Tuesday, October 10, 2023

 Tuesday, October 10, 2023

    I didn't attend church on Sunday because I attended a free Gokhale workshop. Esther Gokhale teaches basic body mechanics: how to sit, stand, lie, and change from one position to another. I learned about her years ago and love her work and her approach to body mechanics.

   Esther had a serious back problem. After two failed surgeries, she went into the world to find communities free of back problems. 

Her search took her to primitive cultures where people depended on good body health to survive.

   I remember hearing an educator say we didn't need remedial reading any more than we needed remedial walking. My ears perked up on that. Many people would do well to take remedial walking, even children. Esther discovered that walking is taught in the groups free from back pain. 

    Walking is their primary means of transportation. The best walker goes first and models good walking. Everyone in the group strives to walk the same way, not to 'conform' but to be most efficient.

   Esther developed her theories after observing the posture and movement of these groups of people. I was thrilled to discover her. I had already realized our daily moves were of greater importance than the few hours we devoted to exercise. Esther also evaluated many of the exercises we do. She concluded that they were misguided, putting strain on the body rather than strengthening it.

   Besides liking Esther's theories, I like her business model. 

She tells you what she has learned without being didactic. She's not an ideolog. She has formalized her teaching method and trained practitioners. They charge a healthy sum, but she also offers free online videos and free online workshops. Yes, they are a form of advertising, but she doesn't push it too far. There are other biomechanics practitioners out there. All their emails are about buying something. Esther is committed to helping people as well as making money. The other practitioner seems more developed to promoting her ideas. Some of them are in conflict with Gokhale. I hear the two points of view, one from Bowmen and one from Gokhale. Gokhale is softer in her presentation. I consider both, try them on my body, and come to my own conclusions.

  I spent Sunday afternoon meditating with a friend. I can't sit on the floor anymore. She gave me a folding chair. It was perfect for my height. I did Gokhale's sit stretch for most of the time. I sat for a good four hours with two or three interruptions. It was amazing. My rear end didn't even get numb.

   Katie showed me how to use the TENS machine the orthopedic PA recommended. I left it with Katie last week so she could figure out how to use it and try it on herself. I got a complicated one; there aren't preset settings; I must adjust it myself. I used it on Monday night and plan to use it every night.

   I had some excitement after I left the Rehab. I lost my phone. I realized it was missing when I was at the redemption center dropping of glass and soda cans. As I got back in the car, I couldn't find it. I drove back to the Rehab. I knew I had it when I checked out because I recorded future appointments. It wasn't at the reception desk or in the parking lot. I remembered I had dropped some packing peanuts at UPS. I headed there, checking in the store and the parking lot. Mike's words, "It's a problem to be solved," echoed in my head, helping me to stay calm. I went home.

  As I exited my car, I heard Judy next door vacuuming a Turo car. I walked over and asked to borrow her phone. If calling the number didn't work, I would have to get hold of her to tell her I didn't have a phone anyway. A man answered. He said he had called one of my emergency numbers, Josh's phone. 

     He found the phone in the UPS parking lot. He was in the Vietnamese restaurant in the shopping center. As I was talking to him, I saw Yvette waving to me in our driveway next door. I yelled, "I'm on the phone with him now." I told him I would be there in half an hour.

   When I got to the restaurant, I asked the folks outside if they had my phone. No one responded. I went inside and called out. I couldn't go in too far because I had Elsa with me. She loves riding in the car, although she was disappointed we didn't go to Auntie P's.

  One friend said it was amazing how he had gone out of his way to get my phone back to me. I would do the same in a shot. It's not because I'm such a good person; it's an adventure, an entry into someone's life you would never typically meet. Such fun.

 Yvette walked with me this evening for the first time in days. Her back seized up the other day. Scary. As a massage therapist and yoga teacher, she depends on her body.

   The Hawaiian schools are on winter break this week. Adolescent D allowed me to work on completing past-due assignments before the quarter's end last Friday. I returned to heavy-duty phonics work using Phase I and Phase II of the Phonics Discovery System. He was responsive. I had him analyze each word in a sentence, whether it was one he could already read or not. In fact, it is better if they are words he already knows. That way, he can compare his analysis of the word with what he already knows. He was more responsive than he was in the past. This is a big step in the right direction.

  Because the kids were on break, I worked with Mama K's Twins every morning at 8:30. On the first day, Twin A was in bed with a bad cold. I only worked with Twin E. I could work on automatic recall for the first time in a year. She guesses the word from the first letter, if she uses it at all. I got her to the point where she could clearly read the letter in a word from the image in her mind. "What's the last letter? The third letter?" She could correctly identify the letter every time. People have problems with memory because they don't embed the perception in their working memories. They let it float. If the stimulus is strong enough, it embeds. If not, it doesn't. It is all dependent on the stimulus. The learner takes no responsibility; they don't respond appropriately. She had made enough progress that additional instruction might payoff.

   In the past, I've described this process as listening to an-other, as if someone whispers the word in your ear from behind you. I got a fourth-grade girl with fetal alcohol syndrome to use it. after her first experience with it, she said, "I feel like I'm psychic!"  Ain't that the truth?! What a miracle! We ask for information, and it just appears in our minds. Alexa has nothing on the power of our minds. I just started calling the two parts of the brain, Part A and Part B. Each part is important. They work in tandem. We need both to be fully functional. 

   It takes courage for someone unfamiliar with the process to get it to work. Even those with the weakest memories automatically recall the names of their family members. However, when learning something new, they don't have endless repetition in an emotionally charged environment. Three times two does not carry an emotional charge, nor is it repeated at the same rate as a sibling's name. It takes effort, conscious effort. What does that conscious effort look like? It requires conscious sensory input to the short-term or working memory. In the process of learning to use it, it requires patience and courage. Patience because, initially, one has to wait for the information to come up. Waiting in a state of unknowing requires courage and trust; trust the teacher will not condemn you for stupidity or lack of effort. It requires strength of will, too. One has to refrain from using any method that has provided even occasional success. It's like giving up a lifelong habit. It's tough.

     The girls made an effort. When a word came up, I asked if it just came up (from B)or if they figured it out (Part A). I couldn't tell which process they used. I have no idea if they were doing what I wanted them to do the way I wanted them to do it. I saw a difference in both girl's reading, particularly in Twin E's. Their rate of recall improved. E was the one who had fallen way behind while Twin A moved ahead.