Going the Distance: Life Outside the Comfort Zone - A New Challenge

One of my health and fitness goals for 2016 was, that after running the Bermuda Half Marathon and the Hyannis 10K that I was going to kick my strength training up a notch. Last week as I was doing sit ups, I felt bored and felt as if they were not doing anything for me. Sure enough when I googled core strengthening exercises to do instead of sit ups, there was a wealth of information about why sit ups were no longer an appropriate core strengthening exercise and it can also increase risk of back injury. Funny how when we listen to our bodies they know what they need.

I found two core strengthening exercises with lowering legs slowly and hovering above the floor both with legs straight up and down and to the side. This will strengthen all of the abdominal muscles. I could only do 3 reps of each but I felt the burn.

My goal is to move from regular plank to dolphin plank. While I was doing plank with arms straight this morning I could feel myself getting stuck in my head. As a survivor of paralytic polio and trauma, my default response used to be, "I can't do that. My body can't do that." As I was looking ahead to doing dolphin plank after I hit 3:30 for holding a plank with arms straight, everything froze within me. I did opt to do a side plank and shook and trembled as I fired up new muscles. As I returned to straight plank, I really had to push myself to hold for 3:20 but I did it! I went outside of my comfort zone and did something new and allowed myself to feel and embrace the challenge.

And then I remembered a post from my friend Michelle Kennis:

***Pull ups will continue to challenge me BUT I will NOT give up, that's not a option***

Getting stronger every day

What exercise is a challenge for you?



When I responded to her post with dolphin plank she was so supportive and encouraging. "Those are tough. You will get it," she said.

Now all I need to do is to start with my imagination and imagine my body doing these different things and allowing for the transformation to continue to happen. I am going to embrace and enjoy the struggle ditching those old beliefs about what my body can and can not do and reach new heights in my health and wellness journey.

I know I can do this because:


My dear friend Kathleen shared on Facebook that she saw my post with the quote that begins this blog post with another post:


I want and need to be great and feel great.

As Tara Brach wrote in True Refuge, "May [we all] know the natural joy of being alive!"



How do you take on a new challenge?

Why Wait?

In What the Bleep: Down the Rabbit Hole , Dr. Joe Dispenza asks the question, "Why wait?" He goes on to talk about how people seem to need to wait for a crisis in order to awaken to the possibilities for a wonderful life.

I know I sure did as I wrote about in yesterday's blog post.

I resurrected two poems from June 2007 from New World Greetings:Inspirational Poetry and Musings for a New World:

The Gift of Polio
Thank you God for the gift of polio that brought me so close to you
while paralyzed I saw your face no matter what I’d do.
Many wonderful healers you sent them to me at age 5
perseverance and triumph life’s lessons learned
but my Spirit could not yet thrive.
At age 53 the gift was sent to me a second time
having time to sit and feel to heal I started to rhyme.
The second time more worse than the first yet your love and wisdom I found
from pain and weakness and fatigue a remarkable spirit rebound.
Reliving all the trauma of special shoes and such
I discovered remarkable healers who brought a loving touch.
I had no clue I had such strength and the ability to grow
no matter what the outcome deep gratitude I show.
And from that place so dark and deep my body could not move
I took the reins took charge of my life this time with nothing to prove.
This gift so precious I live a new life gratitude flows from me
my heart and soul are filled with grace and each day’s a gift from thee.


A Date With Destiny

Don’t wait til you die to let your soul fly free
please listen and hear what happened to me.
My body was broken every imaginable place
yet to the world I always wore a smile on my face.
My soul trapped inside feeling it was broken too
God brought me out of darkness my light I shine on you.
She showed me the way through people I met
it took awhile a message hard to get.
The kingdom of heaven is right inside me
take the leap of faith fulfill your destiny.
While I did my soul work and let my soul fly free
my body transformed changes did I see.
My head now aligned the tremor no more
my body aligned such strength in my core.
When once head detached from my heart and my soul
they all work together amazingly whole.
The rules that I live by are only my own
to find strength and courage my how I’m soaring I've flown.
I followed my heart to create my bliss
to spread God’s word no greater joy than this.
Take the leap of faith into grace I can fall
but I’m floating on air answering God’s call.
Don't wait til you die to let your soul fly free
there’s no reason to live a life in misery.
Follow your passions and I will tell you this
the body falls away healed when you follow your bliss.

I can only imagine what would have happened if I could have practiced gratitude, forgiveness, and meditation and found a way to either better manage the stress of my job or find the courage to leave before becoming gravely ill; if I could have found balance and allowed my creativity to flow and to find paths for healing for trauma. But that is the irony of experiencing trauma, it is hard to break the cycle of addiction to the chemicals produced in the stress response.

But there is no reason to wait before a life spins hopelessly out of control. There are so many wonderful resources and healers available to help.

I recently added a Resources page to my website which I will also share with you here:

When I experienced an infection that resulted in loss of use of my right arm for 6 months, my earth angel of a nurse brought me a cassette recording of Bernie Siegel, MD's, Love Medicine and Miracles. I partnered with Bernie since the 1980's as my "chosen dad" and "coach" to help me heal. He has many wonderful books and meditation CD's. Visit his website and see his healing offerings. His son is carrying on the family tradition of healing with Wisdom of the Ages.

Dr. Joe Dispenza, NY Times Bestselling author of "You Are the Placebo" conducting healing workshops and has a You Tube Channel to bring healing to the collective consciousness.


Tara Brach, NY Times Bestselling Author of True Refuge, is a leading western teacher of Buddhist meditation, emotional healing and spiritual awakening.Her offerings on line and at retreats brings compassion, tenderness, awakening and how we can find our true refuge within us through meditation and finding our sangha, our community that supports, nourishes and sustains us.

Two movies that will take you into the world of quantum physics and expand your view of your life and the world are What the bleep do we know and Down the Rabbit Hole.

So why wait? Start today practicing gratitude and exploring a world beyond what your eyes can see connecting to something greater than yourself to create a life overflowing with joy, happiness, peace, comfort, vitality and vibrancy. Don't wait for the crisis to live the life you were always meant to live!

Wishing you well on your journey!



Cheers! To life! Love yourself well!

I chronicle the first 7 years of my healing journey after being diagnosed with post polio syndrome, a progressive neuromuscular disease as a survivor of childhood paralytic polio and 9 years of childhood domestic violence in Coming Home:A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility.


I am working on my new book, Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems which brings together my best poems of the last 8 years and will include my latest poems as I continue to feel the heal and move forward in my life.

"Attend and Befriend"

I was blessed to hear a talk by Tara Brach at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center in March of 2013. I follow her blog and have read her book, "True Refuge." Rather than fighting or fleeing from the reality of what is, we can shift our awareness to attend and befriend.

"If we can slow down even just for a minute, we can shift from fight/flight to attend and befriend."

She lives with a chronic condition that at times has required hospitalization. She was unable to physically participate in a family vacation one year due to her condition. Rather than feel anger and aversion to her condition, she chose to adopt an attitude of attend and befriend.

This morning in Aquatics Therapy class at Spaulding Rehab, our therapist suggested that we try to make the squats more challenging.

"Put your arms in front of you like a genie and see if you can do a squat balancing on one leg."

I'd been doing squats for over a year now and decided to take on the challenge. Balancing on my right leg, bending and straightening it was a manageable challenge. Time to switch legs.

I had no ability to negotiate the squat on my left leg. I was open to inquiry about what was happening and she suggested that I hold onto the wall with one hand while I allowed my neuromuscular system to organize for the one legged squat.

I remember a time when I would feel angry and frustrated that my body would not do as I wanted it to do. I had an aversion to being a polio survivor and all that went along with it. That's what led me in part to the wrong kind of yoga and KMI structural integration. I thought that I needed to fix my body from the outside in.

I was kind, loving and compassionate with my body this morning. Our therapist did a lot of balance exercises and exercises that isolate and challenge each side individually. Our therapist commented that everyone has one side that is able to do things with greater ease and to be patient with myself.

I remember when I wasn't able to do a two legged squat. I would have to do it against the wall. I was able to come away from the wall but when we introduced dumbbells, I had to use the wall for support again. Now I am progressing to one legged squats and need to use the wall for the support on my left side. Our therapist reassured me that I would be able to gain muscle control and coordination and little by little move away from the wall. I delighted in being able to isolate muscles to build upper body strength without tremors this morning! What excitement to build on new muscle memory; to feel that I can live unapologetically in my body.



When I perceived my body as the enemy; something to be despised and fought with, I manifested states of dis-ease. Being present in my body, being kind and loving and patient, attending and befriending what is, allows me to heal.

Tara's Dharma talk about Attend and Befriend - Healing the Fear Body






Knowing the challenges first hand of living with a neuromuscular condition, on Thanksgiving, I will be running the Boston Volvo 5K Village Road Race to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society New England Chapter. When we unlock the key to one neuromuscular condition, we can unlock the door to many. You can donate to my run on my fund raising page.

The first 7 years of my healing odyssey are chronicled in Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility available on Amazon. I donate 50% of royalty payments to The One Fund Boston to help survivors and their families who were affected by the tragic events of 4/15/13.



I'm working on my 2nd book, "Journey Well," due out later this year: