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El Cerrito, CA Woman Receives Champions of Courage Grant to Produce Multiple Sclerosis Yoga Video
WASHINGTON, DC, September 27, 2004 – Martha Patt, a 46-year-old El Cerrito, CA resident who has battled multiple sclerosis (MS) for 20 years, recently received a Betaseron® Champions of Courage grant to produce a yoga video and DVD for people with MS. The video will demonstrate yoga postures and adaptations for ambulatory and non-ambulatory people with MS. A student of yoga for 22 years, Patt currently teaches yoga through the National MS Society and has received two previous BCC grants to organize yoga workshops for people with MS in Illinois and Colorado.
“We are grateful to Martha for sharing her enthusiasm for yoga with so many members of the MS community,” said Eric Simons, motivational speaker with MS and chairman of the Betaseron Champions of Courage program. “Her new video and DVD will allow many more people with MS to experience the benefits of yoga.”
During the 60-minute video, Patt will describe how the mental and physical exercises of yoga have helped to ease her MS symptoms. She will lead MS yoga students through a series of postures that she teaches to her own students, which have been adapted to accommodate all ability levels. Patt hopes the video will inspire people with MS to incorporate yoga into their daily lives. The video provides a simple routine that can be performed at home, but it is her hope as well that people will also seek out a local yoga class.
“I am excited by this opportunity to support my personal mission of sharing the calming powers of yoga with all people with MS,” says Patt. I hope, through this video/DVD to offer hope and direction to those trying to live productive and healthy lifestyles.”
Sharing the Gift of Yoga
Since the time she was first diagnosed with MS in 1984, Patt has maintained a regular yoga practice, which helps her to manage chronic pain in her legs and lower back, as well as the anxiety of this unpredictable disease. She performs yoga for 30 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes after work, which relieves her pain and rejuvenates her body and soul.
“When I was first diagnosed, yoga really kept me from dropping off the deep end,” recalls Patt. “Throughout my 20 years with MS, 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 can wake me at night. But in my yoga practice, I meditate, and the pain, for a moment, sinks into the floor.”
After 10 years of experiencing the benefits of regular yoga, Patt felt she needed to share with others and so in 1994 began partnering with the Northern California chapter of the National MS Society to offer yoga classes. Since then she has participated in numerous workshops for yoga instructors and people with MS, including two that were supported by the Betaseron Champions of Courage program.
Martha Patt’s video will be filmed at TryTone Productions in Tucson, AZ and will be available in 2005 through the www.championsofcourage.org website.
Betaseron® Champions of Courage
Funded by a grant from Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the Betaseron® Champions of Courage program recognizes the accomplishments of people with MS and provides grants to help them achieve their goals and inspire others. Since the program was introduced in 1999, more than 40 women and men have received grants to underwrite initiatives that have encouraged and helped others.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease that randomly attacks the central nervous system, affecting the brain and spinal cord, wearing away control over the body. Symptoms may range from numbness to paralysis and blindness. Though no cure yet exists, there are now therapies available that can impact underlying disease course as well as manage symptoms. MS affects more than a third of a million people in the U.S. alone, with someone being newly diagnosed virtually each hour.
For more information about applying for a Betaseron® Champions of Courage grant, visit www.championsofcourage.org, or call 1-202-363-3378.
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Contact: |
Liz Garman Betaseron® Multiple Sclerosis Champions of CourageSM Telephone: 202/363-3378 E-Mail: info@championsofcourage.org |
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