乳腺癌治疗一年后，她用普拉提重建对身体的信任：小幅起步、中段区间渐进加量

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and at Polestar Pilates, we believe awareness begins with honest conversations. Monica Larcada—studio manager at Polestar Pilates Dadeland in Miami and a Polestar educator—has shared her breast cancer journey openly on Pilates Hour, Polestar’s free weekly live webinar. In October 2025, a year after her first conversation on the show, she came back to talk with Polestar founder Dr. Brent Anderson and look back on the lessons, the setbacks, and the moments of gratitude that shaped that year.

What follows is a reflection on her story and on what it teaches all of us about Pilates after breast cancer: how to move, how to teach, and how to care for ourselves and others along the way.

One Year Later, Still on the Road

The first months were the scariest stretch of the journey: diagnosis, chemotherapy, and big decisions about surgery. When she came back to the show in October 2025, Monica was still in treatment.

After completing her initial chemotherapy in November 2024, Monica had a single mastectomy that January. Surgeons found a small amount of residual cancer—two spots she describes as the size of grains of rice—so her care team changed the plan. She began a targeted therapy that she compares to a vacuum cleaner sweeping the body for any remaining cells, with reconstruction scheduled for December 2025. Treatment also placed her in medically induced menopause.

“Life has a funny way of turning things around on you,” Monica says. Even so, she chooses to see the bright side. Every new challenge, she explains, helps her relate to the people she teaches.

What Monica Wishes Someone Had Told Her

Asked what she wishes she had known at the start, Monica has a list. Her answers are worth sharing with anyone facing a diagnosis and with every teacher who works with them:

• Be easy on yourself. Hormones shift, the body changes, and weight gain may happen. That is okay.
• It is a long road. Finishing chemotherapy does not always mean the end of treatment.
• Ask what to expect at every step. Even small procedures feel easier when nothing comes as a surprise. Monica learned this when a pre-surgery dye injection caught her completely off guard.
• Keep moving, even when it hurts. Joint pain and morning stiffness were among the toughest effects of induced menopause. Her solution was never to stop moving, but to move more consciously and change the way she moved.

Pilates After Breast Cancer: Meeting the Body Where It Is

For Monica, the Pilates environment became a place to rebuild trust in her body. Pilates is “super helpful,” she says, because “you can gradually progress the load.” After her mastectomy, she started with small movements and light springs, taking as much support from the equipment as she needed and gradually feeling where she was.

That approach shapes her favorite advice: if something doesn’t feel right, change it. Modify the exercise, ask someone to watch you, adjust your position, but don’t stop moving because something hurts. As Monica puts it, there is always a different way, or a better way, to do it that day.

“If something doesn’t feel right, change how you’re doing it.”

Monica Larcada

A few tools make a big difference for her:

• Spring assistance. The Seated Pull Down on the Trapeze Table is a “game changer” for her joints and for the tissues around her surgery.
• The floor. Lying on the mat at home gives her body a place to melt down and feel safe, especially her shoulders, which tend to round forward to protect the surgical side.
• Support under the shoulders. Inspired by a session with movement educator Angela Crowley, Monica pads her shoulders so they have something to rest into.
• Patience with weight-bearing. Taking weight through her arms still feels uncertain, so she looks for positions and balance changes that help her feel safe.

Dr. Brent remembers a group of women in treatment who came to their Pilates classes even on their hardest days. Some simply lay on the Reformer with one leg resting over the footbar. “They just wanted to be there,” he says. Sometimes, showing up is the practice.

The Neutral Zone: Why Less Range Can Mean More Progress

One of the most practical ideas behind Monica’s progress is the neutral zone, a concept every teacher can use tomorrow.

Imagine the full range of motion of a joint or region of the body. Now imagine just the middle 50% of that range. According to Dr. Brent, that middle zone is where the nervous system acquires new movement and where a client can have a positive movement experience. “There almost never is anything really good that happens at an end of range from an active component,” he says. From there, you build outward gradually: from 50% to 60%, not from 50% to 100%.

Monica’s physical therapist, a Polestar-trained women’s health specialist, gives her similar guidance. Even when a deep stretch feels good, her healing tissue needs to feel good first, followed by just the tiniest bit of length.

Dr. Brent adds one more layer: keep the thoracic spine mobile. When the upper back moves well, it takes a huge amount of stress off the chest wall and shoulder, the very areas affected by mastectomy and reconstruction. Breath work and gentle extension, for example lying on a Spine Corrector or flat on the floor, can help.

For Teachers: Five Questions to Ask Before You Progress

1. Can my client breathe easily in this position?
2. Are we working in the middle of the available range?
3. Would more support, such as a pad, a lighter spring, or a smaller movement, make this feel safer?
4. Has my client’s medical team cleared this type of loading?
5. Will my client leave the session feeling more confident than when they arrived?

Joseph Pilates Saw It Coming

Listening to oncologists and surgeons discuss breast cancer prevention and recovery, Dr. Brent was struck by how closely their advice mirrors Joseph Pilates’s formula for health from a century ago: movement, nutrition, sleep, fresh air and sunshine, hygiene (which Dr. Brent extends to mental hygiene, clearing out unhelpful thoughts), and a balance of life’s stressors. He also highlights the growing research on loading muscles and bones, as soon as tolerated, to support hormonal health in women during and after menopause.

Monica lives these principles every day. She starts and ends each day with a dance party at home (her dog is a willing partner), and she walks outside every morning and evening. “The sun is magic,” she says. Teaching helps, too: Monica gets to dedicate hours at a time to helping other people, and she feels lucky to do it.

Awareness Every Day: Feel It on the First

“Our goal in Breast Cancer Awareness Month is breast awareness day every day of your life,” Dr. Brent says. That goes for men as well.

Talk openly. Learn what is normal for your body. If you notice a change, such as a new lump, dimpling or puckering of the skin, or changes to the nipple, tell your doctor right away instead of waiting. Monica shares a simple habit from the Feel It on the First campaign: on the first day of every month, do a breast self-check. Add it to your calendar today.

Keep the Conversation Going

Monica’s story is one of resilience, gratitude, and the power of movement to restore both body and spirit. Share it with someone who needs it today, and keep talking openly about breast health with the people you love.

Watch the Full Conversation

Pilates Hour, Episode 260: “Pilates, Healing, and Hope: One Year Later with Breast Cancer,” with Monica Larcada and Dr. Brent Anderson (October 2025). Pilates Hour is Polestar’s free weekly live webinar.

Watch Episode 260 on YouTube →

Keep Exploring on the Polestar Life Blog

• Working with Clients with Breast Cancer
• Breast Cancer and Pilates Rehabilitation Choices
• Movement Is Always in Season: The Practice of Being Present

This article shares one person’s experience and general educational information. It is not medical advice. Always consult your oncology team before starting or changing an exercise program, and work within your scope of practice as a movement professional.