep rest. Energy comes back through rest and support, not through pushing.
• The pelvis. In the same book he gives men’s health its own section (pp. 397 to 405), saying prostate enlargement and hernias are common in men over 50 and respond to yoga. That is about an enlarged prostate, not cancer, but the work, reclining hip-opening poses, forward bends and supported inversions, is the same family of poses an Iyengar teacher draws on for the pelvis.
• Poses must suit the person (pp. 259 to 263, in our words). Wrongly chosen poses can do harm, so the practice is built for you, and the brain is calmed so energy goes to healing rather than to coping with stress.
• Be patient. In serious conditions, he says, yoga may not bring full recovery but can ease some of the suffering. His advice: “Do not get discouraged” if it takes time.

In Light on Life (section “The True Nature of Health”) he wrote that yoga “aids recovery from ill health”. That is his claim, from long teaching, and it is the spirit in which we teach men during and after prostate cancer treatment. We do not publish his sequences. A sequence needs a teacher who can see you and adapt each pose, which is what a class is for.

How yoga breaks into the tiredness circle

What did Geeta S Iyengar teach for men?

In short: men get tired too, and need the restful poses as much as women do.

Geeta S Iyengar, Mr Iyengar’s daughter, is best known for her teaching on women’s health, but she also wrote for men. In “Restorative Asanas for Men”, printed by Iyengar Yoga Australia in its journal Yoga Vaani (no. 62, September 2000), she wrote: “Men too need the restorative asanas.” In her view, the reclining and supported poses help men recover from fatigue, and a weekly practice of inversions, forward bends and reclining poses keeps the body and the temper steady. She named the enlarged prostate among the problems common to men. She did not write about prostate cancer in the material we hold, and we do not claim she did.

“Yoga is strong medicine but it is slow medicine.”

What does Dr Timothy McCall say about yoga and prostate cancer?

In short: prostate cancer is on his list, and he sees yoga as a way to cope well, rest well and breathe slowly.

Dr McCall is a US medical doctor and yoga therapist who trained in Iyengar yoga. His June 2019 list of 117 conditions helped by yoga includes Prostate Cancer as no. 93. The one study he lists for it is the Ben-Josef radiotherapy trial, described below. His book has no prostate chapter, so here is what his cancer chapter adds, in our words:

• Yoga for coping, not a promise. He says no study yet shows yoga makes people with cancer live longer. He sees yoga as a way to handle the illness and the side effects of medical care.
• Gentle, restful practice. Restorative poses, simple breathing and deep relaxation lower stress without demanding much effort, and the practice can match whatever energy a person has that day.
• Pace yourself. He passes on the nurse and yoga teacher Jnani Chapman’s rule for people with cancer: “Exert, exert, rest.”
• Slow breathing. Slower, deeper breathing helps with pain and with the shock of a diagnosis. Forceful breaths, such as fast bellows breathing, are not for people who are depleted.
• Take care if cancer has reached the bones. Poses are then chosen with special care, which is one reason to tell your teacher.
• The Ornish programme. He calls the evidence from Dr Dean Ornish’s programme “suggestive”. In a 2005 randomised trial of 93 men with early prostate cancer, a whole-lifestyle package of diet, exercise, yoga, meditation and group support went with a better result on PSA, a blood marker. It was a package, so it cannot show what yoga alone does, and we make no claim that yoga changes the cancer. Read the study.

What does Dr Krishna Raman say?

In short: passive, supported poses first, and force nothing.

Dr Raman is a physician in Chennai who trained in yoga under Mr Iyengar and has used yoga in his medical practice for decades. In his question-and-answer book Yoga and Medical Science: FAQ he covers cancer, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. His views, in our words: during treatment, start with passive, supported poses; force nothing; and be clear that no research confirms yoga helps cancer itself. For the prostate gland more generally he names Bound Angle Pose (Baddha Konasana), following Mr Iyengar. Dr Loren Fishman and Dr J. T. Shah, the other medical doctors who worked with Mr Iyengar, add nothing on prostate cancer in the material we hold.

What does the research say about yoga for prostate cancer?

In short: in men with prostate cancer, yoga eased fatigue during radiotherapy and lifted sexual and social wellbeing before surgery; pelvic floor work, including Pilates, sped up bladder control after surgery; and mindfulness eased distress and the fear of the cancer returning. Across all cancers, a Cochrane review found yoga probably eases fatigue after treatment. Every study here measured how men feel and function, not the cancer. Most tested yoga in general, of many styles. Why the difference matters.

Yoga in men with prostate cancer

• Men who did yoga through radiotherapy were clearly less tired than men without yoga, and their sexual health (erectile function) scores held up better. Twice-weekly classes through 6 to 9 weeks of radiotherapy. Ben-Josef 2017, a randomised trial in Pennsylvania; 68 men started and 50 were analysed, most of those who left because of clashes with their radiotherapy times. Urinary symptom scores were about the same in both groups. Read the study.
• Twice-weekly yoga fitted alongside radiotherapy, and fatigue eased over the course of treatment after a rise at week 4, while sexual health, bladder control and quality of life held steady. Ben-Josef 2016, the pilot study for the trial above; 27 men stayed in it. Read the study.
• Six weeks of yoga before prostate surgery gave better sexual wellbeing, less fatigue and better functional, physical and social wellbeing than usual care. Kaushik 2021, a pilot randomised trial of 29 men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer, measured before surgery and 6 weeks after. Read the study.
• Yoga has the potential to improve erectile function, fatigue, urinary symptoms, stress and quality of life in prostate cancer survivors, and men could fit it into their lives. Boopalan 2024, a review of 5 studies and 129 men. The authors call for bigger trials before firm conclusions. Read the study.
• Stress, fatigue and mood improved from before to after each yoga class, for the men and for the partners and friends who came with them. Ross Zahavich 2012, a 7-week class programme in Calgary for 15 men with prostate cancer and 10 support persons. Men who brought someone felt more supported. Read the study.

Yoga during prostate cancer radiotherapy

Bladder control after prostate surgery

Bladder leaks after surgery are where pelvic floor work comes in. No trial has yet tested yoga on its own for this. The trials below tested Pilates, a floor-based exercise method that, like Iyengar yoga, asks for precise work of the deep abdomen and pelvic floor. They are not yoga trials, and we report them because they show what precise, well-taught pelvic floor work can do.

• Pilates was as good as standard pelvic floor exercise with electrical stimulation for regaining bladder control, and more men were fully dry: 57.7% with Pilates against 22.6% without either. Ten weekly sessions. Pedriali 2016, a randomised trial in Brazil; 85 men completed it. Read the study.
• By 4 months after surgery, 59% of men in the Pilates group were fully dry, against 26% in the control group. Gomes 2018, a randomised trial of 123 men, 104 completing it. Read the study.
• Pelvic floor training, Pilates and yoga were among the approaches with good effects on men’s bladder leaks. Zhang 2023, a review of 87 studies, more than 88% of the men having had prostate cancer. Read the study.

Our pelvic floor guide has a part for men, and the 2027 masterclass on pelvic floors is for every body, men included.

Cancer fatigue across all cancers

• Yoga probably eases fatigue in the short term once cancer treatment is over. Messer 2025, a Cochrane review of 21 trials and 2,041 people with many kinds of cancer. During treatment the results were uncertain. Read the study.
• Yoga “may also be recommended” for fatigue once treatment ends, and exercise and mindfulness programmes should be recommended. Bower 2024, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and Society for Integrative Oncology guideline on cancer fatigue, built on 113 trials. Read the study.

Most of these trials were in women after breast cancer. Our breast cancer and recovery guide sets them out, including the Iyengar yoga trials there, which found less fatigue and better mood.

Iyengar yoga studies

No trial has yet tested Iyengar yoga, taught by trained Iyengar teachers, in men with prostate cancer. The prostate trials above tested yoga in general, taught by teachers with very different training. Not yet studied is not the same as not working. In our view as certified Iyengar teachers, Iyengar yoga, with its props, its precise standing poses and its close attention to the pelvis and the breath, is well suited to men during and after treatment. Why the kind of yoga matters.

Breathing practice and pranayama

No trial has yet tested pranayama on its own in men with prostate cancer. Breathing was part of most of the yoga programmes above, though the papers rarely say which techniques were taught, or how. Not yet studied is not the same as not working. The pranayama we teach (staircase, ocean, alternate nostril and humming breath) is slow, nasal and taught step by step, often lying down with the chest supported, which suits a tired body. Forceful breathing is left out for anyone depleted, as Dr McCall advises.

Meditation and mindfulness

Mindfulness means paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, without judging. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an 8-week group course of mindfulness meditation and gentle yoga.

• Mindfulness programmes brought benefits for the mood and distress of men with prostate cancer, with signs of growth after the diagnosis. Nnate 2021, a review of 4 studies, 3 of them randomised. The authors call for more research. Read the study.
• A 9-week online mindfulness programme cut the fear of cancer coming back, and lowered anxiety and depression, and the gains held 9 months later. Livingston 2025, an Australian randomised trial of 434 people after breast, prostate or bowel cancer; 26% had prostate cancer. Read the study.
• An 8-week MBSR course, with gentle yoga, improved quality of life, stress and sleep in people with early breast and prostate cancer. Carlson 2003, a study of 59 people in Calgary, 10 of them men with prostate cancer. Read the study.
• A year later the lower stress had held, and blood pressure had fallen after the course. Carlson 2007, the one-year follow-up of the same group. Read the study.

“Relaxation is necessary, for relaxation is recuperation.”

Yoga, pranayama and mindfulness: how they work together

Several of the studies above tested mindfulness courses, not yoga. That still counts for our classes. Mindfulness is steady, present attention, and yoga poses and pranayama (yogic breathing) are old routes to that same state. So the mindfulness research in men with prostate cancer also shows what a good yoga and pranayama class can build. No trial separates which part does the work.

We suggest coming to both a yoga class and a pranayama class. Mr Iyengar taught that asana (poses), pranayama and meditation are not divided, and in our experience the two together do more than either alone. See every class time. We trace the history and the links in Yoga And Mindfulness: Why The Mindfulness Research Points Back To Yoga And The Breath.

For men: why so few men do yoga, and what helps

In short: men do much less yoga than women, so men with prostate cancer often miss out on something that could help. The answer is simple: a clear physical reason, a friendly class and a mate alongside.

• Men with prostate cancer gained physically, mentally and socially from a yoga and exercise programme made for them. Free first classes, a programme suited to prostate cancer and a friendly setting kept them coming. Culos-Reed 2019, two focus groups of 11 men in Calgary. Read the study.
• Men who brought a partner or friend to yoga felt more supported, and the support persons felt the benefits too (Ross Zahavich 2012, above).

About a third of the people in our Darwin classes are men. Stiff is fine: that is what the props are for. Many men like Chris Lalor’s classes on the wall ropes, where the ropes take the load. Yoga is something you do, not something you talk about, and you feel it in the body first: more energy, an easier back, a quieter head. Bring a mate or come alone, but give it 12 weeks. More in our prostate health and men’s health guide and the post Yoga For Men.

How this comes together in a Flametree class

Everything above points the same way, and it is how we teach men during and after prostate cancer, in Darwin and online.

• Standing poses done precisely: feet pointing forward, legs strong, the pelvis level. This is where the pelvic floor learns to work.
• Props in every class: chairs, belts, blocks, blankets, bolsters, the wall and the ropes, so each pose fits your body and your energy that day.
• Classes adapted to the people in them. Tell your teacher about surgery, radiotherapy, hormone therapy or a catheter, and if cancer has reached the bones, and the poses are changed for you.
• Rest and breath to finish: every class ends with supported rest, and our pranayama classes go further.
• Gentle options: restorative yoga for tired days, and our Back, Neck And Shoulder Focus class.

See the timetable and book a class. Body, then breath, then a quieter mind: that is the path a class follows, and it is why we offer poses and breathing together.

Read more on prostate cancer and men’s health

• Prostate health and men’s health: the full guide, including enlarged prostate and men’s pelvic pain
• Pelvic floor dysfunction and yoga, with a part for men
• Breast cancer and recovery, for the wider cancer fatigue research
• Nearby guides: immune system, fatigue, stress and burnout, depression and low mood and bones and balance
• Men in Darwin: think you’re too stiff for yoga?

Take it further

• Classes, in Darwin or LIVE online: new, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price. Already practising yoga? See the non-beginner half price pass. See the timetable and book.
• Masterclass: Yoga for pelvic floors, Sunday 31 January 2027, for every body, men included, one of our 2027 masterclasses with Chris Lalor. Come for the poses, sequences and pranayama that put this guide into action for the pelvic floor and bladder. See the 2027 masterclasses.
• Retreats: a week of daily, adapted yoga and pranayama in Bali. See the retreats.

Other conditions are in our encyclopaedia of yoga for health conditions.

Yoga for prostate cancer: questions people ask

Does yoga help men with prostate cancer?

Yes, for how men feel and function. In a randomised trial, men who did yoga twice a week through radiotherapy were clearly less tired and their sexual health scores held up better (Ben-Josef 2017). In a pilot trial, six weeks of yoga before surgery lifted sexual, physical and social wellbeing (Kaushik 2021). A 2024 review of 5 studies found the same direction (Boopalan 2024).

Can yoga cure prostate cancer?

No. Yoga does not treat or cure prostate cancer, and no study shows it does. What yoga can do is help the man: less fatigue, better mood, steadier sexual health scores and a calmer mind through treatment and after it. Dr Timothy McCall, a medical doctor who trained in Iyengar yoga, sees yoga as a way to cope, not a promise about the cancer.

Can I do yoga during radiotherapy for prostate cancer?

Yes, and it has been tested. In a 2017 randomised trial, men did yoga twice a week through 6 to 9 weeks of radiotherapy and were clearly less tired than men without yoga (Ben-Josef 2017). The main difficulty was fitting classes around radiotherapy times. Tell your teacher you are having radiotherapy, and work at the level your energy allows that day.

“It is never too late in life to practise yoga.”

Does yoga help bladder leaks after prostate surgery?

Pelvic floor work does. In trials of Pilates, a floor-based method with precise pelvic floor work, about twice as many men were fully dry 4 months after surgery as in control groups (Gomes 2018, Pedriali 2016). No trial has yet tested yoga on its own for this. Precise standing poses in an Iyengar class train the same muscles.

Can yoga help erection problems after prostate cancer treatment?

Early research says it can help. In the radiotherapy trial, erectile function scores held up better with yoga (Ben-Josef 2017), and six weeks of yoga before surgery gave better sexual wellbeing (Kaushik 2021). A calmer nervous system matters too, and slow pranayama and supported rest build it.

Is yoga safe with prostate cancer?

Yes, when it is adapted to you. The prostate trials reported men fitting yoga alongside radiotherapy and before surgery. Dr McCall advises gentle, restful practice that matches your energy, no forceful breathing when depleted, and special care if cancer has reached the bones. Tell your teacher about your treatment, and the poses are changed for you.

Does meditation or mindfulness help with prostate cancer?

Yes, for the mind. A review of mindfulness programmes in men with prostate cancer found benefits for mood and distress (Nnate 2021). In an Australian trial of 434 people, a quarter with prostate cancer, an online mindfulness programme cut the fear of cancer coming back, and the gains held 9 months later (Livingston 2025).

What did Mr Iyengar say about yoga and cancer?

Mr BKS Iyengar wrote no course for cancer, and we do not claim otherwise. His courses for fatigue and a low immune system in Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health are supported and restful, and he wrote in Light on Life that yoga aids recovery from ill health. His rule that every pose must suit the person is how we teach men during and after treatment.

Can I do yoga for prostate cancer in Darwin or online?

Yes. Flametree Yoga teaches Iyengar yoga at Woolner and Coolalinga in Darwin, and LIVE online, with restorative classes for tired days and pranayama classes for the breath. About a third of our class attendance is men. New students can begin with our new-student offer of 2 free classes, then 10 at half price. Book a class

Where this comes from: BKS Iyengar, Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health (Dorling Kindersley), pp. 259 to 263, 308, 312 and the Men’s Health section, pp. 397 to 405; Light on Life, “The True Nature of Health”; Iyengar: His Life and Work. Geeta S Iyengar, “Restorative Asanas for Men”, Yoga Vaani no. 62, September 2000 (Iyengar Yoga Australia). Timothy McCall MD, Yoga as Medicine (Bantam), the cancer chapter, and his June 2019 list of 117 health conditions helped by yoga. Krishna Raman MD and S. Suresh MD, Yoga and Medical Science: FAQ. Cancer Australia, prostate cancer statistics, from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data (retrieved 8 November 2026). Studies as linked above, each looked up in PubMed in November 2026. Everything is summarised in our own words.

This page is general information, not medical advice. Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and LIVE online.