Thank you so much for your continued reading of my blog. I am going to work on some marketing and other areas of the website for the next several weeks. So instead of new weekly posts, I will be writing a new post every other week. I hope you will continue to read, and comment when you feel moved. Thank you again for your support. Stay tuned.
New Exercise Videos
I recently heard Dr. Jay Albert from the Cleveland clinic discuss his study on cycling and how it affects someone with Parkinson’s. According to Dr. Jay Albert, someone who exercises with intensity will improve motor function, cognitive thinking, and walking. Because of this new information, I am beginning to challenge myself physically.
I have found two new exercise videos by Leslie Sansone. She is rebranding, updating her workouts, and adding new instructors. I enjoy the new format. The exercises are simple, but they will elevate your heart rate. Leslie Sansone’s new series, Walk, Run, Lift, and Steel City Workouts can be found on YouTube, Leslie Sansone’s Walk at Home channel. Enjoy!
Support one Another
I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2014. It took a while to accept the diagnosis. Once I did, I wanted to meet others with Parkinson’s. At one of the support groups, I met Chris Gaffney, Executive Director of Parkinson’s Support & Wellness. We talked and realized we had similar goals. One of the goals was to begin a support group in the Dayton area. In 2018, I began a group called Working With Parkinson’s. The group meets monthly; generally a discussion topic is chosen in advance so people can be ready with questions or comments. Since 2018 it has become a strong group of people who lift each other up. Refer to the Working with Parkinson’s page for more information, including a contact form for questions.
I know that things are tough for everyone mentally and physically. People search for groups and people to share their common interests or issues. I recently received several requests for information about support groups in the area. Parkinson’s Support & Wellness has a page on their website which lists the Parkinson’s support groups in the tri-state area. The groups are run by the individual community leaders and not by Parkinson’s Support & Wellness. The list shows nine groups in the tri-state area, including contact information for the group leaders. We all need a little help getting by right now. Parkinson’s support groups can make a difference in your life and will help you connect to others with Parkinson’s. See http://parkinsoncincinnati.org/support-groups for the list.
This song by The Beatles captures the idea of supporting one another perfectly:
What would you think if I sang out of tune?
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song
And I’ll try not to sing out of key
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm gonna try with a little help from my friends
The Beatles, With a Little Help from my Friends. 1967
Thank You
I am very excited because this website has had 500 visitors since September 2020. Thank you to everyone who supports me by reading my blog posts. Writing each blog post reveals something new to me. Thank you for your feedback and encouragement to keep writing. If you have any ideas you think I should explore, send me a message from the about page. I appreciate all of you.
Peace and Meditation
Today, I opened a book at home that I have had for years. The title is The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness and Peace by Jack Kornfield. It is a book of short sayings, poems, and blessings. Every time I open this book, I find something new. The poems are short, but meaningful, and include many meditations. I am sharing a poem that I find relevant to the recent events in Washington D.C.
To make peace we cannot ignore war, racism, violence greed, the injustice and sufferings of the world.
They must be confronted with courage and compassion. Unless we seek justice, peace will fail.
Yet, in whatever we do, we must not let, war, violence, and fear, take over our own heart.
The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace, Jack Kornfield
Here is a short meditation that I think goes along with it as well:
Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I calm my mind.
May I be balanced.
May I be at peace.
The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness, and Peace, Jack Kornfield
You can find more meditations at Jack Kornfield’s website where there are multiple video and audio meditations. If you are stressed, you can go to this website, plug in your headphones, and do a quick meditation.
I hope this post brings you peace.
Love and Compassion
I watched the raid and destruction of the Capitol this past week, as I am sure all of you did as well. What a sad day for our nation. There is so much hatred being spread in the world that it is contagious. Hate feeds into more hate. Violence leads to more violence. The more we hate and criticize and judge, the harder our hearts become. Is this really who we want to be?
What I would like to offer today is warmth, kindness, compassion, and love. All we need is love. Can love be contagious? If we can spread love, kindness, empathy towards one another, what would happen? What would happen if we all did a random act of kindness. What if we all helped a person in need?
I do believe that if we all shine our light, that light will spread. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me, follow us if we spread kindness. Maybe, I’m naïve, but I believe in love and kindness. If we share love, kindness, and compassion with others, this will extend to others and so on.
The Dalia Lama offers these thoughts on compassion:
The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes. Cultivating a close, warm-hearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. This helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the ultimate source of success in life.
As long as we live in this world we are bound to encounter problems. At such times, we lose hope and become discouraged, we diminish our ability to face difficulties. If, on the other hand, we remember that it is not just ourselves but every one who has to undergo suffering, this more realistic perspective will increase our determination and capacity to overcome troubles. Indeed, with this attitude, each new obstacle can be seen as yet another valuable opportunity to improve our mind!
Thus we can strive gradually to become more compassionate, that is we can develop both genuine sympathy for others’ suffering and the will to help remove their pain. As a result, our own serenity and inner strength will increase.
Compassion and the Individual, Tenzin Gyatso; The Fourteenth Dalai Lama
Right now, it feels like we can not do anything about the state of the world and our nation. We have to return to the local level. Spread a little joy, find the good in those around you. Believe in love, believe in kindness, believe in compassion. I really want our nation to be one of peace. We all need peace and joy, if we share it with others we will feel peace and joy. We can change the world. One random act of kindness at a time.
Ending Parkinson’s
Happy New Year! How would you like to have a new goal for 2021? Would you like to help stomp out Parkinson’s disease? How about making a PACT to end Parkinson’s disease?
Dr. Ray Dorsey will be talking about his new book Ending Parkinson’s Disease live on Zoom on Wednesday, January 13, 2021, at 11 AM. He is an engaging speaker who will discuss how Parkinson’s began and issue a call to action to eradicate Parkinson’s.
Parkinson’s Support & Wellness is hosting this program via Zoom. When you register for the free program, you will be sent a link to attend the Zoom presentation.
Dr. Ray Dorsey is the David M. Levy Professor of Neurology and Director of the Center for Health + Technology at the University of Rochester. The Center seeks to provide care and research opportunities to anyone anywhere. Ray previously directed the movement disorders division and neurology telemedicine at Johns Hopkins and worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company. His research has been published in leading medical, neurology, and economic journals and has been featured on National Public Radio, in The New York Times, and in The Wall Street Journal. In 2015, the White House recognized him as a “Champion for Change” for Parkinson’s disease.
Please register at Parkinson’s Support & Wellness to attend: http://parkinsoncincinnati.org/pd-edu.
The Tempos of our Lives
I have done a lot of musical performances in my lifetime, most of them when I was younger. Sometimes I was good and sometimes I was bad. I played the mellophone in the marching band and totally loved it! One particular Friday night we were marching the halftime show at the football game. We had memorized two shows. One for the football game and one for the competition that weekend. During one of the half-time shows, I kept turning the wrong way. I was doing the wrong show. I could not stop marching to the competition showpiece. We were marching the halftime show. They were totally different! OH BOY! The director was not very happy with me that night.
Parkinson’s can be a lot like marching band. Every week there is a halftime show (show A) and a competition show (show B). You have practiced both shows and your body memory will tell you the right one to march. However, the body memory misfires and you are marching to the other show. You know that you are supposed to be marching to show A not show B. But, again, the body memory is marching to show B. Doesn’t that feel like Parkinson’s?
Our mind tells us that the body should work one way. However, the body has decided to behave differently. Sometimes, it changes every week! The symptoms for the week keep us marching to a different drummer. We can try to fight with the body and keep attempting to march to show A. We can also accept that the body will be marching to show B for that day or that week. I’ll tell you that isn’t easy. You want so much to be marching to the same show that everyone else is marching. You do not want to march to show B alone. The band is marching to show A. You tell your body, “hey body, we are marching to show A”. The body says, “sorry, Cheryl, we are marching to show B today”.
What do you do? The answer to that varies. There isn’t a magic pill that will allow us to march to show A. Some days are easier to accept that you are marching to show B. Other days you are fighting and turning back every chance you get. I don’t have a good answer to this problem. I just keep marching. I try to take each day in stride and remember that I can march to either show. That’s Parkinson’s. You never know which show will be playing and how the musician inside will be performing. It may help to realize that there are two shows. Maybe, that will make accepting show B a little easier when your body decides to march that show.
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Till, ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The Carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said;
‘For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!’
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
‘God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!’
You’ve got to Move it, Move it!
How many of you exercise? Do you exercise every day? Do you exercise with intention? The reason I ask is that I recently learned that people with Parkinson’s need to be working out at an intense level. The CDC recommends 150 minutes of aerobic exercise weekly: 75 minutes should be of vigorous-intensity and 75 minutes of moderate-intensity.
I personally have found this difficult. I’m not the type of person who runs, nor do I look for someone to compete with. I work out at my own level. I enjoy a good challenge, but not too much. Now I have learned that my heart rate needs to increase when working out, so I am pushing myself more. My yoga instructor, Dan at Method Yoga, in Springboro, challenges me every week. He believes in short intense workouts, so we do many mini-workouts during his class. He incorporates strength training into the yoga class. I am learning to enjoy the challenge. However, there are times when I look at him and think “no way dude’. Somehow, I manage through the difficult moves and my strength improves. One of Dan’s major challenges for his students is to practice the yogi squat. This is a squat where you lower your body as far as you can go to the ground. In the beginning, I could barely squat more than an inch, Now, I can get to the ground, for a couple of seconds. I can also get back up, which is really important!
I was amazed the other day at how far I could lower into the yogi squat. I was putting air in my car tires. So, instead of bending over, I did a yogi squat. It really was much more comfortable. It made the experience of putting air in my tires a lot easier. I wasn’t out of breath and my legs didn’t hurt. I think it’s a miracle! I say thank you to Dan for continuing to gently nudge me further and further each week. I am getting stronger, and that feels magnificent!
For my New Year’s goals, I am looking for other exercise routines that will give me a similar challenge. My goal is to work out 6 days a week, one day to rest. Yesterday, I found a barre workout that was extremely intense. Fortunately, the instructor gave modifications, which allowed me to complete the exercise.
So, I challenge you to not just evaluate your exercise routine, but find one exercise move that you can improve. Do you need to improve your strength, balance, or mobility? I know it’s a lot to look at, but Parkinson’s will challenge you both mentally and physically.
I believe you help yourself a million times over if you exercise with intensity and intention. My intent is to increase the intensity of my workouts. My intent is to “move it, move it”.
If you accept my challenge, make it your intention to improve one move and write the name of your exercise in the comment box with your first name and date it. One month later, write back what improvements you made. Do you accept the challenge?
Inside Parkinson's 