 Comments of Karen Moore, Vision Rehab Therapist, Jewish Guild For The Blind, May 1995 The positive effect that yoga has on many of our clients facilitates the teaching process at various levels. Among the many losses associated with blindness and vision impairment is the loss of the visual stimuli to trigger memory. GuildCare offers numerous groups focusing on the development of memory skills. Registrants who have participated in yoga class often display an increased ability to focus and concentrate on the task at hand. Many clients display fewer signs of distractibility and a greater ability to remain organized. Anxiety levels tend to be lowered following yoga sessions. Considering the impact that anxiety has on learning new compensatory skills, lowering anxiety levels is of great benefit to both the vision rehabilitation teacher and the registrant. An additional problem common to newly blinded people may be poor directionality coupled with difficulty identifying one's own space in relationship to the space around them. Clients who regularly attend Carol's yoga class develop an increased sense of themselves in relationship to their environment. Hence, orientation and mobility lessons are less stressful and less time consuming. Not feeling well all the time plus the added stress of being visually impaired is alleviated with Carol's yoga, and that enables all of us teachers and therapists to better do our jobs.
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