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2 minute read
AMY ZELLMER LoveYourBrain Community Member
February 3, 2014 started out like any other morning. I got up early to move my car due to our building plowing the lots. I took my Yorkie, Pixxie, out for her morning walk, but with sub-zero weather I decided she would rather I carry her (spoiled pooch, I know).
As I carried her down the inclined driveway of our building, I stepped on a patch of black ice. My feet went out from under me, and I landed full-force on the back of my skull.
When I got up I immediately knew I wasn’t ok, but I had no idea the yearslong journey I was about to embark on. With an excruciating headache, I saw proverbial stars in my vision. I wasn’t sure I could bend over to pick up Pixxie — she sat shivering about 10 feet away from me, so we are pretty certain I went unconscious for at least a few minutes.
Every 11 seconds someone in the United States will suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI). It can happen in literally the blink of an eye, and your life may never be the same ever again.
It took me over two and a half years to find the right doctors to help me finally find some relief from the constant dizziness and headaches. I am nine years into my recovery, and I would say I am finally feeling 90% better, though there are parts of me I have come to accept as the new me, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Through this journey I met some of the most incredible warriors, and have also come to know who I truly am and what I am meant to do.
Early on in my recovery I turned to yoga, my go-to for feeling better. However, this time, I didn’t know where to start. I not only suffered a TBI, I also sustained a dislocated sternum, severe whiplash, and torn muscles throughout my neck and shoulder area. I met with my yoga teacher privately, and together we came up with five poses I could safely do. I did those poses every single day, sometimes twice a day. I noticed my range of motion, mobility, and balance slowing coming back. Yoga became a daily part of my recovery — and remains that way nine years later.
About a year into my journey I attended a screening of “The Crash Reel,” which follows olympic snowboarder, Kevin Pearce, through his training for the 2010 Vancouver olympics. About two weeks before the olympic games, he had a terrible crash and suffered a life-threatening TBI. Kevin and his brother Adam founded the nonprofit, LoveYourBrain (LYB), in 2014 as a way to give back to the community and help survivors and caregivers build resilience.
In 2019 I had the opportunity to attend the LYB Yoga Teacher Training in Jacksonville, FL as a community Ambassador. At the time, I wasn’t a certified RYT yoga teacher, but had been practicing for about 20 years. I would eventually get my 200RYT in 2020 during COVID lock-down, and I began teaching online yoga classes to my TBI Tribe (a FB group that has grown to almost 11,000 members). I blended my LYB training with my chair yoga training into something extraordinary my community thrives from.
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Yoga truly helps us heal, not only physically but mentally and emotionally. As Patanjali clearly says: yoga is a state of mind.
The LoveYourBrain Foundation is a non-profit organization improving the quality of life of people affected by traumatic brain injury and raising awareness about the importance of brain health. They offer free, research-backed yoga, meditation and mindfulness programs, and retreats for TBI survivors and caregivers.
TO LEARN MORE VISIT: www.loveyourbrain.com or follow on social media @loveyourbrain +