President’s Message: A Legacy of Firsts

From humble beginnings in March 1993 to now, it’s been a fantastic journey powered by vision, passion, pioneer work, and support from forward-looking individuals from all over the world.

Even though my training and work already had a definite academic and integrative medicine focus, I could not have guessed the magnitude of impact it would give to the mission of ARPF. Alzheimer’s became a household word almost overnight when President Reagan revealed he was diagnosed with it, on November 5, 1994.

However, we at ARPF still had to wait another 9 years, until the early 2000s, to be able to carry out our very first research project. It took place at the Amen Clinic in Irvine, CA, with all volunteer participants. We scanned their brains before and after Kirtan Kriya, and those significant images propelled your ARPF to very significant research over the years. This research turned out to be the gold standard of yoga interventions in the effect of yoga on brain function.

As Alzheimer’s disease became well-known in the 2000s, the need for prevention became greater. As a result, we continued to fund and partner with groundbreaking organizations such as The Finger Study and speak at medical conferences, as well as outreach and advocate for the general public. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, your ARPF has been leading the way in educating the public and healthcare providers on the 4 Pillars of Alzheimer’s Prevention®, a lifestyle-based program to maximize brain health and reduce your risk of dementia.

In 2017, ARPF launched its Brain Longevity® Therapy Training (BLTT), a yoga-based, certification program for allied healthcare providers and yoga teachers/therapists. Since then, the course has pivoted to an on-demand training, where we have 750 professionals between graduates and students. Our vision is to train 1 Million people in the BLTT.

It used to be said that Alzheimer’s and prevention could not appear in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence, but now that has clearly changed with multiple organizations following our pioneering lead in discussing the prevention of this dreaded disease. We are very grateful to have accomplished all this work to put Alzheimer’s on the map of preventable diseases so we can serve our fellow human beings and keep families together for longer.

I want to personally thank all our Board members: from those who joined us at the very beginning to those serving at present; as well as the researchers and clinicians at the forefront of this work who serve on the Scientific Advisory Council. I’m also extremely grateful to all the volunteers who believed in ARPF over the years as we grew and evolved.

Most importantly, I want to acknowledge all our donors for inspiring and trusting us for 30 years. Your support is what made it all possible. Your donations allowed us to carry out breakthrough research, develop state-of-the-art educational materials, and give hope to people at risk for Alzheimer’s and their families.

We’re hopeful that scientists, clinicians, and people from all walks of life will incorporate this work into their life so we can finally stop this epidemic of Alzheimer’s disease once and for all. 

Imagine what the next 30 years will look like. Let’s plan to achieve a world without Alzheimer’s – together, we can do it.