THE POISE PROJECT® ANNOUNCES
"POISED FOR PARKINSON’S"

A UNIQUE NEW ONLINE PROGRAM FOR PEOPLE LIVING WITH PARKINSON’S

To manage motor and non-motor symptoms during daily life for people in early stages of living with Parkinson’s and their care partners
 

Mondays & Thursdays

10:30am - 12:15pm
(First and Last Classes go to 12:45pm)

September 24 - November 23, 2020

Course is available for people living in North Carolina coastal areas
We will meet together for this course live via Zoom.

We will work with you in advance of the class individually to help you get a good set up for the class. Do not let “technology” be a barrier to your participation!

This course is free through funding from a
Community Impact Grant from the Parkinson’s Foundation
 

Registration is required and limited to 10 people living with Parkinson’s who are in early stages of Parkinson’s and their family care partners


To register, and to make sure this course is appropriate for your needs, please contact the instructor:
Jim Paisner
jim.paisner@thepoiseproject.org
978-764-7334

Learn lifelong skills to improve overall self-control, body awareness, coordination, and ease of motion. Build resilience for the physical and emotional challenges you will be experiencing while living with Parkinson’s.  Enjoy a supportive group setting to learn skills and strategies based on Alexander technique (AT) to manage the many daily challenges that Parkinson's brings into your lives.

The course is focused on the needs of the person living with Parkinson’s, but care partners who take the course will be able to not only learn ways to support their partner, but will also gain their own personal skills to enhance their own well-being and self-care.
 

The program consists of an online group class meeting for 105 minutes twice a week for 9 weeks. It is appropriate for people in earlier stages of Parkinson’s and family care partners.
(The first and last classes meet for 120 minutes.)

It is understood that you may not be able to attend every class. Review Handouts, recordings of each class, and in-class review activities, as well as a “buddy” system with other participants will help to keep everyone on track.

Participants will be asked before and after the course to do a survey over the phone and to do a final anonymous evaluation form.

How is this approach new and innovative?

Alexander technique (AT) has been a well-established approach in the performing arts for decades for skillfully managing stressful circumstances, avoiding injury, and reducing anxiety. AT training for people living with Parkinson’s has also been found to be effective in reducing physical symptoms such as rigidity, instability, and stooped posture, as well as neck and back pain, all of which are important for mobility and function. It has been demonstrated that AT training can also offer long-term retention of benefits.

Alexander technique (AT) is a non-exercise educational intervention.

Unlike PT, or exercise programs, yoga, tai chi, or meditation, applying AT skills does not require setting time aside for practice and does not rely on a particular set of movements. Once AT principles are learned, your self-management skills continue to develop through application in your daily experience, and these self-orientating skills tend to increase with time.

What one couple in Asheville NC has said about this course:

Jim: Physically I've benefited. I think that I can do many more things than I could when I started. I'm more positive, I'm more confident. I told you, I have hope for the future. I think that mentally I've improved. I'm more aware of what's going on. I'm more interested in my surroundings. I've started doing things again instead of using it as an excuse not to do things. It showed me that I wasn't an invalid, that I wasn't incapable of doing certain things. I just had to learn a different way to do them. By learning that different way that inspired my confidence.

Monica: I believe that the class being for both of us, you see both persons growing. You can see what I learned can help him physically and emotionally, as well as affects me, because if I'm upset about what I'm doing, he can reflect it back to me, and give me a reminder of my direction and focus. Neither one of us are blind to the information. We can share it more.

To hear what other participants have said about Alexander technique (AT) benefits for them personally, you can view some video interviews with prior participants as well as other informative videos for background on AT, on our Vimeo page: www.Vimeo.com/thepoiseproject

Here are links to specific interviews:

Jim & Monica: https://vimeo.com/346978375
Chuck & Alice: https://vimeo.com/346987631
Vincent & Kricket: https://vimeo.com/347676273

If you would like some additional background on Alexander technique for Parkinson's, here are some useful links where you can learn more

https://www.epda.eu.com/living-well/therapies/complementary-therapies/alexander-technique/ 

https://www.thepoiseproject.org/alexander-technique-for-parkinsons/

https://www.thepoiseproject.org/alexander-technique-for-parkinsons-research/

Research from our in-person course was presented at the World Parkinson Congress, Kyoto Japan (June 2019); the International Congress for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders, Nice France (September 2019); and the American Congress for Rehabilitation Medicine, Chicago IL (November 2019).

You can view a research poster from this study at this link: https://bit.ly/PoisedForParkinsonsPoster

This course was originally developed with funding from the Parkinson's Foundation.

Questions?
Please contact the instructor, Jim Paisner
jim.paisner@thepoiseproject.org or 978-764-7334

Poised for Parkinson’s course participants in Asheville - Graduation Celebration, Fall 2019

THIS PROGRM IS FUNDED BY A COMMUNITY IMPACT GRANT FROM THE PARKINSON’S FOUNDATION

For more information about the Parkinson’s Foundation, please visit: https://www.parkinson.org/

The Poise Project® is a nonprofit with the mission of maintaining poise and personal growth throughout all stages and challenges of life using the principles of Alexander technique (AT). We design and deliver Alexander-based programs that give people greater confidence to manage life’s challenges and increase agency, independence, and quality of life.

"Poised for Parkinson’s" is a program of The Poise Project® and was developed as a research project through the University of Idaho with support from two Parkinson's Foundation Moving Day® grants.

To learn more about The Poise Project®, please visit: thepoiseproject.org

For more information about research on AT for Parkinson’s, please visit: https://www.thepoiseproject.org/alexander-technique-for-parkinsons-research

For more information about AT for Parkinson’s in general, please visit the European Parkinson’s Disease Association website: https://www.epda.eu.com/living-well/therapies/complementary-therapies/alexander-technique/