Hey gang,

In the cold winter season, it is easy to withdraw, recede, hunker down, and wait for the thaw. I am suggesting something different. Instead, let this winter be a clarifying season.

Lean in, take charge, and let the harsher conditions bring you into focus.

Let that first hit of brisk, morning air shock your nose, hit your sleepy brain like an espresso shot, and wake any bare skin. Let the silencing white blanket of newly fallen snow pique your ears into heightened attention. Winter is here to help clarify you.

Yoga poses do something similar. Contrary to pictures of extreme poses featured in magazines, yoga aims to focus you. It entreats you to connect with and utilize your core, bringing it into congruence with graceful action. Yoga poses heighten attention in both mind and body. They demand the yogi leans in and gets bigger, not shrink.

So too with winter. That brisk winter air is an invitation to stand tall and inhale the surrounding conditions, to welcome them into your tender lungs and utilize it. Cold winter air is not defeated. It is embraced, integrated, and transformed.

In this, we can take a chapter from the MBS adaptive yoga students. They come to yoga amid less-than-optimal conditions. They do not come with fit and flexible bodies. They do not defeat their ailments, conditions, and life circumstances. They come as they are, inhale, and get to work. They know that amazing things happen if you keep showing up and supporting each other.

So cometh a clarifying season with some holiday stress added on top. There will be cold air to breathe, perhaps snow to shovel, last-minute presents to wrap, food to prepare, and people to greet. Lean in, stand tall, and take a deep breath. It’s all a yoga pose…

Happy New Year from all of us at MBS!

Cheers,

Matthew

We're thrilled to share a new MBS student-led endeavor: a bright, inventive makerspace created by beloved MBSers Elly Katz and Laura Hallissey. Together, they bring their energy, talent, and experience to our community. Here's their vision:

MindBodyCreates is a space to explore what creativity really means to us. Somewhere where we can share without judgment, a place to process through art, writing, or whatever form your creativity takes.

This space is open to anyone who wishes to join. We hope that it will also create room for those living with trauma, loss, or disability to metabolise these experiences through creative expression. We want to grow this community together by sharing and listening to each other.

We'll meet on the third Sunday of every month and focus on what creativity means to you, then offer a very open-ended, prompt-driven experience in any artistic medium you choose. Students will receive an email invitation in January to join the first session. Stay tuned!



We wrapped up our 2025 season of Yoga, Disability, & Transformation with a special guest: LoveYourBrain Sr. Director Dr. Kyla Pearce. What a delightful conversation.

Matthew and Kyla explored the amazing work of LoveYourBrain and her findings on trauma, loss, and disability. We were honored to have Kyla with us, and we are incredibly grateful for the time and talent she shared with our community.

Learn more about the LYB mission and vision, hear her personal insights into the work, and enjoy a beautiful short meditation practice she shared with the group. Watch this session and the entire 2025 collection (& more!) on our YDT playlist.

Another year, another wild and wonderful ride! Together with our global community, we explored the intersections of disability and transformation, yoga and movement, music and story, life and loss.

Another 365 days working to transform the lives of people living with trauma, loss, and disability by integrating mind and body.

Along with our small but mighty staff (and incredible teachers), MBS Team Adaptable students led the way! Through unique monthly programming, daily connections in our Circle space, community-wide events, and monthly huddle practices, we lived the questions and explored the space around us. Together, we found connection, support, insight, and, above all, hope.