If you are prone to colds, that would be something to be proactive about in the weeks or months before surgery, since a bad cold can cause you to lose your surgery date or at least add stress and depletion to your surgery experience. In the months following surgery, falling ill will delay your recovery…
I am inviting you to join me and many others in preparing for surgery and recovery in a thoughtful, intentional, systematic way. I invite you to begin and sustain a rigorous program of mental and physical training. Begin it today, and use it to make substantive change in as many aspects of your life as…
Transcript Take a moment to experience yourself just as you are. Feel the weight of your legs and back in the chair or bed. With your next exhalation, let your body settle a bit more into the chair or bed. Feel tension leaving the small muscles around your eyes, your jaw, your neck, your upper back. With…
In a perfect world, you will be able to see three skilled practitioners each week before surgery, and build back up to that afterwards for several months. In other words, you need a Darryl, a Linda and a Lorilee. And it will cost several thousand dollars. Now, if your insurance is any good, the surgery itself will be…
You’ll be standing awkwardly in pre-op as the nurses bustle around you. Your clothes will go into a sealed bag and you’ll be wearing a thin cotton robe/smock. But taped to your chest will be a little piece of paper with some affirming words. You’ll also give a paper copy to the anesthesiologist whenever you…
I have been using mind training recordings from time to time for a few decades. And yes, for convenience I am using these terms interchangeably: mind training, mindset training, hypnotherapy, self-hypnosis, guided visualization. It’s all a practice of listening and visualizing that marshals the imagination to shape our physical, mental and emotional state. I discovered self-hypnosis…
Let’s think about building a results-oriented and savory day: Whether we are weeks or months before surgery, or weeks or months afterwards, we can positively influence the course of your recovery by composing your day with intention (rather than habit and custom). Each of our days (if we are serious about accelerating your healing) will have something for the psyche…
Just kidding. This is actually a post about measuring your progress. I strongly recommend you purchase some kind of step tracker. It doesn’t have to be a fancy $200-$300 device with heart rate, etc. No tracker is perfect; all have benefits and downsides. I chose the simplest one I could find, the Fitbit Blaze, because I…
Your relationship with your body and yourself may have gotten you this far, but it’s unknown lands ahead and you need to tap into some deeper resources than you have been accessing thus far. I’m suggesting that you need to get a little out of your comfort zone… but we’re there already, aren’t we? Some days we…
You may have put a lot of work into selecting a surgeon and hospital facility, or, like me (in the Kaiser HMO system), you may just have had a very positive feeling about the surgeon you were assigned at random. That’s not completely accurate. I did interview another Kaiser surgeon, and I did call around…