At the last Stroke Support Meeting on April 11th, at 4:30 PM, participants interacted in a demonstration of chair yoga with a set of 12 poses called Sun Salutation. Meredith Leva, OTR, was the therapist directing our group of twelve and helping those of us who got stuck. She is also the house yoga specialist at St. David's Rehab Hospital. Meredith distributed a four-page hand-out that showed every pose for chair yoga required in performing a Sun Salutation. There are many videos that one can follow on YouTube, as well.
       For those who know anything about yoga, they understand that the crux of yoga is about breathing. Inhale through the nose and exhale out the mouth. Participants are either stretching their neck and solar plexus upward while simultaneously tightening the core, gluts, hips, thighs, knees, ankles, and pressing the feet into the floor. So one half of the body is  stretching for the stars, and the other half is grounded. Those are my first impressions of chair yoga as I continue to delve more into an activity that is challenging both physically and emotionally.
        Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. Sounds easy enough, until you have to concentrate elsewhere at the same time like lifting your hands in the air while hinging on your hips, tightening the quadriceps and hamstrings, while lifting the chest and the spine and keeping the gaze ahead. Fascinating stuff, and it all dovetails into my walking regimen. I believe I am onto something that will really improve my balance, flexibility, strength, and endurance. Chair yoga is the way to go!
​          Here are four poses for your viewing pleasure.

    I have been discovering a lot about the mechanics of walking, about what all makes the knee bone work, because every thing is connected to the knee bone, right? First of all, the command begins in the brain and when the mind sends signals down the spinal cord to the hip flexors, and  that complex of nerves  can ignite the  core, hips, hamstrings, quadriceps, knees, ankles, feet, and heels. When coordinated with the shoulders, posture, and breathing they create the waltz known as walking.  There must be a conscious effort to tighten up the core and everything  else down the line in order to be successful in our efforts.
     As hemiplegics, these are  exercises we practice in isolation over and over  broken down in their parts. As we have been  led to believe  by our therapists, repetition creates pathways for the brain's signals to forge different neuronal  paths that can be  as effective as the old ones.  As my therapists would say,  "The more you use it, the more it improves. "  That's my philosophy, too.
     What I am suggesting, now,  is that stroke survivors  begin  practicing combinations of movements that will begin actualizing the function of walking.  What I'm trying to get across is that it takes many moving parts, working together, to facilitate walking. And   the problem with a lot of stroke survivors is that we suffer from aphasia and have a hard time keeping things straight in our  minds,  including the exercises.
      I am advocating a different regimen, one that includes a multi-layered use of various muscles, nerves, and tendons all attempting to walk.  For example,  leading with the belly (or core) and hips pull on the quadriceps in order to lift the leg. I believe that all these components are part of the hip flexor complex. Getting that system to work again would be a major accomplishment towards walking easily again. 
​      I am not a medical doctor or a fortuneteller,  but I can say I am more educated in the medical field than I was before I stroked out.  Also, I've had a lot of experience in rehab.
       So begin with the hip flexors to bend the knees, lift the feet and step forward. Today I felt my quadriceps firing while  synchronizing my stride with my knees and  hamstrings. It's almost like the hamstrings are pulling  up to where my butt is, stressing my calves, while the quadriceps are pushing back out toward the knees. It is a convoluted  way that muscles, bones, tendons, and nerves are able to rattle their way to something both beautiful and necessary-- walking.

   Merengue, Cumbia, and Salsa were played at Central Market North last Friday night by a group called Cienfuegos  (100 fires),  a Cuban style band.  We went there for dinner and wine, and met up with Pat Hillman and her granddaughter, Zelda. Her dad came and got Zelda (remember F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife) before the music started. Once the pack had loosened and a few people left, Chris found a table  down front during the band's  intermission.
      The three of us   and decided on salads, plus Chris and I chose  cups of soup and a bottle of Malbec, while Patricia had selected a rosé. The food was very tasty, indeed, especially my Texas style chili. I was well on my way to meeting my 2 glass quota of vino by the time the music started. I would have to agree with the bandleader when he said, "The 2nd set is always better than the 1st." That makes sense because the members had a chance to warm up, have a drink and get a little loose, if you know what I mean.
      ​ The first song Chris and I danced to was José Martí's Guantaramera, which I knew the words to and sang along. Yo soy un hombre sincero/ de donde crecen las palmas. So I gave it a good go for as long as it lasted.

     Of course, I couldn't move as well as any of the dancers – my right foot was planted and all I could do was pivot and occasionally step up. From Pat's point of view she might as well have been dancing with a tree that had turned into a  mild tempest, like in The Wizard of Oz​. I reached down to grab her waist, and she would pull away, but then I would bring her right back, all while trying to keep rhythm with  a very fast beat. I saw video that Chris shot of me and Pat, and I thought I was doing so much better than that.
    The turn or ​spin, by the way (the one that almost knocked my hat off), is for the student therapists. Y'all gave me confidence I could do it!

     I can honestly say that there has been improvement in my walking since I began to engage my hip flexor. I have not been able to lay blame on my knee or my ankle  any longer.  Well, they are off the hook. The real culprit, I learned, is my hip flexor.  The hip flexor is a complex system of nerves and muscles that, when working together, advance the leg forward and backward in the waltz we call walking. More than anything else, I have experienced enlightenment! A breakthrough in my quest to figure out one aspect of my hemiplegia.
    From the beginning, Bio-feedback Bob at St. David's told me that my weakest muscles were in the right hip flexor. I really didn't know where to go from there except that I knew my hip flexor was weak. The therapists told me I had to tighten up my leg muscles when I walked, but I never knew what that meant until now. Now I force myself to push out with my right hip, so much so that I feel a little soreness in the area of my hip flexor. I used to allow my leg to flail to the side, now I make it a point when I am sitting to keep my knees in front of me, and that requires me to pull my hip in and not give any slack. Keep it tight!
    Today I went to therapy at the POINTS labs at St. Augustine's. Nathan, a student-therapist who looks like Tim Tivo, activated my hip by pushing it out  as we were walking in the gardens on this temperate morning.   He showed me how it should work. It was really helpful and made me feel like I can still figure this stroke thing out. You know, they say  one has to learn how to walk after a stroke, and sometimes talk and use your hand all over again, as if you were a child  just learning how to do all those things.
      The walk outside during the morning is just beautiful. Wildflowers abound. The grounds are kept at bay, and considering the amount of growth there is, that's saying a lot. It's a low- maintenance landscape in front of both  the PT and OT two-story schools. Bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush, along with wild grasses, are among the perennials on display. I have to remember to take pictures to show them next blog.
​      Garden News I harvested more mint, lemon balm and peppermint yesterday with Dillon's help. Chris and I also stripped the leaves from the stalks of lemon balm and spearmint that we had been drying since the last time. We made some great tea from the spearmint last night. It was hearty and more than just minty. We brewed it using a pot we got in Taos and steeped it for 10 minutes or so. I think that has something to do with the rich flavor.
​     On the other front,  my right arm and hand continue helping out. See the exploits of my latest endeavor in my latest  ho-hum video. Until next time…