Monthly Archives: January 2016

‘Snow’ many opportunities to help others

My 14-year-old daughter randomly shared this thought with me while we were driving last night….

Mom, isn’t it amazing how one tiny snowflake that falls from the sky joins with all the others and creates these huge piles of snow? It’s just amazing.

I agreed with her and then jokingly said, “I’ll bet there’s a life lesson in there somewhere, but I’m too tired of all this snow to think what it might be.”

Later that evening, the lesson dawned on me. Throughout the last few days I’ve heard stories of people joining forces to help others during and after the massive snowstorm that hit our region. Many of those people are my coworkers. Alone they could do only so much, but like those snowflakes, they combined their efforts and the results multiplied into something amazing. Just a few examples:

Annie paws-es to provide “therapy”

Various research supports the therapeutic benefits of petting cats and dogs. Studies have shown, for example, that interaction with animals can decrease blood pressure, alleviate depression and reduce cholesterol levels.

Maybe that’s why one special resident of The Lutheran Home at Topton has captured the hearts of everyone she meets!

In this blog post, Lutheran Home at Topton staff member Loni Boyer shares her story about “Annie”…

Healing through yoga

The client called to report that she had had a stroke. Further, she told us that she believed that if it had not been for the skills she had learned in my Trauma-Sensitive Yoga group, she might not have had a positive outcome.

Her story: She came home from church one day and felt sick—which family members attributed to her panic attacks. But she decided to use the “body scan” that we had used in group sessions and noticed that this experience did not feel like her previous panic attacks. She therefore called 911; by the time EMS arrived she was unable to move her arm. She continued to use breathing techniques to remain calm so that, in the ER, she could explain her symptoms to a physician.

After listening to her, he was concerned that she may be having a stroke and immediately ordered the appropriate tests. It was determined that she did have a stroke and hospital staff members were able to treat her promptly.