Stategies

These last few weeks I have been taking courses through WellSpring.  This is a non profit organization for patients, caregivers and families dealing with cancer.  They have a wide variety of courses from educational to entertainment. The current courses that I have weekly is a Gentle Yoga, Brain Fog, and QiGong.  Every one of these courses come with strategies that we are to try for a dedicated time to see if they work for the individual.  Here are some key points that really resonated with me.

1. Trust the process, do not focus on the goal - this is continually reiterated in Gentle Yoga.  Do small consistent actions and feel your body in the poses, do not focus on trying to get that perfect looking pose because that is when you will get hurt.  You work up to it gently and gradually.  Doesn't this sound familiar?  We are always told to trust the process in our Kung Fu and as I continue to rebuild my foundation I can look honestly at my self and know that my progress is proportional to the effort that I am putting in.  Some things I am continuing to improve while others are stagnating. 

2. Practice the strategy - During our Brain Fog course, we have been given 2 strategies this week to help with remembering items.  We have been asked to really practice these strategies (compartmentalization and story telling) and not bend them to something that we like.   These are not easy strategies for me and it takes a lot of work to focus and use them but the more that I practice, the easier it is becoming.  Does this sound familiar?  How many of us have "bent" the I Ho Chuan requirements to make them fit something that was "easier" to do?  I can honestly say that I have done that on more than one occasion but I also have done IHC enough to know that it is only when you practice the requirement in its true form that you benefit from it.

3. Relax, feel, and enjoy - during QiGong we are reminded that we may not feel the energy flowing  during our practice but with consistent practice it will get easier and easier until it is second nature.  I have not felt any great increase in energy but by doing this and Tai Chi weekly, I am feeling it at least consistently.  I have been able to improve my relaxation to the point that I keep catching myself nodding off during my meditations (lets call it going into a trance, sounds more positive LOL)

4. Move with your breath - both Yoga and QiGong are focused on moving with your breath NOT breathing with your movement.  We have many Kung Fu forms that also are based on moving with your breath.  I knew that I was not doing it effectively before but now I realize how ineffective I was.  You need to know your movements so you are able to focus on the breath and not having to think about what is next.  I have been practicing on small chunks of my forms (only 2-3 moves) so I can really focus on the breath instead of the movement.  This is a really hard concept but as with everything it will take practice.

5. Last but not least, go outside your comfort zone - I signed up for an online music program that I thought Mike would really enjoy.  It turned out that I also had a blast.  It was just something different that was out of my comfort zone and was surprised that I learnt new things about myself.  

This is my Segway into the Tiger Challenge - Go outside your comfort zone, trust the process, breathe deep and ENJOY! You will learn lots about yourself as well.  Wishing I was there but cheering you all on from the sidelines! 

Being Thankful

The last two weeks have been busy.  I had my 1 year transplant birthday and a few days later had some friends over who I have not seen for over a year. 

My family was supposed to come over but my brother and his family was/is evacuated from Drayton Valley so they have been very busy (and stressed), my sister-in-law and other brother were sick so we needed to take a rain check. 

Yesterday we got notice that a friend passed away.  We haven’t been in contact much over the years but we were really good friends 20 years ago and having him in our lives impacted our life path a number of times.  It is a mixture of sadness that he is gone and happiness that he was in our lives and left lots of good memories.

Today I spent the day with my mom and sister.  It was a beautiful visit and a great time with my family. Mike and the kids made me a beautiful flower bed (Mike made it and the kids helped with flowers) and even though the boys were not home, I was able to have nice visits with them. 

These last few weeks have really emphasized mortality and how lucky that I am to just be here.  How friends and family change as we grow older but still leave impacts on us. I think my visit today was so good because we just enjoyed each other’s company, we were embracing the moment. I am thankful for the friends and family I have in my life.

It’s just Kung Fu!

This last week has been a variety of appointments with different teams.  I met with an Occupational Therapist for a “brain fog” assessment and tools to use to help with this.  This condition has been weighing heavily on me as we start the conversations about returning to work.

I have noticed my ability to remember things is impacted the more that I try to do things.  The more stressed I am, the worse it gets.  Luckily there have been so many adaptations available that I decreased the stress.  I do not remember many of my forms so I have been focusing on two and getting my body and my brain back to some type of normal before expanding.  On our 1-1, Sifu Rybak told me to continue working on my forms during my class and not worry about learning any new forms.  This was a huge relief and confirmed that I was on the right track.

My “brain fog” assessment went well.  I was a little below normal but high functioning. She asked what I was doing to help cope.  I told her about Tai Chi, ACE exercises, KF classes, meditation, starting gentle yoga for cancer patients, do memory and word games, starting a cancer QiGong class and a Brain Fog class.  I make lots of lists and lots of alarms to ensure I don’t miss things (and I still miss things).  She told me how I was doing absolutely everything that she would have recommended and was quite surprised.  I was happy but at the same time frustrated.

I was hoping for a magic bullet but it was just another instance of slow and steady progress is the correct pathway to improvement.  It really is just Kung Fu, my path is a bit different than yours but the foundation is the same.