Musings of a Dance/Movement Therapist

Kids at Mary Cariola Children's Center Love the Octaband.

Kimberley Smith Daly wrote me to say that she has just begun using the Octaband with kids at Mary Cariola Children's Center and they love it. She has already been using it with physically and developmentally disabled adults who also love using the Octaband. You can see her previous testimonial here.

The images in this YouTube video are from photographs that dance movement therapist Priscilla Harmel took of elders at Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in Roslindale and excerpts from a video of a celebration of Dance Therapy week in Massachusetts in May 2006. Thanks to Sherry Moore for putting this video clip together. Most of the adults in the video were students or graduates of Lesley University's dance movement therapy specialization. Sherry was Production Manager of the film Twisted.

The Death of Mother's Husband

I met Sandy Smyth at the IEATA (International Expressive Arts Therapy Association) conference this past August. Sandy wrote a book, JOURNEY to WHOLENESS through the Creative Arts; POEMS. I found the following poem within,

THE DEATH OF MOTHER'S HUSBAND

In the waterfall she hears his laughter; In the bluest sky she sees
The sparkle of his caring eyes.
She remembers him as tall, lean,
Calm and strong,
Handsome, kind, humor keen.
He was a farm-bred boy,
A Navy man with a Purple Heart,
Loving God, of modest means.
His family, pets and friends
Meant most to him.

But he most adored his second wife.
He cared for her as if she were
Made of porcelain and silk;
Yet, he coudn't break her as he held her
And hugged her warm and tight.
Their life was like the cream of milk;
Their love, like morning light.

Then, dementia slowly stole him from her;
Stole the sparkle and laughter of their years;
Left him silent with a vacant stare.
As she became the one to care,
She turned from silk to cotton,
Porcelain to stone.
Her loss was almost more
Than she could bear.
In a nursing home,
He finally turned to skin and bone
And died, alone, but not forgotten;
For she was there in heart, in mind and tears.

His journey home to Bliss was bright
And swift as shooting stars.
In the photographs, music and the wine,
She keeps their precious times alive;
The memory of one so dear loving her,
Is her heaven here.
Though feeling left behind,
She sometimes feels, in a gentle breeze,
The blessings of his kiss.

Each Age Has Its Own Beauty

There are so many beautiful and apt quotations that can be extracted from this videotape of Alice and Richard Matzkin about changing their attitudes toward getting older, working through fears and negative body image through using the arts. Seeing "a life that's lived in a person's eyes", "the lines and wrinkles are the stories of a person's years".

Laughter: A Serious Therapy

Caryl Derenfeld, a Certified Laughter Yoga instructor, counsels it's the act of laughing — not humor — that produces physiological benefits in Wisdom to Age Well, Vol. 2 No. 4.

Never Underestimate an Old Broad

Check out this hot 92 y.o. salsa dancer!!!

Loss of Geriatric Doctor, Thinker and Leader, Dr. Gene Cohen

According to a November 12, 2009 New York Times article by Bruce Weber, Dr. Gene D. Cohen was "a pioneer in the field of geriatric psychiatry who helped shift the emphasis in gerontological research from the problems of people as they age to their potential."

“He was one of the founders of geriatric psychiatry,” said Gay Hanna, executive director of the Center for Creative Aging, an organization that studies the relationship between creativity and healthy aging and that Dr. Cohen brought to George Washington (University). No one, she added, had more understanding of “phenomena happening in the brain as we age, and their effect on psychosocial and cognitive development.”

And, in the Nov 11, 2009 The Washington Post,

"Gene D. Cohen, a geriatric psychiatrist who championed the idea that people past retirement age have untapped stores of creativity and intellectually rigorous skills in their later years, died Nov. 7. Although the medical establishment tended to treat aging as a disease when he started his career, Dr. Cohen found that the later adult years can be a time of great creativity. Brains create new cells as long as people keep trying new pursuits, he reported, and people in the traditional retirement years have almost limitless capacity for intellectual growth."

Dr. Cohen wrote 2 books for the general public on aging, “The Creative Age: Awakening Human Potential in the Second Half of Life” and “The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain.”

Dr. Cohen's life was proof positive that "later adult years can be a time of great creativity." He brought tremendous focus to the field of geriatrics and a clear understanding of the contributions of elders, in the face of our ageist society.

Arts in Healthcare Settings

Arts in Healthcare Seen Yielding Benefits

According to a new study by the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, Americans for the Arts, The Joint Commission and the University of Florida Center for the Arts in Healthcare documents that incorporating the arts into health-care settings has multiple benefits for patients and may reduce health-care expenses.  Up to half of health-care institutions in the U.S. incorporate arts programming into their care.  Benefits from arts programming include shorter hospital stays, less need for medication, and a boost for job satisfaction and employee retention. Philanthropy Journal, Oct 19, 2009

National Center for Creative Aging

Octaband LLC just became an organizational member of National Center for Creative Aging.

"The National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA) is dedicated to fostering an understanding of the vital relationship between creative expression and the quality of life of older people. Creative expression is important for older people of all cultures and ethnic backgrounds, regardless of economic status, age, or level of physical, emotional, or cognitive functioning."

I am looking forward to a rich relationship, as I will soon get to listen to a 5 part series with Gene Cohen, MD, PhD. Dr. Cohen is the principal investigator of the first national, longitudinal research study to focus exclusively on the positive impact of creative activities on aging in an NEA funded grant. Read about the preliminary findings.

How To Enhance And Preserve Brain Power As We Age

According to an August 15, 2009 article in Medical News Today, intellectually stimulating pursuits, social engagement, and especially physical exercise may preserve or enhance cognitive functioning. Such pursuits as reading and walking distances may help. In the study cited, the most active women had a 30 percent reduced risk of cognitive decline. "Social engagement and maintaining a positive attitude are also powerful tools in deterring the arrival of dementia. Individuals who are optimistic, agreeable, open to experience, conscientious, positively motivated and goal-directed are more likely to experience successful aging."

Dance movement therapy groups for elders provide physical and social stimulation, as well as often being a whole lot of fun. Read more about dance movement therapy for the older adult and for people with Alzheimer's disease according to the ADTA (American Dance Therapy Association).

What is that? A brief reminder to be compassionate.

This is a beautiful 4 minute videotaped screenplay, well worth watching about being asked the same question repeatedly. I discovered it from my daily online newsletter, which you can subscribe to at Mark Warner's Alzheimer's Daily News.