Twice a year I have the opportunity to help out with adaptive yoga teacher training weekends at my yoga studio Mind Body Solutions, a great non-profit. My yoga studio is one of the few yoga studios in the country that teaches adaptive yoga and they were the first to teach it in fact. My studio was founded by this amazing guy: Matt Sanford
As you can see, Matt uses a wheelchair. He was paralyzed in a car accident when he was 13 years old and discovered yoga in his 20’s while living in California. He decided to found a studio in the early 90’s to teach to others what he figured out himself, and Mind Body Solutions has been slowly growing since.
I had the opportunity to get into his class through a local rehabilitation facility and have been enjoying adaptive yoga for the last three years. And understatement of the year – it’s made a huge difference in my life, especially in my day-to-day quality of life and being able to feel comfortable while having to sit several hours in my wheelchair (usually 15+ hours. say hellooo to major back pain).
People from all over the globe have been wanting to try the yoga being taught at this studio. I’ve received emails from folks with disabilities asking, Where can I go to learn this?? Sadly, not many places. Adaptive yoga should be available everywhere, not just here in Minnesota (and the good news is that it’s slowly spreading, with great studios popping up in Denver, Philly and others).
This is why Mind Body Solutions started hosting adaptive yoga teacher training weekends to teach the basics of how to teach yoga to someone with a disability, to able-bodied yoga teachers from all around the world.