Brain Fitness and Substance Abuse Webinar

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra was the first major symphony orchestra in North America to partner with one of the world’s largest leaders in mental health & addictions. Since I was a professional musician for 15 years, I was able to make the connection with new knowledge of needs & interests of clients in recovery.

I am music, most ancient of the arts. I am more than ancient; I am eternal. Even before life began upon this earth, I was here in the winds and the waves. When the first trees and flowers and grasses appeared, I was among them. I am in the hearts of all, and on their tongues, in all lands among all peoples; the ignorant and unlettered know me not less than the rich and the learned. For I speak to all, in a language that all understand. I am a necessary luxury to all. I am Music.

-Anonymous

 

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Centre for Addiction of Mental Health have developed a very unique partnership through Therapeutic Recreation Services. This is the first time the TSO has opened its rehearsals to the healthcare sector and has allowed CAMH the opportunity to bring clients to rehearsals. What is also special and demonstrates the universal appeal of music is the fact that it is the first time clients from both mental health and addictions from all four sites have participated together in the same outing.

Clients of CAMH have had wonderful and successful outings to the Toronto symphony orchestra rehearsals with the most recent on November 11/04. Clients were very attentive and well supervised by the attending CAMH staff. This is an excellent program to enable clients to experience the benefits of music and for the TSO to continue their involvement within the community. The program offers an opportunity for clients to engage in a structured group recreation outing/experience for their enjoyment. As well, it promotes social contact, some discussion elicited by the music, and obviously an opportunity for active listening.

The feedback has been great and clients are already talking about the next date. Clients reported they found the music to be very relaxing and helpful in grounding their emotions. Others would never have had the experience to be a part of a live performance due to financial constraints, so this was especially magical to them to be in Roy Thomson Hall.

The clients in attendance were impressed by the quality of the music and work that went into rehearsing a piece. Afterwards, there was a question and answer session with one of the musicians, who said to CAMH staff they enjoyed the interaction with our clients and their interesting questions.

Future plans include a collaborative media press release detailing the partnership between CAMH and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra about this new venture.

Frank Sinatra, made music with Doo Be, Doo Be, Doo. In the partnership between CAMH and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, We Do, We Do, We Do, make music in peoples lives.

 

CAMH’s First Walking Meditation Labyrinth

By Paul Hyman

The first walking meditation labyrinth at CAMH was recently completed by Therapeutic Recreation services at the Brentcliffe Road site. Labyrinth walking is among the simplest forms of focused walking meditation, and because of demonstrated health benefits, has led a number of health care facilities to install labyrinths in recent years.

Our labyrinth is a seven circuit “female” labyrinth (meaning the walker enters in a clockwise direction and exits in a counter-clockwise direction) which is very “grounding” according to tradition. It is 60 feet in diameter with the walking path cut into the lawn and outlined with colourful markers. The inner circle is large enough to accommodate 10-15 clients. Suspended over the centre of the labyrinth is a giant dream catcher about 15 feet in diameter. Hanging from the centre of the dream catcher is a set of wind-chimes each person may ring as they enter. Red tulip bulbs and yellow daffodils have been planted as a welcoming and colourful highlight for the spring.

The use of the labyrinth will be incorporated into the client’s first day in the program, as part of their introduction to leisure session. It will symbolize the change and learning clients will experience over the next 21 days. With a labyrinth, to reach its goal, the only choice one needs to make is to take the first step.

As participants enter the labyrinth, this first step symbolizes the beginning of their path of recovery. As part of a ritual, they are given the first part of the Serenity Prayer, “Please grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change.” When they reach the centre and ring the chimes they receive the next part of the prayer, “the courage to change the things I can.” When they reach the exit of the labyrinth facing the front doors of the Brentcliffe site, they are given the last part of the Serenity Prayer, “and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Since its installation other clients and staff have contributed their own ideas to enhance the labyrinth, including colourful Tibetan prayer flags from Kathmandu.

A labyrinth can be a key landscaping feature in creating a truly healthy and healing environment and serve as a focal point of a meditation garden. Next time you are at the Brentcliffe Road site be sure to stop by the labyrinth for a walk and experience this universal symbol for meditation.

The Labyrinth – A Client’s Experience

by Thomas C.

We went on a walk as a group on a very cold day. As we walked down the road we approached the labyrinth. It was something I have never seen before. I was often looking and wondering what it was all about. I noticed little flags in circle patterns. I also noticed a huge Dream Catcher above the flags. There were also pieces of cloth hung (the same kind seen) from the base of Mount Everest which climbers would leave before they make their climb.

So Paul explained what was before us. I paid close attention to his words. Paul told us to walk through and to feel every step and say to ourselves as we walk; “God give me the strength to accept the things I cannot change”. I said the words out loud and to myself … feeling every step. I got to the middle (of the labyrinth) under the giant Dream Catcher and pulled at the chimes. The chimes made a beautiful sound.

We then all walked back, step by step, saying the next part of the (Serenity Prayer) verse; “The courage to change the things I can” … following each step, one at a time. We all left the labyrinth and as we stood together I noticed a quiet-ness in the world … a deep calm I have never felt before. All the bad anxiety that I have always felt, and confusion … had left my body. I felt a sense of peace in my body that I had never ever felt before, ever.

When Paul asked people how they felt (after the walk), almost everyone answered ‘cold’, but for some strange reason I felt someone had placed a warm blanket around me. It was the most comfortable feeling I will never, ever forget. It took away all my pain and confusion and gave me peace in my life that I had never had before.

So we walked back as a group saying (the last part of the Serenity Prayer verse), “…and the wisdom to know the difference”. I smiled to myself knowing in my mind and heart and body that it did something for me. I did something for myself. I will never forget this experience. So much so, that I will come here in the summer to walk through (the labyrinth) for my own well-being and my recovery. It’s the one thing I will always have, the rest of my life, to come back to and the one thing I will never ever forget.

And last but not least … the beautiful flowers Paul had planted, (I can come back to see)! It is a place that I hope will be there and never destroyed. Most importantly, I will always hold it close to my heart and keep the thought in my mind. I will come back for the labyrinth.

 

“Hey Get That Monkey Off My Back”

By Paul Hyman

Paradise Lost or a paradox of paradise? The poem “Morphia” by, Aleister Crowelly speaks of a seductive siren, dreamily ensnaring you in bliss, and then begins a kaleidoscope in a room of mirrors.

You now enter the monkey kingdom of “China White”.

The walled city, Kowloon, Hong Kong is where the monkey holds court and rules as jester. Even though the city is divided and ruled by other smaller “Big Brothers” in charge of the 14K or Red Bean Pole monkey mischief is everywhere. You see “monkey on your back” is slang for heroin addiction.

Asking to be shown the walled city is like staring at a maze of stacked buildings sprouting from one another. The wall no longer exists since the Japanese took it down during W.W. II and Kowloon City has engorged what remained. It’s still there in the tentacle arms of its tunnels that search out sunlight from the dark. Enter the underworld of the Triads the palace guards of “China White” In the bustle of the daily markets and street stalls it escapes the eye but that’s the business of the “Day People”. Come dusk, and the neon lights begin to flicker in the encroaching shadows, do you see the trapdoors to the kingdom of the night. The moment you enter a feeling of transformation takes over and everything you think is reality is wrong.

There’s no need to shout “Open Sesame” but the moment you slip in, a ripple of wariness wafts through the putrid dampness. “Gweilo” “foreign devil” an alien intruder. There is always that feeling that you are being watched, the subtle nods and hand signs, the old ladies as look-outs for brothels, gambling dens and the fuel behind it all, the opium dens. The dampness. The humid closeness exacerbated in the narrow confines of the alleys. A subterranean murky world of dim lights and hollow stares of “the walking dead”. The shadows are alive, a flash of foil, a flame from a lighter and the airy wisps of the mythical dragon, chasing the unattainable.