L7 Wellness Program
August Editorial
“The Future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” -Eleanor Roosevelt
In the past year, our family has been touched by many things but nothing compares to the overwhelming love and self-sacrifice we have seen portrayed in the parents and caretakers of those suffering with neurological disorders and special needs. It is well documented that those suffering with brain disorders benefit from neuro-muscular stimulations such as Therapeutic Yoga, Meditation, Breathwork, Hypnosis, Massage Therapy, Reflexology, Acupuncture and Chiropractic Care and can help in improving their quality of life – but what about their Caregivers? So often we forget about their needs and well-being!
Many of you know my husband Dan…He is my ‘Rock of Gibraltar’ and shares my passion for caring for others. I have often shared with him the challenges that one of our own provider’s family copes with on a daily basis. Our very own Acupuncturist Dr. Kaisa Lopes and her husband Marcus have two beautiful children, Alex and Gabrielle. Gabrielle suffers from a very severe case of Cerebral Palsy, but has an infectious laugh that brightens our days at Lotus7 when she visits. Moved by these experiences, Dan envisioned a program where Lotus7 could reach out to the Cerebral Palsy community and their families. He presented his vision ‘Gabrielle’s Dream’, to our staff and business associates, enlisting their help and support in providing four weeks of their donated time and services for the children and young adults of neurological disorders and their caretakers. Without hesitation, everyone embraced the vision and now into our last week of a very successful and awarding program we hope to make these services available again in the future.
In addition to all of our L7 Lifestyle Providers and Instructors who have shared their time and in some cases tears of love, we would like to give special recognition to the ‘behind the scene’ individuals that helped to make this program succeed:
- Krystle Lord-Keller, L7’s Wellness Program Coordinator spending countless hours coordinating everyone’s schedules and spear-heading our fundraising efforts
- Jenny Heinly, J&J Consulting Firm handling all of our Media and Press Releases
- Kim Jones, KGraphix Designs web programming and editing skills
- Connor Robertson and my own daughter Danielle Brabender for multi-media documentation
- Frank Moll, the first to donate $500 to continuing our program in 2011!
And I would like to also send a personal ‘shout-out’ of gratitude to a very special friend of Lotus7 that I affectionately refer to as ‘Lady J’ who recently gifted me with a reminder of how very fortunate I am to be a part of such a wonderful community…“Give Grace, Draw Grace”!
With Peace and Light, Lisa Brabender
(Photo of Dan, Lisa, Miyuki and Reo Kobayashi)
