AVL Adjustment to Vision Loss Project
AVL Update!
The Adjustment to Vision Loss Project has been thriving with new members joining each week. Not only does hip have 7 monthly group meetings reaching close to 100 consumers each month, we have a new addition to the AVL Program.
Thien began teaching yoga to our AVL consumers in November, volunteering her time on a weekly basis to instruct our hip consumers on how to feel well and practice good health.
Thien has practiced Body and Brain yoga for three years and has been a volunteer yoga instructor for almost a year. Body and Brain yoga practice combines elements from a variety of Eastern practices to enhance one’s physical, mental and energetic health. Each class not only trains the body’s flexibility, strength and balance but helps center awareness inside oneself. Through breathing postures, participants will accumulate energy and strengthen the core, leaving them feeling recharged, relaxed, and refreshed. The practice has locations all over the United States and offers both in-person and online classes. Thien has been teaching classes for the blind and visually impaired as part of the Body and Brain yoga outreach program.
Thien teaches classes on Zoom and over the phone. She is passionate about sharing this practice with others through her classes because this yoga practice helps her with her physical health as well as her emotional and spiritual growth. She has developed a stronger connection with herself and feels more at peace. She wants to share the practice so that others may experience similar positive changes.
Thien created a yoga YouTube video for the blind at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQidLT3xHaM
Thien has been legally blind since birth. She came to the United States from Vietnam when she was 19 years old. She started high school and graduated third in her class. She attended Stony Brook University on full scholarship where she graduated with honors with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Thien has been working for the U.S Department of Labor since 2000 as a Human Resources Specialist. In her free time, she crochets and knits blankets for the Project Linus charity organization and various other outreach projects. During the pandemic, she hand-sewed hundreds of masks for the homeless shelters in New York City.
Thank you to Thien for providing this amazing service to our consumers!
Please email tebel@hipcil.org if you have any questions on this wonderful addition to the AVL program.
