Last week, my patient with chronic illnesses with multitude of behaviour risk factors came to me in great distress. I listened to her at great length and this is how I engaged her.
I asked her if she would confirm my impression that she is in great distress and extremely unhappy with her lot in life. She said yes.
I then asked her if her sufferings is sufficient for her to consider my perspective.
She said yes.
I then asked her if she would be willing to refrain from saying “I can’t” until she has given some consideration of the hardship of her present experience. She also agreed.
I then shared the rules I live and die by with her.
1. Breath fully with chest out and abdominal muscles engaged.
2. Drink 2-4 liters of water per day.
3. Eat 400 grams of non-starchy vegetables per day.
4. Mindful of above 3 things being all I need and say yes with curiosity to the gift of each and every moment.
She agree to start coming to the “Getting Unstuck” group next week.
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o Hold on to something solid like the washroom sink, and do at least one deep squat everyday. Knee must not past the toes.
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o Do some proper push-ups slowly. Relax shoulders by backward rotate the shoulders then depress the shoulders. Tilt head left and right to stretch out the neck muscles..
o Once you are in bed for the night, before going to sleep, do a bit of light stretching. Don't get up afterwards because stretching weakens the muscles. You will recover by the morning.
o Drink if you feel thirsty. Test use the thumb fingernail to cleave each finger tip. If it springs back quickly then you are fine.
o Breathe in and out using the nose, not the mouth.
o Eat some salt if you did not get enough during the day. If I have to get up in the middle of the night to pee, and it was not because I drank too much water then it could be because I did not cook with enough salt.
o Walk at a brisk pace. Don't land on the heel too often. For 10% of the time, take a slightly longer stride than usual, not by reaching out further with you front leg, but by moving your body forward with the front leg and stretching out your hind leg a quarter of a second longer before lifting it.
o Sweat a little everyday to get rid of toxins via the body's skin - exercise in bed with blanket on, or exercise with slight excessive clothing, or take a hot shower or bath, or sauna/hot tub.