“Port”al

Welcome back!

Eckhart Tolle likes to talk about “portals” to the Now.  My favorite of his suggested portals is focusing on the body sense.  It is a very simple exercise:  you simply ask yourself, “Without moving or looking at my left big toe  (or whatever body part you choose), how do I know that it is there?”  Immediately, you are connected to the feeling present in the body, and when this remains in your focus, you are in the present moment.  Try it.  Pick some part of your body, close your eyes and ask yourself, “How do I know that ______ is there?”  Then, let your attention move to feeling the entire body this way, as a whole.  This is using the body as a portal into the Now.  And of course, the beauty of being in the Now is that you can’t be uselessly rehashing the past, or pointlessly rehearsing the future.  Life is always Now anyway, and this exercise places you right smack in the middle of it.

Shifting focus….I was thinking about ports the other day.  Central ports…you know the ones.  The things we hate to think about needing, because it means we need antibiotics frequently enough to justify the risk of an indwelling central line.  A central port provides immediate and easy access for administration of life saving medication as we watch our lung function diminish.  I don’t know about you, but I have always had a visceral reaction to the idea that I may need such a port someday.

So when my partner mentioned the other day that maybe I should consider getting a port, imagine my surprise when my immediate thoughts  (really) were about Tolle, and how “port” and “portal” clearly come from the same root.  So now I’ve looked it up and, sure enough, the Latin root, porta, means “gate.” Tolle’s portals are gates to the Now, and a central port is a gate to, well, your heart and circulatory system.  The next thoughts I had were about the bright side of having a central port. In other words, I didn’t freak out.

There are definite pros to having a port.  No more PICC lines, for one!  My PICC’s always have to go into the right arm (clot in the left–from a PICC, of course), and always have to be put in by Interventional Radiology (I love those guys, but really…it’s another appointment, it’s more radiation, and they SEW the sucker in so it’s hard to pull out yourself:-)).  Not only that, but as you know, you can’t lift weights when you have a PICC (did I mention the clot in my left arm?).  So no PICC, means no three week layoff from one of my favorite ways to stay in shape.

Maybe it’s my age.  Maybe it’s wanting things to be simpler.  Maybe this just means I don’t care as much about what “other people will think.”  But I’ve been thinking about it in a very “accepting” kind of way, and will likely talk with my doctor about this the next time I need IV’s.  (He’ll probably say, “Are you crazy?”)

Which brings me back to Tolle.  Full circle.  Maybe a central port could be viewed as a sort of metaphor for a “portal” to Acceptance-with-a-capital-A.  There’s no denying or fighting the fact that the lungs are needing some serious help when you submit to a port.  It would be a daily visible reminder of my mortality staring back at me in the mirror each day.  It would be hard to ignore evidence like that.  Still, I’m not freaking out for some reason…

I’m liking this metaphor.

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Does Wellness Coaching Work If You Are Sick

It seems like years ago that I wrote about wellness coaching.  This was a general discussion of what wellness coaching is and how it works.  Today, I think it would be a good idea to focus a discussion more on how wellness coaching could help someone with a chronic illness.  Is the coaching process or the goal different for someone who is, by definition, sick?  Is there a point to wellness coaching if you carry a diagnosis that isn’t going away?  Is wellness coaching focused on making the illness go away?

One thing I want to point out up front is that when I do wellness coaching with someone who has a chronic illness, this is not the same thing as “chronic illness coaching.”  There is such a thing as a chronic illness coach.  They might help someone work with a specific illness in order to handle it better.  This type of coaching, to me, is very focused on the “illness,” and not the intact being who lives in a body that is not perfect.

The focal point of wellness coaching is not the illness and how you are in relation to it.   Instead, while a wellness coach will ask you to see clearly where you are right now, he or she will also ask you to envision where you want to be.  Then together you discover the path from A to B.  Yes, the fact that you live with an illness will come into play as you define your path, as will other obstacles.  None will be emphasized over the others. Certainly some may require some complex navigation strategies.

Instead, what is emphasized in a wellness coach/client relationship is that wellness is not a specific target point.  You don’t one day reach “wellness” and from then on, fight to stay there.  Rather, I like to think of wellness as a “frequency” that you tune into.  Regardless of the brand or power or age or color of your tuner…even if it has a broken knob or two…every tuner is capable of finding this frequency.

From Outside the World Of CF Research

Just randomly surfing while “puffing on my pipe” just now (I hope you all realize this mean a nebulizer), I ran across this.  Now let’s figure out how to attach this sucker to Pseudomonas…

Kary Mullis\’ next-gen cure for killer infections

Amazing stuff.

Five Reasons You Must Start Resistance Training Today!

I love list posts.  They are so easy to write, and even easier to read.  If only adopting the habit they propose were so easy…

But in this case, it is!  Resistance training is not difficult to do.  You don’t need to join a gym.  There is no requirement for fancy equipment or expensive clothing.  While a routine does take a little bit of time, you will begin to see and feel significant results in as little as 20 minutes 2 or (ideally) 3 sessions per week.  You could multitask, and do your routine while watching Scrubs reruns.  How simple is that?

Your own body weight can provide all the resistance you want or need, or if you are so inclined, you can purchase some very reasonably priced resistance tubing to use in your living room.

Here’s the trick.  Don’t fall for the fitness magazine articles that suggest complex moves, or drop sets, or supersets, or unbelievably crazy-sets.  Pick exercises that target multiple muscle groups like squats, lunges, front and side plank, or good old fashioned push-ups, and just start doing them!  Here is why you should start today:

Reason 1) Resistance training is a friend of your metabolism.  Why is this?  As you begin to overload your muscles beyond what they are used to, you injure them slightly (don’t go for major injury…that doesn’t do any good at all).  You cause little tiny microtears in the muscle fibers, and this is why you are sore one or two days later.  But this is good news, because as your muscle fibers heal, they become stronger and bigger.  You add muscle mass, and over time, this increases your metabolic rate.

How does that work?  Body fat doesn’t do much.  It just sits there and looks back at you in the
mirror.  It doesn’t use up much energy.  Heck, it doesn’t even need much of a blood supply since it requires so little maintenance.  As a result, it burns very few calories.

On the other hand, muscle is very active.  It requires food (glucose and amino acids) and burns tons of calories by just being there.  Clearly, if you want to be a lean, mean, calorie burning machine, you want as much muscle as you can get.

Reason 2) Muscle, because it requires glucose and amino acids, is very sensitive to insulin.  Insulin opens the doorway to  to the little muscle cells, so glucose and amino acids can get in.  If you are insulin resistant, as in Type II diabetes  (and possibly CFRD), lifting weights will increase your insulin sensitivity as you build muscle mass.  A finely tuned insulin sensitivity mechanism is required for a stable blood glucose level, which leads to good health.

Reason 3) This is a big one for me, and maybe you can relate.  Building muscle and feeling and being strong physically is one area of my life where having cystic fibrosis doesn’t even matter!  My lungs may not be the best in the gym, but I will take on any woman my age in a push up or pull up contest!  This is a very empowering feeling…I have at least a modicum of control over my body which is otherwise at the mercy of my lung status.  Now, some days my lungs even interfere with my time at the gym, and that is OK.  I know that when I recover, I will be back, strutting around the gym with the big boys, knowing that my muscle fibers are no different than theirs:-)

If you have an illness other than CF, lifting may just provide the same benefit.  Lifting weights is a very black or white thing to do.  You do it and you see and feel results in as little as two or three weeks.  You have control of this.  It may not feel like you have control of much else, sometimes.  But you do have control over this.
Reason 4) More and more studies are showing that well-designed resistance training programs in post-treatment management of cancer patients and survivors are beneficial in improving health status and quality of life.   This is true in other chronic diseases as well.  Weight training is anabolic, meaning it builds up the body.  Often, treatment for illness is catabolic, or breaks down the body (think steroids or chemotherapy).  While these treatments are necessary, we can counter their bad side effect of breaking down tissue by weight training.

Reason 5) Weight training is fun!  Ok, maybe I’m in the minority thinking this, but stand by this statement.  When you get over the initial “I have no clue what I’m doing,” and move through the “Oh my God this huts,” you begin to see improvement!  And this is fun!

Are you ready to begin?  I’m starting a YouTube channel where I will teach easy, and very modifiable exercises that anyone can start doing today.  Check it out, and subscribe today!

Can I Exercise When I’m Sick?

Not that I’m an expert on this… The last time I had a PICC line I ended up with a DVT (blood clot) in my arm and had to be on blood thinners for 3 months.   Why?  Well, I’m not exactly sure, but it could be because I didn’t want to atrophy away, so I was doing push ups as well as my daily walk.  Dumb.

So maybe this does make me an expert because I definitely know what NOT to do.

Here’s my take:

If you have a PICC, NO UPPER BODY RESISTANCE TRAINING NOT EVEN PUSH UPS WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!  But when you start feeling better after the first few days of “happy juice,” as I now call it, you can definitely go out for a nice walk every day.  Or get on an stationary exercise bicycle.  Basically, the bottom line is don’t push it too hard, but it is good to move! If you don’t move for three weeks, it will be very difficult to get motivated again, and you will lose muscle mass, a very bad thing indeed.  Be gentle.  Be mindful.  But, move.

If you have a fever, no exercise.  Rest.

If you are just coughing more than usual, but don’t feel too bad…well, this is a tricky one.  Are you losing weight?  Are you eating well?  Do you have energy?  This is probably a good time to call the clinic, let them know what’s going on, and ask for your doctor’s opinion on the exercise question.  Do I do that?  No (well, I ask myself and I usually tell myself to quit being a wimp and do some push ups). But I’m learning to not listen to that inner little sergeant.

Last week (Week One), was the “walk every day” week.  My dogs loved it.  I also did daily Qigong (gentle stretching).

This week, I’m adding some lower body exercises (squats) and curl ups to the above.  Feeling good!  Zero cough.  I love this happy juice.

Next week, who knows…but it won’t include push ups.

Do you ever feel like you are in over your head?

Today, I am taking a crash course in internet marketing.  Why?  This is what I keep asking myself.

The reason is that I really want to figure out how to get my upcoming e-book, “The CF Wellness Boot Camp” out to as many people as possible.

To do that, I am learning, I need a “LIST.”   So I am madly learning  about how to create “opt in” boxes everywhere, and how to create  an e-newsletter (to entice ya’ll to sign up to my “LIST),” to use FTP to do weird things to my blog, to tweak HTML to make things look better, and generally, to do all kinds of things that ARE NOT IN MY JOB DESCRIPTION!

But, alas, one  of my strengths is “love of learning,” so I should be very happy for a  very long time.  Please be patient with me.  I have great ideas for the newsletter, including exercise instruction and demonstration, interviews with nutrition and stress management gurus, and so much more.  Please sign up.  I promise you won’t be sorry!

Do You Ever Have One Of Those CF Days?

There’s been a bit of a lull in my series on shaking up your CF child’s exercise routine.  But, I have good reason.  I promise, I’ll return…as soon as….it works.

How To Fit Exercise In

In a previous post, I discussed time in a very esoteric way.  Yes, Eckhart Tolle is right in a way…time only exists in a horizontal dimension, the one we are used to dealing with most of the time.  CF and all of its accompanying “life situations” exist there, too. It’s enlightening to understand that we don’t have to be dictated by that dimension all of the time.  We can practice entering the “now” and get vertical anytime we want…

Alas, one must also be practical in this world.  So, let’s get real about time, shall we?  Yesterday, when I finally got in the shower and first brushed my teeth at 3:30 pm…exactly 9.5 hours after awakening, I realized I needed to write this post.  Mind you, none of those 9.5 hours were wasted.  And I don’t even have a real job!

I don’t need to go into the specifics.  If you are reading this, you already know the laundry list of things that must be done once, twice, or even three times daily regarding health care.  The meds, the nebs, the Vest, the food, the insulin, the enzymes, the vitamins, the doctor’s appointments, the trips to the pharmacy, the uncomfortable moments (hours) where you just want to be left alone to deal with your digestive system…

This is all before “life” stuff…work, school, kids, spouses, friends, churches or spiritual activities, fun, Grey’s Anatomy….

My first point:  “When in the WORLD is there time to exercise?” is a reasonable question.

My second point:  It needs to be part of that first list…the essential health care activities, or else it just isn’t going to happen.

The number one reason CFTR-able people don’t exercise is TIME, so it stands to reason that the addition of hours of self-care does not make the problem any easier.  Nobody has time.  That is a given.  Accept it as a given, and make time anyway.

I have coached and known many people with CF, and I have not once met someone who was not happy and proud of themselves for having started an exercise program.  Yes, it is hard to fit in.  Yes, it is frustrating to get sick and have to start over from what feels like ground-zero.  But, it is always worth it.

HOW TO MAKE TIME ANYWAY

Tip number one:  If you keep a scheduler, or planner, or palm, or iphone…whatever,  schedule yourself in FIRST.  Start with just 20-30 minutes.  Go for a walk or do some yoga.  Get into moving your body in some way, every day.  Over time, splurge and give yourself an HOUR a day.

Tip number two: Schedule a reward for immediately after your exercise.  Make it small, but something you really want…a latte, a nap, whatever.  You have to really want it, and you DON”T get it unless you exercise.

Tip number three: Plan to exercise with someone else.  Set a date, time and place.  The accountability factor kicks in, and you tend to show up.

Tip number four: Try hard to establish the habit of doing your exercise first thing in the morning.  This is the only way I made it through medical school/residency and stayed healthy.  It was a grueling schedule, but I know that it was the early exercise (accompanied by the early to bed the previous night) that provided me the energy to live through it.

Tip number five: Set a goal.  Make it appropriate for you, but also, set it high enough that it will force you to stretch yourself a bit.  You don’t grow muscle mass or endurance or flexibility without stressing the system.  If you are new to running, schedule a 5K.  If you are new to yoga, try to make it through an entire class!  If you are new to weight training, work up to your first unassisted pull-up.

Tip number six: When you reach your  goal, tell everyone you know how great you are, and celebrate!

How to Make the Most Out of Vest Time!

I don’t really know anyone who actually enjoys doing their Vest.  In fact, if baffles me, because it is probably the most passive of all the requisite treatments those of us with CF are asked (told) to do, but most people hate it.  They put it off…they rationalize…they ignore it…some actually hide it!  One client told me this week that she actually had the Vest on, and wore it around the house for a few hours, psychologically unable to hook up.

I think a study should be done, frankly.

But, short of that, I have come up with a list of “sure-fire” ways to spice up your Vest time.  Beware, you may actually find that you want to schedule in an extra session!

Here is it:  The Top Ten Ways to Make Vesting Fun!

1) This is the most obvious.  Television.  You are hooked up to a machine and can’t move.  There is nothing else to do…if EVER there is an excuse for mindless TV, it is now.  These days, with technology on our side, we even have the advantage of Tivo (or some knockoff), so we can actually schedule a show that we truly want to see as a carrot to bring us over to the dreaded machine.  Not only that, but in case the rest of your neighborhood doesn’t have your similar taste in shows, now there are wireless headphones  to strap on (one more thing to get tangled up in).
2) Audiobooks.  I know.  Reading while vibrating at 14 hertz is not a pleasant nor relaxing activity.  However, your sense of hearing is not likely to be upset by the shaking (as long as you can hear over the roar).  Here is another case for headphones,
3) Enjoying a mindful cup of coffee of tea.  Again…you’re not going anywhere.  Why not fill up (not too full) a cup of your favorite morning drink, and just completely experience the pleasure of taste (another sense that is immune to shaking).
4) Take pleasure in another sense that can’t be destroyed by loud, shaking sounds…your sense of imagination.  Vesting is a good time to try some guided imagery.  Guided imagery audios can be found online or in bookstores, and cover anything from learning how to relax, to improving confidence, to perfecting your golf swing.  A favorite one of mine, given the setting, is to imagine that I am receiving the World’s greatest massage on a beach somewhere in Hawaii.  In this case, I am not guided by a tape, but by my own imagination.
5) Surf the internet.  Join the 21st century.  There is ALWAYS something to read or look at online.  For fun, sign up to StumbleUpon.  Here you can create a profile describing your likes and interests, and cool websites are just generated for your pleasure at the click of the mouse.  If you like it, give it a thumbs up rating, and you get more like it.  If you don’t, thumbs down….they won’t send you to another one like it.  It is WAY fun, and easy to kill hours on!  It’s amazing how, after a few times playing with it, the site knows you and your likes like the back of it’s….whatever is at the back of a web program.
6) Meditation intervals.  I say “intervals” because I’ve tried…it’s really hard to meditate while shaking for the whole 20-30 minutes…especially if you are simultaneously nebulizing.  But what is NOT so hard is to do short periods of meditation-–say a minute or two–– and then relax and think about whatever for a few minutes.  Repeat this a few times and time is up before you know it.  Most people think “they can’t meditate”…like it is a skill or something.  It’s not.  It is simply a way of paying attention, on purpose, to something.  An easy thing to meditate on is your breath.  It is always there.  All you do is watch is and pay attention to how it travels in and out of your body…without forcing anything.  Just watching it.
7) One of my favorites:  Pet a dog.  Here is one of my favorites.  This is Jaxon.  He loves my Vest, and comes running when he hears it turn on.  Do you know why?  Because he knows I am cornered for 20 minutes, and have nothing better to do than to pet him.
Hug a kid and make funny noises as you talk to them.  This used to be a hoot when the boys were younger.  Now they look at me like I’ve lost my mind.
9) ChiGong mindful stretching.  Lately, I have been doing a 20 minute Chi Gong routine during my Vest treatments.  It’s great, because I work on my flexibility and relax at the same time.  All of the exercises are VERY easy…really they are just stretches….and can be done while I’m teathered to the machine 3 feet away.  It is too difficult to explain them, so look for my “Chi Gong” Vest workout in a TouTube video coming your way soon.
10) Write blog posts.  Or better yet, comment to mine, and let me know how YOU pass the time!

Five Steps to Re-Energize

Sometimes it is easy to get bogged down on a project.  You let it “sit,” so you can think about it awhile, and before you know it, three other things have come up that need your attention, and your “big idea” starts gathering dust.

At least, that is how it often works for me.

This blog is a great example, but there have been others.  It has been a challenge to post lately.  Tom died.  Christmas happened.  I got sick.  I got busy.  Life happened.  Writing took a back seat.   In addition to writing, half-marathon training programs, book ideas, and piano lessons are also residing in the back seat.  Now don’t get me wrong…my motto for life in general––I get knocked down…but I get up again––applies to projects as well as it does to my health.  Usually I come back.  Like now, for example.

So I thought a good article to write might be one about just this:  How do you pick up where you left off, before life got in the way?  I’ve come up with a 5-step “Get Up Again” action plan to use when approaching that stack that is growing on your desk.

STEP ONE:  This is the most important one.   Get off your back already!  Unless you live alone, have no friends, have no other responsibilities, have only one interest, and generally have no life, things come up!  Life happens, and you get knocked off course now and then.  For most people I know, this is when the nasty little nagging voice speaks up.  “You are such a loser…!  Why aren’t you working on this?  You had such grand plans…such great ideas…Right.  What a lazy (%&#*!

First off, this is a true waste of energy and time.  It is, of course, much more efficient to use that energy in getting back up on the horse, to mix metaphors.  Everyone gets pulled off course, now and then.

STEP TWO:  Find your motivation!  If you are spinning your wheels, you need to get a grip on something, right?  The traction is found within something called motivation.  What lights your fire?  As much as possible, you need to recreate the energy you had when you began the project.  That’s a tall order, I know.  If I had the secret to that, I would be a bazillionairre.

Why did you want to do this project in the first place???  There must have been a really good reason.  The trick is to remember it. And get back into it!  Read about it again.  Read about how others have done or are doing what you want to do.  Talk to people about your idea.  Enlist their ideas…their help.

STEP THREE:  Set one goal.  This is obvious, but it is so overlooked.  You need a finish line.  It doesn’t have to be far away, but it needs to be a bit of a stretch for you.  It needs to be time-based and measurable.  You also need to really want it!  You need to be excited.  It helps to read the goal several times a day, imagining the feeling you will have when it is accomplished.  I know what you are thinking..”One goal?  But I have at least twenty to get back to!”  This may be true, but just pick one for now.  Just a little bit of traction goes a long way.

The most important aspect of setting a goal (to me) is setting a reward.  Seriously.  You need a carrot AND a stick.  If you are like me, the stick is taken care of.  It’s that voice in your head yelling all of the time.  The carrot is, of course, the reward you pick to give yourself when you’ve crossed that finish line.  Make the reward appropriate to the effort you need to put in to accomplishing the goal.  If you’re going to train for three months to run a 5K, give yourself something worth three months of hard training!

So let’s say, for instance, you had initiated a great workout program.  You were committed.  You had worked out all the details…and then…poof.  What program?

There are two ways to deal with this.  The usual way (for many) is to tell yourself you “don’t have it in you” to stick to a program, and then give up until the next time something wakes up your motivation again.

The second (better) way, is to get off your own back, remember your motivation, set a new and smaller goal (perhaps to just start to walk for 20 minutes a day)…add a carrot…and take STEP FOUR.

STEP FOUR:  Take a small step…every day.  Small is the important element here, especially at first.  The reason for this is that you will build on small successes.  If you do what you set out to do every day, then even if those action items are small, your confidence in yourself grows bigger and bigger.  Soon, you’ll start challenging yourself with larger daily action items without feeling overwhelmed.

STEP FIVE:  Stick to it until you can celebrate your achievement!  Your motivation may wax and wane a bit (have you noticed this?).  That’s ok…that’s just what it does.  If you have a day where you feel completely unmotivated, then make your daily action be to read about your goal.  Google it.  Find success stories.  Get your mojo back!  Tomorrow is a new day, and likely, you will feel more like playing.

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