This week gave me the opportunity to visit one of the schools in my area. The early childhood center has been a part of our community since I can remember. Serving children with special needs between the ages of three and five years of age. The school was attended by myself as a child. They … More The School
The journey to improving balance continues with every new challenge. An exciting aspect of working out with Bernard has become new exercises. He finds ways to challenge the obstacles of cerebral palsy with surprising tools. We ventured back to the use of the small purple blocks. The same blocks he has used to measure a … More Balance Beam
Any team probably takes time to gel. Just as any group of people take time to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each other. As we learn the things making each of us tick, the journey can be fascinating. Coaching football for the second year has led to different perspectives on the team building process. … More Together
Each exercise Bernard has me perform seems to contain another step. He has a way to make things more challenging. The progressions he provides become the key to gaining strength. There are times when he gives me an idea of our next step with an exercise. Most times the next progression doesn’t appear until we … More Hurdling with Force
There are many ways to help improve balance. During our time of training, Bernard has brought in many different exercises. As balance has been something cerebral palsy tends to make more complicated. The lateral step wasn’t an entirely new concept for me this week. We had worked on the movement just over a year ago. … More Lateral Step
A challenge of having cerebral palsy seems to be physical multi-tasking. We have found this to be a challenge through our workout sessions. When Bernard provides one movement, I have the ability to pick it up with little trouble. If he adds in another movement, causing me to coordinate two movements at one time, things … More Lights On
We brought the game of Twister into our workout. The game was introduced by Bernard to work on balance. Like the Twister game of my youth, it asks for a person to move their limbs to different locations on a mat. The players might be asked to place their left hand at in one position, … More Twister Progress
The last day of July was upon us with warmth. It wasn’t hot in the Puget Sound Area, maybe ticking up to eighty or so. We decided to venture up into the Cascade Mountains for the afternoon. One of my favorite spots on earth sits about 90 miles from my front door. Of course, with … More Rope Rider
The bird-dog was one of the first exercises Bernard challenged me with. It was where our journey toward better balance began. The exercise has us begin with four balance points in a dog like position. Resting our balance on both hands and both knees. Then, the objective becomes raising and straightening one hand, along with … More The Bird-Dog
The term narcissism has been increasingly part of our culture. It’s a term which has been on the periphery of my attention for years. The personality type has never really been important until recently. There was denial inside of me when thinking narcissism could be a part of my world. For moments, even questioning if … More Narcissism and Cerebral Palsy
