Adaptive Yoga Class Aimed at Helping Traumatic Brain Injury Patients

Love Your Brain Foundation is offering a workshop in Denver that utilizes adaptive yoga to help people who have suffered traumatic brain injury.

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“Most of us think of pretzel-like shapes when we think of yoga, but teachers training for an upcoming adaptive-yoga course had to take on a different challenge — teaching the muscle engagement required for downward-facing dog pose while sitting in a chair,” an article in The Denver Post reads. “The techniques teachers learned in recent sessions at The River Power Vinyasa Yoga, in the Golden Triangle, equipped them to teach a community just beginning to dip their toes into yoga — those who have suffered traumatic brain injuries ( TBI). The teachers are preparing for a free six-week series for TBI survivors offered by the River beginning in September.”

Organized by Love Your Brain Foundation, the workshop is the first one of its kind in the Denver area. Former pro snowboarder Kevin Pearce created the organization to promote community and foster resilience after he  suffered a TBI in 2009 while training for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Kevin reportedly hit his head on a 22-foot wall of the halfpipe he was training on and spent six weeks doing physical therapy at Craig Hospital shortly after.

Kevin’s older brother, Adam, who is also co-founder of Love Your Brain Foundation, told The Denver Post that they realized there’s a lack of support for those who are recovering from a TBI, which he says often leads to isolation and depression. Without resources and support, Adam said it makes it difficult for TBI survivors to move forward in their lives.

Since researchers have not extensively explored the link between yoga and TBIs, Love Your Brain partnered with Dartmouth University to conduct a pilot study that tried to distill which aspects of yoga are most important for people with TBIs. The organization officially launched its curriculum in November 2015, based on their findings from the pilot study.

“Over the last two years, Love Your Brain fine-tuned the program presented in July. The current curriculum integrates breathing exercises, physical yoga, guided meditation and discussion,” the article reads. “Colorado, which ranks 13th in the country of hospitalizations due to a TBI according to the Traumatic Brain Injury National Data Center, will be the fifth state to offer Love Your Brain’s yoga curriculum.”