Active and Mindful All At Once

Kiarra Boodram 

New York, NY

Spastic Diplegic Cerebral Palsy

Outside of formal rehab I try to stay active, but I will admit that it’s difficult sometimes. A huge part of healthy activity is being conscious of my physical discomfort. I’ve gotten into the habit of yin yoga, a more stationary and less strenuous form compared to typical yoga. My exercise is targeted towards stamina and conditioning, so even if I’m doing something like going outside or running errands I am conscious about how these activities cause me to move and use different muscles in different ways. It’s a much more practical kind of physicality, I sometimes describe it as a bit methodical and robotic because it forces a level of mindfulness that I didn’t have when I was able to do more “typical” kinds of exercises at the gym.

Functional strength has made communicating with providers easier because I’ve learned to be very specific about what I am feeling and where I am feeling it, as well as how these sensations change over time. One of the more interesting issues I faced after my patellectomy was sacroiliac joint pain. It made sense, logically, that the difference in weight bearing would cause unusual strain on different joints, though I was taken aback since it wasn’t something that had crossed my mind. I mentioned it in PT and we took note of it, we were mindful of the activity that made it feel better or worse over time. Eventually I mentioned it to my physiatrist who was able to inject a steroid and resolve the discomfort. Being able to get specific about what I felt made things much less scary and more straightforward.