Holiday Wish 2010

The holiday season is always a great time for reflection.  Last Sunday I went to a church service in a very under privileged neighborhood with my daughter Nichole.  By the time we got to the car we were both overcome emotionally.  We had seen a number of individuals sharing stories of absolute despair and yet still able to express love and thankfulness to God.  Needless to say, we were both deeply touched by their love of God even when it appeared to us that they had little to nothing.  I prayed later that day that I would be more generous in my offerings and service to those who are less fortunate.  It is my holiday wish that we all reflect on those in need, that we keep the excessive commercial craze of the holiday season to a minimum, and teach our children the importance of taking care of those in need.  I believe this is the true meaning of Christmas.
 
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Brent

Summer Vacation

 

I love summer vacation.  As a child growing up in California there was nothing better than a long summer to wear shorts everyday, go swimming and play with friends.  As a teen I went on camp outs, hikes, fishing and adventures to San Francisco or Yosemite National Park.  One of my favorite summer events has been our family reunions.  Every two years as long as I can remember we have met with all of our cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, this year is no exception.  I am looking forward to a great family reunion in Berkley California.  Only this time I am the uncle and in many cases the great-uncle (not a grandpa yet).  It is always so refreshing to see the family grow and even to spend a little time reflecting on our relatives who have passed on.  Joseph Pilates taught the balance between work, play and rest, this summer we can all take time off to enjoy a break from the daily grind and spend quality time with our families. 

Another favorite memory of mine is the celebration of the 4th of July.  When I was a child I remember parades and sitting on my father’s shoulders, fireworks, watermelon, BBQ and pie.  As an adult I still like all the same things as a kid (except sitting on my dad’s shoulders)  and now I am so grateful for the freedoms I enjoy, the freedom to write this blog, to travel around the world and learn of so many wonderful cultures, the freedom to worship God and the freedom of speech.  I realize that our governments are not perfect, far from it, but I am thankful for the veterans that have made so many sacrifices for my families freedoms.  In my ancestry I have relatives that fought for America’s freedoms in the 1700′s in the great Revolution, and in the 1800′s fought in the Civil War to end slavery.  These freedoms have allowed us to become more educated and more civilized, we have knowledge of peaceful resolutions to conflicts.  It’s my prayer that we take the time to reflect on the freedom’s that each of us enjoy and that we might pray for solutions to our conflicts without violence in the future, so that our children can enjoy the same freedoms that we often take for granted.  I hope we each can experience that personal peaceful transformation that provides freedom from all conflict.

I would love to hear your thoughts about freedom.  I want to hear what you are doing this summer to take a break and rejuvenate.

Warm, Fun and Healthy Summer to all
(and to those of you in the southern hemisphere, happy winter!)

Brent

Finding Joy Through Successful Movement

It never ceases to amaze me  how a little success in movement can make such a big difference in one’s perceived level of health.  I recently had a patient  in her mid 60’s who had retired a few years ago.  Anxious to begin her retired life that she had worked so hard for resulted in two torn rotator cuffs (shoulder injuries), one total knee replacement, low back pain and a gain of 30 pounds.  She was so frustrated in her new retired life.  I asked her what  she wanted  now and her response was to not have pain.  In her physical evaluation she was not able to lift her arms even shoulder height due to pain, could not squat independently and low back pain did not allow her to bend forward.

30 minutes later we were on the Pilates equipment, using the Tower Bar sprung from above to assist her in lifting her arms over head and moving the scapula-thoracic complex.  We did some basic foot work looking at her alignment post knee surgery.   Unfortunately she did not have any PT following her surgery.  She was able to do a little bridging on the Reformer.  She was able to lift arms over head without pain, do a half squat without pain and bend forward touching her shins without pain.  She thought she just experienced a healing from Joseph Pilates.

The look on her face made my profession so worthwhile.  I am a firm believer that when we provide these successful movement experiences to our clients, it shifts their paradigm of well-being.  I have learned that one of the greatest attributes of Pilates and the like is the restoration of the individual’s belief that their body is built to function well and have a lot of potential.  If we push clients so hard that they have a negative experience then we only reinforce the soul’s inabilities.

I think if we follow an intention as practitioners to create a positive movement experience without pain that exceeds our client’s expectations, they will increase in overall function and joy that can only be found in successful movement.  I would love to hear about your experiences.

Dr. Brent

Health-CARE: Really?

Recently I was punished for being healthy.  I really like my physician but the journey to my appointment was horrible.  It took three months to schedule my yearly physical.  I had a few medical episodes in the previous year and I just wanted to know that all is well.

When I show up at my internist’s clinic, I am asked by a woman, I think, on the other side of an opaque window to sign my name .  No greeting, no welcome Mr. Anderson, NADA.  Finally they call my last name, “ANDERSON”, I walk over and more papers are shoved under the window.  Still no greeting and no eye contact.  I fill out the paperwork that I swear I have filled out at least ten times before.  I am given paperwork to take to the doctor’s office down the hall.

When I arrive at the physician’s office, I am standing in front of the receptionist.  Without looking up she grabs my paperwork and signals with an abrupt hand gesture, thumb  pointing to the waiting room.  NO GREETING, NO EYE CONTACT, NOTHING but the gesture.  I ask her, “what does this mean?”, I repeated the thumb gesture.  I was hoping for a realization that her behavior as a HEALTHCARE provider was completely inappropriate.  Further, to my surprise, without looking up, she said “it means go sit over there until we call your name”.

Finally a nurse calls me in to see my doctor, my doctor, who remembers my name, asks about my family, my mother-in-law and work.  We spent a glorious 10-15 minutes together, she ordered a few tests and she was off.  Don’t get me wrong, I like my doctor, however, I ask myself if it is worth it, is there a better team of health care providers out there that would treat me with respect?

I pay a high premium for an insurance that allows me to go pretty much anywhere.  I strive to take the responsibility to live a “healthy” life.  Don’t smoke, drink alcohol or coffee.  I eat healthy food, I attempt to exercise multiple days a week.  I keep my self limber with Pilates and Gyrotonic.  I play and rest well.  I work hard to have a “healthy” relationship with my family, friends and colleagues.

My CFO tells me his physician and staff are amazing and definitely an exception to the rule.  I would have to drive an extra 30 minutes to see him, but considering it was a 90 minute experience to see my doctor for 10 minutes, maybe it is not such a bad proposition.

I am a physical therapist and run a private practice in Miami Florida and immediately I made an assessment of my team and I want to make sure that the experience I had, never happens to my clients.

Positive or negative experiences, I would love to hear yours.

Here’s to HEALTH

Dr. Brent

Balance Between Work, Play and Rest: Is it possible?

Joseph Pilates understood and taught the importance of a “Balanced Life”.  Joseph often shared his opinion on the importance of hard work, good hygiene, a healthy diet, plenty of sunshine and rest.  Well, I have the hard work (probably too much) and good hygiene down; I’m improving on the diet and I live in Miami so the sunshine thing is pretty easy.  It is the REST thing that I find so hard.  I have often thought that  a strong work ethic was a positive trait, and don’t get me wrong, I love my work, but the truth is, I work too much and don’t rest enough.  I have even found myself complaining about people who seem to work just enough to balance out their play and rest.  I must be jealous; in reality I think I can learn from them.

I have a patient who shared with me a story from his Rabbi about a farmer and a banker. It goes something like this:

There was a farmer who invited a banker to come out to his land to discuss a potential loan.   When the banker arrived he looked over at the barn and noticed there were 10 arrows perfectly in the middle of 10 random circles drawn with chalk.  The banker was most impressed and shared with the farmer his enthusiasm for archery.  He asked,  ”who is the archer?”  The farmer told him not to be so impressed; it was his 11-year-old son.  Well this impressed the banker even more.   The farmer then shared with him that the 11-year-old son would shoot the arrows into the wall and then with a piece of chalk draw perfect circles around the arrows.

The 11-year-old son found a different way to get the desired end result and had more time to play and rest.  I would have practiced for years to accomplish the same result based on a work ethic.  Go figure!  Now, rather than just working for work’s sake, can I figure out more efficient ways to accomplish the end result?

Do we need to create more opportunities or the time necessary to play?  Maybe decrease our perceived need for the large house, fancy cars and expensive educations?  Do we need to decrease debt and financial obligations that prevent us from resting even when we have scheduled rest?  Do we need to identify the “end result” and the means to that end?

I am looking for the balanced life, how about you?  I would love to hear your comments!!!

Dr. Brent

PS I don’t know if the farmer got the loan.  That is a blog topic for another day.

Haiti: What can I do?

As most of you, I am saddened by the tragedy in Haiti and I wonder how I can help.  Which organizations are really going to get relief to those in need?  I have given to the Red Cross, I have donated supplies and a tent to a container going over through my church and I still wonder what else I can do? I am including them in my prayers and meditations. Is it enough?

Today I received a request for funds to help support a local surgical team, lead by Dr. Barth Green a neuro surgeon in Miami.  They need money and supplies to continue their service in the trenches.  I would like to help them and will get more information on how to do that.

Lastly, I met a man Sunday at church that is the director of fund-raising for three orphanages in Haiti.  He said there were over 280 children displaced and he is trying to work with immigration to get these children into safe homes.  Would I be willing to take in a child?

If you have suggestions or have felt  like you are really helping those in need please share your thoughts and your experiences.  I am so moved by those risking their life to help, I would like to take a more active role.

Desiring to help more,

Dr. Brent

Happy New Year 2010

Happy New Year!  I am confident that 2010 can be a great year if we maintain ourselves alert, aligned and healthy.  The correlation between bad decisions and loss of physical  and spiritual alignment always amazes me.

Dadi Janki, is a spiritual leader in the Brahma Kumaris faith talks in her book Companion of God , about becoming a spiritual warrior.  My interpretation of one of the passages is that the spiritual warrior needs to be virtuous and true to self.  She mentions that this spiritual warrior is alert and “… when even one soul is alert, there is safety for many.”  In a time so turbulent and confusing, I would like to propose that we become more alert and conscious of our influence on others.  The transformation to becoming a “spiritual warrior” does not always involve public demonstrations.  More often it happens in a peaceful transformation recognizing we are much more powerful in our thoughts and actions when we are aligned with the universe.

Two summers ago, Alexander Bohlander, Polestar Licensee for Germany and I spent a week with Deepak Chopra and his spiritually evolved team in Dublin, Ireland.  It was a beautiful experience.  This spiritual journey helped me to realize that I was a steward of the gifts that I have been given.  Even the property I pay a mortgage for every month, is not mine.  Instead, I am the steward who takes care of it; making it a beautiful, inviting and peaceful place, where nurturing and love reside.

It is my prayer this year we can physically, mentally and spiritually  align ourselves in a way that helps us to realize our purpose in life:  Joy will manifest itself when we are focused on showing compassion for others, serving others, avoiding taking offense, being humble and discovering unconditional love; even through the most tragic of life’s experiences.

At Polestar, we want to be more than just your physical therapy, more than your Pilates or GYROTONIC®  training, more than a diploma to teach Pilates.  We want to be a source of your well being…the place where you can align yourself physically and mentally through mindful exercises with attentive movement teachers, the place where you come to strengthen your connection to the universal mind.  All of us on the Polestar team, are consciously striving to improve our awareness so that we can better serve you and your family.

Sincerely,

Brent