At Cathy Rees' yoga class, you won't see anyone attempt a downward-facing dog many participants are in wheelchairs, and almost all of them suffer from dementia.

Instead, Rees has adapted the principles of yoga, which aims to align the body's seven chakras, or points of energy, to the abilities of the residents of Copper Ridge, a center for dementia care in Sykesville.

Her yoga class, now in its fourth month, is an experiment of sorts. A handful of studies have suggested that yoga can be used to improve the overall physical and mental well-being of dementia patients, so Rees wants to craft a dementia-specific yoga program that can be studied and refined by researchers.

"This whole thing, in my mind, is kind of groundbreaking," said Rees, a certified yoga teacher.

On a recent Wednesday morning, Rees greeted her dozen class members individually in a sunny lounge at Copper Ridge. "Hi, Carol, good to see you today," said Rees, rubbing the woman's back. "There's that beautiful smile."

Rees doesn't hesitate to break the rules of yoga; last week, the group danced to 1940s jazz to open one of the chakras.

In more traditional exercises, patients moved their shoulders in circular motions, stretched their fingers and coordinated their breath with movement.

Even when she talks about chakras, Rees is focused on concrete results. "I like to do things that are research- and evidence-based," she said.

Rees and her colleague Sherry Healy, director of the Community Center for Health and Wellness at Copper Ridge, said they hope to present a yoga program for dementia to researchers at the Copper Ridge Institute, the center's research arm, by the fall. The institute, affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, could further refine the program and publish research within a few years, she said.

Rees added that researchers face the challenge of not being able to get reliable results by simply asking patients how the yoga makes them feel. Instead, "you have to observe and compare their behavior before and after the yoga," she said.

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Dementia care center explores benefits of yoga