Yoga has become so mainstream now everyone is familiar with the benefits it brings to the mind, body and spirit. What I find myself wondering though is if everyone is as familiar about just how much yoga can benefit the brain. In this blog I want to share how one well known traumatic brain injury survivor has taken the practice of yoga and raised it to a higher level. You will be amazed in reading just how it has helped him and will easily understand why he’s so passionate about providing others with the potential to experience equally remarkable results.
In late December 2009, Olympic snowboarding medal contender Kevin Pearce was completing a training run in Utah to perfect a maneuver called the cab double cork, which is a double backflip with a twist. By mastering this he would be a very strong contender to take the gold medal at the 2010 Olympics, overtaking Shaun White who was favored to win.
That day something went terribly wrong on the training run and he caught the toe edge of his board on landing. His head crashed into the ice at a high speed.
His life, as he’d known it, came to an end. Kevin sustained a traumatic brain injury on December 31, 2009.
He spent 6 days in a coma and then began several months of rehabilitation where he relearned how to walk and speak, among other things.
His determination and courage that he showed during this time was driven by his strong desire to return to the sport he loved and resume competitive snowboarding. While he has now come to accept that he will never compete professionally again, this doesn’t take away from the fact his story is one of inspiration, hope and seeing why you never want to give up on believing in your abilities when faced with unimaginable obstacles.
In 2013 The Crash Reel was released, a movie documenting his life leading up to the accident, his time in the hospital and rehabilitation as well as the challenges and struggles he faced upon returning home.
This movie moved me to tears in many parts. While I’ve never snowboarded, I could relate to much of what he was going through in his rehabilitation and his journey in accepting his new normal as I had faced similar challenges after I sustained a traumatic brain injury in 2001.
You can watch a 3 minute trailer of the movie here.
I don’t know anyone who could watch the movie and not be just as moved as I was. It’s an emotional roller coaster from tears to laughter and everything in between as he navigates through a new world surrounded by a loving and supportive family and friends.
But what really stands out for me is the power of resilience and just how large of a role the human spirit plays in never giving up.
The brain injury left Kevin with vision problems and despite several surgeries, his vision has never been completely restored to how it was before the accident which meant he needed to wear glasses.
Up until earlier this year that is.
That’s when everything changed one day when he drove to a yoga class with his glasses on, completed the class, and noticed when he got back into his car afterwards that no longer needed to wear glasses to drive! For the first time since his accident!
He credits yoga will having played a huge role in this and shares more details about it here.
Eager for other brain injury survivors to experience of the benefits of yoga, last year Kevin and his team created LoveYourBrain (LYB) with their mission being to improve the quality of life for people affected by a brain injury, advocating to all the importance of brain injury prevention, recovery and brain health.
You can read more about LYB, their philosophy in providing yoga programs that are most beneficial for brain injury survivors and the various programs that they offer, such as an annual camp event, at LYB. At this time LYB yoga is only officially offered in the USA, however, I have been told that they may offer a few select programs in Canada this year and hopefully they will spread out to other countries over the next few years.
Traumatic brain injury, according to the World Health Organization, will surpass many diseases as the major cause of death and disability by the year 2020 so the demand is definitely out there.
As a TBI survivor myself, I know just how important it is to have a healthy brain and am doing all that I can to make sure mine is the best it can be. I want to live life to its fullest and want the same for everyone around me.
A healthy brain is a happy brain!
In my weekly blogs I often share ideas and tips on how you can keep your brain healthy, regardless if you have a brain injury or not, and it’s my hope that this empowers you and allows you to see just how much your brain’s health is in your hands.
Don’t be like me and wait for a brain injury to happen before you start making brain health a priority.
In fact, why wait when you can start now by doing a few yoga poses for the brain! I’m about to do mine and think it’s going to take me a while before I can master the supported headstand!
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