Paralyzed Footballer Standing Tall Once Again!
Just a quick link to share about a formerly paralyzed football player who is back on his feet and well on his way back to life as he once knew it.
http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/Paralyzed-Rutgers-defensive-lineman-Eric-LeGrand-tweets-photos-of-himself-standing-up-071311/?gt1=39002
Yoga Update: Episode #1
by Treadmarkz,
I posted last night that I am pursuing Hatha Yoga, so I wanted to follow up on that. I do not intend to research the subject and provide a list of good sites or DVDs I have seen on the subject because anyone interested, you can find that for yourself. I intend to advise by experience only, as that is all that is important.
I have already stumbled upon something very simple yet extremely valuable. I have been working with two very basic yoga poses which we in wheelchairs can use in order to tighten those abs. Try these out and see how effective they are. I was amazed.
1. Sitting up as straight as possible, without consciously arching your back too much, extend both arms straight out in front of you, palms down. Bend one hand up, fingertips reaching for the sky. Bend the other hand downward. Fully extending your harms, press the upward hand forward against the downward hand, each hand resisting each other. Remember to keep the back straight. Don’t rest on your back rest. You don’t need to do this for very long. The very act of trying to keep sitting up straight will work out those abs.
2. Classic yoga pose, but very effective: Behind your head, place your left palm on your right shoulder. Then place your right palm on the left elbow. Again sit up as straight as possible, no leaning on the backrest. This one may be a little harder to keep your balance but go for it! Then when both arms are in place, press the back of your head in the cradle you’ve formed. Again do not arch the back. just press the head back, and before long you will start to feel the abs stretching. Do this for as long as you can tolerate.
Okay that’s good for now.
Go for it!
Hatha Yoga For the Disabled
By Treadmarkz,
For those of you who don’t know me, I have been away for a while pursuing…pursuits…of vast importance. But I have come back to say that I have made it a goal to master Hatha yoga. I wrote a long while back about wanting to find a way for guys in wheelchairs to keep their stomachs toned, as it is very hard to do. I have found that Hatha Yoga (with some adaptations) is the ticket to doing this. Yoga itself is a way to “yoke” or join oneself with divinity. Hatha Yoga is the physical branch. I have pursued Yoga and have a long way to go. But It has come to my attention that I have neglected the fact that this body is my God-given tool in which to work my way through this material world. And so, off I go! I will let you know how it goes and I will make suggestions on what I find. All I know is that there are simple poses that really give the torso a workout and make the whole body feel full of energy.
Cheers, Aum Shanti, etc.,
- Forrest
Texas Rangers Draft Player Who Is Currently Paralyzed
by Treadmarkz
Watch out for this guy in the Majors some day. He sounds serious. You will see in the story that the doctor said that “most” people with Taylor’s injury never walk again. Most is never all.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/Texas-Rangers-draft-paralyzed-Georgia-outfielder-Johnathan-Taylor-060811/?GT1=39002
Paraplegic Psycho in a Souped-Up Cadillac with One Headlight!
Okay, now that I have your attention, watch the movie “Highwayman”. It is about a paraplegic with severe road rage. And I think, when it comes down to it, that is what we have all been waiting for isnt it?
Cheers.
It’s Not What You Got, It’s How You Use It.
By Treadmarkz
For those of us with disabilities, it is easy to get down on ourselves for what we don’t have. Abilities, skills, functions. Whatever. If you have recently experienced this feeling of dejection, this observation recently made by my wife is for you.
We were thumbing through a book of “useless facts” when we stumbled upon something that turned out to be quite useful. “Leaches have 32 brains,” it read.
To which my wife blithely replied:
“How come they haven’t taken over the world yet?”
and
“It just goes to show its not the brains you have, its how you use them.”
and finally
“I mean they’ve got thirty two brains and all they’ve figured out how to do is suck.”
All this before I had mustered up the wit for a single observation of my own.
Sarah Palin Goes to War with The Family Guy
by Treadmarkz
I have defended Sarah Palin’s actions in the past on this blog, particularly in regard to her putting her developmentally disabled child in the spotlight. But when Palin recently criticized the makers of the FOX animated comedy “The Family Guy” last week, I was a little more than amused at her antics.
The trouble started when “The Family Guy” aired an episode in which the teenage boy in the family, Chris, develops a crush on a girl in his school and asks her out. The girl in question has Down Syndrome. Palin took issue with the depiction.
I can see how Palin, as the parent of a child with a disability can get a little sensative about the issue, but in this episode, sure maybe the fact that the girl was disabled was the joke, but think about it this way: As long as you don’t immediately see this scenario as unrealistic, then its not a joke. And as long as that’s true, then all “The Family Guy” did was make it okay for a “normal” kid to find something beautiful about a girl with a disability. Turns the joke around on itself.
DIGRESSION FROM THE TOPIC: I don’t know if this was a regional thing when I was growing up, but often when a girl was called a “dog” you’d hear her respond with “dogs bark, bark grows on trees, trees are nature, nature is beautiful, thank you for the compliment.” Turning the insult into a compliment. (Takes a little more thought than a simple “I know you are but what am I?”)
Where the hell was I? Oh yeah…
Same principle is at work here. I don’t mean to sound naive or overly idealistic, but I truly believe this. People are going to joke. We with disabilities cannot stop that. Life goes on and we all shine on.
A lot of females with disabilities, in wheelchairs particularly it seems, feel that something of their femininity is taken from them by their physical appearance. This episode made the girl attractive, at least to Chris. And that is all it takes is for one person to find you attractive or worthy of love and affection and you’re on your way to something great.
If you haven’t seen the episode, then SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!! I also liked it that they showed, once again (I know I go off on this a lot) that a person with a disability is not always a saint. This girl just so happens to turn out to be a bit of a meanie.
Oh yeah and as to the fact that the girl in the episode said her mom was the former governor of Alaska, big deal. If that was what Palin was all in a fit ab0ut, well all I can say is politicians get a lot of jokes flung in their directions.
I don’t know. What do you all think?
Cheers. Aum.
Mind Games to Play With Walkies III
by Treadmarkz
I love politically correct language. It’s funny. It’s irrational. I could go on all day but let me get to my point.
A lot of people in wheelchairs, for example like to refer to themselves as “disabled”. In this country some people feel it is more appropriate to qualify that as “Disabled-American”.
For a while I was getting a kick out of referring to myself as a Cripple in conversation with Walkies. I no longer get the same thrill out of that. No, what I have done, see, is I have begun peppering in the phrase “Crippled-American” into my everyday interactions with Walkies. Try it. It really screws with people’s minds. They don’t know how to react. It’s hilarious.
Peace. Aum.
Go and Watch “Avatar”
by Treadmarkz
Like I said in the title of this posting, go and watch James Cameron’s new movie, Avatar if you haven’t already. It is not ALL hype. Not all. It is a great movie, with some mind bending scenes, colors, action, etc. Not the most groundbreaking screenplay or overall plot, and there is certainly a lot of non-very-well-veiled anti-war propaganda. But all things considered the movie is great. And it’s not racist, despite what some people are saying. I don’t know how some people jump to that conclusion whenever a movie involves civilizations of a different color (The Na’vi, who are blue). If anything the movie is taking a stand against one of its own characters who considers the Na’vi to be inferior because of their non-European-like culture.
I will try not to spoil anything, but you can see from the preview that a man in a wheelchair, Jake, walks again by becoming one of the Na’vi, right? Well, okay, seeing him become an avatar and walk on two legs for the first time since becoming disabled, and talking about it with my wife on the way home from the movie, it FORCED ME to admit that while I don’t pine away to be able to walk, if I did one day find myself able to, I ADMIT that I would react the same way this man did. By running. And like him, I’d probably keep running for a while.
When I first saw the preview, I thought the movie might have something to do with the Hindu avatars of God (Krishna, Vishnu, etc) because they are always portrayed with blue skin. But it has nothing to do with that, except that in Hinduism, avatars are said to come to help humanity when we need to be reminded why we are here, OR we are being overcome by evil forces, which is just what the character Jake ends up doing for the Na’vi. But they are all blue themselves, so the reference gets lost.
Anyway, go see the movie and let me know what you thought. Or if you’ve seen it, let me know what you thought.
Treadmarkz To Be Published by the “Legitimate” Press!
by Treadmarkz
Yep, it’s official, Treadmarkz will be in hard copy for the first time ever when one of my stories appears in New Mobility magazine’s June issue. Reserve your copy now! I will be published under the name Forrest Dailey. It is a story which demonstrates that we are all much more alike in our experiences than we think we are.
