Archive for the ‘Attitude and Approach’ Category
Play Ball – Seniors catch the motion
Who says you can’t enjoy a good game of catch from a chair. During Tuesday’s class at Bentley Assisted living I incorporated a session of coordination and balance movements with various size balls. The seniors were a bit leery when I first brought them out of the bag. You could see the thoughts of “what is he doing to us now” as I started to hand them out.
We used them for various exercises, including some footwork. As part of the class, the handwork and eye-hand-concentration movement involved some individual toss and catch to test reflex and coordination, sensitivity and motor skills and just plain fun. The seniors were smiling, laughing and yes, a bit frustrated at the missed catches and dropped balls.
All in all it was a good class with the seniors finding they could do more than they thought. We talked about them using apples, oranges, or even spools of thread to practice the exercise we did with balls on their own.
How do you deal with injuries as you age?
I used to heal quickly. As a cross country runner through fields, farmers roads, over and around obstacles, I would injure myself on a regular basis. A strain here, an ankle twist there. Within a day or two I would be back on the road.
Eventually, after twenty plus years of abuse my body said enough of this running stuff and turned my ankles and knees against me. So I moved on to other things. Hiking, yard-work, walking and just about anything to stay active. A few years in a hard external martial art, and eventually to Tai Chi. Read the rest of this entry »
Wondering how my body will react to the work spring brings
Each year come springtime I have the same feeling. This years work will be more overwhelming than the year before. For no other reason than being a year older. I remember when we first moved to the property next to my in-laws, my 80 year old father-in-law told me, why do you move so fast all the time.
I told him, because I can and I have a lot to do. He laughed and told me, you always will have a lot to do, but you won’t always have the energy. Save some for when you are my age. Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes you just don’t care
Everybody has these days. You wake up, feel a bit out of sorts, and no matter how bright the sun shines, you feel like hell. The worst part is, you just woke up in a bad mood. Seems like you didn’t have a choice about this being a good day or a bad day.
You think COFFEE, that is what I need. So you make a cup, gulp it down and now you are wide awake and really able to focus on the fact that you are still in a bad mood. And, you just don’t care about anything. Read the rest of this entry »
Exercise and Brain Fitness is not a new phenomenon
Over the last few months I have seen day after day links to blogs and articles about an amazing discovery; exercising the brain increases cognitive functions. Are we supposed to be surprised at this?
Back in grade school I was taught that the brain not a muscle, but was always told that like one, you should use it or lose it.
As a student of Tai Chi and developer of a movement program for seniors this revelation is not news. For thousands of years, older Chinese adults have been practicing forms, doing daily routines of 30, 40, 100 and higher numbers of movements strung together in patterns and sequences. There are many studies that show the health benefits of Tai Chi practice.
Does this sound like a brain function exercise to you? Working the brain in this type of patterned exercise causes the brain to create neural pathways stimulating brain health. Search the web for Tai Chi and neural pathways and see all the articles referenced.
Search for exercise and brain fitness in general and you will find that keeping the mind active, whether reading, learning languages, using opposite hands for simple everyday chores all work to maintain a healthy mind.
So if Tai Chi is good for the brain, just imagine how well it works for the rest of the body. Keeping yourself flexible, with increased balance and movement capabilities. Having a healthier heart, increased lung capacity and yes a healthier brain, all from a single source of exercise just makes sense.
Is there an activity or hobby you partake in that keeps your mind sharp?
