Please join us for our next meeting, Wednesday, May 5, from 1:00 – 3:00 pm via Zoom.
Next Wednesday is also Cinco de Mayo, a day traditionally celebrated with parties, parades, music, dancing, and food. While we can’t provide the food, our guest speaker Kim Brooks, in the spirit of fun, laughter, and movement, will lead us in one of her specially designed Exercise to Improve Body and Brain Function in PD classes.
Plan on dressing comfortably and having a chair for sitting and standing support. Kim has asked that everyone bring two items for catch-and-release exercises, very important for memory improvement. These items could be two beanie babies, two bean bags (about 4 inches in width), or two socks with rice or beans securely tied, about the size of a baseball. You can also use balls but they bounce, so that needs to be considered! Following the class, Kim will answer all questions and address any thoughts or comments.
About Our Speaker: Kim Brooks leads many PFNCA Zoom exercise wellness classes weekly and on weekends for people with Parkinson’s looking to exercise from home. In addition to teaching yoga, yoga-chi, and low intensity aerobic and stretching classes designed to keep our bodies physically strong and limber, Kim has designed finger exercises to keep our brains cognitively sharp, strong, and limber as well. She also incorporates laughter and other facial expression exercises into her classes to prevent that dreaded Parkinson’s mask and vocal cord exercises so that our voices remain steady and strong.
Kim has a degree in Gerontology from George Mason University. She is an Integrated Yoga Therapist, a retired Thai massage therapist, and a Reiki Master. She has been leading classes at PFNCA for almost 20 years. She made a DVD called Parkinson Wellness with all the neuro-movements that she incorporates into her work. Her father had Parkinson’s before she did all of this. It is her mission and passion in life that no one encounter the life he had with Parkinson’s disease.
Zoom link will be sent out the day before the meeting. Please plan to log on 10-15 minutes early from a private area of your home to preserve the group’s confidentiality.