10/04/2025
An article from 2017. Incredibly grateful for all these years and the ability to expand & now offer more.
Missing my sweet Jade 🐾♥️
CancerConnects’ Complementary Therapy has offered massage, reiki, acupuncture, reflexology and healing touch for years, but we recently added another modality: Therapeutic Yoga! This calming and peaceful therapy combines meditation, deep relaxation and gentle, restorative poses. We are excited to introduce you to our newest Complementary Therapy provider, Yoga Therapist Renee Goot! We recently sat down with Renee in her beautiful Camillus studio, to talk about Therapeutic Yoga, and all the ways it can benefit people going through treatment for cancer.
Renee worked as a social worker and counselor for 8 years, but when illness and stress began to take over, she realized her body was trying to tell her she needed to create balance in her life so she turned to yoga. When her mother passed away, she decided it was time to take it to another level and explore the many aspects of yoga, especially meditation. Renee became a true believer in the wisdom of the body. She was able to incorporate the balance she found through yoga into her daily life. At the yoga studio, she met a yoga therapist from New Orleans, and it all clicked for her—Therapeutic Yoga was a way to integrate the methods she learned from counseling with yoga and bring relaxation and balance to her clients. She went to yoga therapy school in Vermont, then yoga teacher training in CNY, and now she owns Syracuse Therapeutic Yoga in Camillus Station! “Me time” for Renee includes music, hiking with her husband, and learning mindfulness from her dogs!
Renee knows that many people are intimidated by the word “yoga”--they picture contorting themselves into impossible positions. She wants people to understand that therapeutic yoga is accessible for everybody! Instead of calling it yoga, “Meditation and Relaxation Sessions” might be a more appropriate name. Clients can choose to lie on the floor, sit propped up on a pillow, or recline in a comfortable chair. Renee is professionally trained to support people with limited mobility and illness. The 90 minute session begins with a guided centering/meditation where the client “checks in” and brings awareness to their breath, physical body, emotions, mind and wisdom. During the session, Renee provides practical, daily-use tools to relax and release via breath work, meditation and restorative yoga poses. Each session ends with a reflection, to help the client understand their own process and progress. Renee said, “When things get nerve-wracking, we hold our breath, we tense—the chance to lie down, close our eyes and let it all go is huge!”
Therapeutic Yoga is particularly helpful for those going through an illness like cancer. One of Renee’s clients, a cancer survivor, said this about her therapeutic yoga sessions: “After my cancer diagnosis and treatment, Yoga Therapy offered me balance, gave me an element of control and understanding of my mind/body/spirit connection and allowed me to forgive the body that I felt betrayed me. After sessions, I felt profound joy and peace during a time of deep sadness and turmoil.”
Renee understands that oncology patients may be angry at their bodies, and feel like their bodies have betrayed them. Illness makes people feel disconnected from their bodies, and therapeutic yoga allows them to reconnect with themselves. They may be so worried about what appointment or treatment they have to do next, and they feel like they can never relax because everyone around them is so anxious. Therapeutic Yoga gives people a chance to slow down and notice what’s happening in their whole being, and not worry about upcoming appointments, concerned loved ones, and all the other stressors associated with a cancer diagnosis. Renee has this message for those who have been diagnosed with cancer, “I know you might be feel out of control or that your body has betrayed you. It is all okay. Come relax, grieve and restore.”
You can contact Renee Goot at syrtherayoga@gmail.com or (315) 729-0474. http://www.syrtherayoga.com
