Yesterday, I met a family caregiver (who cares for her mom -at her mom’s home- and receives at least 3 calls daily) and her husband at The Common Cafe in Norwood as part of my Cafe Care Consults series. She wanted help with reducing the stress and tension she felt in her body. We reviewed how to breathe a relaxation breath “life in, stress out” on a chair. She felt the immediate benefits of the breath and shared that the knot in her inside disappeared after about three minutes of practice. I asked her how she usually copes with her stress and she mentioned that she usually walks outside, but then returns home with the same level of stress. I invited her to the sidewalk outside the cafe for a practice walk. We incorporated the relaxation breath as we walked down the sidewalk past the local business fronts, “life in, stress out.” Our practice walk took us halfway down the block and back. As we walked, we loosened our shoulders and practiced our yawns… which further brought the feeling of freedom and relaxation to her body. She shared her relaxation-response awareness with her husband who shared his own experience with using relaxation breaths for stress-management. At the end of our session she smiled at her husband and said to me, “It’s nice to feel supported… to be supported by someone other than my husband.” The three of us smiled and said a warm good-bye.
This program could be called Spiritual Care at Street Level. The 15-minute Cafe Care Consults are free, offered at local cafes with street-level access, and offer a listening ear, practical practice with stress-management, and help with long-term care questions. I’m currently offering these sessions North and South of Boston, in North Andover and Norwood, MA. Check the Events Calendar for the next Cafe Care Consults dates and times.
Moving forward with a listening heart,
vision, inquiry, and action,
~ Mary