When Dr. Rachel Teranishi participated in a weeklong LoveYourBrain Retreat in the mountains of Colorado, she didn’t expect the experience to shape her next big step at UAB.
The Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) joined a multidisciplinary medical team for the retreat, which blended yoga, mindfulness, brain health nutrition, and community for individuals recovering from brain injury and their caregivers. As the only evidence-based holistic health retreat for brain injury opens a new website shown to improve quality of life, resilience, cognition, and emotional dysregulation, Teranishi was eager to experience the program firsthand.
“It was just such a wonderful, healing experience,” Teranishi recalled. “We spent the week doing yoga, eating healthy food, and connecting with others who had gone through similar challenges. Seeing how transformative that environment was made me want to bring a piece of it back to my own patients.”
Now, with support from CEDHARS, Teranishi has launched the LoveYourBrain Yoga program at Spain Rehabilitation Center, adapting it for an inpatient setting to innovate how evidence-based holistic practices support patients’ healing from the very start.
A Holistic Addition to In-Patient Rehabilitation
LoveYourBrain is a national nonprofit that supports people with brain injury and their caregivers through evidence-based programs integrating yoga, mindfulness, psychoeducation, nutrition, and social connection. Founded by brothers Adam and Kevin Pearce opens a new website, after Kevin sustained a serious TBI, LoveYourBrain has become a leader in advancing the science and practice of holistic health services for brain injury.
LoveYourBrain Yoga is a six-session curriculum with yoga postures, breathwork, meditation, and psychoeducation with group discussion based on the science of resilience.
Traditionally, LoveYourBrain Yoga has been offered online or in community settings opens a new website for people recovering at home. Teranishi’s program marks one of the first efforts to integrate it into an inpatient hospital environment, shaping the continuum of care and making mind-body and community-building practices accessible earlier in the rehabilitation process. Through Teranishi and her team’s efforts, brain injury patients can now access a skills-based group for stress management, focused attention, physical activity, and social connection.
“Inpatient rehab patients are often still very early in their recovery and can be quite sick,” Teranishi said. “We’re adapting the curriculum so that even those with more significant physical or cognitive limitations can participate. Some sessions are done seated, and therapists are right there helping to guide the movements.”
Early sessions have been small—just a few participants each week—but the results have been encouraging.
“We had patients from their 20s to their 80s in the same class,” she said. “It was powerful to see them share who they were, what they did before their injury, and connect over this shared experience.
The classes are held in a light-filled room at the new Spain Rehabilitation Hospital, with views of the center’s rooftop garden.
“It’s such a peaceful, healing space,” Teranishi said. “This isn’t meant to replace traditional therapies, but to add to them—to address the emotional and cognitive sides of recovery, not just the physical.”
From Inspiration to Implementation
Teranishi first learned about LoveYourBrain from Dr. Drew Davis, a pediatric physician at Children’s of Alabama and CEDHARS faculty member. After volunteering at the retreat, she invited the organization to present at a PM&R Grand Rounds. The presentation sparked collaboration across disciplines, especially with Spain Rehab physical therapist Gabi Camacho, who helped Spain Rehab become an official LoveYourBrain Clinical Affiliate, joining a network of 16 sites across the United States and Canada.
Working closely with CEDHARS co-directors Dr. Jim Rimmer and Dr. Yuying Chen, Teranishi secured funding through the center to cover licensing and program implementation costs.
“We literally would not have been able to start this program without CEDHARS,” she said. “Their sponsorship made it possible for us to become a Clinical Affiliate, and their mission aligns perfectly with what LoveYourBrain is all about: supporting holistic approaches to rehabilitation.”
Building Toward Research and Broader Impact
Teranishi’s next goal is to turn the project into a formal study. Most of the research on LoveYourBrain Yoga has been done in community or home-based settings.
Dr. Kyla Pearce, Senior Director of Programs and Research at LoveYourBrain, shared that her team conducted a study examining the impact of the program in five outpatient settings, leaving an important gap in understanding its effectiveness in inpatient rehab.
“We want to explore the feasibility and outcomes of bringing it into inpatient rehab – looking at patient participation, mood, quality of life, and other measures.”
Teranishi credits Chen with mentoring her through the early stages of that process.
“This is one of the first research initiatives I’m leading, and Dr. Chen’s support has been invaluable,” Teranishi said. “UAB has so many resources and mentors that make it possible for clinicians like me to translate our passions into meaningful projects.”
As the program grows, she hopes to expand beyond brain injury to include other patient groups, such as those recovering from spinal cord injuries.
“At its core, LoveYourBrain is about connection,” Teranishi said. “It’s about helping people see that healing isn’t just physical, it’s cognitive, emotional, and social, too. That’s what we’re hoping to cultivate here at UAB.”
