This week I am writing about things that could help us on the physical side of us. Possibly you have much better outlets than I do but everyone is different and enjoys diverse things. After I got home from the hospital, a little more than 5 years ago, I thought what kinds of activity would me happy and healthier for the rest of my life. Before my aneurysm, I had a therapy dog, Dougal, who went with me to counsel children and families for years. So, then, he became MY therapy dog. I walked with him every day for two walks. By the end of 6 months it ended up being one mile a walk. This helped me physically and emotional because I often see different kinds of birds and enjoyed the wind and sun (or rain). Sometimes we actually saw deer, rabbits, skunks, porcupines or even a moose or a fox. I am very grateful that we live on a little acreage with interesting wildlife around. Walking is a good way to get exercise even if you are slow and awkward—you might get better over time.
My second thought was getting more organic vegetables in my body, but this very expensive. So I decided to start a garden. I needed lots of help but my husband was very helpful and understanding. He built 6 boxes that I could fill with good black soil the next year and then, I could sit around the edges to weed. Before my aneurysm, I had so much pain in my lower back that I always took pain killers every day. Having the boxes, made it easier. We also decided that we needed some fruit trees and shrubs, which filled me with happiness. This is a continual project every year because I want to try growing different vegetables and see which things will grow better here in the Sherwood Park area.
My third thought was getting more understanding what my physiotherapist had told me years earlier about my back problems--and that my back could straighten itself out when I went to yoga classes. In those years, before my aneurysm, I often went to one yoga class a week but it didn’t help very much. So, I decided to understand more about yoga and try to help myself by going into poses that could help me. I took a yoga teacher training course, which took a year, and this helped me immensely. Now, I go to yoga classes about 4 times a week and my back is a lot better—even through my gardening phase each year.
Also, during the winter, I try to go cross-country skiing because I realize that it is good for me physically. I am a person who doesn’t like to be outdoors when it is snowing and miserable. This means, I could only enjoy cross-country skiing when it is relatively warm and sunny. I didn’t go skiing last year because there wasn’t enough snow until it was close to spring. Besides walking with my dogs (we have Sophie as well as Dougal—who is old and slow), I should come up with another idea about being outside during winter. Perhaps others have better ideas. I realize that sunlight needs to be absorbs through the eyes to cut down the depression during the winter so I am open to other ideas.
Later on, I would look at what kinds of physical things which those us with stroke or related upsets would enjoy and write about them.
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