Chair Yoga Class Started by Brain Injury Survivor

Gina Bartiromo, who had a brain injury after slipping and falling about 150 feet down the east face of Yosemite's Half Dome in 2009, will lead a chair yoga class Thursdays in November at the Camarillo Health Care District.

"It's for people with any sort of physical ailment, such as fibromyalgia or arthritis, or for people who have physical limitations from an injury and can't get down on a mat," said Bartiromo, of Camarillo. "It has all the benefits of yoga — strengthening, stretching, tuning in to the body."

After the accident, she had to relearn numbers, computers and just about every daily activity.

"I don't have any (physical) limitations (now). I'm very, very lucky," said Bartiromo, who broke her spine in three places and had months of physical therapy. "I have this determination. ... I thought, 'OK, I don't want my back to feel like this forever,' so I just kept at it."