Hello Everyone!

Susan here again and I was so disappointed that I could not be with all of you in person at the Sensory Play Day. Unfortunately, my whole household was sick and although I wanted to attend, it was physically beyond me that day. I know you don’t like to be sick anymore than I do, so I make it a personal policy to not share my sick germs with my friends. Nevertheless, the event went on without me and I was thrilled to hear so many of you participated in the Kelli Smith’s Restorative Yoga sessions that My Autism Ally sponsored.

As you and I know first hand- being an autism parent is STRESSFUL - like combat veteran kind of stressful. You are always on alert status regardless of the situation. Maybe once in a while you get a break- school, therapy, other family members, but let’s face it, that is really isn’t enough. So this means that taking care of yourself NEEDS TO BE A PRIORITY. Yeah I hear ya- you’ve got a whole family full of responsibilities- laundry, dishes, car pool, homework, laundry, soccer practice, your paid job, laundry, other family obligations, yard work, faith community obligations, swim lessons, volunteer obligations and …did I mention laundry?

But I am here to tell you that relaxation and putting yourself first needs to be something more than scrolling your phone. You NEED to figure out how to carve out some regular time for yourself to recharge. This activity is different for different types of caregivers. Some of you prefer walking or strenuous exercise- used to be mine, but getting older isn’t for sissies. Some of you channel your creative outlet through music or art- creating something beautiful one note, brushstroke, or stitch at a time. My hope is that whatever you’re doing involves intentional breathing, relaxes your mind and engages your parasympathetic nervous system to reduce that anxiety and anger.

One of the reasons we sponsored these Restorative Yoga sessions is my firm belief that self care should not bust your budget! None of the poses you practiced needed special props- yes you could buy them, but you don’t have to! Regular household items like blankets, pillows, rolled up towels can be used in supportive postures. Feel free to mix up the order of the poses or only do 1 or 2 for longer periods of time. Perhaps you can get your kids involved and make this a family activity. Yoga has shown positive effects for autistics as well. For your convivence, we’ve included the handout photos here in the post, just scroll down a little.

One more thing before I go. Since we started sharing the Sensory Play Day event, people have commented that they’d like to see this caregiver yoga continue in some way. Please take our survey to help us identify the details so that a ongoing offering of this event will be successful - where, when, how often. It will take less than two minutes and it’s all multiple choice. https://bit.ly/YogaWellnessSurvey

Take care of YOU!