Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy for Racial Justice

September 30, 2020 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Presented by the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care and the Continuing Education Taskforce of ACPE

Our country once again finds itself at a painful inflection point in its ongoing struggle with the legacy of slavery and racial prejudice. The pains and fears of this historical moment come into the consulting room through the lives of clients and therapists alike. For therapists working at the intersection of spirituality and psychology, the healing of individuals and the healing of society form twin goals that do not always mesh easily.

In this event a diverse and accomplished panel of psychotherapists present their own experiences and hard-earned wisdom on the challenges of offering psychotherapy that promotes racial healing.  

Presenters:

Jessica Young Brown, PhD. Assistant professor of Counseling and Practical Theology at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University.

Rev Marlene Fuller, DMin. Pastor, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, Senior Counselor, The Healing Place, and founder and director of LEAP,LLC.

Rev. Douglas M. Thorpe, PhD, ACPE Psychotherapist. Executive Director, the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care

Objectives:

Increase participants’ ability to offer spiritually-integrated psychotherapy that promotes racial justice

Raise participants’ awareness of issues of racial justice that arise in counseling sessions

Increase participants’ knowledge of the impact of racism on mental health;

Expose participants to a range of racial perspectives on issues of spiritually-integrated psychotherapy

 

Schedule:

9:00     Welcome, Overview of Program, Introductions

9:30     Panel Introductions

9:45     Presentations by Panelists

10:15   Conversation among the Panelists

10:45   Break (participants send in questions)

11:00   Q&A with Panelists

11:40   Panelists’ Closing Remarks

11:50   Housekeeping Matters (evaluations and CEs)

A Helpful Guide to Service Animals

The following is a guide created by Anna Williams, a Resident in Counseling at VIPCare.

Ms. Williams holds an M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Regent University and double majors in Psychology and Equine General Studies from Williams Woods University. Certified as a Level 1 and Level 2 EMDR Therapist, EMDRIA, Ms. Williams has experience working with horses and clients through Equine Assisted Psychotherapy.

She shares the following guide with clients and consults with those in need of a service animal. Ms. Williams has a service dog in the office during appointments.

Click the button below for the article.

Anna Williams

Anna Williams

VIPCARE WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND STAFF

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Rev. Dr. Marlene Fuller 

The Rev. Dr. Marlene Fuller is the pastor of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Mechanicsville, Va., and  owner and director of LEAP, LLC where she provides counseling, spiritual direction, and life coaching to individuals and small groups.

Dr. Fuller graduated from The College of William and Mary with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Theatre/Speech, an MBA from Averett University, a Master of Divinity from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University and earned a Doctor of Ministry in Formational Counseling from Ashland Theological Seminary.

Additionally, she is a Vice-President in Project Management at Citizens Bank.

Her greatest passion is positioning others for healing; helping them to identify areas of broken-ness and break-free of the bondage of old wounds.

Dr. Fuller serves on VIPCare's Governance and Development Committees.

Janiel E. Youngblood

Janiel E. Youngblood, a licensed CPA in the state of Virginia, obtained her Bachelor’s in Accounting from Virginia Union University.  She later attended Strayer University, where she earned her MBA, and completed her thesis titled “The Underlying Causes for the Lack of Proper Financial Management in Churches”.  She has also completed the Church Business Administration courses at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, VA and Change Management Certificate courses through Prosci.

Ms. Youngblood established Janiel Youngblood & Associates, LLC, where she serves churches and other religious affiliated groups to consult on matters of budgeting, accounting, and controls.

She resides in Richmond, VA with her loving husband Robert, and two joyful daughters.

Ms. Youngblood serves as treasurer on VIPCare's Finance Committee.

 

ASSOCIATE STAFF

Angela L. Leyshon

Angela L. Leyshon joined VIPCare's Associate Staff.

Ms. Leyshon is a resident working on her licensure (Licensed Professional Counselor or L.P.C.) in the State of Virginia. She holds a B.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University, an M.A. in Professional Counseling from Liberty University, and has additional training in theology and Prepare Enrich premarital and marital counseling.


Ms. Leyshon sees clients in Richmond and Charlottesville and can be reached for appointments by calling VIPCare at (804) 282-8332 or by email at aleyshon@vipcare.org

RESIDENTS

The Rev.Tochi Iwuji

The Rev. Tochi Iwuji is serving a Practicuum at VIPCare, under the supervision of Dr. Donald D. Denton, VIPCare's Director of Education.

Father Iwuji currently serves as Parochial Vicar at St. Bridget Roman Catholic Church in Richmond, Va., and is completing a master's degree in pastoral counseling from Liberty University.

He holds an M.Div. from St. Mary's Seminary and University and a B.A. (with commendation) in Religion and Culture from the University of Nigeria. 

Anna Williams

Anna Williams is a Resident in Counseling at VIPCare.

Ms. Williams holds an M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Regent University and Double Major in Psychology and Equine General Studies from Williams Woods University. Ceritified as a Level 1 and Level 2 EMDR Therapist, EMDRIA, Ms. Williams has experience working with horses and clients through Equine Assisted Psychotherapy. 

She has additional training in grief/loss, trauma, and living with a disability (personal experience). Her counseling approach includes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, EMDR, Mindfulness, Spiritual Meditation, and prayer.

Ms. Williams also consults with those in need of a service animal and has a service dog in the office during appointments.

VIPCare Partners with the United Methodist Church To Interview Global Mission Fellows

Starting in 2014 with 22 fellows and growing to a 100 mission candidate interviews in 2020, VIPCare has helped young people serve around the world.

Since 2014, VIPCare counselors have interviewed more than 500 Global Mission Fellows (a program of the United Methodist Church). Global Mission Fellows come from-and serve-around the world. Interviews take place primarily on Skype across timezones (recent interviews took place with applicants in Kenya and South Korea). VIPCare is inspired by the interest and dedication of the young applicants to the Global Mission Fellows program.

GLOBAL MISSION FELLOWS:

  • Young adults, ages 20–30, who are committed to work in social justice ministries for two years.

  • Global Mission Fellows serve outside of their home communities, either in the United States or overseas. 

  • Graduate-level fellowship allows participants to address the root causes of oppression and alleviate human suffering alongside community organizations in a variety of issues including public health (including HIV/AIDS), migration/immigration, education and poverty.
     

VIPCare counselors received krama scarfs from the Global Mission Fellow's offices in appreciation for their work on mission interviews. l to r: Executive Director Douglas M. Thorpe, Paul Simrell, Kristin Long Francisco, and Donald D. Denton (absent:…

VIPCare counselors received krama scarfs from the Global Mission Fellow's offices in appreciation for their work on mission interviews. l to r: Executive Director Douglas M. Thorpe, Paul Simrell, Kristin Long Francisco, and Donald D. Denton (absent: Darla Renshaw)

STATEMENT BY VIPCARE'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Our Response to the Killings of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland, Paul Castaway, Melissa Ventura, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and others.

The Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care joins with the millions of individuals and organizations who are protesting the killing of George Floyd and many others by white police officers and civilians. 
 
Our protest is grounded in our mission to restore healing and hope through spiritually-integrated counseling and education and the values on which the Institute is built.
 
First among these values is the principle that God invites all to healing and wholeness.  Too often in our country wholeness has been defined in ways that privilege some people and discriminate against others.  Wholeness for a few is a cramped, distorted view of humanity that allows a white police officer to see a handcuffed black man pleading for his life as a threatening creature he can kill with impunity.  It allows for a system in which police do not have to respect the boundaries of personhood or space for a black woman asleep in her own bed in her own home.  It allows a white dog owner in Central Park to weaponize her fragility by claiming a black bird watcher’s polite request to leash her dog is a menace to her safety. 
 
Too often, access to healing has been skewed along racial lines, as the disproportionate death rates from COVID-19 among communities of color have shown.  In our own field of spiritually-integrated psychotherapy, racially biased theories of health have led to counseling that provides little help to, or even harms, some groups in society.
 
More than 50 years ago The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke to these distorted and damaging views of wholeness and healing in a speech at Western Michigan University.  Dr. King said:
 
Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any other word in modern psychology.  It is the word ‘maladjusted’. . . .  Certainly, we all want to avoid the maladjusted life. . . .  But I say to you, my friends. . . there are some things in our nation and in our world to which I’m proud to be maladjusted. . . .  I never intend to adjust myself to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to become adjusted to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few, and leave millions of people perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of prosperity.  I never intend to adjust myself to the madness of militarism, and to the self-defeating effects of physical violence. . . .  And I call upon you to be maladjusted to these things until the good society is realized.
 
‍VIPCare’s values state that a caring relationship is basic to healing and learning.  Caring relationships require both an ethic of care and a genuine relationship.  We are committed to extend the care we are trained and positioned to offer to people in need.  We are equally committed to offer that care through relationships built person to person, hour by hour, week by week.  For these relationships to be genuine, we must be continually engaged in a process of self-reflection and deepening self-awareness to surface any biased beliefs we hold, consciously or unconsciously, to challenge the assumptions we make, and to renew our commitment to racial justice.  We must also be open to listening to the stories of those wounded in our society, to hearing their anger, and to learning from them. 
 
VIPCare values a dynamic, collaborative community as the context for excellence in practice and a model for healthy living.  As we affirm that commitment we must also confess that we have struggled to achieve and sustain a healthy racial diversity within our community.  Our Board Diversity and Governance Committee has worked hard to diversify our Board of Directors and has enriched our common work greatly through its efforts.  Our clinical staff, though, still does not represent the community we serve.  Our professional, missional collaboration is the poorer because of it.  We have much work to do to recruit a diverse clinical staff and collaborate with community partners.
 
At the 1996 General Conference of the United Methodist Church, Bishop Woodie White gave the following benediction:
 
And now, may the Lord torment you.
May the Lord keep before you the faces of the hungry, the lonely, the rejected,
            and the despised.
May the Lord afflict you with pain for the hurt, the wounded, the oppressed,
            the abused, the victims of violence.
May God grace you with agony, a burning thirst for justice and righteousness.
May the Lord give you courage and strength and compassion to make ours a
            better community, to make your church a better church.
And may you do your best to make it so, and after you have done your best,
            may the Lord grant you peace.
 
‍It is that peace, after the affliction and thirst and courage and strength and effort, for which we pray.

PHOTO: VIPCare's Board of Directors: l to r, front seated: VIPCare Vice President Jessica Young Brown, Janiel Youngblood, back row: Anne Peck, Carol Markow (retired March 1, 2020), VIPCare President Robert F. Brown, Executive Director Douglas M. Thorpe, Melinda South and Frances Broaddus Crutchfield

absent: Daniel Bagby, Sister Cora Marie Billings, Marlene Fuller, and Gwen Lingerfelt.

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Who Will Love Our Children?

A poem by a Friend of VIPCare

When “I can’t breathe!”…

becomes the cry of a dying man…

                        and echoes the voices of other dying men…

                              telling us again of injustice and brutality toward people of color…

                                                who will love our children?

When a pandemic…

            brings the loss of loved ones…

                        the loss of jobs and closing of schools…

                                    and reminders of our failed health care system…

                                                who will love our children?

When those in power seek to divide us…

            by blaming those who are already marginalized…

                        using social media to divert our attention…

                                    as they exploit our pain for their own power and wealth…

                                                who will love our children?

 When political campaigns end…

            with all their loud political speeches…

                        all their name calling…

                                    all their blaming…

                                                and all their empty promises…

who will love our children?

 When all the protests end…

all the streets are cleared…

                        all the shouts have silenced…

                                   and business seems to return to “normal”…

who will love our children?

 When we build walls…

            lock doors…

                close our eyes to suffering…

                         and dreams of inclusion seem to die at the cold hands of exclusion…

                                                who will love our children?

When our religion…

            becomes something that allows us to feel superior to others…

                        offers promises of an escape plan for the faithful…

                                    and we secure ourselves in a sanctuary of our own design…

                                                who will love our children?

When fear is allowed to grow…

            until it turns to anger…

                        then turns to hate…

                                    and then finds expression in violence…

                                                who will love our children?    

                                                                        A Friend of VIPCare

 

 

                       

A Prayer in Response to the Deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland, Paul Castaway, Melissa Ventura, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and others.

Adapted from Shaping the Prayers of the People: The Art of Intercession, by Samuel Wells and Abigail Kocher, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014

Covenanting God, your people betrayed you and exchanged their liberation for an idol.  Be close to all who experience profound betrayal; who know what it means to trust and be let down, to promise and be forgotten, to sacrifice and be ignored, to believe and be heartbroken.  Bless all who struggle with anger, bitterness, and thoughts of revenge, and those who wonder if they can ever trust again.  And yet you changed your mind and did not visit disaster on your people.  Fill the hearts of all who are searching for the grace to change their minds, to try again, to hope, to live beyond resentment, and to trust their own judgment.  Give us grace to change our own minds, to overcome our pride and hard-heartedness, and to enter the freedom you promise us.

Liberating God, empower all your children who long for the freedom to vote, to live without fear, to break out from oppression, to remake our society as equals under the law.  Sustain those in Minneapolis who seek a new way of life in their city.  Bless the people of Chicago and New York and Los Angeles and Richmond as they hope for the just and peaceful exercise of power among them.  Visit your people in every place where violence is part of government control and opposition incurs danger.  Strengthen those who work for a healthy future for our nation, and encourage all who experience life in this country as one of disadvantage, fear, or slavery.

Loving God, you walk with us in the valley of injustice, accompany us in the wilderness of COVID-19, speak with us on the mountain, and promise us flourishing life with you.  Be present to all who face serious illness, especially this pandemic that disproportionately strikes those among us who are black, brown, or native.  Give them hope, alleviate their pain, help them to plan their future, and above all bring them friends.  Bless the work of hospital chaplains and all who listen and enter the mystery of pain with the sick and the dying.  In a moment of quiet we offer you one person we know to be facing the reality of the end of life. . . .  With healing balm their soul fill and every faithless murmur still.

Transforming God, you turn our weakness into your opportunity, our sin into your grace, our pride into your wisdom, our folly into your mercy, our evil into your grace.  Turn the wounds of our sin into the glory of your resurrected body, that we might live more truly, love more deeply, and follow more faithfully, now and forever.  Amen.

 

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COVID-19: Coping with Weariness

by Kristin Long Francisco, LCSW

On March 13th, our world dramatically shifted.  Surely, there were some Daniels who saw the writing on the wall and knew that big changes were coming our way.  However, maybe many of you were like me and were pretty surprised but then thought, “oh, well, it’s just two weeks and then life will be normal again, no biggie…”  But then two weeks turned into four which turned into six and here we are nearly eleven weeks later and life is anything but “normal.”  As a dear friend Karen penned, we are not moving toward a new normal but are rather currently living in a new abnormal.  And perhaps also like me, you didn’t find those first couple of weeks to be so bad.  Yet, as the weeks began to multiply and as we now look out into the future and see no real certainty of how things will be, maybe we’re not finding much joy in this new abnormal. 

As I sit with people in my pastoral counseling practice, the main theme I observe is that of weariness.  It has become clear that we are no longer running a sprint, we are running a marathon; one major problem though, is that we may have not been training for a marathon!  Given this lack of “training” and our living in a new abnormal, our emotional health may suffer.  We may find ourselves moving from discouraged to depressed, or from worried to chronically anxious.  All of us are experiencing some level of grief and for some, this grief might be the loss of a loved one or the loss of a job.  These are hard times for sure! 

I have felt drawn to do some research about how those with chronic pain cope and live, despite their pain and I think we have a lot we could learn from them.  In his essay, The 5 Coping Skills Every Chronic Pain Patient Needs psychologist Ted Jones talks about combining treatments (surgeries, medications, etc.) with psychological strategies, noting that without some level of emotional preparedness, those in chronic pain do not fare as well.  The 5 coping skills he outlines are: understanding, accepting, calming, balancing, and coping.  I like this 5 pronged approach and think it might help guide our thinking in how we live in these abnormal times while we run our marathon. 

First, understanding.  For pain patients, it’s important for them to understand the origin of their pain and some of the basic ways it might be treated or minimized.  For us, I’d broadly say that gaining a basic understanding of COVID-19, the number of cases in our area, and how the particular institutions in our lives (work, church, school, businesses) are approaching dealing with the virus is important.  It’s my assumption that we all have a basic understanding of the virus and how it has altered our lives by now.  Check.  Onto skill two. 

Second, accepting.  Dr. Jones notes: “how the patient thinks about his or her pain is critical to successful outcomes.  ‘Catastrophizing’...has been shown to be a predictor of negative pain treatment outcomes.”  He also notes that one’s level of acceptance may be different from day to day or even minute to minute but that avoiding “shoulds” is helpful.  Of course, these “shoulds” look different for us than a pain patient.  Maybe we struggle with: “I should be able to work from home while taking care of my children;” “I should be able to maintain my workout routine, complete the yard work, cook from scratch, get along with my spouse at all times, keep a positive attitude, maintain the same level of professional output as when I’m in the office, etc. etc. etc.”  At times these “shoulds” come from comparing ourselves to others--what I might deem the “Pinterest Disorder.”  Social media would have us believe that we’re not measuring up but it’s worth reminding ourselves that social media only gives us a part of the story, not the whole story, and every person’s story is different.  Acceptance seems to be this delicate balance of letting our feelings and reactions to things “just be,” not judging our feelings (they do after all originate as impulses in the brain), with not sitting in our feelings and thinking of worst case scenarios.  Our Christian faith gives us a definite advantage because “hope springs eternal” due to who God is, not how we are feeling or what we are doing: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” Hebrews 10:23.

Third, calming.  There will be times, and likely there have already been times, during this pandemic, that we might feel acute anxiety or panic.  These are the times that our nervous system goes into overdrive and our “fight, flight, or freeze” takes over and the executive functioning section of our brain is essentially shut down.  In those moments, the key is to remind our nervous system that we are not in immediate danger and allow our executive functioning to take back over.  One of the simplest ways to do this in the moment is through breathing.  The 4-7-8 breathing approach might help.  Inhale deeply, into your diaphragm, for the count of 4, hold it for 7 counts, and exhale fully for 8 counts.  Repeat.  This gives a signal to our brain which slows heart rate, decreases blood pressure, and allows our regular breathing pace returns.  One can actually train their nervous system by doing regular practices such as exercise, meditation, and prayer so that it’s easier to calm down when times of acute stress occur.  A simple breath prayer of “Be still and know that I am God” works quite well.  Psalm 46:10.

Fourth, balancing.  With the news changing everyday about what to do or what not to do, it can be very difficult to create a sustainable routine and reach the ever-elusive “balance.”  Going back to the basics can be very beneficial: eat at regular meal and snack times; go to bed and wake up around the same time each day; create a flexible but regular schedule with a definite start and end to the work day; try to exercise at least 3x a week; go outside everyday; drink enough water; attend to your prayer life; maintain or create family rituals such as meals together, morning or afternoon walks, Zoom calls with extended family members, etc.  For those continuing to physically go into work, creating a ritual for “leaving work at work” before coming home can be helpful; this might look like taking five minutes to pray in your car before entering the house, or taking off your work shoes at work and putting on your recreational shoes before getting into your car to return home. 

Fifth, coping.  Sitting down and making a go-to list of techniques to use when overwhelmed can be helpful.  Such a list has a broad range.  Some techniques might be as simple as taking 10 minutes to sit on the deck, or taking a shower to “wash off the day” or starting a gratitude journal to remind you of areas of your life that are stable and good.  It’s also helpful to create a list of people and/or organizations you can turn to for support.  Some of the people on your list might be those who could offer emotional support and others on the list might be those who can offer physical or financial help when you are in need.  At times, it can be beneficial to reach out to your doctor or a counselor; there is nothing shameful in needing extra support.  

I pray that as we all move through the new abnormal days, weeks, and months ahead, our community will be a source of comfort and strength.  May we “carry each other’s burdens, and in this way fulfill the law of Christ” Galatians 6:2.

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COVID-19: UPDATED PRECAUTIONS

MEMORANDUM

TO: ALL VIPCARE CLIENTS

FROM: DOUGLAS M. THORPE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

SUBJECT: COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS

date: May 27, 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, and as the Commonwealth of Virginia’s official response moves through its phases, VIPCare continues to fine-tune its efforts to serve you faithfully and safely.  As an act of kindness and care for all the clients and staff of VIPCare, we ask you to observe the following practices that will lessen the transmission of the coronavirus. 

For the health and safety of all VIPCare clients and staff:

· If you are feeling sick, have a cough, fever, loss of taste, or shortness of breath, please do not come to VIPCare for your appointment.  We will gladly reschedule your appointment for a later date and will waive any late-cancellation fees. 

·If you have an in-person appointment at a VIPCare office, please wear a face mask or cloth covering over your mouth and nose while you are in the waiting room.  Alternatively, you may wait in your car or on the sidewalk outside the building until your counselor is ready for you.  When we are busy we cannot guarantee social distancing in the waiting room.  Wearing a mask or cloth covering is an act of kindness that protects you, your fellow clients, and VIPCare’s administrative staff from the spread of the virus.

·In your counseling session you may wear a mask if you choose and you may request that your counselor wear a mask, but masks are not required in counselors’ offices.

·If you have the capacity to speak with your counselor by videoconference or telephone rather than face-to-face in a VIPCare office, please consider switching to telehealth. 

·If you begin to feel sick in the middle of an appointment, please end the session and return home.  We will not charge you for any session interrupted by the onset of illness.

· If you need to cough or sneeze, please cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue or into your elbow or shoulder if a tissue is not readily available.   

·Please wash your hands frequently for at least 20 seconds with soap and water, or use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Please wash or sanitize your hands after coughing or sneezing. 

· We are working to clean surfaces that get touched often, such as doorknobs and pens, but we cannot clean them after every touch. 

Thank you for working with us to keep everyone as healthy as possible.

Confessions of a Gym Rat

By Dr. Donald D. Denton, Director of education

I started being a gym rat before I turned sixteen years old. I’m one of those, “Why can’t the gym-be-open at 2:30 am” guys. My first time using those free weights, one of the ‘old guys’ came over to me and said in no uncertain terms, “Put those weights back where you found them.” I can still hear that voice, along with a couple of other gentle motivators.

So! When Governor Northam decided to that gyms came under the category of “Entertainment Businesses,” I began to suspect the last time he seriously went to a gym was during his tenure at VMI. I’ll admit that at certain times during a gym’s day there is more socializing and hunting going on rather than lifting and sweating. But not for the gym rat crowd. What we do is called, “working out…” with an emphasis on that first word, regardless of the time on the clock.

Being self-quarantined during the Covid-19 plague has challenged those who take our personal fitness seriously, regardless of the specific type of torture implements we use to maintain it. My first confession is therefore this: I got on that well-paved Road of Good Intentions when self-quarantine was announced. I didn’t wind up in its ultimate destination, but I haven’t done as much as I intended.

Somehow a morning walk of under two miles and using the adjustable dumbbells only when the spirit moves me quickly replaced those first two weeks of heavy commitment to Marine-style calisthenics. Gentle yoga moves replaced weight-assisted crunches and somehow going up and down the stairs just hasn’t given the same satisfaction as massive leg-presses.

But I have had some success. My weight has remained stable. So has my resting pulse and blood pressure. My spiritual disciplines have remained constant and psychological attitude has remained positive. I’ve taken more walks around the VIPCare complex.

The article by Darius Foroux may give you some guidance if you’ve struggled with this issue. His language is a bit salty at points, and I didn’t post either his picture or mine in our workout clothes. His would embarrass most of us and mine would “scare the women and horses,” as Virginians of a certain age are still wont to say.

Anyway, most of us are looking forward to the day when we can return to our gyms. In the meantime, I’m recommitting to those calisthenics so I don’t hurt myself when those doors open again at 5:30 am.

Reference:

Foroux, Darius (2017, May 25). I Stopped Working Out Daily. Here’s What Happened. (https://getpocket.com/explore/item/i-stopped-working-out-daily-here-s-what-happened?utm_source=emailsynd&utm_medium=social)

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