Adaptive Yoga LIVE
Project description
Adaptive Yoga is designed to make yoga accessible to more people, especially those who have injuries, limitations, disabilities or those who are elderly.
What was your response to Covid-19?
Free online seated yoga classes created for people with disabilities to combat the stress of self-isolation during lockdown.
What was different about this approach?
Adaptive yoga is designed for people with physical restrictions, injury, and disability. It is a seated 30 minute class that incorporates breathing exercises, gentle movement, and a few minutes of meditation.
What is the impact and benefit for people?
Research has shown that practicing yoga can help in alleviating depression and anxiety disorders. It teaches you to focus on better breathing techniques, which calm the nervous system and aid in mental wellbeing. Yoga can help build endurance, improve muscle tone, and it has cardiovascular benefits to improve heart health.
Since our tiny team of three volunteers launched in April 2020 we hasve had nearly 500 people register on the website and the feedback has been 100% positive.
"relaxed, aware, stretched"
" I enjoyed being in the moment with the movement. I hold a lot of tension in my neck and shoulders because of my Parkinson's Disease this helps improve my stiffness.
" cannot wait for Wednesday - need to keep my lungs healthy and I think this is the way to go"
90% of participants said they are disabled. Diseases included Spina bifida & hydrocephalus, Arthritis, MS, Cerebral palsy, Parkisons, Fibromyalgia, Stroke, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Parapalegic, Epiphyseal Dysplasia, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Chronic Back pain , and more!
Every class sees roughly 40-60 people tuning in for the free 30 minute session through our Youtube (opens new window), Facebook (opens new window), and website video channels.
Is the solution sustainable post COVID19?
Yes we plan to continue the service and would like to host classes on Zoom for disabled people to meet one another and form communities and friendship with people who are all on the same journey of self discovery and self improvement.
There was only one adaptive yoga class in the UK in 2019. It was based at the Westway sports centre in West London and it was a class of 8 people.
We were adamant to continue the classes because we had all felt the benefits of this extraordinary form of exercise that wasn't about the physical achievement, it was about practicing self-compassion, learning to work with your body, instead of fighting against it. It was about learning proven techniques to help manage the stress of living with a disability on a daily basis.
Lastly it was an opportunity to meet other disabled people on the same tough journey. It has been a life-changing experience and its my goal to make Adaptive Yoga available for everyone living with a disability.