Filed under: ADD/ADHD
as promised i wanted to share a client story with you
i was going to call this post see jane run but my client’s name is not jane and she doesn’t run she walks – very very fast!!
amy is a 38 year old mother of 5 boysbetween the ages of 15 and 5 – already your shuddering!!
In asking her a little about herself in school she describes herself as not having been very successful in school, she felt she was just not smart. school was hard and her success in school came not academically but rather socially – she barely got by tho she clearly fell under the radar as noone really ever noticed – she thinks the school and her parents just chalked up her poor grades to the fact that she was more interested in her social life than her schoool work. later in life she started college stopped started again stopped married and began having children and she was fortunate enough that she didn’t have to work so she became a stay at home mom/.
she describes her home life as chaotic. her house was always cluttered, tumultuous, disorganized :up for grabs”. She hated when her husband came home after her long exhausting day home with the kids and household chores and would look at the chaos and the laundry undone and the toys out and say to her “what did you do all day”)
she was always feeling stressed, anxious, angry and diorganized but again she chalked it up to her not being up to the task of 5 kids a home and felt that this is how it is when you have 5 boys….
she was having some significant difficulties with her middle child who was 10 . he was angry defiant prone to fits of anger and acting out. Finally after her family had been suggesting for a while she take him for help she did and the psychiatrist told her he had ADD When he described ADD to her and how it manifested and what it was and looked like she was dunbstruck – she blurted out to him right there “oh my /GOD, I think i have been ADD my whole life”! in fact after talking to the psychiatrist he agreed she was add which explained to her some of her difficulities her whole life as well as some of her anxiety issues and her low level obsessive compulsive tendencies which she sort of joked about as her oobsessive compulsive disorder but never took seriously
okay so the reccommendation for her – I’m actually not sure about her son was meds
she found some success with the drugs and was finding herself more focused when she needed to be , less hyperfocused when she needed not to be and more able to handle her days her tasks and her life. Even her husband noticed the change
Feeling good, feeling capable and in control she decided she was ready to get the puppy she and her boys – not her husband- have wanted for a long time
i of course thought a puppy?! just what she needed but there was no detering her from this puppy – even tho i tried to disuade her from it at least for a while – i felt she needed to get more structures in place continue working on her organizational skills, and she certainly did not need to bring a puppy no less into what was still described as chatoic tho much improved,. I am only a coach not the police so an 8 week old puppy it was
any of you who have had a puppy know the amount of work a puppy is so i wont describe it but suffice it to say it is a lot of work,and a puppy on its own can bring a level of chaol into a house for a little while
and so it did
but it also brought something else a benefit i didn’t think wuld happen
the dog had a lot of energy as puppies will have and her trainer suggested she walk the puppy a lot to tire him out and get rid of some of tht energy _ funny my advice for adders and people with a lot of stress!
i forgot to mention that she is also very heavy probably about 75 lbs over weight tho she has been up and down on that scale in large amounts her whole adult life
but she began walking the dog every morning
first she started out on short walks but because of the dog she had to bring it to a pretty good clip for her as she was so out of shape
so it has been 8 months of walking the dog almost every morning
she has gone from half a mile to 7 miles in the last 8 months and a fast 8 miles not a slow leisurely walk it is definitely a power walk
the dog loves it and here is what happened to my client
first she has lost 50 lbs and because of the excersize her boday has changed dramatically
that is great news
and even better news for her she has found that it has been a fabulous compliment to her medication regiment of aderol
on the days she excersizes which is almost every day she feels far more focused , far more accomplished able to manage her house the kids and yes now going back to college.
at first tho her focus was on how much weight she lost and how good she looked and felt not connecting the benefits from the walking to being focused and on top of her game
when i showed her several articles and pointed out how she feels on days she hasn’t walked she has been able to make the connection and trust me it has to be really something big for her not to walk because she knows the days she doesn’t she is going to be less focused , more apt to get lost and hyper focus on something she has noticved that she no longer has to cont her cookies when she is baking she can just put them in a ziploc bag and freeze them with out counting them, she can get laundry done , not be late for the kids after school for pick up she is more able to say to someone who calls i can’t talk now I have school work or house work
the combination of her meds and the walking have been a tremembdous assisstance in helping her manage her add, feel better about herself and helps her to be able to be more consistent with the other structures we have put in place
if the articles by the expert were not enough for the both of us she is proof enough of the research that says that excersize is very beneficial in managing add
does she have bad days? days that are more chatic than others? sure who amongst us doesn’t
but she doesn’t beat herself up anymore, she doesn’t say chuck the whole darn thing and give up
she now is able to look at what happened
figure out what went wrong and not give up and move on and get back on track
now we are considering the possibility of adding meditation to her daily routine but she is not quite there yet
i’ll keep yo uposted
hope this is a useful and inspring story
have a great thanksgiving
and if you have a story to share , a question , an article or structure or tool that works for you in managing your add please share it with us
Filed under: ADD/ADHD
I took this article right from the Hallowell coonncetions newsletter I received this morning – it is an interesting article and tommorrow i’ll share a client story that speaks to the benefits of excersize for adders
The Amazing Effects of Exercise on the Brain
Dr. John Ratey, author of A User’s Guide to the Brain has recently been giving a course on the effect of exercise on the brain for Bluehorn. It has been
a fascinating experience for all who have been taking it! Though we think about exercise as a way of strengthening our body’s muscles, it turns out that
exercise is also a way to literally strengthen the brain.
Research shows that aerobic exercise actually increases brain mass by growing new capillaries, which is associated with an increase in neural activity.
In addition, exercise increases levels of many brain chemicals, including norepinephrine and serotonin (linked to improved mood, self esteem, impulse control,
and greater focus) and dopamine, which is the major driver of the attention center of the brain.
In fact, according to Dr. Ratey, “There is nothing that affects brain neuroplasticity as much as exercise. It causes a rapid and persistent uptick in the
factors and chemicals that enhance learning and mood. Every week, 4-8 papers are released in the neuroscience literature on the positive effects of exercise
on the brain.” Exercise literally “stresses” the brain in a good way, in part by restricting blood flow to the brain (because the blood is flowing to your
muscles instead of your brain). Just as your muscles deal with the stress of exercise by becoming bigger and stronger, so does your brain. In this case,
“bigger and stronger” means “neurogenesis” or the building of additional brain matter and synaptic pathways.
This means that everyone in your family should be incorporating regular aerobic and other kinds of physical exercise into your schedule. It helps keep your
mood positive and also readies your brain for learning. Schools tempted to cut recess time and physical education should reconsider, as lack of exercise
can actually decrease learning even as teachers spend more time on academic subjects.
Filed under: ADD/ADHD
I’m currently listening to an audio program on Kabbalah (Jewish Mysticism) written by a man who has written a bazillion books and does a bazillion things. I was struck by something he said early on in the cd that I thought was something I wanted to share.
He says that he was blessed with the gift of Attention Deficit Disorder. I work with a lot of people with ADD and it is rare if ever I have heard anyone refer to it as a gift or considered it a blessing. It is however, a sentiment I have tried to instill in my clients, Why? How is ADD a gift?
Well Yehuda Berg the author of the cd program I am listening to feels it is a gift and a blessing because it has enabled him to do a bazillion things (my words not his), it has given hime the ability to write a ton of books, teach, write a daily email, keep a blog and myany more things.
It is all in how you look at a thing. Some people look at their lives and say I can’t focus on one thing, I distract easily, I have so many ideas and I can’t complete one thing and they say this ADD is a curse, a pain the reason for all my failures.
But in fact ADD can be an asset and yes a gift if you learn to manage it and use it to your advantage. ADDers tend to be creative, inovative, out of the box thinkers, able to multi task and do sevral projects at onece
the trick is first in the way you approach ADD, as a gift or as a nuisance . It is also in what you do with it harness the pwer an energy of ADD, learn to use it to your advantage, manage it so it works for you or let it get in your way , let it keep you from your greatest potential and all that you can be and all that you can accomplish.
The choice is yours
Gift or curse?
It is possible to manage ADD and use it to live your greatest potential and be the best you can be!
For more info on ADD and managing ADD visit my web site www.transcendinglimitations.com
Think back about the last two weeks. Have you given yourself a break? Could you have politely said “no” when asked to do another task that was more important
to someone else than to you? Could you have found a better, less time-consuming answer?
You will be happier and work better if you are not overloaded, but you have to be purposefulabout your choices to make it happen.
When confronted with new demands ask yourself a few questions to help prioritize
does taking on this new task or project or demand futher you immediate goals?
By saying yes to this new deman what are you saying no to?
If I take on this new deman will I be as effective and efficient with the other demands of my life?
Is there someone else who can do this?
For people with ADD prioritizing is often difficult
before taking on a new demand take a few minutes -breathe- and ask yourself the questions
this strategy will help you prioritize and help you decide what you can and can not take on and can help you feel less overwhelmed and overloaded
it might even help to post a few of the question on little sticky notes and put them in your office, home car in your pda to remind you to stop ask and then make a choice
• Increased brain wave coherence. Harmony of brain wave activity in different parts of the brain is associated with greater creativity, improved moral reasoning,
and higher IQ.
• Decreased anxiety.
• Decreased depression.
• Decreased irritability and moodiness.
• Improved learning ability and memory.
• Increased self-actualization.
• Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation.
• Increased happiness.
• Increased emotional stability.
• Deep rest-as measured by decreased metabolic rate, lower heart rate, and reduced work load of the heart.
• Lowered levels of cortisol and lactate-two chemicals associated with stress.
• Reduction of free radicals- unstable oxygen molecules that can cause tissue damage. They are now thought to be a major factor in aging and in many diseases.
• Decreased high blood pressure.
• Higher skin resistance. Low skin resistance is correlated with higher stress and anxiety levels.
• Drop in cholesterol levels. High cholesterol is associated with cardiovascular disease.
• Improved flow of air to the lungs resulting in easier breathing. This has been very helpful to asthma patients.
• Younger biological age. On standard measures of aging, long-term Transcendental Meditation (TM) practitioners (more than five years) measured 12 years
younger than their chronological age.
• Higher levels of DHEAS in the elderly. An additional sign of youthfulness through Transcendental Meditation (TM); lower levels of DHEAS are associated
with aging.
these benefits have implications for people with add/adhd, high blood pressure, heart disease, asthma and other pulminary disorders, people who want to slow down the aging process, be more on top of thier game etc etc etc
so tommorrow i will share with you a few books you might be interested in reading and that will end a week of writing on meditation
hope some of this was helpful
hope you had an opportunity to begin mediating and have found it beneficial
and you will keep going with it
and if you haven’t yet tried meditating i hope this weeks posts will inspire you to try
again for more info you can always go to my web site www.transcendinglimitations.com
By ERIC NAGOURNEY
Published: October 24, 2006
Meditation is often credited with helping people feel more focused and energetic, but are the benefits measurable?
Stuart Goldenberg
Related
More Vital Signs Columns »
A new study suggests that they are. When researchers tested the alertness of volunteers, they found that the practice proved more effective than naps, exercise
or caffeine. The results were presented at a recent conference of the Society for Neuroscience.
The researchers, led by Prashant Kaul of the
University of Kentucky
, took 12 students who did not meditate and taught them the basics in two short sessions.
Then, over a series of weeks, the students were asked to come in and take a test devised to measure skills like reaction time. The tests involved a series
of visual cues on a display screen that the volunteers had to react to by pushing the correct button.
The students were asked to take the tests in mid- to late afternoon, when people tend to be sleepiest. They did so before and after 40 minutes of meditating,
napping or exercising, or after taking caffeine. Napping produced poor results, presumably because of “sleep inertia,” the researchers said.
Caffeine helped, and exercise was unpredictable.
Earlier studies have found that people are awake while meditating but that their brains undergo changes similar to patterns found in sleep. Some studies
have found that people who meditate a lot report sleeping less, so the researchers were curious to see if meditation could serve the same function as sleep.
The results support the idea that it can.
This meditation combines imagery and visualization to achieve a meditative state. This form of meditation called journey meditation appeals to those who find peace by picturing
themselves in a peaceful place.
Here’s how it goes.
Sit up straight. Get into a comfortable position sit up straight, feet flat on the ground
and your hands resting on your knees or thighs. Have a pad and pencil nearby. Write down the worries, concerns or problems that you’re afraid will distract
you from meditation, and promise yourself that you’ll deal with them when you’re done. Light a candle or burn insence if you like.
Take a few cleansing breaths. Breathe in slowly and deeply for seven counts , then exhale slowly for seven counts, continue this breathing until you are feeling relaxed – a minute or 2 .
Find a peaceful place. Close your eyes and concentrate on a soothing, tranquil place where you feel safe and calm. As distractions flutter through your
mind, remind yourself that you’ll deal with them when you are finished meditating.
The place you go to is up to you, somewhere where you feel safe and secure a mountain top, a gardenor the woods wherever you like.
my favorite safe place is the ocean so for me a quiet beach is the ideal mental destination, so let’s use that as an example. Picture yourself resting on the sand. Feel the sun warming your skin, hear the water crashing on to the sand and notice how when the water goes back out to sea it pulls back some of the sand with it, listen for the sounds of seagulls or see the ships gliding out to sea, notice the color and feel of the wet sand and the color and feel of the dry sand , feel the wind blowing in your hair and how it cools your skin. See how blue the sky is and how white and fluffy the few clouds are in the sky. Use all five senses to the utmost and visualize this place, hear the sounds feels the place in as much detail as possible. You can use the same routine for any beautiful, serene place that calms you.
Stay with it as long as you can , Most people will benefit from a 10 to 20-minute meditation.Practice several days a week, and you can incorporate this into your week by doing this type a few times a week and other types other days or only do this one.
when you are ready to be done take a minute breathe and give yourself a minute before you get up and start your day and get on to some of what was distracting you.
try it and i hope you enjoy it
as always please share what you did, how it was andy questions.
Have a great relaxed day
As I was begining my meditation this morning I was distracted by thoughts of what I wanted to share with you this morning about meditation so I just went with it and began my meditation as i always do
the thoughts came poopping up but i just stayed with it and eventually i was able to get my mind a little quiter tho the thoughts kept popping up and for some reason i kept sneezing but i just did when i sneezed what i do when my thoughts came up and that was just allow it go back to my breath and continue on
so here is what i wanted to share just as a begining and i would say just try this for a few days
just this
and while it is not neccessary I find it for myself optimal to meditate early in the morning – easy for me I get up at 5- it is quiet in my house
no kids no phones no dog no cars honking it is very very quiet
so this meditation process that I will share with you here is good to induce a relaxation response. If you can, try to make meditation a regular part of your daily routine. Set aside 10 to 20 minutes
each day if possible.
Choose a quiet spot where you will not be disturbed by other people or by the telephone.
Sit quietly in a comfortable position. I like sitting in a comfortable couch with a pillow behind my back to keep my spine straight and head up, feet flat on the floor and palms either up at my side or on my thighs. You can do it lying down I find it not as conducive to meditating and I have been known to fall asleep if I am in bed!!
Eliminate distractions and interruptions during the period you’ll be meditating.
Commit yourself to a specific length of time and try to stick to it. Do be realistic about the time, if you think you only have 20 mintues before you have to get on with the day great if you can devote 30 greater even but if you are just starting out why not try something that feels doable like 15-20 minutes to start.
Close your eyes. This makes it easy to concentrate.
Relax your muscles sequentially from head to feet. This helps to break the connection between stressful thoughts and a tense body. Starting with your forehead,
become aware of tension as you breathe in. Let go of any obvious tension as you breathe out. Go through the rest of your body in this way, proceeding down
through your eyes, jaws, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, chest, upper back, middle back and midriff, lower back, belly, pelvis, buttocks, thighs, calves,
and feet.
I like my final thing to be visioning all the remaining stress and tension that might be left in my body just leaving the tips of my toes.
Breathe slowly and naturally, I like to imagine a white light entering and filling my body with peace and tranquility on the inhale and elimintating negative thoughts and feelings with each exhalation.
Assume a passive attitude. Don’t worry about how well you’re doing. When other thoughts come to mind, simply say, “Oh, well,” and gently return to the breathingn.
Continue for 10 to 20 minutes. You may open your eyes to check the time, but do not use an alarm. After you finish: Sit quietly for a minute or so, at first
with your eyes closed and later with your eyes open. Do not stand for one or two minutes.
If you are able try this for a session once or twice a day.
i would have to say that consistency is important at least to do this once a day every day and twice a day will help energize you mid day.
I used to try to meditate at night but I was never sure what happened either I was going into a deep deep meditative state or i was getting a great nap but 2 things were happening I was finding it was hard to fall asleep (probably because it was a nap not a deep state of altered consiousness) and i was getting a terrible stiff neck from my head looking forward!!
so try this
let me know how it is going for you
what you are finding are the benefits
the struggles
lets talk about it
and be gentle with yourself- have no expectations
have no judgements about yourself
just be in the moment!
enjoy!
Bet that title got your attention!
The M word I am referring to here is meditation.
some of you may be saying “been there, tried that just can’t do it”, “I have too busy a mind for meditation “, ” can’t shut off my thoughts long enough to meditate ” or ” whose got time to meditate:?
Okay I’ll address all that in this week’s posts (I’m dedicating this week to mmeditation)
First let me talk about why you might want to meditate
and i’m not going to throw out a lot of research and reports etc for you to read you can do that on your own if you want to just google meditating research words like that and you can probably find a ton of info and later in the week i will share some web sites with you that will be helpful but for now let me just say tht there is a lot of research that there are significant benefits to our minds and bodies when we meditate. Meditating is good for people with add/adhd – and yes even people with add/adhd can meditate, it is good for people with a lot of issues around anxiety, it is good for managing and relieving stress and in general is good for our mind, bodies and souls.
Later in the week I will share with you some basic techniques, books about etc on meditating but before we get to all that I want to share with you my own personal experience with meditating which I think will resonate for a lot of you and hopefully motivate you to try it again or try it for the first time.
I have one of those busy minds. I used to find it very difficult to fall asleep because my thoughts came unbidden one on top of another. I would have thoughts about my kids, my husband , my work , the wee’s grocery ist, dinners, recipes, and what company I wanted to invite for dinner at the end of the week – all one right after another – who could sleep. And believe me there were times in the days I would be talking to someone and my mind would wander or I was already in another conversation. I never thought I would be able to meditate I could never shut off my brain so i never tried even tho I wanted to from time to time. 13 years ago when I lost my vision I had a terrible time for about a year and a half with anxiety and panic attacks. the first therapist I went to tried helping me by working with me on meditation- he suggesting the chanting kind. Well I tried – first I felt uncomfortable with the sounds that were coming out of me and I was paying so much attention to the chanting it was taking over my thoughts and i could not chant and think but my thinking ruled out because i thought if i couldn’t stop thinking i couldn’t be a meditator and this method of treatment was doing nothing for my anxiety so I quit tht and him. As an aside , I eventually found a great therapist who worked with me on my anxiety and panic issues sans meditating and i haven’t had any panic attacks or anxiety attacks i over 8 years, What I did find tho from that experience was the benefits of deep breathing and I often do deep breathing to destress, relax, when I am anxious before things like surgery a doctors appt things like that. and over the last 8 years I have tried to add meditating to my deep breathing but never sustained it because i thought i was a meditation failure because I couldn’t shut off my darn brain . I couldn’t get to a thought free place where my mind was a blank, time didn’t exist, my consiousness was altered and i was in a different zone . I just thought I didn’t have the kind of brain that could meditate.
About 9 months or so ago I began a spiritual journey which has included mostly kabbalistic teaching. In the readings and the workshops etc there are a lot of references to meditating certain tools and excersizes that suggest meditating etc. and i was skeptical. fortunately I have 2 very good friends who meditate and have for years. I happened to mention to both at different times my struggle with meditating and I told lynn I couldn’t meditate because i couldn’t shut off my brain I just couldn’t get rid of the thoughts and quiet my mind. I can’t recall exactly what she said to me but it went something like who said i had to totally quiet my mind? she told me I was being to hard on myself and my expectations were too high and that meditating was like other excersizes – you have to work up to a certain level you don’t get there first time out. she suggested I continue working at it, when the thoughts come acknowledge them and let them go not fight them . when a thought comes say there is a thought let it go and bring my attention back to my breathing, and then she said the more you do it the better you get at it. This sounded encouraging. Then I had a similar conversation with david who walked me thru a brief just being aware and in the moment kind of meditation concentrating my attention on my body and this was good too. So, it has been 9 months now and I meditate pretty regularly once a day for sure and sometimes even 2 times. Depending on what is going on in my life at the time sometimes I meditate for shorter times than others and some days i can quiet my mind better than other days but there are few if any times i can sustain no thought at all for very long periods of time. there have been occassions that i wasn’t sure if i was in a deep meditative state or if i had fallen asleep but either way i let it go and that didn’t matter.
once i let go of the expectation that i would be in this altered state of consiousness, thought free totally zoned out I was able to meditate. sometimes i do a more guided kind of meditation becau8se there are things i want to figure out and other times it is just a quieting time to clear my head relax my brain, my body etc
so persoanlly i can attest to some of the research that says that meditating is good for you. I find myself more focused during the day, more relaxed and less stressed, my slightly higher than good for me blood pressure is down and my sleep has improved tremendously.
Sure there are some days when meditating is harder than others, it’s busy and hectic or my mind goes from thought to thought , but i keep doing it and i get better and better and i get better results all the time.
I would encourage you if yu are interested to give it a try
in the nect few posts i will give you some tips, some suggested readings some web sites and other resources
for now just let go of the expectation that you have to totaly quiet your mind or you aren’t successful
and stay tuned
Filed under: ADD/ADHD
you are busy at work in the middle of a project, or at home in the middle of a project you have things that must get done, deadlines to meet and people expecting stuff from yu. You are focused and working along when darn – it just pops in your head that you were supposed to call the doctor today, so you stop what you are doing right then and there call the doctor and leave a message for the doctor to call you back. Calling your doctor reminds you that you didn’t schedule that appointment for the kids to go to the dentist so you call the dentist and schedule their appointments . Having called the dentist you figure as long as you are making calls about the kids you will also call the school and try and get hold of the teacher you have been wanting to talk to. You have an annoying call with the teacher and you have to call your spouse, friend, relative to share the frustration and vent and they reccomend calling the principal so you do and you leave a message . By now you have been on the phone for 20 minutes and you must get back to work but you need to take a break go to the bathroom get a cup of coffee …. and on the way back your colleague grabs you to talk about something or your neighbor stops by to visit. Soon you sit back down to work or your project and you have totally lost your focus…
i could go on but i will spare you
learning to manage and deal with distractions is an important part of being focused and productive and staying on task and this is often har if you have add/adhd.
Today’s tip
often when we are in the middle of something random thoughts jump into our heads; call the doctor, call mom, order the bakery goods for the party……. often taking those few minutes to do the thing that popped into your head right then and there can lead to other things and before you notice it you’ve lost time and focus
this add tip is actually a 2 parter
part a
kep a pad with you and pen
when those random thoughts pop into your head make a note to take care of it – a reminder to self
don’t take care of it right then and there it will distract you from what you are involved with
write it down
part b
block off in your calendar 15 minute break times at specific intervals if you need a break every hour work for an hour and take a 15 minute break
take those 15 minute beaks and go to the bathroom get a snack stretch and check the little note pad and the reminders to self and take care of those things during those blocked out times
and actually i am going to add a part c
scheduling is a very important part of managing add
make a specific schedule for yourself
i.e. make and return calls the first hour of your day
and another hour of your day toward the end of the day
leave a message on your voicce mailtelling people the times that you have set aside to return calls and ask them to leave you a number where they can be reached at that time
when you call someone and ask them to call you back let them know what time you will be available
and finally i know doctors can be hard to connect with so if you don’t want to miss that call no matter what time it is or where in your scheule it comes give them your cell phone number or whatever number has caller id and screen yor calls so you only take the call from the doctor
final note
of course we want to be flexible
you don’t want to miss a call from the kids or your spouse
or the school if there is a problem so make sure they have the number with caller id and make sure they call on that number so you know that is who the call is from and be flexible of cours you should take those calls
use caller id, voice mail, email etc as tools in managing your add
and be careful of the distraction like text messaging and i ming
if this was confusing your you would like more info
please email me at michelle@transcendinglimitations.com
or go to my web site www.transcendinglimitations.com
and click on the add specialty area
would love it if you posted tips of your own for managing add
we can all learn from each other what has worked for you may work for someone else!
