Yoga for Alzheimer's and Dementia

Unique to Flip The Dog is a comprehensive program to bring yoga to patients and partners in the Alzheimer's disease and Dementia (AD) community. We train yoga teachers to lead adults with AD in yoga classes in a structured yet fun and therapeutic manner. We also create programs for organizations serving these adults that bring the benefits of yoga to the patients as well as their support team - care partners, family, social workers and medical providers.

AD is a degenerative and fatal disease that robs a person of cognitive ability and the ability to understand, have meaningful conversations, and make sense of the once familiar world around him. It leaves the ability to feel emotions and express feelings intact. However, unless there is another disease process underway, the individual is usually quite physically vital and able to participate in a physical fitness program given the right environment and an aware instructor. Flip The Dog's therapeutic approach to yoga connects on a feeling level with people with Alzheimer's disease to help create balance and mind-body connection and to increase positive emotions. The application of therapeutic yoga could be widespread, potentially reducing medication levels and ameliorating negative behaviors associated with negative moods and anxiety. Therapeutic yoga therefore also has the potential to reduce costs of running a day or residential program.

A great deal of work has been done in the field of somatic therapy, the use of body movements to access and release deeply held emotions in individuals for whom traditional talk therapy is ineffective or potentially traumatizing. The use of dance, music, art and most recently yoga has been and continues to be studied with therapeutic applications in mind. This model works with body memory to create an experience on the physical level (movement, auditory and/or visual) which helps to access and shift emotions on a deep and therapeutic level. While this work has been used extensively in clinical settings with patients dealing with trauma, it can be equally used to access joy and ease.

The form of yoga Flip The Dog offers to adults with AD is based on the Structural Yoga Therapy Joint Freeing Series® (JFS) as taught by Mukunda Tom Stiles. The JFS helps to lubricate all the movable joints of the body, to promote the mind-body connection and to improve coordination along neural pathways. It is highly adaptable and gentle. People can complete the series from a yoga mat, sitting in a chair or reclined in bed and receive all the benefits.