About YCat Yoga Therapy
YCat: Yoga Therapy in Cancer and Chronic Illness began as a workshop and later developed into a three level training program with the option of a 100 hr certificate of attendance or a 300 hour YCat certification. YCat is open to Yoga teachers who have completed their 200-hour training and have one year of Yoga teaching experience as well as health care professionals.* The program was created by the late Jnani Chapman who said, “I created YCat Yoga Therapy programs in 1997 after seeing the many challenges that cancer patients face during treatments, hospitalizations and recovery at home. By introducing appropriately adapted Yoga therapy like YCat, people can reduce the severity of distressing side effects from cancer and treatment. We consistently hear, “I feel so much better.” YCat teachers are trained to understand underlying concepts and physiological rationales of Yoga and cancer in order to meet their students where they are and individualize their sessions and classes safely and authentically.
Disclaimer: YCat is not a Yoga therapy school however, the program has been providing elements of Yoga therapy in its instruction since it began and prior to Yoga therapy being a certified discipline through IAYT. Certified Yoga teachers and certified Yoga therapists can benefit from this specialized training for continuing education in evidence informed practices for Yoga in oncology and chronic illness.
Sandra Susheela
Sandra Susheela Gilbert, BA, C-IAYT, E-RYT500 has been the director of YCat since December 2017 and has spent the last fourteen years as Senior Faculty of YCat and facilitating YCat programs alongside YCat founder, Jnani Chapman. She is a highly recognized Integral Yoga teacher holding advanced training certificates in Stress Management, Integrative and Mind/Body therapies, CancerGuides and Patient Navigation. She has taught for Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation at Beth Israel/Mt. Sinai Medical Center in NYC and taught the YCat curriculum for the Mt. Sinai Breast Health Resource Center and in the Ruttenberg Oncology infusion center. Sandra Susheela has also taught at retreats and training’s for the Omega Institute, for the Center for Mind Body Medicine and for Chai Lifeline. In addition, she was one of the first Urban Zen integrative therapists in practice in NYC for their 2008 initiative and research. Sandra currently teaches in Yoga research and as a research assistant at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville, TN. Sandra is appreciated for her patience, presence and dedication in service to those who are going through the experience of cancer and cancer treatment as well as the YCat teachers she trains and mentors. She shares her service through the lens of Yoga and says, “Wherever you are, Yoga is there for you.”
Jnani Chapman
Jnani Chapman, R.N., C-IAYT, E-RYT500 is the beloved founder of YCat Yoga Therapy and was an integrative oncology specialist at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco. Jnani was a 29-year, senior staff member of Commonweal Cancer Help Program and Smith Center’s week-long cancer retreats. Jnani was a founding clinician for the UCSF Center for Integrative Medicine, and she developed the Yoga programs for their cancer center. Jnani taught in research at UCSF and consulted in Yoga research throughout the U.S. Jnani staffed Dean Ornish, MD’s heart disease reversal research and clinical programs and his ground-breaking early stage prostate cancer research program. Jnani also served as the Executive Director of the International Association of Yoga Therapists from 1994-1998.
Jnani passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in 2017. Jnani’s gifts were many: massage therapist, Chinese medicine specialist, amazing cook, lover of the water, boats and travel and guide for those at end of life but essentially it all came together as the gifted healer to those she served. She is deeply missed by her beloved family, friends and Yoga community and we remember her for her compassion and love of all beings and her ability to empower individuals through her heart, her powerful words and the amazing energy through her hands, chanting and spontaneous prayers.
Jnani’s YCat program and teachers were dear to her heart. Please see the scholarship fund page for more information about how to be of support.
