“You’re still alive and the body is just a vehicle

SCI Life: October 2014


Teaching Yoga Aided Her Recovery

Mary-Jo Fetterly, 56, of Vancouver, British Columbia, was raised by a mother who was one of the first yoga teachers in North America, but it wasn’t until she was a single mother herself that she finally turned to yoga. She fell in love with it, and became an impassioned yoga teacher.

“You’re still alive and the body is just a vehicle for the expression of your soul, no matter what form or shape it is in.”
“You’re still alive and the body is just a vehicle for the expression of your soul, no matter what form or shape it is in.”

In 2004, her entire world shifted. Fetterly sustained a C4-6 injury while skiing and credits her yoga teaching with getting her through that traumatic moment. “In all honesty, I did yoga at the top of the hill as I lay there unable to breathe,” she says. “I began a very slow yoga breath — ‘Ujayi’ breathing — to overcome the shutdown of my breathing muscles.”

After going through rehab, Fetterly was able to recover mobility at the C5-6 level and yoga was there for every part of it. “Initially, I was not able to sit up on my own, so most of my practice I did actually lying down in a position I called the ‘Sickle Dump,’” she says. “This was just to get my arms functional again.” Finally, four years post-injury, Fetterly was able to achieve the trunk balance she needed to sit on the mat.

And she turned to more restorative poses post-injury, too. “There’s nothing better than getting the body into a very supported and yet anatomically correct position and having the muscles return to a balanced and neutral place.” This is the yoga she teaches, among other styles, at her new adaptive studio — Trinity Yoga.

Yoga can also change the way we think, says Fetterly, which also helps post-injury. “Remember, you’re still alive and the body is just a vehicle for the expression of your soul, no matter what form or shape it is in.”

Visit www.mary-jo.com.

‘Best Of’ Online Universal Design Community

“We believe our houses should support rather than handicap us.” This is the mission statement of The Accessible Life, a new website dedicated to fostering a burgeoning online universal design community that will set trends and one day help make universal design the default design of all architecture. While that’s a ways away, sites like this will help make it happen.

Universal-Design-picThe Accessible Life is the brainchild of Brian McMillan, a T3-4 paraplegic, from Kansas City, Mo. After his motorcycle accident in 2002, he made the decision to dedicate his life to elevating universal design, and it’s working. He created The Accessible Life as a free user-generated community of universal design enthusiasts who will submit photos and plans of the best universal design they’ve witnessed or done themselves.

On his site is also a virtual tour of the house that started it all, his own home — the McMillan House.

Check it out at www.theaccessiblelife.com

Ready for Winter?

Are you ready for Winter? Koolway Sports, an adapted outerwear design manufacturer from Ontario, Canada, sure is. They make high-end jackets full of adaptive features such as a half-back, shoulder openings and kangaroo pouches to hold important items and special openings for your plumbing (catheters, etc.).

Go to www.koolwaysports.com.


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