It’s a been a while. I’ve fallen off the map a little these past few months. I had an interesting fall season with many losses and also now in retrospect, many gains. I had the good fortune to visit my friend in northern California last week, Nicole, as she helps her Dad, Peter, heal from a traumatic brain injury sustained during a car accident on October 10th, 2011. Unfortunately, we lost Joan, Nicole’s mom, my fairy godmother, in the accident. We miss her light, her laugh, he passion for art and education, and her zest for all things, especially people and animals, the way she made a perfect cappuccino. Nicole and I could literally feel Joan’s presence surrounding us in the short, three days we spent together. Being with Peter was amazing. He is having to relearn many things. I was honored to be able to be a part of some of his therapies–occupational, physical and speech. I can’t begin to describe the joy at watching him re-learn simple tasks. As the physical therapists at the San Jose Rehablitation Hospital helped Peter out of his wheelchair and into a piece of equipment that helped him stand upright, you could see the grimace on his face as one therapist kneeled behind him on a therapy bed and dragged/pulled his chest and sternum upright. Can you imagine what effort that took after almost 3 months in a bed and chair? I thought his first word was going to be “Ow. That hurts!” Eventually he relaxed a bit and was able to take the direction from the other therapist who worked with Peter on grabbing a small ball with his left hand and as I stood in front of him, passing it to me. It appears as though Peter’s right side is more compromised, meaning the left side of the brain was more affected in the injury. It’s been difficult for Peter to cross his mid line with his arms, i.e. taking his left hand and moving it across his body to his right side. We weren’t able to accomplish that today, think of all the brain has to do to organize this movement, but I can tell you, there were tears in my eyes when Peter passed me the ball, it took about half an hour to get him into the “standing-up-equipment” and about another 15 minutes to begin to take simple direction but as we worked and worked he was able to pick the ball up, extend his left arm a bit and place the ball in my hand. The look in his eyes was one of pure accomplishment. Ahhhhhhhh! Joy!

The next day, I had another chance to observe the therapist teaching Nicole how to stretch her Dad’s arms and shoulders. The therapist showed us how Peter’s scapula were almost locked on his back. After moving Peter to his side body, the therapist began directing Peter’s scapula and humerus with his hands and making a movement across the body (crossing the mid line again). Picture lying on your side and moving the top arm over to roll on your stomach. Those of you who know me and my love of anatomy, I was making mental notes to look up when I got home…Tom Myers, author of Anatomy Trains, talks about dissecting a spiral line in the body, this movement the therapist was making with Peter made me think of it immediately. My teacher at the Breathing Project, Amy Matthews, has an incredible knowledge of embodied anatomy and movement and I have heard her many times talk about the order babies typically begin to learn movement…And of course, when I got back to my hotel that night I got on the floor and practiced a little yoga and felt my scapula moving my arms in ways I had never thought of before. Thank you, Peter!

Being around Nicole and Peter gave me such perspective. It was the best holiday gift I received. Nicole’s attitude, intention and general way of living life after having lost her mom and now in the role as director of care and healing for her dad is nothing short of miraculous.

I hope to see you all on the mat soon. I’ll be back at Garden State this Sunday (5:30pm) for slow flow and restoratives…and as you may have guessed, we’ll be exploring the spiral line and scapula movement, you can thank Peter for that!