April 11, 2016
 |
Moving muscles is very important and this is what Vonita Singh makes patients do during her dance classes.
(Photo by Shihab)
|
Like
a typical fitness class, participants start with warm-up exercises and stretches,
and later comes the intense, choreographed elements, which cover the whole
body.
From street to hip hop, and
ballet to tap, millions of people around the world may have mastered the
art of dance, but with many performers doing it for applause,
Khaleej Times has met one lady doing it for a cause.
Fifty-year-old
Vonita Singh is a champion of the power of dance. She believes it
involves the culturally mediated body, emotion, and mind - and she has opened
her doors, quite literally, to help Parkinson's sufferers in the UAE.
After
watching her father battle with the degenerative disease for more than six
years, she said watching him go from "mobile to immobile with little explanation"
was scary.
In
2013, four years after her father passed away, Singh set up a free-of-charge dance
class for patients and carers of PD.
Held
twice a week at her villa in Umm Suqeim, Singh - who has undertaken a dance
therapy programme in New York - said 'Movement Mantra', taps into the
therapeutic power of movement to ease the challenges of day-to-day life.
"If
you have PD you have to move the muscles as much as you can. My class
encourages this movement but it is also a great social platform for carers and
patients."
Like
a typical fitness class, participants start with warm-up exercises and
stretches, and later comes the intense, choreographed elements, which cover the
whole body.
Touching
on her personal experience with the disease, Singh opened up to Khaleej Times.
"My
family was unaware of PD when my father was diagnosed in 2003, but before we
got the confirmation, I knew something was wrong."
Watching
her father struggle to comb his hair and scratch his face, Singh said she sat
him down, and told him "something's not right".
"His
reaction was saddening. He said: "I know I'm not okay. I try to do
something but it doesn't happen."
After
a huge period of denial, they finally consulted a neurologist.
"They
told us it was Parkinson's Disease but we knew little about it, and didn't know
how to react."
As
the years went by, Singh watched her father battle depression but said
she also witnessed the emergence of inter-spousal issues between her parents.
"My
mother was caring for my father but because there was such little awareness and
information about Parkinson's, she couldn't understand it. That led to many
frustrations."
She
said the psychological impact is "part and parcel" of the disease.
"That's why it's so important to know how to
handle it. The more we talk about it, the more empowered it makes us and then
we can really fight it."
A
disease which can be very socially isolating, Movement Mantra is one of few
support networks for PD in Dubai. "If we get a full class we have up to 18
people. I open the class to care takers as well as they are just as important.
They need support too."
http://health.einnews.com/article/320824832/0H9_d0IZAVyQDm08
No comments:
Post a Comment