As a survivor of stage 3 breast cancer, Pia Tedeschi was deeply honoured to lead a wellness workshop for Reach for Recovery (R4R) — an NGO comprised of breast cancer survivors who offer guidance, empathy, and love to women currently navigating the journey of diagnosis and treatment.

Held under the shade of trees in Johannesburg, the session was not just a yoga practice — it was a circle of shared strength, vulnerability, and healing. Pia wove her personal story of enduring three unrelated cancers between the ages of 40 and 45 — along with her experiences of chemotherapy, radiation, surgeries, and loss — into the flow of movement and breath.

From dynamic poses to moments of still stillness, each participant was invited to explore:

• Gentle yoga to reconnect with the body

• Breathwork to calm the nervous system

• Intention and stillness to process emotion

• Shared story to remind each woman: she is not alone

The focus of the workshop was on how yoga builds resilience — not the kind that resists, but one that softens and adapts, that bends and breathes even in the face of deep fear and physical hardship.

As the session closed, there was a shared sense of release — a lightness born from moving through heaviness together. A renewed sense of inner freedom surfaced through community, through movement, through yoga.