Best stress reduction for physically handicapped?

by Roni
(Chesapeake, VA)

I am in a wheelchair. Can you recommend some best stress reduction for the physically handicapped?


Thank you for this great question, Roni. Whether you know it or not, you have hit upon a couple of interesting topics. Many people, myself included for many years, have grown up believing in a myth about stress management. Somewhere along the line most people learn to associate being able to manage their stress with going to the gym, leaving work, going to yoga or pilates class, going for a walk, meditating, etc.

The myth, in my mind, is that in most cases there is always some "place" you need to go in order to be able to reduce your stress. All of those stress management strategies are excellent ones, and...just doing them alone is usually not going to be enough to be effective.

The reason why I say that is that an effective stress managment program should facilitate your learning and skill-building enough so that you learn about managing the physiology of stress. When you can begin to understand how the physiology of stress works, then you have just sent yourself to the front of the classroom.

So, that gets me back to you and your question. Being in the wheelchair definitely creates some limitations for you for managing stress. Physical exercise is a great way to reduce it. But, you can integrate these 3 core foundational pieces for managing stress:
1. Do more slow deep breathing - starting from your abdomen. I'm not sure what your situation is, so do this as you are able. Breathing from the abdomen will activate the relaxation response, and that is what is needed to restore balance (reduce stress).

2. Come up with a mantra (neutral or positive) to continually repeat in your head quite often throughout your day. This mantra can be something simple like, "The birds are singing", "I am grateful for my dog", or perhaps there is a prayer verse that instills a sense of calm in you.

3. This is the hard one for most all of us. Begin (without blame or shame) to become more aware of what you are thinking about. How much of your day is spent in fear, worry, or futuristic thoughts? Allow yourself to become more choiceful about the thoughts that you want to carry. Your body and emotions have to manifest thought...

I hope those suggestions are helpful to you.

Take good care,
Cathi

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The second, more alarming (even life-threatening) problem has caused months of diagnostic and therapy confusion among her many consultants, three successive resections of the bone over the last six to eight months, and the still ongoing threat of more relapses of the smoldering bone infection and chronic pain only made bearable by chronic, massive doses of opiates.

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