The Tree of Yoga

I recently finished reading B.K.S. Iyengar’s The Tree of Yoga, which was given to me as a parting gift when I left my previous school. Iyengar wrote a bit about the art of teaching, and I enjoyed mulling over his ideas.

Iyengar stated, indeed, warned that you “teach only what you know. Do not teach what you do not know…” I have often heard it said that the best way to learn is to teach. Especially in my early years of teaching, walking into a room to teach something with which I was not familiar caused that butterfly feeling in the pit of my stomach, coupled with the hope that nobody would notice my lack of expertise.

In the many years since, I have learned that often times my students will have more knowledge or exposure to something than I have – not uncommon in the fast changing world of computers and technology. I learned that teaching is a two-way shared process between the “teacher” and the “student”. Those nouns are in quotes because, at any given time, the roles change between me, the teacher, and those in the class, the students. Indeed, I hugely believe in and have always tried to have students be part of the professional development sessions organized for faculty. Change up the role dynamics and the process of learning is enhanced for everyone.

So learn, do, re-learn, experience, and you will be able to teach with confidence, courage and clarity.

Teachers must always be learning. They will learn from their pupils and must have the humility to tell them that they are still learning their art.

Iyengar touched on another area of teaching, which is understanding who your students are, and realizing that we do not all learn in the same manner or at the same pace. It is important to try and differentiate instruction so that the learner can make meaning from the experience.

The art of teaching is also to know when to stop.

There are two types of teaching. One is explaining according to your intelligence. The other is knowing the weakness of your pupils, and how you have to explain in order for them to understand your meaning.

First published in 1988, Iyengar’s book deals with the teaching of yoga, but I think that just about all strong teaching follows a similar process. Yoga is, in some ways, similar to physical education and also to physical art. Phys ed and the arts are highly experiential and often touted as providing many examples of teaching that could (should?) be ported over to the academic classroom.

Looking for help from readers, please.

I am fascinated by the brain. I have been practicing yoga since March of 2005. I have been a teacher of kids and adults since 1982 (teaching with and about computers). I saw how music and movement soothed my Dad as he dealt with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. I know what my next act will be, and am looking for your help in coming up with a name.

WRITTEN on July 11 of this year:

I have a dream of blending yoga and movement with learning about the brain, and offering it to retirees, adults and kids, to help them nourish their bodies and grow more synapses and neurons in the process.

TWEETED this morning:

Combining yoga, dance & music for folks w/mobility, health or aging issues. Crowd sourcing positive upbeat company name for this. Ideas?

TEACH blended movement that incorporates:

• yoga, be it in a chair, along side a chair or without a chair
• dance
• music
• learning about stress and ways to manage it
• learning about your brain and how you learn
• learning about anatomy
• relaxation
• fun
• community
• self-care

LOOKING for an upbeat name that evokes the possibilities…

If you have a suggestion, please do leave it in a comment below. And thank you for helping me to come up with a name!

Notes from a 6th grade session on Stress

There are three 6th grade sections at the school where I currently teach. These sixth graders have an enlightened and passionate Science teacher who makes study of the brain their main focus throughout the year. Among the many topics explored, she guides the students to learn about how they learn – metacognition in real time! She invited me to do a session with each section about stress and relaxation. Below are my notes.

If anyone has suggestions for improving this session, please leave a comment. Thanks!

                                           

Room Setup – this was done in the Science classroom where all the furniture was movable. We moved the tables to the perimeter of the room and placed the chairs in a semi- circle (a large C shape) on the inside of that perimeter, facing the board. We tried to have equal room between the chairs to facilitate movement activities. My chair was part of the circle and near the board for easy access.

The movement portions were accompanied by music played on my laptop using external speakers.

How’s everyone feeling? Introductions

Talk about how there are butterflies in my stomach due to: not knowing any of the students and being excited to teach a topic of huge interest to me. Further note that, due to nervousness and excitement, I will likely not remember everyone’s names.

Nonetheless, to try and help me recall names, please introduce yourself and tell me something about you. (Depending upon the time – for the first two groups we had 45 mins, for the third group we had 90 mins – have the kids also make a movement with their arms or body as they introduce themselves.)

Synovial Joint Warmup to music (Wade in the Water – about 4 mins)

• toes & ankles
• shoulders
• gentle neck roll – avoid dropping head back
• wrist rolls
• squat knee circles
• hip circles
• empty coat sleeve twists
• hokey-pokey right arm, then left arm
• hokey-pokey right leg, then left leg
• mouth & eyes
• whole body

What happens inside your body when everything is pretty much feeling fine?

• HOMEOSTASIS (homeo = same; stasis = stable) – a fairly stable balance in your body between the energizing & calming chemicals inside you
• the SYMPATHETIC (activates “fight or flight”) & PARASYMPATHETIC (activates relaxation response) nervous systems are in synch with one another

Stress, anyone? What happens in your body when you fall out of homeostasis? i.e. out of balance –> you experience STRESS

• “fight or flight”
• release of CORTISOL
• confusion
• a sense of learned helplessness
• a sense of feeling threatened

What’s the deal with CORTISOL?

• a little bit is helpful for energy
• helps enhance long term memory, i.e. learning
• LIMBIC system is the Drama Department of your brain – memory & learning are enhanced when there is an emotional component
• however, too much emotion in either direction results in more cortisol, which is detrimental towards learning b/c too much cortisol can kill neurons in the hippocampus, which is a major player in forming memory i.e. in learning
• insufficient sleep can increase cortisol

Long-term effects of too much cortisol include:

• decreased immune system, i.e. more likely to get sick
• reduces memory ability, i.e. ability to recall existing memories & form new memories
• impacts social skills & creative skills

What can cause stress? (below is a generic list –> rather than share these, do the BALANCE ACTIVITY listed below) 

• lots of excitement
• deadlines (school work, being late)
• intense competition
• hectic environment
• really fast music
• strong feeling of impending failure
• surprises
• being held accountable
• feeling out of control
• trying to accomplish something but not having what you need
• an unusual challenge
• insufficient sleep

Positive and Negative Stress – BALANCE ACTIVITY

• talk about the Balance Scale (like the scales of Justice – one cup on either side of the center) – discuss what the balance represents
• hand out index cards to each person and have them write down the negative stressors in their lives and the feelings associated with those stressors
• ask the kids to each share one item from their list, and explain that it is quite possible that some kids will have the same or similar stressors
• have the kids come up and place their Negative Stressor index cards on one side of the scale – what happens to homeostasis?
• leave the cards in place on the balance and hand out a second set of index cards to each person – have them write down the positive stressors in their lives and the feelings associated with those stressors
• ask the kids to each share one item from their list
• take the negative stressor index cards off the balance and place them to the side – have the kids come up and place their Positive Stressor index cards on the other side of the scale – what happens to homeostatis?
• kids will often quickly comment that the negative stressors need to return to the scale in order to return to a balance – discuss what this means in terms of themselves

How to deal with stress  (below is a generic list –> rather than share these, do the SUGGESTIONS ACTIVITY listed below) 

• exercise (but not if it’s 4 hours or less before sleep)
• eat a light, non-spicy dinner
• get sufficient sleep
• drink plenty of water –> there’s more water in your brain than anywhere else in your body (followed by muscles, then kidneys) and the stress response kicks in if access to water is restricted; within 5 mins of drinking water there is a noticeable decline in corticoids
• lack of water is #1 reason for daytime tiredness –> hits your muscles and your brain
• and try these relaxation techniques (we did a yoga session that includes various poses, breathing techniques and guided relaxation AFTER we did the SUGGESTIONS ACTIVITY noted below)

Dealing with Stress – SUGGESTIONS ACTIVITY

• go around the room and have kids share what they do to destress
• keep a running list on the board
• do not judge the ideas (for instance, if they resort to eating comfort food that is filled with sugar)

Follow-up activities

• using the list of kid-generated destressors as the basis, discuss positive ways to deal with stress
• go further into the LIMBIC system
• lead into a discussion/lesson on the Teen Brain

What is Parkinson’s Disease?

The first day of the Dance for PD workshop included an informative overview of Parkinson’s Disease by neuropsychiatrist Melissa Frumin of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. She spoke to us not just as a doctor, but also as a caretaker who had first hand experience after caring for her father who had Parkinson’s. Melissa’s talk was illuminating, as it was the first time I had an understanding of some of what was going on inside my Dad’s brain and body, and I began to have a medical understanding of what he must have dealt with.

Everything that follows is from Melissa’s talk, and I was so intent on taking down the information that much of the medical description is her exact wording.

Primary Symptoms
It turns out that the cardinal symptom of PD is the tremor, which typically begins on one side in one hand with the fingers rolling in towards the palm. The tremor is a resting tremor, which means when the hand is engaged in movement the tremor seems to disappear. While asymmetrical at the start, the tremor can become bilateral, impacting the other side.

Another symptom is the slowness of movement, often manifested by a dragging of the feet and resulting in a shuffling gait. Rigidity can set in, causing a stooped posture. And the final major symptom is postural instability, making it difficult to self-respond to imbalance.

All of these symptoms are neurological. The body part is still fully functional; it is the brain’s messaging system that is no longer sending the appropriate signals to the body part. In other words, the hands and the legs could still work just fine if the brain were able to get the messages out to those body parts.

Motor Symptoms
There are a number of motor symptoms, in addition to the tremor and movement issues. Faces begin to no longer exhibit expression, causing a disconnect between what a person says they feel and what their face displays. Handwriting can become  very tiny, resulting in what is called micrographia. Vision can become blurred due to contrasts no longer being discernible. Therefore, large print does not help but books on tape could be quite useful. Constipation and difficulty swallowing are other motor issues that are due, as with all the previous symptoms, to a lack of internal coordination.

Non-motor Symptoms
Imagine how you might feel if these symptoms began to invade your existence. Now add to the mix the non-motor component of Parkinson’s – cognitive dysfunction resulting in dementia that impacts executive functioning. I have written a number of posts about executive functioning, which has to do with decision making, organization, and self-management functions. With Parkinson’s, the dementia takes a toll on the ability to multitask – the ability to tend to more than one item or activity at a time, in other words, the ability to rapidly switch between multiple activities.

The result of all of these symptoms is typically depression, though not because the person has Parkinson’s and feels bad about it (though they may, indeed, feel badly), but rather because Parkinson’s is a brain disorder that effects the ability to initiate activity. The inability to initiate can cause anxiety. Additionally, there can by psychosis manifested by hallucinations that are usually visual or auditory or smell-based, but can also be paranoid.

Couple this with sleep disturbance due to getting up in the middle of a dream to act out that dream (which can lead to falls in the night), genuine fatigue (as opposed to fatigue from depression), and drooling, and you have a sense of the toll that Parkinson’s symptoms takes on a human body.

What is happening in the brain?
The basal ganglia, a compilation of neurons that function as a unit and assists with coordinating movement, contains the substantia nigra, an area of the brain that produces dopamine. With Parkinson’s, 50 to 60 percent of the neurons in the substantia nigra begin to deteriorate, resulting in a loss of dopamine. This loss of dopamine impacts the balance of excitation and inhibition of neurons. And this loss of balance in neuron firing means that signals sent from the brain are not being executed properly. Since the basal ganglia deals with movement, sure signs of Parkinson’s are the primary symptoms detailed at the start of this post.

Statistics
In general, Parkinson’s is not a genetic disorder and is rare before the age of 40, though Michael J. Fox was an exception at age thirty-two. Worldwide some five million people are diagnosed with Parkinson’s, for which the largest risk factor is old age. And I found out just this afternoon, from a new acquaintance who is active in local and national Parkinson’s organizations, two-thirds of PD individuals are men, one-third are women.

Additional Resources

• The PD Partnership – words of wisdom, from a caregiver, for caregivers and the people they care for

• What is Parkinson’s Disease – includes links to numerous information resources in both print and digital format, including the Second Edition of the Parkinson’s Disease Resource List

Dance for PD – where I was last weekend

This is where I was last weekend – attending the Dance for PD (Parkinson’s Disease) workshop in Waltham, Massachusetts. I had the wonderful opportunity to take this workshop with two of the founding teachers, David Leventhal and Misty Owens. Immersed in the workshop, I felt as much a student of dance as a student of learning how to teach dance to a specific population of people, those folks with Parkinson’s Disease.

Some 40 of us gathered Saturday and Sunday at the Jewish Family & Children’s Service center, an inviting two story complex that hosts a vibrant Family Support group coordinated by Nancy Mazonson for individuals with Parksinson’s, their families and caretakers. Of the many services provided, one is an ongoing series of dance classes that were begun in 2006.

The details of the workshop are on my yogajournal posterous blog. For now I want to focus on the benefits of dance for folks with Parkinson’s, and I would add that those same benefits accrue to just about anyone with limited mobility or dementia in its early stages.

Research into the impact of dance on people with Parkinson’s is ongoing, most recently noted in this November 11, 2011 article on Dr Sara Houston’s work examining “the benefits to quality of life for people with Parkinson’s taking part in dance classes run by English National Ballet.” The Dance for PD listserv provided a link to Study explores benefits of dance for people with Parkinson’s, a summary of Dr Houston’s research.

My father had Alzheimer’s for many years. He also had a never-ending love of music and dance, with a heavy dose of Broadway musicals, music of the 40s and 50s, and folks like the Gershwins, Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, as well as Big Band tunes and songs from both world wars. He attended ballet and Broadway shows for the better part of his life, and danced up a storm (often with me) at family gatherings. Turns out, my Dad also had Parkinson’s Disease, something we did not find out until he died and it showed up on his death certificate. To be sure, I had an inkling, for he had the tremors in his hands, the arms that eventually stopped swinging when he walked, and a walk that turned to a shuffle (also common with Alzheimer’s).  But no matter his physical state, he LOVED the music, he loved singing along to songs, he loved dancing. When the words left him, he sang along with humming or the requisite “heh” in a well-known WWII ditty or Columbia College (his alma mater) song.

Among the many resources provided by Dance for PD is this list of ten points (noted below) extolling the benefits of dance for people with Parkinson’s. Reading them over, and having seen the impact of music and dance on my Dad, it’s difficult to say that only folks with Parkinson’s benefit from dancing! All of the Dance for PD classes have musical accompaniment, and the Brooklyn based home of Dance for PD has the benefit of live piano playing by William Wade.

1. Dance develops flexibility and instills confidence.
2. Dance is first and foremost a stimulating mental activity that connects mind to body.
3. Dance breaks isolation.
4. Dance invokes imagery in the service of graceful movement.
5. Dance focuses attention on eyes, ears and touch as tools to assist in movement and balance.
6. Dance increases awareness of where all parts of the body are in space.
7. Dance tells stories.
8. Dance sparks creativity.
9. The basis of dance is rhythm.
10. The essence of dance is joy.

A former student (who has written a book for other students that, like her, have a learning difference) tweeted a link to Cellist Memory Wiped Out From Virus, Doctors Stunned By Musical Memory. I read the article just after returning from the Dance for PD workshop. Towards the end of the article there are several references to “the link between memory and music”, specifically noting the impact of music on people with Alzheimer’s.

Music! Dance! What a combo this can be for anyone, and especially those whose bodies are no longer as resilient as they once were. For more about Dance for PD, read or listen to this 2008 NPR story, Parkinson’s Patients Find Grace In Dance.

The Cushing Center

Today I visited a holy grail, a place where over 400 brains from years and years ago are preserved in clear glass jars. These brains, and the accompanying photographs, journal entries, drawings, tools, bones, and mementos are all part of Harvey Cushing’s legacy in the field of neurosurgery.

Located in the basement of the Cushing/Whitney Yale Medical Center Library, The Cushing Center itself was a labor of love of a few people who understood the importance of Cushing’s hoard, and worked to bring it all back from the depths of a storage room, stashed away in the dark.

The sixth grade Science teacher at my school was responsible for my morning’s adventure. She takes each of her three sections to visit the Center, and she invited me along for today’s trek.

Upon entering the building and walking through the Library, I was immediately struck by the homage to information and learning. Perhaps it was the quiet, perhaps it was knowing where we were headed, perhaps it was the first room we entered, which was wood paneled with large, wooden card catalogs. We soon reached the stairs to The Cushing Center, of which the photo at the left is displayed large on the wall of the landing between the two sides of the stairway.

Pam had given us a very explicit assignment. Upon entering The Cushing Center we were to take a seat on the floor, look around for a few moments, and then begin writing or drawing and not stop till asked to do so. Supplied with clipboards of blank and lined paper, we each began moving our pencils. The kids were told that if they could not think of something to write, they should simply write the word “something” over and over until something else came to them. Here is what I wrote:

awe inspiring and humbled to walk into this sanctuary of the mind. though the minds are no longer living, they are doorways for us, the living, to see inside ourselves. that is a question I have long had – what does MY brain look like. it will not be possible to see and touch my brain, but I respect those who have offered their brains for the rest of us to learn from. at this summer’s FAMI workshop at Mr Sinai, we were asked to have a moment of silent respect for those who gave their bodies to science, so the rest of us – the living – could learn. so too, here in this sanctuary, these moments of quiet writing and reflection honor those whose brains we see.

so where am I? on the cool tiled floor of the Cushing Center in the basement of the Yale Medical School. curiously enough, the room’s architect is a parent at the school where I teach.

the warm burnt-sienna hues of the wood shelves and cabinets and backsplash welcome me with gentle arms, beckoning a visit with the 440 specimen jars. but they don’t feel like specimens to me – they are someone’s lasting physical container – preserved in fluid – but perhaps an inkling remains.

Among the many treasures in the room was an original first edition of De revolutionizes orbium caelestium by Nicolas Copernicus, published in Nuremberg in 1543 and purchased by Cushing in 1924. Cushing was an avid collector of books, still, it was a bit boggling to see an original book by Copernicus. I suppose no less boggling than comprehending that Cushing took out and documented at least 2000 brain tumors during his career as a neurosurgeon.

From the bulletin board in a 6th gr Science classroom

I had the pleasure of participating in a 6th grade Science class today where each group of two students dissected a sheep’s brain. Couldn’t help but notice these two super wall hangings!
 

 

Understanding the Elderly

Earlier this afternoon, as the wet snow came falling fast and furious (and took out my next-door-neighbor’s power, thanks to a fallen tree, for the second time this autumn!), I watched a TED Talk given by Eli Stefanski. While I found Eli an interesting story teller, what drew my attention was the place she currently calls her professional home, the Business Innovation Factory.

Our network of innovators, transformation artists and troublemakers is designing the future.

Having seen my Dad spend the last seven or so years of his life in nursing homes, and my Mom successfully avoid that very experience, I was intrigued to learn more about the Nursing Home of the Future as visioned by the Business Innovation Factory. They have a wide array of media online to chronicle the elderly experience: videos, interviews, slide shows and documents for download. I was particularly struck by the videos The Many Journeys of Aging and The Sensory Environment.

At present, the prognosis for the future is not all that sunny when it comes to the massive numbers of baby boomer Americans who will age into their eighties in the next 25 years. There will be more elderly people than there will be places for them to live where they can be independent, maintain their dignity, and have opportunities for constructive and meaningful participation in life. These are very real quality of life issues that will eventually impact people of all ages, because the costs of care are astronomical and our current health care system is strapped.

[UPDATE: The October 31, 2011 New York Times article, A Nursing Home Shrinks Until It Feels Like a Home, tells a story of a nursing home crafted to be more home-like and less hospital-like, noting that this approach can have a positive impact on the quality of life of the folks who live in the home, while also benefitting those responsible for providing care. It sounds to me like a win-win environment for all involved.]

Here is Eli’s talk.

The Love Affair between Music & Movement and Mind & Body

Listening to music with others causes the release of oxytocin, a chemical associated with feelings of trust and bonding. … Plus the nucleus accumbens – the brain’s well-known pleasure center – modulates levels of dopamine, the so called feel-good hormone.
Daniel J. Levitin, neuroscientist 

My Dad loved music, especially Broadway tunes, Sinatra songs, and Ella Fitzgerald, plus Columbia University ditties and tunes from World War II. My Dad also loved to move – dancing to music, shuffling and running to tennis and, when younger, sprinting short distances as well as longer cross country running. In his waning years, my Dad co-existed with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. While he lost the ability to move, his love of music and his ability to mimic a tune never left him. Indeed, I believe that music and song provided sustenance for him as he navigated those last five years of his life.

My Mom also loved music, being an avid and accomplished pianist, with a Masters of Music Composition earned when she was in her forties. She composed the music for our wedding ceremony. She nourished her Steinway piano until the last months of her life, playing magnificently up till a few weeks before a stroke left her paralyzed on her right side, taking away her ability to nourish herself through piano playing.

No surprise, then, that I, too, love music and dancing and playing the piano. And perhaps no surprise that the yoga I most want to teach is yoga that incorporates music, the marrying of movement and music.

Dance for PD is based upon the premise that dancers are skilled at understanding the fluidity with which their bodies move through space, and this is exactly the issue that people with Parkinson’s are trying to deal with – maintaing their balance and coordination despite their brains lessening lack of bodily control. Let Your Yoga Dance is an approach to yoga that meshes music with movement, and when doing this form with special populations, massages the two Ms to bring smiles and sensory stimulation to folks with Parkinson’s or folks needing to participate from the vantage point of sitting in a chair.

In Happy Birthday iPod!, an article in today’s Sunday Times, Daniel Levitin speaks of the positive impact that music has on the brain. Music, like exercise, causes good things to happen in our brains, which often translates to good things happening in our bodies!

This is NOT a pain in the back!

The Martin Family Chiropractic Center in Denver, CO, has an interactive 3D Spine Simulator on their website. In addition to seeing which parts of your body are nourished by which parts of your spine, you can check to see how you stack up to the common postures of driving, sitting, sleeping and standing.

Body Posture Chart – Driving, Sitting, Sleeping and Standing

Nerve Chart – see which organs and nerves are enervated by each of the vertebrae in your spinal column