Dealing with caregiver stress through stretching

Day after day of dealing with mom, or dad, or work…  as a caregiver.  Lugging, laundry, mopping, lifting, sitting, bending and so on; all the while listening for sounds of some sort of need, or emergency call.

It can get to you…  and if you say it doesn’t matter that much or wear on you I won’t believe it.

Movement – try living without it for a day

Some food for thought:

Everything you do starts with some sort of movement, from your very first breath as a newborn to your last exhale before you pass on.

In between those two, you need to reach, bend, turn, step, flex, inhale and exhale to do everything you do.

The older we get, the harder these simple things become. Don’t you think it is worth a few minutes of each day to work on keeping these simple things simple and maintaining your ability to live a joyful independent life?

Stretch your body, your mind and your spirit!

The downside of the deathgrip

I’m sure you have all seen it, that white knuckled, rock hard forearm “grip of death” seniors use on their walkers and canes. Usually this is mixed with baby shuffle steps that people think help them walk safer.  Little do they know…

Can you smell sarcasm in the air around my post today.  I know I do. However, this is a very serious topic.

Of course, what is about to follow is my opinion, although I feel a correct one, is opinion only.  I would like to yell it out but I will quietly say:

“loosen up on those handles”

In most of my classes I have shown seniors how to hold lightly instead of firmly onto their walkers which takes the tension out of their arms and shoulders and actually allows them more control of their walkers.

In conjunction we work on the heel to to rolling step and an upright stance. This takes the weight off their arms, creates a safer heel first step instead of chest first step and allows them to glide forward instead of stumble step.

I will be posting an animation soon about this stepping motion, but for today I repeat, “loosen up your grip” and you will have the first part of walking safer under way.

A pet peeve about physical therapy, balance training and seniors

This is my first post in quite some time.  to be honest, I’ve been very busy working on my seniors and family care givers website and have not had much time to think about blogging.

But, just this past week in one of my classes at The House of Good Shepherd I had quite a conversation with one of the independent living residents.

The women, let’s call her June, was in class last month and was telling me that the following day she was going for therapy and was going to have to “walk the plank”.  I asked her about this and she informed me that part of her therapy was going to be working on her balance by walking heel to toe on a 6″ wide board, about 8 feet long.

I asked if she was comfortable with this idea and she said “no, I don’t have very good balance and I am afraid of falling over”.  Since she was new to class I asked her if she knew anything about the rolling walk, or the heel first method of stepping.  Again she said no.

Tai Chi and the Pursuit of Happiness

By Al Simon, Director at Cloudwater.com

In a few of my recent posts, I’ve been talking about the psycho-spiritual aspects of Tai Chi, Qigong, and Chi Development. I’ve discussed how some of the practices of of the Chi Development arts can lead us to greater happiness.

But I need to say a few words about exactly what I mean by “happiness”.