Meet Kourtney! Kourtney got involved with LoveYourBrain through the Head Injury Program (HIP) at Moss Rehab. Without a Yoga Studio Partner in her community, Kourtney experienced LoveYourBrain Yoga through a practice held at the Brain Injury Conference. To bring LoveYourBrain to her community, Kourtney applied for and received a full scholarship to attend the December 2020 online LoveYourBrain Yoga Teacher Training!
What gives you hope during the journey of healing after a brain injury?
To me, hope is the vision beyond what you can see right now. It’s trusting in something more than what the present circumstance ‘seems’ to offer. Believing that where you are now is just a stairway towards your bigger picture. Honestly, the fact that healing is a journey is what has given me hope during my TBI. Reason being that when you’re on a journey there is no deadline or no “right way” to journey through something. A journey is not perfect but it is whole. Being on a journey means that you get to discover, explore, re-route, reclaim, and live in the knowing of yourself. Hope needs trust in order for it to survive. So trusting in my steps, in my confusion, in my heartache led me to hoping I could truly survive my TBI, and I have. Hope has not only shown me how capable I am but also how my brain was never broken, only a beautiful mirror of me. I hope that when I teach accessible yoga to others like me, I can show the mirror of how resilience and hope still lives within them. Allowing them to see how even with a TBI, their light still shines.
What’s an action someone in your life has taken to give hope or create positive change?
An action that someone in my life took to give me hope was by simply being there. My first year of my brain injury was filled with so much confusion. Yet, my grandfather just showed up for me, purposefully and consistently. Calling me just to say he loved me despite me being unable to have a full conversation with him. Taking me to all my therapy and appointments no matter how far the drive. Waiting behind so he could walk with me because I couldn’t walk at a normal speed. Those were the smallest things but it made me feel seen and supported. I didn’t have to ask him to do any of it, he just did it, without a thought. That lifted me up so much...and I will never forget all the love, support, and kindness he effortlessly gave to me.
What’s something you value about LoveYourBrain?
I have to say, especially after doing the training, what I value about LoveYourBrain is the deep feeling of community. LoveYourBrain’s Yoga Teacher Training team created such warmth amongst 40 strangers, so much so, that I’m still experiencing it now! They were kind, accepting, loving and it spread to every single person at that training. Being able to create an environment like that is beautifully powerful! It truly says a lot about how much LYB values others.
How does Vulnerability show up for you?
Vulnerability shows up for me as a best friend. I say this because there’s been many times where I was at odds with my vulnerability. Viewing it as a ‘less than’ version of me. However, as I journeyed through my healing process, I began to recognize that regardless my vulnerability is a part of me. The part of me having the courage to show up and ask to be seen, heard, and supported. While also having the strength to admit the truth. Whether that truth was ‘I’m not ok’, or ‘I need to have a break down’, or ‘I don’t have all the answers’, my vulnerable self openly told me the truth. That’s honestly how I befriended my vulnerability. I saw that vulnerable me wasn’t weak at all. ‘She’ just wants us to face our truth together and to support one another. Now, vulnerability always shows up as my best friend reminding me that I am human. A human having the courage to experience this beautiful life.