12 days of Christmas
Sheree DiBiase/Lake City Physical Therapy | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 11 years, 3 months AGO
FA LA LA and HO HO HO, 'tis the season for great joy, right? Not stress, presents, no working out, money talks and families fussing. How should we spend this holiday season? I say the 12 days of Christmas need to be easier, not more complicated, tailored to your family's needs and not some idea cooked up online or in a magazine.
I mean, I like Norman Rockwell, Carl Larsson, Thomas Kincaid, and Greg Olsen's beautiful Christmas pictures and the feelings they evoke, but not the guilt and pressure that might come with it. You see, the ultimate holidays were meant to bring families and friends together, not with the pressure of perfection, but with the pleasure of the moments shared.
It isn't about the house being perfect, the lights outside, the decorations and the food. I sure like all of that, but it is about the laughter, the joy and the memories created that will fuel us through the next year.
So let's get you moving and add some mind-body health to our lives.
The 12 days of Christmas:
On the first day of Christmas, ask one special person their favorite holiday memory from their childhood.
On the second day of Christmas, take two extra minutes and do four sets of 30-second planks. Your body's core will thank you.
On the third day of Christmas, take your three teenage sons that have lots of energy to the lake to skate.
On the fourth day of Christmas, call four members of your family and tell them one thing you love about them.
On the fifth day of Christmas, take five extra minutes at the gym to stretch before you leave.
On the sixth day of Christmas, sing a Christmas carol to someone at work who is having a hard day.
On the seventh day of Christmas, grab your friends and head to the Kroc Center for some swimming.
On the eighth day of Christmas, go walking in your neighborhood and see if you can get one of your neighbors to go with you. Do it in the evening and you can see the Christmas lights.
On the ninth day of Christmas, see if you can get your family to do a little dancing in the kitchen while you are cooking. In my house, my boys are always trying to learn some moves from my husband, and it is always quite a sight to watch.
On the tenth day of Christmas, take 10 extra minutes and call a friend and tell them how much you appreciate them.
On the eleventh day of Christmas, add 11 push-ups to your exercise regime and get your swell on for the holidays. If you can't do them on the floor, do them on the wall.
On the twelfth day of Christmas, make sure that you have made a commitment to your physical and mental health by doing all of the above. And if you haven't done any of it, come see us so we can help you have a healthy and happy new year!
Your health matters to us and we want you well.
Sheree DiBiase, PT, is the owner of Lake City Physical Therapy in Coeur d'Alene and the Spokane Valley. She graduated from Loma Linda University School of Physical Therapy in 1984 and was an Adjunct Professor there for over seven years in Kinesiology, gait training and neck and back evaluations. She ran the International Education Institute, a physical therapy continuing education business for manual therapy. She has been in Coeur d'Alene, practicing PT for the past 21 years and feels this community is the most beautiful place in the world to be with her family for the holidays! Call us for an appointment at (208) 667-1988 and (509) 8891-2623.
MORE IMPORTED STORIES
ARTICLES BY SHEREE DIBIASE/LAKE CITY PHYSICAL THERAPY
Four steps for breast cancer
Recently, a charming young woman named Sally came in to my office after having a mastectomy. She was sporting a cute hat and said that she had just finished chemo and was on her way to radiation oncology. She said she had surgery over eight months ago, and she wondered if she should be coming to physical therapy. She said she was stiff in the morning in her shoulders, and that one of her scar lines was thicker than the other, with a little fluid along the scar, too. Otherwise she was doing well, she thought.
Step up for prevention
Recently, a dear friend of our family had another reoccurrence with a type of women's cancer where she had to have some more of her lymph nodes removed. We were in town visiting and I thought I would get her set up with some compression wraps, compression shorts and stockings. Little did I know how complicated it would be to do such a thing in a different area of the country.
Vis Medicatrix Naturae
Victoria Sweet was a physician in the world of modern medicine in San Francisco, but in her book, God's Hotel, she discovered that premodern medicine had some very important concepts when it came to the power of the body to heal itself. The body appeared to have this natural force or ability to perform a magical act as it was healing itself. The body merely needed the "best" environment in order for this to happen well. In the premodern medicine world they used the natural cures, sunlight, good food, fresh air, exercise, a good night sleep, herbal remedies and the "tincture of time." They felt that as long as it had taken for the disease to come to be with a person, then it would take just as long for the person to be healed of the disease. "Vis Medicatrix Naturae," according to Sweet, is really "the remedying force of your own nature to be itself," to turn back into itself when it has been wounded.