Preventing Falls for Seniors

Everyone needs wellness, especially the seasoned members of our society. Generally, there are exercise classes for elders in community centers, retirement communities, yoga studios, gyms, and wellness centers. The aging process is accompanied with changes in muscle mass, blood flow to the brain, lung efficiency, and balance. Another less common concept is that kidney function declines, which handle general dehydration and medication side-effects. All of these make “people of accelerated age” more likely to fall down.

The same reasons why our matured friends fall are the same reasons it takes longer to heal afterward. This means that we should always go the extra mile to prevent it happening in the first place. That’s why I created this general booklet for anyone that teaches a movement-based class for seniors. It includes prevention and also fall recovery. Check it out, and please use this as a guide for preventing falls in classes for seniors!

TRAVEL: A Creative Writing Activity

While on a trip to Paris, I took 30-minutes alone to open some creative thoughts on the surrounding area. I enjoy this exercise because it's relaxing and allows me to mindfully observe and reflect the environment. Try it!

What allows Paris, the city with ancient history, to be woven with elements of love?

How is it that the city conjures an oscillating rhythm of romantic vision and all things, well…Parisian? A city that seems to have a way of bringing a delicacy to black, a softness the bustle of crowds, a flavor to the concrete, and a soft-on-the-eyes gaze to the metropolis. Thick textures of ancient buildings and big designs bulging at every viewpoint, yet put all of this under the calm morning light will bring an ephemeral visit to old thoughts. 

This city-state has protruded itself outside the lined-and-raked fields of community. Paris has steadily pooled together influences from the entire gamete, and what we can experience when the dust settles is an incredible patchwork of legacy.

Paris is the mother's milk of silkiness in food and art. 

When I walk the streets I feel connected to the visions that were had and the tenacity to actualize them. I never had that vision, and I never had the tenacity to make it happen. I merely get to enjoy the efforts of others and play a part of the “apres finir”.

How can I build my own bridge between a vision and reality? How do I carry that with me when I go home?

How can I poole together the influences inside me?

I can start by giving thought on how to create a refreshing viewpoint for everyday life. Think of making dinner as a art show. Revisit the ephemeral part of my mind and breathe into it more. Let that be the filter for how I see the world. I want to carry the beauty and provoking intricacy of Paris with me. And move with the dynamic rhythm of this ancient historical city. 

The Lens We Choose to Use

Photo Credit: http://www.jadervision.com

Throughout our day, we have many interactions with people, and sometimes the interactions can leave us with a bad taste in the mouth. Mindfulness is an avenue that can let those things roll off our back.

Unfortunately, there’s no magic trick to change other people’s behavior. You may think “What’s their problem?” but it becomes your problem when you allow your own buttons to get pushed by how you interpret their response.

Take a Mindful Pause Before You Let Someone Affect You

We don’t always see things as they are. We see them as we are. Become aware of how you greet people or talk to them. Do you notice if you give people the same civility you would like?

The “Fundamental attribution error” is when we explain our own poor behavior as the result of circumstances while regarding others bad behaviors as reflective of their personalities. Perhaps people aren’t always as bad as they come across.

Today during difficult interactions with others, pause and consider the circumstances, and become aware of your reactions. Choose the lens through which you see things, because it just feels better to be nice and supportive (as opposed to bitter and vindictive).

Let Your Mind Be a Scientific Laboratory

For all of the people that love modern science and empirical data, try shifting your perspective of mindfulness to the scientific method model. Self-improvement tends to be more successful when it's organized, and this allows stress-management to compute for the left-side of your brain. 

The scientific method begins with an observation that leads to a question, which follows with a hypothesis, and ultimately results in an experiment.The experiment is then analyzed and conclusions are made. This age-old method can be used for more than just stem-cell research or microbiology.

Mindfulness is a state of being fully present with non-judgmental  awareness. When in a meditation, the experience is coming from inside you and your life story is unfolding one moment at a time. You are the expert on the experiences that your body, mind, and self have during this state. You are the laboratory. And use the laboratory of you to observe, question, hypothesize, and experience the still state that you are in.

Drinking Coffee for the First Time, Everyday

Not Your Classic Cup o’Joe

Coffee is something that’s a part of most daily routines, and something that’s usually done on auto pilot. This process of habituation can be helpful because it allows us to dedicate our attention to other things meanwhile. But there are times that the familiarity can hinder pleasant tastes and sensations. Are you actually experiencing this delicious gift from the Earth?

Approach with a Beginners Mind

Think as if this is the first time you’ve ever had this beverage. Which is true in a way: you’ve never had coffee in this moment. This moment has never been here before. Obviously you’ve had elements of this moment, but not this exact moment.

Smell the coffee first. Notice the flavor, the body, the sweetness or acidity. Feel the physical sensation of the cup in your hand. And enjoy!

Using the Biomedical Model for Stress

Formal meditation can be intimidating. If you are a Type-A personality and discouraged that you are yet to sit like Buddha with enlightenment at the end of the tunnel, continue to trust your capability. Begin with mindfulness first, it's a little easier. And maybe try a course too. 

Meditation and mindfulness practices are powerful tools you can use to help you fully experience yourself as the one-of-a-kind person that you are. Many of us have a lot of untapped potential. Taking a leap to live more fully in our potential can be done through the following:

Reducing Stress Through Mindfulness

Mindfulness-Based Stress-Reduction (MBSR) is an 8-week intensive course to use cognitive and behavioral therapy to manage stress. It was originally used in hospitals by doctors who prescribed it as a stress management tool for patients coping with issues such as heart disease or anger issues. MBSR was developed by John Kabat-Zinn, a biomedical scientist. He blended Western science with yoga and Buddhism, which revealed how effective mindfulness meditation was in relieving chronic medical conditions.

As meditation and Buddhist teachings have become more widespread in the US, so have MBSR courses. And as San Francisco never seems to break character. My MBSR course was in an art gallery in the Mission with workers from Google and Genentech.

A Deeper Practice

The powerful feature of taking a MBSR course is that you are actively engaged in mindfulness and meditation for 8 weeks. You commit to attending for two months, which helps develop a strong personal practice.

You learn how to eat mindfully, walk mindfully, practice self-care mindfully, silently meditate for prolonged periods of time, and do body scans. There is also a full-day silent retreat.

My Experience

I did a 45-minute body scan everyday for the first week of the course. During a body scan, my mind would suddenly recall a memory or start planning the next day. Those are moments in the past or future, not this present moment. So I would jump back into the body scan recording. I kept getting bored with focusing on my breath, forearm or heel. Daydreaming was so tempting. But I had to truly experience this to justify whether it works for me, so I kept going. And eventually, the 45-minutes seemed to fly by, and I started to look forward to visiting this magical world of “present moment” I had been downplaying.

And then after a week, things started to seem different.  These fertile moments of being completely present would randomly pop up, and I was suddenly able to see how colossal and minuscule the environment could be. Everyday senses started to feel brand new and interesting. Patience became less of a challenge. My heart seemed to have more space to spread out and be heard. I felt more connected to myself and the big bright colorful world.

My Mind Wasn’t in the Past or Future

It seems so simple.  But a lot of life feels like a music video with fast-paced agendas and constant multi-tasking, which eventually feels normal. Reflecting back, I realize that this sterilized a lot of my creativity and clouded me. And as hard as it may be, I work to release my inner-tortoise to focus on breath and presence. Which has allowed me to feel the opportunity and gift of a simple moment.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction courses are offered all over the world and online.. If you are interested, try one out!

TRAVEL: A Creative Writing Activity

One of my favorite things to do while traveling is write. I set my phone to "airplane mode", and set a timer for 30 minutes. During this time, I choose a word loosely related to the environment just write whatever comes to mind. This carries my mind to absorb whatever hidden treasure has been missed due to multi-tasking. 

This poem helped me shift perspective to appreciate my surroundings while vacationing with friends on the beach in Mexico. Can you guess what I chose to mindful absorb and write about? Try this new addition to you travel repertoire!

The Body Follows

Gliding over the glassy blue, green shading and highlights.
A smooth scan across the turquoise sheet.
The moist air feels like wool on the face,
The breezy omnipresent white noise.

Eyes darting left to right, left to right
Acute focus and meaning
Thousands of feet go by and none seem to know,
What it’s like up here.
A clean and back-lit blue mass that fills your senses.

Its clean and stunning, clear and serene
A purity.

And then necessity consumes one.
The craving the growl the thirst to fill one up.
An opportunity.
Bravery is obsolete and survival is instinct.
Sharp eyes create the lens and the nose tips,
The body follows, the light bones feel grace and ease.

Time stands still, the world has dissolved into one realm,
One vision, one vessel, one thought, one movement.
The blue backlit mass isn’t the same,
Its making the instincts loud and vibrant,
It’s creating survival and feeding the craving.

The shoulders relax and spread back,
Suddenly becoming another type of vehicle,
Another piece within.
All the pieces have to come together but some have simpler shapes.

Down spiraling down, the moist wet air feels dry
And all becomes streamlined.
Dipping into the south.
Thrilling, yet with modesty.

The front of the body crashes,
The self that brings the future,
The sun has left,
The air is gone,
The blue glass beauty dissolved,
Into self.

The mouth releases and hopes for the best.
The shiver tingle prickle rises up and goes in.
The throat feels density and hope.
And all of the pieces unite.

Down. and left.
Nothing’s here.
The sad realization sinks fills the empty throat.
Cool feet. cold chest. refreshed.
Up and again, the heavy water drops off the wings.

The open shoulders and smooth feathers praise the hot sun.
And the gazed eyes return sharp clarity.
For there is no loss,
There is no disappointment,
There is no sadness,
There is one realm of simple joy,
One vision, one vessel, one thought, one movement.
Gliding over the glassy blue.

Ease the Daily Commute

In the finale of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy tenaciously clicks her heels to magically appear at her desired destination of Kansas. One could only hope for that tantamount experience in the real world. I think we would all be thrilled if we could close our eyes, click our heels, and arrive at our destination. “Be there in 10 seconds!”

But unfortunately, driving is a major part of many people’s lives. It’s a “necessary evil” for us to get places. So let’s discuss one thing you can control in a driving commute: your reaction.

Be Optimistic

Be aware of your thoughts, because they have a profound effect on everything you do. A negative thought pattern will carry a lot of emotion, and will make the drive more stressful. Instead of feeling hostile towards the drive or other people, try to be optimistic and think of what’s good about the music, the air, and your breath. This also helps the drive go by faster.

Notice the Details

You’ve never actually seen this road in this exact moment. You’ve never been in your car in this exact moment. You’ve never heard this song through the filter of your entire life experiences, at this exact moment. When you have a curiosity of the present moment, you are mindful. A lot more details will appear to you.

It will be surprising how different and new the drive can seem!

How Mindfulness Can Help Chronic Pain

I once experienced a back injury, which brought many parts of my life to a screeching halt. Sometimes I would struggle to do the simplest things because of the pain. For months, negative feelings were ruminating in me each day I could not do the physical activities that define me. But there is always a silver lining, and on the broader perspective, this experience has gave me an opportunity to understand mindfulness on a deeper level.

I had challenges around separating physical pain from fear and anxiety. When the pain would get worse, so would my stress and the increased cortisol levels would make my muscles tighten up even more. I wasn’t able to control my reaction to the pain, which made me suffer more.

The Art of Facing Difficulties

Sometimes the pain comes back, and when in meditation for the pain, I pay attention to each moment as if it’s the only moment that exists. Somehow, this lets my thoughts surface in a different way. My thoughts are re-directed from my back pain to the present moment. Each moment unfolds, and I feel completely enveloped in the “now.”

Each moment consists of recognizing my breath, body, and mind. The realization of my inner-capacity floats up, and the broader concept is clear. I feel relaxed and in more control.

Now, when I have increased musculoskeletal pain, it’s a tip-off to have a relaxation response. I move away from the pain by focusing on something else. It’s an integrative medicine I prescribe myself by living moment to moment with breath, body, and mind. Mindfulness won’t fix a bad back, but it does nurture calmness in my well-being.

A Four-Step Mindfulness Technique

I want to discuss the RAIN method. It’s a 4-step mindful meditation activity that can help soothe distress, a bad mood, and negative thought patterns. Next time you feel a wave of stress, give this a try!

R= Recognize

Recognize the thoughts or feelings that are hurting you. You can even give a name to them. Having a name for your thoughts and feelings helps shine a light on them so you have something to work with.

A= Accept

Acknowledge that negative thoughts are in your present reality. This is a way to put the feelings in the spotlight, instead of letting them quietly fester and potentially worsen.

I= Investigate

Use a childlike curiosity to delve into these thoughts or feelings. Answer the “Who, What, When, Where, Why?” questions. What caused these thoughts? Are these realistic to have? What actions are possible? Try to investigate the whole scope of the feelings involved with the thoughts.

N= Not Self

The negative thoughts and feelings you have are not who you are. They are simply an experience you are having and will arise and fall away if you let them. Your thoughts and feelings are impermanent. Knowing this can help you step back from them and move more fluidly within the ebb and flow of the human experience we all share that includes negative and positive thoughts and emotions that endlessly come and go.

Technology Can Bring Positivity

Broaden & Build Theory

BL Fredrickson is a psychology researcher who specializes on positive emotions and how they compound over time, also known as the “broaden and build” theory. She suggests that when people meditate daily, and experience positive emotions, they are more able to affect positive changes in their life purpose, social support systems, and overall health. Positive emotions come from a mind-training practice of loving-kindness meditation.

This may seem like a fancy way to explain an intuition or piece of conventional wisdom: almost everyone knows finding ways to relax and feel love towards yourself are good for you (hence the $11 billion self-help industry). But how does someone make the first step towards a personal change? We have the inspiration, but things can get so busy and shifting out of the routine seems far-fetched.

Behavioral Change Takes Commitment and Hard Work

Technology is pragmatic and systematic, and is almost always on-time, which makes it a reliable tool for consistent cues. People may assume there are drawbacks and bombardment from a smart phone.

Instead, make an intention of using technology as a tool that will enhance our everyday experience and create a lifestyle regimen to restore wholeness in ourselves.

A Health-Supporting Video Game

Hope Lab was founded in the 1980s when a research assistant wondered if a video game that allowed the player to virtually but actively blasted cancer cells could improve their health. It’s called Re-Mission and the player travels through the channels and systems of a body and actually blasts away cancer cells. Bonus points!

This activates the reward-related areas of the brain (nucleus accumbens), which is associated with a boost of emotions that help the players adhere to the prescribed chemotherapy.

“Enhancement of dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens acts not only as a pleasure-inducing neurochemical signal but also as a strong reinforcer for motivated behaviors,” states neuropharmacologist Allison Feduccia.

By playing the game, the brain’s positive motivation circuits are stimulated, and may actually increase the resilience to the array of medication cancer patients take.

Self-realization Can Bring Self-healing.

How else can humans exchange through the membrane of technology to purify ourselves?

A small start-up named Inward has created the “Mindfulness Daily” smartphone app. In it, they’ve created a 10-day crash course on the basic techniques of mindfulness. The push notifications invite you to observe your breath, body, and mind throughout the day. They’ve expanded the experience to kindness practices, a message that invites you to bring the following:

• kindness to yourself
• kindness to a loved one
• kindness to a stranger
• kindness to someone you’re angry with

Nathanael Wolfe, co-founder, states “It’s important for beginners to start with the basics of clearing out the mind and softening, but our relationship with kindness, our ability to hold it, share it, and see through it, is so fundamental. It impacts everything”.

There can be a fear paired with rapid changes in technology. But there can also be a wholesome foundation that can bring about an extraordinary vitality in your life. Technology can potentially connect you to happiness and health, and we are at the dawn of this new day for human experiences.

Motherhood and Connection

“Sometimes when you pick up your child you can feel the map of your own bones beneath your hands, or smell the scent of your skin in the nape of his neck. This is the most extraordinary thing about motherhood – finding a piece of yourself separate and apart that all the same you could not live without.” -C Joybell C.

I would like to make a tribute to all mothers that see the value of mindfulness, and specifically the gracious ways mothers connect their children with Mother Earth. C Joybell C beautifully illustrates the connection from a mother to her child. But what about the larger mom, Mother Nature? Here are some things mothers shared regarding magical moments they’ve had connecting their children to the planet:

1. The joy in seeing my child have a genuine curiosity for a leaf or flower allows me to see what moves them.
2. When my child lies in the grass and feels Mother Earth below him. I see that he feels comfort in this connection.
3. The great thing about nature is that you don’t have to encourage your children to like it, you just allow them to be in it and they feel the effects.
4. We live close to the earth with gardening, and being aware of the seasons and changes of the Earth’s cycles.
5. We talk about the world in a very honest and clear way and talk about how our actions as humans effect the earth.
6. “I am a big believer in connecting children to our great Mother. We do this through weekly hikes (the forrest is our church), and ceremonies like our New Year’s Offering: we make little boats and fill them with fresh flowers and wishes for the new year. We set the boats and wishes out at sunset to sail into the golden light.” -Jamie Mamikunian
7. I let my children play outside, which lets them entertain themselves and figure things out for themselves.
8. My kids and I live in a city, but when we go to a park I ask them to tell me what they like about the park. This helps them to appreciate nature.
9. I try to regularly take my kids on a walk through a park. We play a game of who can spot the most critters, and it lets them stay focused on the living nature around us.
10. Camping, camping, camping. It lets my kids learn how to be away from “the screen”.

Creating a Culture of Appreciation

Children have a pure and refreshing perspective, and we salute all the ways that mom’s avail the opportunity to connect children to Mother Earth.  Whether small or big, these opportunities are all appreciated and help create a culture where nature is valued and sacred.

The Therapeutic Effects of Plants

The therapeutic benefits that plants give to humans are well-known, but they’re not always associated with medical rehabilitation. However, healthcare professionals are tapping into plant benefits to promote health and wellness in their patients in interesting ways.

I am an Occupational Therapist (OT). OTs provide services to people whose lives have been disrupted by physical injury or illness, psychological difficulties, developmental issues or the aging process. OT’s promote a return to health by maximizing people’s potential and function. We address the specific needs of an individual to set goals and attain them through many activities, including gardening.

In my practice, I have seen firsthand how effective plants and gardening can be in helping patients improve.

Let’s Move!

The most obvious benefit of gardening is that it gets people moving. One has to plant seeds, maintain them through watering and weeding, and finally harvest the plant. This inherently promotes an active lifestyle, especially if someone has had a setback in health.

Imagine if someone has had a stroke or brain injury: the therapist may want to enhance that person’s sensory motor functioning, increase that person’s endurance to sit without support, and/or improve that individual’s bimanual control or hand strength. Gardening can help in all these areas. At the same time, the patient has fun and can improve their concentration.

A person might be suffering from their recent health trauma, and there may be limited activities they find motivating. Gardening might be one thing the patient finds enjoyable because they get to be outside with plants while the therapist assesses and promotes physical rehabilitation.

Leadership through Gardening

What if someone is clinically depressed or has a substance abuse problem?

Permaculture and gardening can help patients re-cultivate a sense of meaning. Connecting with plants and soil can be healing, reconnecting them with the earth and the natural world. By being allowed to select the vegetables or flowers they wish to plant, they experience a sense of agency, and learn about nutrition.

Patients would also be given responsibility to care for the plants while in a treatment center, which can provide a sense of purpose. Someone can participate socially and communicate in the calming atmosphere of a garden.

Imagine the feeling of being entrusted to teach a new person safety techniques with a gardening tool. This may be the first time in a while that a person has experienced leadership and meaningfulness with another person. Being able to sell produce at a farmer’s market, or cook a meal for other people can legitimize a person’s view of their recovery progress and be empowering.

The therapeutic effect is the process itself, but one is able to enjoy the benefits of hard work.

Socialization Through Permaculture

For people who are socially disenfranchised through a disability or health issue, creating a community garden is an outlet for a healthier community. It provides a shared understanding of the relationship between people and plants.

It can integrate people that may not know many ways to interact with others. People can work together to make decisions and feel accomplishment. People also have the shared understanding to the physical exercise of digging, planting, bending, and lifting to complete greening activities.

Our Profound Relationship to the Earth

People and plants have been interconnected since the dawn of history. So it seems clear that healing and healthcare rehabilitation would include the Plant Kingdom.