I recently opened Kevin’s Monthly Highlight from LoveYourBrain and found myself intrigued by the genuity in Kevin’s voice to others regarding yoga and meditation. As some of you know, Kevin suffered a near fatal traumatic brain injury while training for the 2010 winter Olympics. His recovery has been a long, long road and to this day, he’s still navigating these challenges.
“I truly believe that no matter who you are, where you are in your life, or what you are doing, yoga and meditation practice will help improve your quality of life. My recovery process has been so hard. At times it is painfully slow and unbelievably tiring. But experiences like the one I had last month, talking to 900 teenagers about the power of yoga and the importance of mindfulness, make all that I’m doing and working towards feel so worth it.”
Kevin recently spoke at the SPECTACULAR sports and leadership camp at Graceland University in Iowa. Here, the camp was watching Kevin’s acclaimed documentary, The Crash Reel. Little did the 900 kids know, Kevin was in the back room waiting to surprise them – well, they went ballistic.
“It was one of the most amazing feelings I have ever felt in my life. For about four minutes—which felt like four hours to me—the kids were on their feet going wild. When they finally calmed down, I got to share all the pieces of my experience that were not in the movie, including where I’m at in my recovery process now, and what LoveYourBrain has been doing for TBI survivors around the world.”
Photo courtesy of LoveYourBrain
Letting go doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. Let’s be honest – letting go of a bad relationship or the rope swing at just the right moment – all good things. Well, in Kevin’s case, letting go of his Olympic dreams was no easy feat yet eye opening as well.
“The theme of the camp was “Let Go,” so it felt like the perfect space to share my experience: how incredibly hard letting go of certain dreams has been, but also how much I have learned and how rewarding it has been to create new dreams and opportunities. One of the most memorable parts of my experience at SPEC was talking about how yoga and meditation has changed my life and ultimately changed my brain.”
Photo courtesy of LoveYourBrain
The LoveYourBrain Foundation is launching a nationwide gentle yoga and meditation program for traumatic brain injury survivors from concussions to severe brain injury. They are hosting yoga teacher training workshops to equip teachers with skills, knowledge, and confidence to tailor their yoga and meditation classes for this population, starting in Burlington, VT on August 28.
Learn more about the Yoga and Meditation program, how to support the program, as well as becoming a teacher here.
Finally, if you’re not signed up for LoveYourBrain’s newsletter, you can do that here.
