Contemplative practices for adults, older adults, and their caregivers
Blog #2 in the Soothing Series: Gentle ways to regain your composure and find some inner peace For years, I commuted to Boston. Driving home after a particularly aggravating workday, I realized that everyone had irritated me: my supervisor, my colleagues, and even my patients. I found myself muttering about what I could have said, …
Blog #1 in the Soothing Series: Gentle ways to regain your composure and find some inner peace How do caring for birds and contemplative practices overlap? With Zen cords! What a lovely win-win! Here’s the back story. My home has sliding glass doors out onto a deck, beyond which is a bird feeder. It’s too …
by Gale Lyman, RN, BSN, HNB-BC. An estimated 44 million Americans are family caregivers (NAC & AARP, 2015), dedicated to caring for their loved ones. When caregiving is done, many would describe it as a sacred time, something they would willingly do again. Even so, a 2015 survey revealed that 21 percent of caregivers think …
with Deanna Smith. Published previously in the Port Planet, January 2009 Most adults need eight hours of sleep to function well. Many may think they can get by on less, but actually less than 10% of the population can do this. If you are sleepy at bedtime, and are not sleepy during the day, you …
Does this sound like your story? You have been taking care of your loved one. She may be experiencing dementia, heart disease, a traumatic accident, cancer, or a combination of chronic illness and decreased mobility related to aging. Most of your time, thoughts, and resources have focused on your her needs. Possibly you have given …
Continue reading "Four challenges to recovering from family caregiving"
When my time as a family caregiver came to an end, I started searching for a solution in my favorite healthcare journals. Nothing. Expanding my search, I checked scholarly article search engines, Pub Med, and more. Very little. Becoming a bit desperate, I did a general internet search. There I found an abundance of blogs …
Continue reading "What Healthcare Doesn’t Know About Recovering After Family Caregiving"
“My friends want me to go out with them, I need to find a job, and my home is a disaster. It’s been 6 months since my partner passed on. I was so busy taking care of him, lots of things just didn’t get done. I’m far behind on home maintenance, car maintenance, my own …
Continue reading "Key points pertaining to the transitional life phase of family caregiver recovery"
"When the drum stops, the stillness is palpable. Somehow with less sensory stimulation, we are more alert, more present, more in touch with our surroundings. And certainly more resilient to the overload of sensory stimulation that awaits us, ‘out there.’ " – A contemplative drummer Although the general public might not consider drumming to be …
Continue reading "Integrating drumming and other contemplative practices"
Shopping, cooking, lots of family time, busy days, and late nights. It’s so easy to become overwhelmed with everything that’s taking up your time and energy. During the holidays it’s even more important than usual to remember to relax and enjoy some serenity. Here are suggestions to make the holidays less stressful and more meaningful. …
Op/Ed I despise news bytes that misrepresent health and medical research especially those pertaining to my passion for holistic, integrative medicine. A recent sensationalized claim about complementary medicine and cancer deaths has given rise to my righteous indignation. Please bear with me and read on - your health may depend upon it! Evidence based integrative …
