A live conversation with De West and Matthew Sanford
The Healing Power of Yoga
How the Body Can Heal After Trauma, Illness, and Medical Crisis
Wednesday June 24th from 10:00-11:30am PT/
11:00-12:30pm MT/ 01:00-2:30pm ET/ 06:00-7:30pm BST
For many people…
Healing does not end when the treatment ends.
Even after surgeries, illness, cancer, traumatic medical procedures, or physical recovery, the body may continue carrying fear, tension, grief, shutdown, or disconnection.
In this special live conversation, renowned yoga teacher Matthew Sanford and trauma-informed yoga therapist and cancer thriver De West explore the profound role yoga can play in healing after trauma, illness, and medical crisis. Together, they will discuss how embodied practices can help restore connection, rebuild trust in the body, regulate the nervous system, and support healing that goes beyond symptom management or survival.
This conversation is for clinicians, caregivers, yoga practitioners, trauma survivors, and anyone interested in the deeper relationship between the body, trauma, resilience, and healing.
What You’ll Discover
Why the body may continue holding trauma long after medical treatment ends
so that you can understand lingering symptoms as signs of nervous system protection rather than personal failure
How yoga supports nervous system regulation, embodiment, and healing
so that you can use gentle, body-based practices to help restore safety, connection, and resilience
The importance of safety, agency, and choice in trauma recovery
so that healing can happen in a way that rebuilds trust instead of repeating patterns of overwhelm or helplessness
Why healing is different from simply surviving or managing symptoms
so that you can begin moving from adaptation and protection toward a more connected, embodied way of living
How gentle embodied practices can help people reconnect with trust, presence, and wholeness
so that the body can gradually become a place of support, belonging, and possibility again
Meet your presenter
De West, C-IAYT, RYT
De West is a Certified Yoga Therapist, trauma-informed educator, and founder of Be.Center in Boulder, Colorado. For 34 years, she has helped people reconnect with their bodies through a therapeutic approach that blends yoga therapy, functional movement, somatic awareness, nervous system regulation, and mindfulness.
Certified through the International Association of Yoga Therapists, De specializes in trauma, cancer recovery, immune system challenges, women’s health, scoliosis, and musculoskeletal issues. As a cancer thriver herself, she brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work. De is deeply passionate about helping people heal from medical trauma and restore safety, agency, and trust within the body through compassionate, embodied care.
Meet your presenter
Matthew Sanford
“It took a devastating car accident, paralysis from the chest down, and dependence on a wheelchair before I truly realized the importance of waking both my mind and my body.” Matthew Sanford has inspired and enhanced the lives of thousands by sharing the fundamental importance of the mind-body relationship. For him, connecting mind and body is not just a health strategy; it is a movement of consciousness that can change the world.
Matthew shares his personal story in his book Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence. In 2002, Matthew founded the non-profit Mind Body Solutions, an organization dedicated to transforming trauma, loss, and disability into hope by awakening the connection between mind and body.
Matthew teaches at national yoga conferences, studios, and institutions around the country. He teaches traditional students and is a pioneer in adapting yoga for people living with disabilities. “We all live on a continuum of abilities and disabilities,” he says. “The principles of yoga apply to all people, to all bodies.
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