“TBI incidence and outcomes vary among different populations, making it that much more important to ensure all people feel a sense of belonging.”
- Nirali Chauhan
Meet Nirali Chauhan!
Nirali (she/her) plays an important role in our community, across multiple different aspects of our work, as a LYB Mindset Facilitator, Ambassador, member of our Advisory Team. She also supports in our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Belonging initiatives - bringing joy, understanding, and compassion to all she does!
We sat down with Nirali to learn more about what the LYB community means to her and what inspires her work to support our community:
Tell us a little about you and how you got connected with LoveYourBrain!
I suffered a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) in 2015 when I was hit by an SUV as a pedestrian exactly a year after my dad passed. I struggled to find a care team and community that understood what I was experiencing. A year and a half later, while in graduate school, I serendipitously learned about LoveYourBrain (LYB) through my local yoga studio. I acutely remember how ‘seen’ I felt when I walked into my first LYB yoga session. I could barely get through sharing my own story without sobbing. Each person patiently listened and held space for me week after week, program after program. Today I feel a sense of acceptance and pride about my injury because of all the folks who allowed me to embrace my new normal in LYB spaces.
What inspires you to serve on the Advisory Team for LoveYourBrain?
Over the years, I’ve gotten a chance to interact with many of our different programs both as a participant and volunteer/facilitator, including in-person yoga and community Retreats, online Trainings and Mindset group discussion, and even Research. I’m deeply inspired by the different angles from which LYB tries to meet our community where they’re at. I think this deep understanding that each brain, brain injury, and person navigating life after brain injury is both (a) unique and (b) deserving of improved quality of life is what makes LYB immensely impactful. To be a small part of how we continue this legacy through the Advisory Team is a great honor.
How do you hope to support our community in this role?
As a woman of color living with TBI who is in the medical field, I hope to support our community through these perspectives: as a patient, future provider, student, daughter, friend, etc. My greatest hope is that I can support the incredible work LYB has been and continues to engage in so that even more people thrive in their lives post-brain injury just like how LYB helped me.
As someone who supports our Equity Team, what motivates you to ensure our community feels a sense of belonging?
TBI doesn’t exist in a vacuum — it affects every part of a person’s life, so the context of that person and their many identities is hugely important when we consider holding space for this experience. We also know that TBI incidence and outcomes vary among different populations, making it that much more important to ensure all people feel a sense of belonging. Through the Equity Team, we work to improve this by actively eliciting and implementing feedback from our community, especially through our affinity spaces, because we sincerely believe that each human deserves to feel fully recognized through representation, inclusion, support, resources and more.
Connect with Nirali’s work by joining LYB Mindset or exploring our DEI commitments!