Miracles
Yoga
Provides
By Maria Savoy
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an
unpredictable, often disabling,
disease of the central nervous system
that disrupts the flow of information
between the brain and the body.
Mindy Eisenberg, author of Adaptive
Yoga: Moves Any Body, learned
about the disease from an early age
when her mother was diagnosed with
progressive MS. Her passion to know
more about this disease lead her to
start a movement fighting against MS
called, Yoga Moves MS. “I didn’t really
know, exactly, how to help her,” Mindy
explains. “She had a lot of spasms,
a lot of discomfort, and she became
more and more immobile.”
Multiple Sclerosis is a terrible,
debilitating disease that affects
millions of Americans. It can cause
numbness or weakness, rigidity, loss
of vision, painful spasms that have feel
like electric shocks, tremors, and an
unsteady gait taking a toll on the brain
38 | Eydis Magazine
too. Patients are plagued by anxiety,
fatigue, and depression. Exercising,
or even just an increase in body
temperature, can set off an attack.
Mindy has a Bachelor of Science degree
from Northwestern University and a
Master of Health Services Administration
from the University of Michigan.
It all started when a friend introduced
Mindy to yoga. She fell in love and
eventually decided to train to become
an instructor. “When I finished the
training, someone said to me, ‘they’re
looking for a volunteer to teach yoga
at the MS Society.’” She explains.
Mindy founded Yoga Moves MS,
which provides donation-only small
group yoga classes for individuals
living with Multiple Sclerosis. She sees
firsthand the benefits of yoga to the
students attending classes throughout
metro Detroit. Mindy and nine other
instructors teach at multiple locations
throughout the region, including
Southfield, Rochester, Bloomfield,
Novi, St. Clair Shores, and their newest
location in Detroit.
She has provided yoga therapy to
individuals with Multiple Sclerosis,
and neuromuscular conditions in
southeastern Michigan for over eleven
years. As a perpetual student, she
seeks to learn from the best yoga and
meditation instructors in the country. Her
experience as a hospital administrator
at the University of Michigan Medical
Center contributes to her ability to bring
the yoga moves philosophy of healing,
and the importance of the mind-body
relationship to the health care arena.
After years of teaching, Mindy saw
was there were plenty of yoga videos
and books but none tailored with her
clients in mind. Therefore Adaptive
Yoga Moves Any Body was born. Mindy
has taken yoga and made it easy and
fun with demonstrative photos and
descriptions that make each yoga