Moving with Parkinson’s requires substantial concentration
(the type of concentration reserved for complex maths problems!) to initiate,
sustain and complete the action. Parkinson’s randomly breaks the movement down
into its component parts and requires you to reorder each part. It is a strange
feeling when you are so used to smooth, almost automatic, movement. Parkinson’s
forces a deliberation to your movement.
Yoga requires of its students a discipline of movement to
set up the various poses. It encourages the mind to become clear to allow you
to focus on completing a series of regimented movements. Yoga, by focusing on
disciplined movement, cuts through the noise of everyday life and reconnects
you to your body. For example, yoga lays great emphasis on breathing as a way
to take over an automatic function of the body and assert conscious control.
I find yoga to be ideal training to help me control my
movement. The deliberation and clarity that yoga requires helps me to become
accustomed to focusing my mind on the action of my body. This makes the
deliberation that is forced onto me by Parkinson’s much more a possession of my
consciousness; I can choose the best way to order my movement. The goal of a
specific pose and the precision needed to achieve that goal helps me to inhabit
and control my body more, which is beneficial in countering the impact of
Parkinson’s.
Parkinson’s pushes me away from my body but yoga helps to
push back; it maintains communication between the action of my body and the
conscious will that is meant to drive it. Thus, yoga strengthens the feeling I
have of a connection to my body.
No comments:
Post a Comment