Embracing the Environment: Panel 1: Positive Risk-Taking and its Impact on the Body and Mind

This was the Invictus Games Foundation’s twelfth iteration of The IGF Conversation; an event which is designed to promote the sharing of best practice on a range of relevant subjects within the Invictus Community through a combination of either online webinars and/or in person symposia. The intent is to encourage the exchange of views through informal discussions based on panels of relevant experts and Invictus Alumni including families, rather than formal presentations.

This IGF Conversation is entitled Embracing the Environment, an incredibly relevant topic as we embarked on the first Winter-hybrid Games at Vancouver Whistler 2025 and we aimed though these discussions to shine a light on the impact of these historic Games in Canada and around the world and discuss how positive risk-taking can aid recovery for the international wounded, injured or sick service community.

Panel 1: Positive Risk-Taking and its Impact on the Body and Mind

Hari Budha Magar MBE, is a Gurkha veteran who lost both his legs to an IED while serving in Afghanistan in 2010. Hari became the first ever double above the knee amputee to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 2018 and helped get Nepal officials to overturn the rule which banned people with disabilities from climbing Everest.

Hari discussed how sport and adventurous challenge changed his outlook on life after his injury, changing attitudes towards disability and the benefits of positive risk-taking in the context of winter sports.

Professor Dave Collins, Professor of Human Performance Science at The University of Edinburgh and Elite Performance at Dublin City University discussed the academic literature relating to Hari’s lived experience.

Prof. Collins will touch on his theories of ‘Why Talent needs Trauma’ and attest to the idea that it is these traumas, and how an individual is subsequently able to overcome them, which are necessary for sporting success.