Adaptive Yoga

Brain and Life Magazine’s recent article on Adaptive Yoga for People with Disabilities highlights the benefit of yoga for people with disabilities or chronic conditions. This form of yoga uses props like chairs, blankets and other items to help make the yoga poses accessible to people with limitations in movement or balance. The poses are also modified to help participants.

Yoga can provide many benefits to patients with peripheral neuropathy, including improved strength, focus, and balance. Some studies have been done to try to understand from a scientific perspective the positive effects of yoga on neurological conditions and some evidence has been found to support these claims. Even more anecdotal reports on the positive benefits that yoga provides to physical and mental health have been observed – and it is just plain fun, which is always good for the mind and the body!

Want to try Adaptive Yoga? Here are some suggestions:

• Register for the FPN Webinar taking place on June 16 at 1:30 p.m. CT here! Learn about a form of yoga called QiGong, which has been adapted to be done while seated. If you can’t make our live webinar, don’t worry, we will be posting the recording in the FPN Media Center on our website shortly after the event.
• Contact a local yoga studio, community center, or Y in your area and ask if they have any classes in chair yoga or adaptive yoga. Many centers have such classes, and many are now offering these classes online if they are not meeting in person.
• Several specialized yoga studios and websites offer online classes. The Brain and Life Magazine article referenced here offers a few suggestions including:
  • Adaptive Yoga Live: adaptiveyogalive.com
  • Mind Body Solutions: mindbodysolutions.org
  • Piedmont Yoga Community: piedmontyogacommunity.org
  • Renée Le Verrier: leverrier.com
  • Yoga Home: ouryogahome.com
  • Yoga Moves MS: yogamovesms.org

We look forward to seeing you at our QiGong webinar and other webinars that we host on healthy living with PN!