In chapter three, I rated myself an 8-9 in psychological, a 4-5 in physical and a 5-6 in spiritual. When we did the last assignment, I had rated myself an 8 in psychological, a 5 in physical and a 5 in spiritual. So you see, these really have not changed much, I was just more certain when I rated myself this last time than I was in the Reflections post for Unit 3. I think this is because I know I have a long way to go still to see any major changes or improvements, but at least now I know where the improvements are needed and how to get them accomplished.
I have at least made progress in each area in the goals I have set for myself. I have started going back to church, started practicing the meditation exercises more frequently, and started physical therapy on my back in order to be able to increase my physical well being. I have also implemented the activities in each area that I chose for my well being as I just described above. The only goal I have not started as of yet is the exercise for my physical, as I am just not physically able to accomplish that yet, but I get closer every day.
I believe I have developed an improved well being, physical as well as psychological. The meditation exercises have been rewarding, as well as hearing other students ideas and suggestions of different approaches and other things to try when something is not working for me. Everyone is very encouraging and supportive and that has made the course very enjoyable. The difficult part for me was the beginning as we all know how I felt when we started out. I was kind of narrow minded when it came to all of the mental aspects of this course. I no longer feel that way, as I have truly been converted. This experience will help me assist others as I have seen the light on the other side of the spectrum, and can now tell others that I work with and treat an honest opinion and give them honest guidance about other ways of treating them, and different not so traditional approaches they can also try. It is easier to show someone when you have been there yourself, especially when you were a skeptic and are now a believer.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Integral Health Plan
It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically so that they can effectively help their patients. In order to benefit your patients, you must be an example of physical health, be spiritually healthy enough to welcome alternative methods and guidance to your patients, and psychologically healthy enough to deal with your own troubles and effectively guide your patients through dealing with theirs.
In order to achieve the goals I have set for myself, I have to work on all three areas. I have begun working on the psychological aspect of my life by taking this course. This course has opened my eyes to a lot of ways to improve my psychological health, and the tools to do it. Spiritually, I fell off the wagon about ten years ago, but have recently attempted to get back on track by restarting to attend church and studying spiritual manuals to gain a new insight into this world. Physically, I am attending physical therapy post spine surgery to try and ensure I heal back to at least 98% of the fitness level I was at prior to my injury. I am getting better every week, and see great differences this month vs last month.
I have assessed my health in each area by evaluating where my spiritual, physical and psychological health is in relation to where I want it to be. I took a look at my weight, my blood pressure, my eating habits and my physical activity in order to evaluate my physical health. My psychological health was a bit harder to assess. Most of us do not like to point to magnifying glass inward when it comes to finding fault with our personality or way of seeing the world. I evaluated the way I deal with people, the way I react to stress and situations that anger me as well as the lack of trust I put in other people. Spiritually, I simply realized when I thought about it, I was only doing myself harm by turning my back on the church and attempting to pretend having no spiritual influence in my life did not affect me. When it comes to scoring myself on all three of these areas, I would rate my physical health at about a 5, my spiritual health at about a 5 as well, and my psychological health at about an 8.
Physically, my goal is to get back to my normal shape, lose the weight I have gained since my injury, and get back to exercising regularly. Spiritually, my goal is to continue attending church and continue researching new ways on how to get better in touch with my spiritual side.
There are a number of practices one could implement to improve on each aspect of their health. In order to foster my physical health, I will continue with my physical therapy and restart ZUMBA with my daughters. Prior to my surgery, we would do ZUMBA at least three times a week, sometimes four. I felt better, had more energy, and was able to maintain my weight without following a strict diet. I am also going to quit smoking again. I successfully stopped for over a month following my surgery in November, then after a family crisis, started smoking again in December. I have once again started taking Chantix which worked for me the first time, and am determined for it to work again so I can quit smoking once an for all. Psychologically, I am going to start going to counseling. As I said, there was a family crisis, and I believe I could benefit from having someone other than a family member to talk things through with. I have already started keeping a journal again, and this does help immensely with alleviating stress and getting things down on paper and out of my head. I am also attempting to
continue with practicing various relaxation and meditation exercises that were introduced in this class. I am on the hunt for additional tools and exercises that are a fit for me and this will be beneficial for my psychological health in the long run. Spiritually, I have already started attending church again when I can. My goal is to make this a more regular routine such as it was hen I was a child. I just feel better about myself and life in general when I attend regularly. I am also looking into things such as bible readings and spiritual classes that can be taken to help me get more in touch with my spiritual side. These things will get me on the right path and bring spiritual practices to the forefront of my life. This can only help my state of mind and the way I deal with things as they come at me.
Over the next six months I will continue to asses my progress on a monthly basis. I will use my ratings of 5,5 & 8 that are my current levels of wellness in each area to start as a base score. At the end of each month, I will asses where my level is, and compare those numbers to my starting numbers; this will allow me to see improvements or declines. By going back to my initial assessment in so far as how I feel about each area and where I think I am lacking, I will be able to determine which practices are helping and which ones need to be exchanged for another. As long as I continue to reflect on where I am now that I am starting improvements, where I am going and the noticeable changes for the better that are happening daily, I believe I will be able to stay on track and keep myself properly motivated to continue with the effort. I can always go back and read my journals from time to time throughout the process as well in order to be able to see the differences in my way of thinking from beginning to end. I have faith that I am determined enough and already see enough of a positive change in myself by utilizing these practices, that I will have no trouble continuing down the correct path. My health and wellness will thank me for it, and after all, not only will I benefit, but my family, friends and patients will also benefit from the new improved me.
Integral Health Plan
References
Schlitz, M ,Amorok, T, Micozzi, M (2005) Consciousness & Healing Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine, Elsevier, Churchill Livingston, St. Louis, MO: (pp.455-570)
Dacher,E M.D. (2006) Integral Health, The Path to Human Flourishing, Basic Health Publications Laguna Beach , CA
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Beneficial Exercises
The two exercises in this course I have found to be the most beneficial to me were the Journey On exercise at the begining and Meeting Asciepius exercise at the end. The Journey On helped me to be able to relax the muscles in my back and find relief I had not had in months. It is something I can see myself keeping up with and attempting to get my spouse to participate in with me. I am sure I can find variations on the exercise that use the same concept. This would allow me to keep the practice fresh and to keep it from becoming stale or boring as I continue. It would also allow me to up the ante so to speak the more progressed my practicing becomes. I believe by using the journey on concept in conjunction with my physical therapy and counseling, i can actually if not attain my goal of reaching complete wellness, then at least come a lot closer. Since it appears to work on physical pain as well, this can only be a good thing for me to continue.
The Meeting Asciepius exercise is more of a calming and revitalizing exercise that I could continue to use on my own. The only part I did not like about the exercise was the making yourself into another person aspect. I am thinking that maybe I am just taking that wrong and it is not about making yourself into someone else, it is just about taking on the good attributes of the model you are using at the time to assist you in seeing how to achieve that goodness and way of thinking. I think this would be hard to do with someone else, but I could introduce it to my spouse and see if maybe he could benefit from it as well. I cannot help but think that by improving my mental well being, that it could improve our relationship along with it. If I deal with people better, then I will deal with him better. If he starts practicing with me, then he would get the same benefits as well, and our relationship and family would only reap the benefits. We could always go to a counselor that specializes in these types of practices as well. This would allow us the instruction and more access to better tools that are a good fit for our personalities and way of life. This would allow us maximum benefit and results.
Like we talked about in the previous chapters of this class, this is not a one size fits all treatment or way of life. You each have to find what works best for you and utilize all the resources available to you to find that fit.
The Meeting Asciepius exercise is more of a calming and revitalizing exercise that I could continue to use on my own. The only part I did not like about the exercise was the making yourself into another person aspect. I am thinking that maybe I am just taking that wrong and it is not about making yourself into someone else, it is just about taking on the good attributes of the model you are using at the time to assist you in seeing how to achieve that goodness and way of thinking. I think this would be hard to do with someone else, but I could introduce it to my spouse and see if maybe he could benefit from it as well. I cannot help but think that by improving my mental well being, that it could improve our relationship along with it. If I deal with people better, then I will deal with him better. If he starts practicing with me, then he would get the same benefits as well, and our relationship and family would only reap the benefits. We could always go to a counselor that specializes in these types of practices as well. This would allow us the instruction and more access to better tools that are a good fit for our personalities and way of life. This would allow us maximum benefit and results.
Like we talked about in the previous chapters of this class, this is not a one size fits all treatment or way of life. You each have to find what works best for you and utilize all the resources available to you to find that fit.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Meeting Asciepius
The practice this week was a lot better than the previous two weeks for me. For this practice, I used my grandmother who passed away this past year for the person I envisioned. This was easy for me to do as I was pretty close with my Grandmother, and she was a loving and spiritual person who could find the good in anything and had infinite patience for anyone and everyone regardless of their personal demons or faults. By the end of the practice I felt like I was floating in water and my arms and legs were very heavy. I am not sure if this is what was supposed to happen, or if it was merely a by product of the sound of the waves that they use on the soundtrack playing tricks on my mind. I found it was pretty easy overall to imagine the white light going from my grandmother to myself at each stage of the practice, as we were close in life and I relate very easily to her.
I think this has helped to increase my psychological wellness as I am more open to new things now than I was previously in this area. I also stop myself and think about how I am reacting to a situation or something negative that is happening now, as I would just react impulsively in the past. I think I am better with people than I was previously and am a little more calm and at peace with more aspects of my life. I believe I can continue to use some of these practices , and possibly find some others that would suite me better to keep up with this and help myself progress to a better place mentally down the road.
The phrase "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" is pretty simple to understand. It is kind of like the old saying,"walk a mile in my shoes before judging me". If you have a practitioner that has never put into practice the theories and teachings they are giving to patients, they cannot give good feedback , knowledge and instruction from an experienced perspective. You have to have actually tried them and not just read them in a book to give good advice and teachings. It is kind of like having a rehab counselor for a drug or alcohol addict that has never taken a drink or had a substance problem. They have no idea how the addict feels, and the struggles they go through as they have never experienced it. So how can they knowledgeably lead them through recovery?You as a practitioner do have an obligation to develop your health in all aspects as you can only be truly beneficial to your patients if you are healthy yourself, whether it is spiritually or physically. It is possible to implement your psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life by practicing what you preach and striving everyday to reach your goals of true and total health and wellness. Meditation, going to church and loving kindness exercises can all assist you in reaching these goals.
I think this has helped to increase my psychological wellness as I am more open to new things now than I was previously in this area. I also stop myself and think about how I am reacting to a situation or something negative that is happening now, as I would just react impulsively in the past. I think I am better with people than I was previously and am a little more calm and at peace with more aspects of my life. I believe I can continue to use some of these practices , and possibly find some others that would suite me better to keep up with this and help myself progress to a better place mentally down the road.
The phrase "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" is pretty simple to understand. It is kind of like the old saying,"walk a mile in my shoes before judging me". If you have a practitioner that has never put into practice the theories and teachings they are giving to patients, they cannot give good feedback , knowledge and instruction from an experienced perspective. You have to have actually tried them and not just read them in a book to give good advice and teachings. It is kind of like having a rehab counselor for a drug or alcohol addict that has never taken a drink or had a substance problem. They have no idea how the addict feels, and the struggles they go through as they have never experienced it. So how can they knowledgeably lead them through recovery?You as a practitioner do have an obligation to develop your health in all aspects as you can only be truly beneficial to your patients if you are healthy yourself, whether it is spiritually or physically. It is possible to implement your psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life by practicing what you preach and striving everyday to reach your goals of true and total health and wellness. Meditation, going to church and loving kindness exercises can all assist you in reaching these goals.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Loving Kindness
While completing the exercise this week, I had gone into it with the mindset that I was going to have more luck than I have had with the past 2 exercises we have completed in this class. With the loving kindness exercise, I did not have any suck luck unfortunately. I sat there and attempted to clear my mind of all thoughts and just breath and relax, then I attempted to start repeating the phrases as instructed. Every other phrase, I had to open my eyes and reread them to remember where I was and know what I was attempting to repeat to myself. I could not get the phrases to stick in my head long enough to repeat them with any form of success. I think I was spending so much effort in remembering what I was supposed to be repeating that I lost all sense of any good I would have otherwise gotten out of this exercise.
Now for the Integral assessment. I had more success with this exercise I am happy to report. What I discovered about myself with this is that I do not pay enough attention to my own health and well being as I spend so much time and energy on my families, there really is never enough left over. I know I can improve on my nutrition, which would be the biological aspect, as I have many times where I am rushed or running from one place to another to drop kids off or pick them up and I will run through a drive through. I also have some work to do in the psycho spiritual aspect of my life as I do not fulfill my promises to myself to get back in the church as I always have been in my life, and work on my own inner areas such as self esteem and contentment. However, the area I chose as the area that I would like to work on is my interpersonal relationships. I can be a very harsh person, especially when I am upset, and unfortunately, the people who are closest to me normally end up taking the brunt of it. I am sure this is due to the fact that you tend to lash out at the ones you trust the most as you know they will be there the next day with no hard feelings and no grudges. I tend to do this at work as well, coming down hard on people under me for things done incorrectly, or when their knowledge is not where it should be for the job they are doing. I really liked the chapter in the reading this week that discussed the changing of the attitude form imposed to chosen. I think remembering teachings such as that will help me a great deal. Also, practicing a breathing exercise, or relaxation exercise on a regular basis may help me to relax a little more and become a little more peaceful with myself, which in turn can help me to be peaceful with other people.
Now for the Integral assessment. I had more success with this exercise I am happy to report. What I discovered about myself with this is that I do not pay enough attention to my own health and well being as I spend so much time and energy on my families, there really is never enough left over. I know I can improve on my nutrition, which would be the biological aspect, as I have many times where I am rushed or running from one place to another to drop kids off or pick them up and I will run through a drive through. I also have some work to do in the psycho spiritual aspect of my life as I do not fulfill my promises to myself to get back in the church as I always have been in my life, and work on my own inner areas such as self esteem and contentment. However, the area I chose as the area that I would like to work on is my interpersonal relationships. I can be a very harsh person, especially when I am upset, and unfortunately, the people who are closest to me normally end up taking the brunt of it. I am sure this is due to the fact that you tend to lash out at the ones you trust the most as you know they will be there the next day with no hard feelings and no grudges. I tend to do this at work as well, coming down hard on people under me for things done incorrectly, or when their knowledge is not where it should be for the job they are doing. I really liked the chapter in the reading this week that discussed the changing of the attitude form imposed to chosen. I think remembering teachings such as that will help me a great deal. Also, practicing a breathing exercise, or relaxation exercise on a regular basis may help me to relax a little more and become a little more peaceful with myself, which in turn can help me to be peaceful with other people.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Subtle Mind Exercise
Subtle Mind exercise huh......wellll....we will get into that a bit later. We were supposed to do the exercise and then compare our experience with it to our experience with the Loving Kindness exercise. It is no secret, I did not get much out of the Loving Kindness. I was frustrated, thought it took way to long, and utilized way to many colors to try to get you where you need to be. My brain just does not work that way I guess. HOWEVER........I went in this week with high hopes, crossed fingers and the ultimate desire to actually get something out of this. Well...I sit down, lower the lights, get comfortable and start track 3. I went through the 10 breath start exercise. I continued onto the breathing technique of the exercise. Instructor got quiet..thought, O.K. we just keep doing what we are doing for a few minutes. Get really relaxed, was actually starting to feel like I was nodding off..and then WHAMMO! STATIC! screeching static that hit about 5 times the noise level of the instructors voice. After I picked myself up off the floor (which let me tell you is no easy feet following spine surgery), checked to see if I had had a stroke or an MI from the shock....turned the volume down...I continued to listen. to static. The rest of the exercise was all static. SOOOOO..I obviously came away once again without getting what I was hoping to get from an exercise.
Maybe it is just me. Maybe someone upstairs is trying to tell me "Honey, this just is not your cup of tea". I do not know. Anyone have any ideas?
There is definitely a connection between spiritual wellness and mental and physical wellness. I believe that if you truly have faith and hold true to your beliefs and practice them daily...not just when you show up for mass once a week or a couple times a year for the holidays, God does intervene and assist you to becoming the well centered peaceful person you desire. It all relates. Just like with the breathing exercises assisting you in your physical workouts. You have faith, so you believe in divine assistance to guide you. You have faith, so you do your breathing and meditations, you have faith, so you do your physical workout. All of them assist the other in reaching your ultimate goal of total well being.
Not real sure how this has manifested in my personal life though. I do not seem to be having much luck with the mental aspect of this course.
Maybe it is just me. Maybe someone upstairs is trying to tell me "Honey, this just is not your cup of tea". I do not know. Anyone have any ideas?
There is definitely a connection between spiritual wellness and mental and physical wellness. I believe that if you truly have faith and hold true to your beliefs and practice them daily...not just when you show up for mass once a week or a couple times a year for the holidays, God does intervene and assist you to becoming the well centered peaceful person you desire. It all relates. Just like with the breathing exercises assisting you in your physical workouts. You have faith, so you believe in divine assistance to guide you. You have faith, so you do your breathing and meditations, you have faith, so you do your physical workout. All of them assist the other in reaching your ultimate goal of total well being.
Not real sure how this has manifested in my personal life though. I do not seem to be having much luck with the mental aspect of this course.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Loving Kindness
This week we had to do the exercise Loving Kindness from Dacher. I did not really find this exercise beneficial. This one was hard for me to do and concentrate on as it was more of making yourself feel a certain way, and I am just not good at feelings. I guess it is just my personality. I am generally a pretty mid range person, it takes a lot to make me upset and it takes a lot to make me feel badly. I don't get too excited over things either. I am normally happy and laughable, I just stay mid range pretty much all the time. Someone sitting there telling em to feel love and feel kindness and project those feelings just did not work for me. It was easy to find the person in my life I have loving feelings for, I used my Grandmother who passed away in Feb of 2010, but I just could not get into the mindset of the exercise.
I don't know if I would recommend this exercise to others due to the difficulty I had with it. I don't think this is for everyone, I think you have to be of a certain mindset to begin with for something like this to work.
Mental workouts are simply what they say they are. Working out your mind using tools, exercises and different techniques to achieve a certain level of mental capacity or well being. Like those brain trainers you see all the time advertised. Those are a form of mental workouts. You are training your mind to see things a certain way and to be able to respond quicker to numbers, pictures and letters. Just like a mentally disabled person, they continually do "mental workouts" with them to improve their cognitive skills as well as simple skills like reading and writing. You can implement mental workouts to assist your mental health by practicing relaxation techniques, meditations and feel good exercises like the one we tried this week. Granted, they will not all work for everyone, but I do believe that the right workout for the right person can probably produce some awesome results.
I don't know if I would recommend this exercise to others due to the difficulty I had with it. I don't think this is for everyone, I think you have to be of a certain mindset to begin with for something like this to work.
Mental workouts are simply what they say they are. Working out your mind using tools, exercises and different techniques to achieve a certain level of mental capacity or well being. Like those brain trainers you see all the time advertised. Those are a form of mental workouts. You are training your mind to see things a certain way and to be able to respond quicker to numbers, pictures and letters. Just like a mentally disabled person, they continually do "mental workouts" with them to improve their cognitive skills as well as simple skills like reading and writing. You can implement mental workouts to assist your mental health by practicing relaxation techniques, meditations and feel good exercises like the one we tried this week. Granted, they will not all work for everyone, but I do believe that the right workout for the right person can probably produce some awesome results.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Reflections
Rating my well being is not an easy thing to do. There are so many things that affect your well being on a daily basis, from family stress, to work stress, to everyday aches and pains whether it be from surgery or just getting old. My physical well being right now would have to be a 4 or 5. This is simply because I am still recovering from surgery and with it being winter, I have a lot of aches and pains due to arthritis in my joints from years of gymnastics and various other sports. My spiritual well being is probably a 5 or 6 as I have not been a regular churchgoer since 200 when I was told by a Catholic priest that if I had killed my husband the church could have forgiven me, but since I divorced him, I was no longer welcome or allowed to participate in any masses. My Psychological well being is probably an 8 or 9 on a regular basis. I have my days as we all do where I am down in the dumps or life gets me down and I would rate this about a 2, but normally I am a pretty well adjusted confident person with who I am, where I am and how I deal with everyday problems as well as those life changers that always seem to come out of left field at the most inopportune times.
The main goal I wold have for myself in all three areas would be to increase all of my well being in all three areas. I aim to heal 100% form my surgery and get back to my normal physical activity which includes my 3 X a week Zumba with my daughters. I have also been starting to attend a new church with my daughters where they make you feel welcome and open and are of the belief that your spirituality is inside you and how you relate to God vs. some archaic belief that some crotchety old fart deems as correct. As far as psychological well being, this area can always use improvement. In the way we relate to each other and handle problems, no one is perfect and we can all learn better ways of dealing with what life hands us.
I am going to start physical therapy to assist me in my physical goals of healing, have started attending church to assist me with my spiritual side, and have started going to counseling with my daughters to work on the psychological aspect of my life and to have a better relationship with my daughters.
When completing the Crime of the Century Exercise, I was a little frustrated. I think overall it was a good implementation of a relaxation technique, but I enjoyed the Journey on Exercise a bit more. I think this was due more to the length of time it took than anything. When you have children in the house, it is hard to find 10 minutes to sit and breathe to yourself, let alone 20 minutes to sit and relax with peace and quiet. The color usage also made it more difficult for me to follow the relaxation exercise. I am not sure why this is, maybe it was too many aspects at once to try and implement, or maybe I was just privy to Journey On and was expecting a replay of that.
The main goal I wold have for myself in all three areas would be to increase all of my well being in all three areas. I aim to heal 100% form my surgery and get back to my normal physical activity which includes my 3 X a week Zumba with my daughters. I have also been starting to attend a new church with my daughters where they make you feel welcome and open and are of the belief that your spirituality is inside you and how you relate to God vs. some archaic belief that some crotchety old fart deems as correct. As far as psychological well being, this area can always use improvement. In the way we relate to each other and handle problems, no one is perfect and we can all learn better ways of dealing with what life hands us.
I am going to start physical therapy to assist me in my physical goals of healing, have started attending church to assist me with my spiritual side, and have started going to counseling with my daughters to work on the psychological aspect of my life and to have a better relationship with my daughters.
When completing the Crime of the Century Exercise, I was a little frustrated. I think overall it was a good implementation of a relaxation technique, but I enjoyed the Journey on Exercise a bit more. I think this was due more to the length of time it took than anything. When you have children in the house, it is hard to find 10 minutes to sit and breathe to yourself, let alone 20 minutes to sit and relax with peace and quiet. The color usage also made it more difficult for me to follow the relaxation exercise. I am not sure why this is, maybe it was too many aspects at once to try and implement, or maybe I was just privy to Journey On and was expecting a replay of that.
Friday, January 14, 2011
New Experiences
Well, I just finished the Journey On Excersize. I have to say, Initially, I was kind of hesitant to even attempt this. I am generally not one to buy into the spirituality or head part of medicine. BUT..ALAS...this is why we are here..to learn about new things and better ways to help ourselves as well as patients we will deal with in the real world.
Honestly this relaxation exercise could not have popped up at a better time. I just had a huge fight with my oldest sister about an hour before logging on here to do this. Also, as some of you who have been in previous classes with me know, I recently had spine surgery in Nov. I had a 2 level fusion due to 2 fractured Vertebra, a separated spondila, and 2 degenerated and protruding discs. They fused L4 & L5 as well as L5 and S1, placed 6 screws in, 4 rods and 2 cages. Needless to say, I was down for the count for a bit. I have been dealing with wicked muscle spasms since the surgery, and nothing seems to help. Not medications, not Physical Therapy, food therapy..nothing.
Well..Lo and Behold! I never thought I would say this..but this exercise actually worked. Normally if I sit in a chair for longer than 5 minutes, it about takes a crane and the will of God to get me out due to the pain and stiffness in my back. I am here to tell you, I just did this exercise, and not only was the tension gone from the fight with my sister...but I just got straight up out of the chair, and the muscles in my back were actually more relaxed than they have been in over 2 months.
So..O.K.. guys and gals....you have converted me..I am now a believer in the power of suggestion and the mind.....so Bring it on! and Keep em coming! I can hardly wait to see what is next!
Honestly this relaxation exercise could not have popped up at a better time. I just had a huge fight with my oldest sister about an hour before logging on here to do this. Also, as some of you who have been in previous classes with me know, I recently had spine surgery in Nov. I had a 2 level fusion due to 2 fractured Vertebra, a separated spondila, and 2 degenerated and protruding discs. They fused L4 & L5 as well as L5 and S1, placed 6 screws in, 4 rods and 2 cages. Needless to say, I was down for the count for a bit. I have been dealing with wicked muscle spasms since the surgery, and nothing seems to help. Not medications, not Physical Therapy, food therapy..nothing.
Well..Lo and Behold! I never thought I would say this..but this exercise actually worked. Normally if I sit in a chair for longer than 5 minutes, it about takes a crane and the will of God to get me out due to the pain and stiffness in my back. I am here to tell you, I just did this exercise, and not only was the tension gone from the fight with my sister...but I just got straight up out of the chair, and the muscles in my back were actually more relaxed than they have been in over 2 months.
So..O.K.. guys and gals....you have converted me..I am now a believer in the power of suggestion and the mind.....so Bring it on! and Keep em coming! I can hardly wait to see what is next!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Test Post
Just making sure I did not forget anything. I will be adding all of you as soon as I figure this thing out a bit better. I look forward to gettign to knwo you all better, and getting through these experiences, helping each other along. See you all in class!!!
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