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Martha Patt
El Cerrito, CA
When Martha Patt, 45, was diagnosed with MS at age 26, she felt as though her world was falling apart. She gave herself three years to decide if life with MS was worth living. "This in itself gave me a feeling that I was in control," she recalls.
When she made the vow that she was in control, she pushed to create personal goals and visualizations, and began a daily regimen of stretching and relaxation, using yoga postures she had learned in an occasional class prior to her diagnosis.
In the nearly 20 years since her diagnosis, she has maintained a daily yoga practice. Any hint of MS fatigue has always been relieved by her 15-minute morning and 45-minute evening routines. She believes that this daily practice, along with support from her husband, have been vital to maintaining a productive and positive lifestyle.
"When I was diagnosed, yoga really kept me from dropping off the deep end," Martha says. "The pain in my legs has been the biggest challenge to manage. Most recently this chronic pain has turned into muscle spasms and sharp jabs, which wake me at night. But I meditate, and the pain, for a moment, sinks into the floor."
Martha has teamed with the Northern California chapter of the National MS Society since 1994 to offer yoga classes for people with MS. In 2001, she received a Betaseron® Champions of Courage grant to offer yoga workshops in Colorado. The workshops in Ft. Collins and Denver brought together instructors and people with MS for a "hands-on" day adapting yoga postures for people with MS. Her initiative was so successful that she received a second grant to hold similar workshops in Chicago in the fall of 2003.
"My MS diagnosis prompted me to focus on life priorities, my personal dreams and making those goals attainable. I consider myself an advocate for the disabled – my diagnosis gave me a purpose in life," says Martha. "By sharing my personal experiences and introducing the exciting benefits of yoga to both MS patients and yoga teachers, we can offer hope and direction to those trying to live productive and healthy lifestyles."
Martha teaches a yoga class for people with MS every Saturday. She works at the University of California, Berkeley, in the University’s Extramural Fund Accounting Office. The National MS Society chose Martha as the Ambassador for Northern California’s MS Walk in 2001.
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