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Accessible Fitness, more choices for more people

Fitness has always been a concern with regard to both mental and physical health regardless of age, gender, or any other variables that make each one of us unique. And for those in the blind community, fitness is every bit as much—if not more—important.

Exercise for the visually impaired is something that should be incorporated into a weekly, if not daily, routine for a variety of reasons that are both similar and different from people within the sighted community. For those with total loss of sight as well as for those who are low sighted, a lack of regular exercise can bring on a host of other issues, including weight gain, sluggishness, and perhaps worst of all for many, insomnia or a circadian rhythm that has been thrown completely off track.

A quality workout done at the right time of day and at the right pace to meet your unique physical and mental needs is just what the doctor may have forgotten to order. For many blind people, fitness has been a challenge: without someone to guide you and without the ability to drive yourself to the gym, it becomes obvious why so many visually impaired individuals give up—but with the BlindAlive line of Fitness Workouts for blind people, you’ll never have to depend on anyone else again.

Yoga and Strength Training with wieghts for blind people along with a variety of other cardiovascular exercises help our bodies stay toned, help us gain muscle mass and lose weight, but most of all, can help lead a blind person away from a sense of helplessness.

Are you ready to sweat? Come get healthy and leave all your notions of not being able to get fit due to your visual impairment behind with BlindAlive!

Socks: To Match Or Not To Match?

January 03, 2016  /  Mel Scott

How do you feel about wearing socks that don’t match? I am curious -- what is your initial gut reaction to this question. Imagine yourself in the office of your favorite therapist and this question is posed to you. How do you really feel?

Imagine you are going to a party and as you get close to your destination, your driver informs you that your socks don’t match. What happens in your body? Do you feel alarmed or embarrassed? Do you exclaim using words your mother told you not to say?

After a couple of minutes, do you tell yourself, “Nobody will notice because I have on long pants.”  Then you calm down.

Next, you enter the house and your host asks you to remove your shoes at the door. This has become more of a common practice. Now what happens in your body? What stories are you telling yourself about this situation?

Hopefully, most of you could laugh it off and make a joke; something like, “I don’t match by color, I match by texture.” Everybody laughs and you are able to forget about it.

If you are like me, forgetting about it is almost impossible. I think to myself, they won’t say anything to me about it for fear of embarrassing me; or I would think to myself, they feel sorry for me because I am blind and I can’t match my socks. I have a huge imagination and I could totally turn myself inside out over a simple, incredibly trivial incident.

I know perfectly well that these mind games are not healthy. I also know how to keep my socks matched just so you know.

My youngest son recently informed me that wearing unmatched socks is actually a very cool thing to do now. He also told me that the crazier the patterns and color mixtures the better. It is a statement of confidence. It is a totally harmless way to be rebellious.

I love the idea so much that I ordered many pairs of the craziest socks I could find. I have unpaired all of them and have thrown them all into a drawer. I reach in and pull two out and put them on. My mind initially recoils with all the stories but then the naughty side of me rises up and says, “Who cares if socks match or not? Who made the rule anyway that socks must match? I have never liked rules that have no real purpose so AWAY with matching socks! It is quite freeing and just a little naughty.

2016 is going to be the year of unmatched socks. I will stride out proudly with no useless stories in my head and a little inward rebellious smile!

What do you think of my grand and sweeping new year’s resolution? Want to join me?

 

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