Student Blog
Self Love ⟩
February 14, 2012, by Kimberly
This semester I have taken on running groups for the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society. Once or twice a month I go to Rancho Los Amigos Hospital and work with community members who are diagnosed with MS. Each group is different and has their own goals and needs. This month’s theme for the group is — bet you can guess it — love! It is a common theme for the month, but is somewhat hard to match to all the goals we are working on with the particular groups. So for this week I have decided to take the route of focusing on self-love. This is something we all need to get better at doing: taking time to thank ourselves for the work we do, planning some pampering every once in a while, making sure we take the time we need to ourselves away from tiring responsibilities, and overall acknowledging the fact that we need love ourselves to be able to love and attend to those around us. Self-love also helps us to feel in control of our own emotions, capabilities, and life. I’m excited to bring this to the group and see what personal goals they come up with.
I want to challenge you to do the same! Here are some ideas to get you started:
Watch your favorite film
Make a valentine to yourself
Write down the things you love about you, then work on remembering them when times are lower
After a work-out, thank your body
Make a fabulous meal, just for you
Meet up with a friend who brings you joy
Think of a way to make life easier and take steps to make it so
Try something new
How will you love yourself more?
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Renewing an Occupation ⟩
February 14, 2012, by Chris
Community Living in LA School/Life Balance
Before beginning the Occupational Therapy program at USC I started playing beach flag football. Well, once I moved to the west coast I didn’t have a league to play in anymore. I’ve played football for almost as long as I can remember and not having a league to play in was bothering me. Last week I began searching for leagues throughout Los Angeles and I found one that meets in Santa Monica. I quickly informed a few classmates of this league and built a solid group to start going weekly. The first weekend only three of us went, but more people have expressed interest in playing. Once we got there the games were great. The teams were pretty much even and the organizers try to keep groups of friends together. Finally after playing for about 3 hours we finally called it quits, with me leaving with a pretty sweet sunburn. Next week should be even better as more people should make it out.
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Biking in Hollywood ⟩
February 6, 2012, by Chris
Living in LA School/Life Balance
The weather in Southern California lends itself very well to the practice of outdoor occupations. This past Saturday me and a couple of my friends decided that a biking blitz through Hollywood was a great idea. We started off at the Occupational Therapy House (Centennial Apartments) and headed north. We took the scenic route through neighborhoods I didn’t know existed. We finally made it to Hollywood Blvd where traffic was almost at a standstill (perfect for the cyclist), we split the traffic down to the Kodak Theater where we decided to walk around for a bit. After getting our fill of all the characters out in Hollywood we decided to head west toward enemy territory, UCLA. The hills throughout Westwood provided us with excellent cycling routes, with very little traffic. After we made our way through UCLA, we decided to ride through Beverly Hills. The streets throughout Beverly Hills are incredibly smooth (cyclist’s dream). Finally, about 2 hours later we decided to head back to USC. We made it home around 11:30 pm and rode approximately 30 miles.
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Don’t Look Down! ⟩
February 3, 2012, by Chelsea
In occupational therapy we learn that different people have different sensory thresholds. Some have low sensory thresholds and get all the sensory stimulation they crave just by trying a new type of food. Others have high sensory thresholds and crave activities that will boost their adrenaline such as rollercoasters, snowboarding, dirt-biking, and rock-climbing. Well my boyfriend happens to be someone with a high sensory threshold and enjoys all of the adrenaline boosting activities I just mentioned and more. Last weekend we took a group of friends on a treacherous hike to a hidden waterfall. We didn’t really specify that the hike would involve rock-climbing and so all ten of our friends agreed to go. The hike was just north of Pasadena in a place called Eaton Canyon, which runs along the San Gabriel Fault. The beginning of the hike is easy until the rock-climbing begins. It involves cliffs, ropes, rocks, creeks, and at the end a beautiful 35-40 foot waterfall. Once we reached the waterfall there was an awesome area in the rocks that had been carved out and smoothed by the water so that it formed a fun waterslide that we could slide down and it would shoot us out about 30 feet above the water into the pool at the foot of the waterfall. I went on the waterslide the last time I hiked there during summer, but this time the water was much too cold for my liking and I’m pretty sure my sensory threshold had already been met without having to drop 30 feet into a pool of freezing cold water!
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New Year, New Teachers ⟩
February 2, 2012, by Alix
Since moving to LA a couple years ago, I’ve been faithfully going to Exhale Center for Sacred Movement, a great yoga studio in Santa Monica. Some of my favorite teachers — Shiva Rea, Saul David Raye, and Erich Schiffmann, to name a few — teach there, and it’s really close to my house. But for 2012, I wanted to branch out and try something new. So I’ve started going to a new studio, Santa Monica Yoga, and I’m remembering now just how much a new teacher helps to revitalize my practice. The classes are smaller and more intimate, so I’m getting lots of great adjustments. And I’m learning even more about teaching techniques, which helps me to be a better instructor for my students. (Also, the teachers at SMY have really good playlists, which helps.) With the help of one of my new teachers, I’ve even able to achieve one of my 2012 goals: freestanding pincha mayurasana!
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