Adaptive yoga sessions used as therapy for people with traumatic brain injuries
Yoga is an ancient philosophy and practice of health and well-bring. Today, most people identify with the physical practice of Yoga, but Yoga is also used in meditation, breathing exercises, visualization, and lifestyle and diet changes. Now, an adaptive version of yoga is being used as therapy for people recovering from traumatic brain injury. News5 […]
Yoga is an ancient philosophy and practice of health and well-bring. Today, most people identify with the physical practice of Yoga, but Yoga is also used in meditation, breathing exercises, visualization, and lifestyle and diet changes.
Now, an adaptive version of yoga is being used as therapy for people recovering from traumatic brain injury.
News5 attended a yoga session at Rocky Mountain Healthcare’s BrainCare division to discover how it’s used to heal mind, body and spirit. Instructor Stacie Wyatt has been teaching at BrainCare for four years.
“I just was inspired to take yoga into a place where people who couldn’t access a traditional setting can still get the benefit of the practice,” Wyatt says in the article.
BrainCare provides daily support for individuals with acquired or traumatic brain injury.
“We help participants relearn lost skills and grow toward independence and self-sufficiency through a range of services including a day treatment program with skills training, coordinated care and specialized living communities,” the BrainCare website reads. “For those with greater independence, participants live on their own and receive cognitive rehabilitation through individual treatment, group classes and social activities at the Neuropathways Center. For those who need more care, participants live in one of our specialized living communities and participate in our day program, with skills training, treatment and coordinated care at our Neuropathways Center.”
“In a world where there’s a new normal after sustaining a brain injury, sometimes it’s okay to just have a nice relaxation moment,” Valerie Torres told News5, the Director of Brain Injury Services. “That’s what Stacie provides.
Wyatt said she believes yoga allows patients to feel whole despite their cognitive or other disabilities.
“I think yoga brings them back to that place within them that, even if I can’t move my left side, I’m still whole,” Wyatt said in the article. “For patients struggling with a mind-body disconnect, yoga can be integral to recovery. It brings them into right now. They can’t go back. They walk out of here, or wheel out of here, OK with who they are today.”
Teaching the adaptive yoga sessions is good for Wyatt’s spirit as well. She told News5 she has learned courage, vulnerability and wisdom from teaching the class.
“If I can grow through them, then we’re completely one,” she said.
