The Caregiver Website

The Cycle  of Benefit: Help Yourself by Helping Others
We already know that for you, the caregiver, it’s “never about me.” Caregivers are selfless…often too selfless. Believe it or not you can take care of yourself while caring for others. You can even use caregiving as a practice in which to include work with larger issues surrounding life and death. Your efforts to become a better caregiver today can help you and those around you tomorrow. By helping your loved one you are indeed preparing for a better end of life. This is the essence of the caregiver revolution.

The Caregiver Revolution is a change in attitude from: denial  to acceptance, rebellion to transformation, hurry to timelessness, impatience to humor, need for stability to acceptance of change.

Caregiving is a precious opportunity to help others, but perhaps you never stop to consider how much it is helping you! By doing this work you are naturally creating a more positive environment for the end of your own life. You’ll be able to handle your death more gracefully, knowledgeably and peacefully. Those around you at that time will benefit from this and will, in turn, pass it on. By making efforts to become a more mindful caregiver today, you are initiating a cycle of benefit which will help future generations.

There’s no time like the present to be present. Best wishes to you in your efforts! Pick up your copy of Caregiver Revolution today, we absolutely guarantee that you will enjoy it and benefit from it.

The Relaxation Response was developed by Herbert Benson back in the 1960s. He experimented with the physiological benefit of a simple breathing and meditation technique. He found that when you focus your mind and calm the breathing, you get the following response:
Your metabolism decreases
Your heart beats slower and your muscles relax
Your breathing becomes slower
Your blood pressure decreases
Your levels of nitric oxide are increased

The relaxation response is very easy and only takes a few minutes. It has two steps in its practice:
The repetition of a word, sound, prayer, thought, phrase or muscular activity, and the passive return to the repetition when other thoughts intrude. ( Benson 162)

For an informal practice of the Relaxation Response, the sequence might go as follows:
Start with quick relaxation of all muscles: begin at the feet and work your way up through the body, tensing muscles and then relaxing them. Tense and relax the feet, legs, buttocks, groin, back, trunk, arms, shoulders; roll the head and relax the neck, and, most importantly, tense the muscles of the face and then let them go.
Take three deep breaths, and as you exhale, let go of any tension.

Now go into the repetition:
Choose a word, a sound, a prayer, or a phrase in your own belief system to repeat. Even a simple word will do: “one,” “peace,” “calm,” “om,” “shalom,” any word will do, it’s your choice. Then use a process of mental repetition to say; “I am relaxing the feet, I am relaxing the feet, I am relaxing the feet…the feet are now completely relaxed.” After you have worked your way through the body, close your eyes. On the in-breath and the out-breath, say your repetition…when you notice a different thought has come to mind, don’t get angry or stressed about it, but let it go and gently come back to your repetition. Repeat for 3 to 5 minutes. ( Benson 162)

This very simple and effective technique has been used by thousands of people! It is the cornerstone of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programs that has been taught by Jon Kabat Zinn for over 20 years. Give it a few tries and you will find that in 5 to 10 minutes you will reduce your stress. If you do well with the basics and you want to move on with this, you can try visualization and/or meditation.

>Walking is good for stress relief…and memory!

>Creating Moments of Joy: A Journal for Caregivers, Fourth Edition

We are looking to assemble a directory of prayers that can be used for those who are dying. You can set up the reading space, establish contact and really make a difference! Please post to this blog or contact us.  See our listing of prayers as it exists now…we want to make it much more extensive

The Caregiver Revolution is a change in attitude from:

denial  to acceptance,

rebellion to transformation,

hurry to timelessness,

impatience to humor,

stability to change,

end of life to beginning of life.

There’s no time like the present to be present. Best wishes to you in your efforts!

You might think this title means that you have to get out of bed in the morning, punch on your computer and get moving on the internet. No big deal, right?

Distinctly not.

What I am talking about is expanding your vision. We live in a boundless energy field and you’re an integral part of it. How can you become more aware of this? Or, better yet, how can you make this a part of your day to day consciousness?

1. Start the day with a short routine; either walking, exercise, meditation, prayer – some sort of regular practice that will bridge you into the day. If you do exercises they should have an internal element; that is involved with posture, breathing, chi flow, good energy, or clearing your mind.

2. Use affirmations and reminders throughout the day. Work with a saying or some positive reminder. You are trying to do something different – which is stay aware of the endless energy network which we call our “world.” You can count on this energy being there, so remind yourself that it is.

3. Pause. At some point when you are feeling pushed to the edge and your perspective becomes somewhat narrowed, ie you are totally stressed, try to take a minute or even one second to pause. Just do nothing. Don’t relax, just stop for a moment. Then go on stressing. Stress is good. We need it in certain situations. Tomorrow I will write about the one tenthousandth of a second relaxation method. Oh, but here’s a hint. If you drop the tension in your facial muscles, the entire body will relax.

4. Be assured. You can count on the unified field because it is the inherent nature of reality. Physics knows. The more you look for it the more certain of it you will become. It’s only your perception (and a mere thousands of years of cultural conditioning) that have prevented you from seeing it, and now you hold the key.

We will proceed on to relaxation, chi, healing, and beyond…so stay tuned.

“Everything is in the process of being forgotten But who we are – who we have been in  personality, mood and character- persists much longer.  David Dodson Gray p.18

A very insightful quote about our true nature in this wonderful book by Jolene Brackey.  Here, early in the book, she is talking about the characteristic reversion in age behaviours of many Alzheimer’s patients. She then goes on to discuss the nature and characteristics of dementia and provides many activities and techniques that allow us to joyfully relate to the Alzheimer’s patient.

A Walk to Remember? Study Says Yes
www.nytimes.com

So, its been proven that walking is good for stress relief, and now memory gain. Remarkable. Below is an excerpt from the Caregiver Revolution about walking for stress relief…and now memory gain!

Walking and Pedaling
Walk briskly every day for a half hour in your neighborhood or on a treadmill in your home. If you don’t have a treadmill, either march in place at the kitchen counter or set up a circuit that you can walk in your home. Listening to music makes this a little more enjoyable. Or you can pedal on a stationary bike, building up gradually in 5–
minute increments to a 20 to 30 minute session, four to five times per week.

Remember, pay attention to your breathing and keep a positive frame of mind. Your worries will come and then drift away like clouds going across the sky. Don’t dwell on them, just let them go.

This walking or biking time is your time. Don’t let anything distract you from it. You will build up a routine and really start to enjoy it. Ask anyone who walks or exercises if they ever want to miss a session. They probably don’t. They love it. It becomes a
vital part of their daily life. It’s just a matter of getting started.