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Parkinson’s Disease (January 2006)

ORIGINAL QUESTION:

From Beth Howard, Cheyenne, WY, AYTT 2001

This week, a new student (50+ years old) joined my class, revealing that he has been recently diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.  His doctor recommended yoga to help him maintain his mobility and balance.  I have not had time to do research yet and would welcome all information, support, resources and experience that others may have in this area.

I plan to share the information and resources with my student.  My experience from working with students who have MS is that the more aware they are of the benefits of the practice (other than just doctor's orders) the more committed they are to it. They have also been empowered by the healing aspects of the practice.

ANSWERS:

From Josie Weaver, Menlo Park, Ca, AYTT 2002

I have been working one-on-one for three years now with a 70-year old woman who has Parkinson's Disease. It has been a rewarding experience. When we first started working together, I had no idea that Parkinson's disease affects the brain. In fact, it's a disorder in the brain. It develops because of damage to the nervous system that controls movement, posture, and balance. Primary symptoms include: stiffness, tremor, slowness and decline in movement difficulty with balance, walking, and speaking

So yoga is a great strategy for coping with the symptoms in that you introduce the concept of conscious movement and intention to address the symptoms. Symptoms can progress over time, and yoga can help delay the progression of symptoms. My student's balance has improved steadily, and she has managed her disease beautifully. She is very committed to her weekly practice. Great benefits can be accomplished with as little as practicing once a week. 

A great resource for us has been a little movement book called, "Parkinson's Disease And the Art of Moving" by John Argue. This is not a yoga book, but it is a great discussion of the disease and how it affects those who have it. There are great exercises and sequences which I have incorporated into the yoga practice for this student. 

From personal experience, I can offer only this advice: go slow and easy with lots of physical as well as moral support. With my student, there are a lot of modifications to poses that we do. We work a lot with the wall as support and with chairs. If you can, work one-on-one with your student for a couple of sessions. Depending on where he is with his symptoms, your student may need a lot of monitoring and support. With this disease, falling is common, as is the fear of falling. Serious injury can happen, so you really have to be ready with props as well as your body to support! So working privately is ideal to cultivate the yogic awareness of the body and to really modify the poses so that they are safe yet affective. However, if your student is not very far along in his symptoms,  he may be able to be in a slower, smaller class where you can pay attention to him.

May this be useful to you.
Blessings,
Josie

From Susan Hayes

Dear Beth:

I graduated from AYTT in August 1999. I teach a couple of classes with Parkinson’s students, and although they shake a lot, they are usually determined to do yoga because the alternative (heavy meds) is so odious.  Usually, the shaking is worse on one side of the body than the other, and that side is usually weaker and can’t bear as much weight as the other side.

One of my students with Parkinson’s can’t tolerate lying down, so she either leaves when we go into savasana; or else, we sit back-to-back, cross-legged, and she rests against my back.  For floor postures in a supine position, sometimes she lies (lays? Prakash – help!) down on a little back wedge, to raise her head a bit higher.

Good luck.  Don’t let them EVER give up hope!
Susan Hayes ( susan@mountaintopyoga.com)

From Stuart Moody, San Rafael, CA, AYTT Nov 2003

A highly respected teacher of movement for people with Parkinson's Disease is John Argue, who has brought his work in theatre, voice, yoga, and Tai Chi together into a program specifically targeted to the challenges and needs created by the disorder.  In 2000 he wrote a self-help book describing his approach to mastering voice, balance, and all voluntary movement, "Parkinson's Disease and the Art of Moving" (Oakland, CA:  New Harbinger Publications).  His work is strongly endorsed by medical experts.  For example:  "I have often wished I could package John's lessons into a pill that patients could swallow with their other pills; this book will become a part of my arsenal of treatments for my Parkinson's patients" (Robin Fross, M.D., Kaiser Permanente).  Opening with a brief introduction to the physiology of the disease, all the exercises are described and illustrated with reference to their rationales.

You might also be interested in a show aired this week on public radio: "Crossroads and Frontiers," part of a series on the brain called Gray Matters, presented by Public Radio International.  In the second half of the show, they discuss research on potential environmental causes of Parkinson's (pesticides are a major suspect).  This would be just FYI, but offers a timely reminder of the value of shaucha in terms of keeping toxins out of our environment.  The website for this program: www.dana.org/books/radiotv.

Best of luck to you and your student.

Stuart