Special Needs Yoga at Piedmont Yoga Studio
Special Needs Yoga at Piedmont Yoga Studio offers an affordable, safe and accessible space where highly trained teachers adapt yoga to suit the specific needs of its participants. Three classes are currently offered and all are sliding scale: Yoga for People with Disabilities, Yoga for People Living with Cancer, and Yoga for People with Special Needs.
Some of the current students are paraplegic, quadriplegic, many have esoteric autoimmune diseases, others have post polio sequelae, cerebral palsy, fibromyalgia, osteogenesis imperfecta, scleroderma, hip or knee replacements, cancer, traumatic brain injury, arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. The majority of these students are dealing with a great deal of stress.
Classes always include at least 30 to 45 minutes of Restorative Yoga as well as gentle movement and some strengthening asana, stressing proper alignment as it applies to each student, individually. Each class is staffed by a teacher and an assistant, and always a few volunteers, so students receive individual attention in order to address balance issues, ability to lift props, transferring from chairs to the floor, and supporting or moving limbs or body parts that students cannot move themselves.
The Special Needs and Yoga for Disabilities class is led by JoAnn Lyons, a long time yoga teacher and instructor for the Advanced Training Programs at Piedmont Yoga Studio. She also teaches three weekly classes at the Cerebral Palsy Center and has countless years of experience working with people with special needs. The Living with Cancer Yoga Class is taught by Cheryl Fenner Brown, an East Bay Hatha yoga instructor as well as an Integrative Yoga Therapist.
2009 teacher training brochure
Special Needs Yoga at Piedmont Yoga Studio has been a grant recipient of Yoga Dana Foundation since 2007.