Yoga Teacher Gets Double Mastectomy to Avoid Breast Cancer | Inner Visions, Outer Triumphs
Yoga teacher, mother, wife, former corporate employee, Emily Goble tested positive for both breast cancer and ovarian cancer genetics. Because her mother has struggled with eight different types of cancer over 25 years and Goble was 87% likely to get breast cancer and 90% for ovarian, she voluntarily opted for a double mastectomy and will soon be undergoing a voluntary hysterectomy. Wow. Check out the Inner Visions, Outer Triumphs video for more on her extraordinary journey. The article below focuses on Goble’s yoga teaching and the support her students offered her through the process.
Emily Goble, 37, lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Married for 12 years, she has a 12-year-old son, Terry, and is currently a full-time yoga teacher. Goble spent ten years in the corporate world, but when she was six months pregnant she lost her job. Because she was so passionate about yoga and had practiced for 13 years, she decided to pick up a few extra teaching gigs. Those few classes turned into a full-time teaching job.
“I always wanted to teach yoga full time, but I was afraid,” Goble says. “Running a business felt less secure, but I soon realized this would offer me flexibility. And the corporate world is stressful, to the point where I started having panic attacks. That’s what brought me to yoga in the first place.”
Why does she love yoga? “Yoga is not just the physical postures, but also meditation, mindfulness, being more connected to your body, being kinder to yourself and other people, and not letting toxic people in your life,” she says. It’s also about connecting with her students.
“I love it because I know the magic it offers for people,” she explains. “People feel safe, and they feel like they can be themselves and unwind and distress. They leave feeling better.”
Plus, the practice is a gift she brings to people, she says. “I can offer people a sacred space, a place they refuel so they have more to give. The healing that happens for people is amazing. We all need to be reminded that we need to take time to be still.”
And Goble says, she leaves feeling better. “The best part of teaching yoga is that I have the ability to put all my personal stuff aside and be available. If I’m stressed out and running late, what’s wonderful is the first thing we’re going to do is sit and be quiet. It’s good for me. It’s a practice for me to be teaching.”
In fact, she says, her students supported her in so many ways when she had her surgery.
“There was a part of me that thought I was going to be less me,” she says about that difficult time. “But the before was much harder than the after. Once I went through it, I realized I’m still me. The whole process strengthened and empowered me. But what really showed up was how my students were there for me. The outpouring was unbelievable. They brought me dinner, sent me gifts and letters. When I look at everything that happened, so much love came from my students. Teaching yoga is about the relationships that I have, and that keeps me doing it.”
Learn more about Emily Goble on her website, and check out our Inner Visions, Outer Triumphs video below.
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