October 21, 2009
When the photo arrived in my inbox, I clicked on it and thought: The image is like a riddle. What is colorful and varied yet single-minded; laughing yet quite serious; shaking and quivering yet not afraid? The answer smiled back at me in the picture of my fellow graduates of the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation’s (PDF) Clinical Research Learning Institute. The men and women who came to immerse themselves in all that is PD came from all walks – literally and figuratively – each with our unique gait and each with our story. A dancer, a doctor, a physicist, a pharmacist, an architect, an artist . . . mothers, fathers, grandparents. We came from as far west as California and Washington, and east from Rhode Island and North Carolina. There were southerners from Alabama and Texas and northerners from Massachusetts and New York. Despite our varied backgrounds, we had one focus: […]
September 30, 2009
Thank you, all of you who braved the weather and the stresses of travel, for the opportunity to share some yoga together at the ST/Dystonia conference in Atlanta. I so enjoyed meeting you and being part of your weekend’s events. Speaking of events, the one going on simultaneously in the meeting rooms before ours displayed racks of gowns, untold wigs, scores of sparkly shoes, mounds of makeup and more. The true beauty, however, emanated from the faces I saw when I stood upon the mini stage with my yoga mat and looked out at all of you.
September 15, 2009
On November 7, I’ll be part of the team who will lead a workshop for yoga instructors on working with Parkinson’s patients. I am so looking forward to sharing. I know that as I will gaze around the room at the collected teaching experience, I will be thrilled, humbled, honored. I don’t propose to have the answers. If I did, the medical staff and I wouldn’t be there – there’d be no Parkinson’s. What I do hope to share is my experience with other instructors so they can help people living with PD truly benefit from yoga practice. It is not a matter of simply introducing a chair to the mat, or adjusting a student more often. Certain positions – and adjustments – can trigger tremors and spasms, overheating can happen rapidly. It is a matter of understanding the disease and its effects. Yoga is no cure. It is, however, […]