Tag Archives: mobility

Zen dishes

Marjorie Turner Hollman helps authors self-publish their books. She is also a disability advocate, sharing information about Easy Walks (not too many roots or rocks, relatively level with firm footing, and something of interest along the way) in open space. Link to all Marjorie’s books.

Another successful exercise of Zen Dishes

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I returned to my home weakened, yet desperate to do anything. After surviving brain surgery that left my right side paralyzed, I was sent to a rehabilitation facility for two weeks. During my stay the staff had insisted we inmates (patients, that is) perform what they called “standing therapy.” We were encouraged, teased, and cajoled into standing for periods of fifteen minutes at a time. Most of my fellow inmates were stroke victims, almost all elderly, and they needed a lot of cajoling. I was much younger than the others, needed no cajoling, and resented the undisguised condescension in the therapists’ voices.

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Filed under Meditations/Liturgies

Fancy canes and other help come in many sizes

Not a fancy cane, but hiking poles, yet another tool helping me get outdoors
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Marjorie Turner Hollman is a writer who loves the outdoors. Link to all Marjorie’s books.

This essay is included in My Liturgy of Easy Walks: Reclaiming Hope in a World Turned Upside Down

When I returned home from the hospital after brain surgery in 1993, I did a great deal of sitting. Getting across a room was an effort; reaching the other end of the house to use the bathroom was a major undertaking. I spent a lot of time observing my healthy, active children and visiting with neighbors from my cushioned rocker in our living room.

By my side, ready at a minute’s notice, was the cane I had brought home from the hospital. Ugly stainless steel, four little feet at its base to provide better balance, this cane remained standing even when I could not.

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Filed under Blog posts--Easy Walks, Meditations/Liturgies