My partner Freddie is attending the meditations for the first time after a stroke. He has been advised by the medical team that meditation should help with some of his symptoms. Unfortunately, he currently only has quite limited movement in his right side and cannot easily stand. I noticed in this mornings Zoom session there was a fair amount of movement in the warm up and that Freddie struggled with this part. He said after that this left him feeling "strange". I am just wondering if there are suitable movements that he could do during the warm up which take account of his physical disability, please?
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Such an important question Adam!
Hi there Adam,
So lovely that you and Freddie made it to the session this morning. I didn't know you were there otherwise I might have suggested some other options as we went along.
For reference, it is only the Monday session that has such a physical warm up.
Just remind me: can Freddie use his right hand for any movement (like tapping etc.)? I remember he doesn't have much movement in his right leg yet.
Most of the energy exercises can be done sitting down and some of the more energetic ones (the cross lateral march and the Lowen's forward bend) might not be suitable. Almost all can be visualised without the movement with equal benefit.
But I''ll go through the exercises with suitable adaptions below.
TAPPING: If Freddie is able to tap with his left hand that will work. with the duple points (collarbone and spleen) and the lymph points, he can tap and massage the left and right sides alternately using his left hand rather than simultaneoulsy with both hands.
CROSS LATERAL MARCH: We have a wheel chair use who adapted this to a seated posture. He tapped his right knee with his left hand and then his left knee with his right. And then switched back and forward between these two. Another alternative is to simply swing the eyes from left to right in ryhthm.
STANDING TUNEUP: which is the crossed ankles, crossed wrists and tongue behind top teeth. This can easily be done sitting down if Freddie would be able to cross his legs one way and his wrists the other.
MIXING HEAVEN AND EARTH: Again I'm not sure how much mobility Fred has on the right - can he lift up to the sky? Probably not. In which case from a chair I might keep the right hand resting on the heart centre and move the left hand up and down. Letting imagination activate that idea of mixing the energy from above and the energy from below in the centre.
CROWNPULL: Again not sure if F can lift his right arm to his head yet. One varient might be to lower the head towards the hands, and rake the fingers that way. Or to gently stroke the forehead repeatedly if that is more manageable.
LOWEN's FORWARD BEND: This is a new practice for most people and I would probably advise Freddie sits this one out.
THE ZIP UP: which is the one with the arms circling to the side and zipping up the central channel 5x. I might suggest a similar movement but much smaller so the left hand copies what the right hand is able to do. So a much gentler circle but with the same upward zipping movement.
I hope those are useful. I might have forgotten one or two. But in general, all of those can be done sitting down (except Lowen) and when movement is not possible then visualising the movement will have the same benefit.