Fibro Active in March
By Jane Gordon, Treasurer
Welcome to March, I can’t believe how quickly it has come around! We have officially entered into spring and we have had some beautiful weather with frosty mornings and warm days. Our theme for this month is ‘Acceptance and Loss’, learning to grieve, accept and finally move forward to a new life with a “Positive Fibro Attitude” and accepting all the possibilities and challenges.
St David’s Day 1st March and our first Group Meeting
We started this session with qigong and after a gentle warm up, we learned the third move of Ma Wang Dui, it’s a long move, but we take things at a relaxed pace, there is no rush! These sessions always seem to end with everyone feeling relaxed and with smiles on their faces!
After a break for refreshments, we had a change in our published programme, we had to show our versatility as Sharrie from ‘Think Hypno’ had to cancel at the last minute, this was disappointing as her sessions are always interesting and popular, but it was unavoidable and we had to think fast. Julie swapped the programme around and brought forward our ‘Symptom of the Month’ session.
The symptom we looked at was fatigue and how to manage it, it produced a lively and thoughtful discussion and fitted well into our acceptance and loss theme. Most of our members agreed with all the suggestions, but it’s one thing knowing what should be done, but most don’t fully follow the advice, but we’re all guilty of that!
So, it was interesting to find out why and it was the usual problems:
Family members don’t understand and push to do things that are really beyond our members limitations, and of course there is the guilt factor involved.
Then there is the ‘I’ve always done this, so I’m not ‘giving in’ to Fibro/CFS’
Some members have children or elderly relatives and have to push themselves too far.
Quite a few of our members admitted that they haven’t accepted their diagnosis and were still ‘fighting’ it, hopefully, we all shared a few strategies that could help, we also suggested that they looked at our ‘Symptoms’ page on our website www.fibroactive.co.uk
Tai Chi Training
Saturday 5th saw Julie and me attending a Deyin Tai Chi Institute training day via Zoom, we spent the day learning Xing Yi, Standing Pole exercises, it was very interesting, we learned a lot, adding to our knowledge but it is not something that we will teach in the near future. It is as it says, you stand, in postures, like a pole, completely still for a while. It is good for building strength, improving immunity and when you can stand in posture for several minutes it becomes a meditation. We both enjoyed this workshop a lot more than we expected.
Sunday 6th was our monthly instructor forum with Dr Lam at the Tai Chi for Health Institute, also via Zoom,
It was a timely subject this month, ‘Sinking the Qi into the Dantian’ as this was the principle that I was teaching on the following Tuesday in our community class. I’m glad to say that we had feedback to say how much they enjoyed it!
Group Meeting Week 2
This was our re-arranged art session from February with Marie from Inspirative Arts.
She brought with her a selection of coloured silk clays and made some salt dough,
we were invited to help ourselves to whatever took our eye! The first comments were how nice the silk clay felt just holding and kneading it, it was a bit like a stress ball! there was a selection of cutters and stamps but the most popular were her animal shapes.
It was a very quiet session, quietness in these sessions usually means everyone is engrossed in what they are doing, refreshments interrupted the session and there was more than one forgotten coffee! By the end of the morning, we had made a selection of animals, some sculpted, some cut out, there were flowers, teddy bears and spiral coasters! We had quite a few comments saying it was relaxing and very enjoyable.
Group Meeting Week 3
This started with a shortened Small Steps to Health Class consisting of Otago strength and balance exercises combined with some relaxing qigong breathing practices, it proved popular especially with those who attend our longer and more advanced community class, they had an easy time! This just goes to show that it does work! Those attending regular classes have improved their stamina and muscle strength.
We followed this with a ‘cuppa and chat’, the serious bit involved discussing our 6 week “Walking to Awareness’ campaign, we needed volunteers to help us with our celebration coffee (and tea) morning. Several members have said they will bake for us, or man the cake stall which we are hoping to have at our local Co-Op as part of the Co-Op Community Scheme. We finished the session with general chat and a good laugh.
Volunteers
Our last group meeting highlighted the difficulties we have with volunteers, most of our members come to the group because they are ill and need support, which of course, is why Fibro Active came into existence, we understand this and really appreciate all everyone manages to do. However, we need to fundraise and organising this and other group activities falls mainly to Julie and myself, this is actually why I’m writing this, Julie is busy writing a 6th Anniversary report which she needs to do to support our application for the Health and Wellbeing Award, which she mentioned last month. We really struggle to find volunteers who are fit enough to put in a few hours manning a stall and sadly, this year we have had to abandon our fundraising day at our local carnival. This is something that we are trying hard to resolve and now we have a volunteer/committee member who doesn’t have Fibro or CFS, but we need more.
Group Meeting Week 4
This was a workshop about vitamins and minerals, it was part of our ongoing ‘ActiveAte’ programme and presented by our volunteer nutritionist Sophie Lester. It was a hybrid workshop with some members in person and some via Zoom. The content was very interesting and gave our members an insight into how different vitamins and minerals act within the body and how they interact with each other. Sophie pointed out some symptoms of vitamin/mineral deficiency and also some of the risks of supplementing too much and how important it is to get the levels just right – like Goldilocks! She also stressed how important it is to talk to a GP and have blood tests before taking any supplements, in some cases excess will be passed harmlessly out of the body in urine, but too much of some can be dangerous, so take care everyone.
Group Meeting Week 5
This was our popular ‘Sue from Open Minds’ and her topic this month was ‘Acceptance and Loss”, covering the seven stages of grief:
Shock and Denial
Pain and Guilt
Anger & Denial
Depression, Reflection, Loneliness
The Upward Turn
Reconstruction and Working Through
Acceptance and Hope
We have discussed this before and it is always interesting to see if our regular members have made progress, but for our newer members, there are helpful coping suggestions both from Sue and from our members, feedback from newer members suggests that it helps them feel normal and less alone, some said how important Fibro Active has been in helping them move forward!!
Weekly Gentle Walks
These are popular, unless it’s raining! This month we have been blessed with some fantastic weather and more people are joining in, including two Dachshunds and a Great Dane! We have opened it to our ‘Small Steps to Health’ Classes as part of our Otago exercises includes walking, we already have two walkers from this class but there are others interested. These walks bring everyone together for a good natter and no one notices that they are exercising!! We only ever walk at the pace of the slowest walker and if anyone gets ahead, they will sit and rest and wait for the others.
Walking to Awareness
Our last walk of the month is on Wednesday 30th which is the start of our ‘Walking to Awareness’ fundraising campaign, we walk for 6 weeks, ending on May 12th, the birthday of Florence Nightingale and Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. We are asking members, their families and friends to add their weekly steps to our Facebook Page and sponsor us, no one has to walk any further than normal unless they want to! We want to beat last year’s target of 2361.73 miles. Everyone who sponsors us for £10 is in with a chance of winning our ‘Pamper Hamper! You can find all the links and information at: https://fibroactive.co.uk/fibro-5/fibro-5-challenge/.