As we pause to express gratitude this Thanksgiving season, we are remember how grateful we are for opportunities to continue to learn about yoga and related topics—and to share what we learn with our community.

While all yoga teachers practice svadhyaya (self-study), we also often find it useful to learn in communities, both in-person and virtual, both synchronous and asynchronous.  During 2023, Frances Strickler and Angie Jones have worked through an online training, the Brain Longevity Therapy Training (BLTT) offered by the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation (ARPF).  

Although the BLTT training is not only online but also asynchronous, Frances, Angie, and Leslie Weigel decided to take it together in order to have friends with whom they could discuss what they were learning.  The 24.5-hour course advances their understanding of how to care for our brains as we age and also counts toward their ongoing professional development for Yoga Alliance.  (Yoga Alliance requires teachers to complete a minimum of 30 training hours every three years to maintain their membership.)

The BLTT course includes 22 modules and eight “additional videos” on topics that support ARPF’s Four Pillars of Alzheimer’s Prevention.  The program provides many hours of video content in addition to study guides and research articles, and each section concludes with a quiz on its content.  After completing the formal curriculum, each participant creates a practicum, a brief video where they discuss or apply content from the course and submit it for review.

When asked about her most valuable lesson from the BLTT program, Frances noted, “The training…pointed out what a large component yoga and meditation have in working with the four pillars: Stress management, spiritual fitness, and exercise-both physical and mental. It allows us to let peace in and keep tension out.”

Angie agreed with Frances’ emphasis on the role of yoga and meditation and specifically addressed the value of community yoga: “In my practicum, I focused on the ways that community yoga supports one of the four pillars, spiritual fitness.  I appreciate ARPF’s broad definition of ‘spiritual fitness’ and the ways that definition encompasses features that are also important to us at 4yoga, including community-building and kindness.”

Leslie is also working through the course, and she, Frances, and Angie will hold another Zoom meeting in December to brainstorm ways to share what they have learned with our broader community. We hope to find ways that we can all benefit from ARPF’s longstanding research focus in the critical area of brain health.