Are you the primary caregiver or care partner for your loved one living at home? Perhaps you spend a few hours with a special older individual each week? If so, you may be trying to come up with some activities to do with them, and we've got a few ideas to share with you!

First off, how about getting your hands dirty with gardening? Try planting the easiest to grow fruit, vegetables and herbs. It will be rewarding to harvest them and to enjoy the fruit of your labor together. If you’re not interested in growing your own food, try growing flowers. Picking and arranging flowers could be another activity. If you’re not into growing flowers, just buy them from the store or farmer’s market and have fun arranging flowers together. If gardening and growing flowers aren’t working for you, how about simply going on nature walks? See what plants, flowers, birds, insects and other wildlife you can find. Bring a camera along, and take photos of the beautiful...

Deep breathing has many physical and mental health benefits for older adults. For example, it can lower heart rate and blood pressure. It can help reduce stress and anxiety. It can also increase energy levels, improve mental focus, and lead to better sleep. Not to mention deep breathing helps get more oxygen to the brain which positively affects all kinds of functions in the body. This is why it’s so important for older adults to practice deep breathing every single day.

Deep breathing is focused and intentional breathing. It’s sometimes referred to as abdominal breathing, belly breathing, or diaphragmatic breathing. It’s such a simple practice, why do we so often forget to do it? Deep breathing is like a short cut to release stress as well as improve our physical and mental well-being. According to verywellmind.com, “deep slow breaths activate the parasympathetic nervous system, also called the ‘rest and digest’ system. It also...

We’re honored to have been a guest on several podcasts over this past year. If you’re curious to find out about these amazing shows or listen specifically to the episodes we were interviewed on, you can find them highlighted below. 

The Aging Today podcast is sponsored by ComForCare West Linn. This show will help you “create better days throughout the aging process, connect with professional advice on the subject of aging in place, and learn about proactive aging in the right place with a choice.” I thoroughly enjoyed interviewing with host Mark Turnbull. We’ll be on the show again mid-December to do a special episode called “Christmas in Song.” Stay tuned!

You can listen to the August 30, 2021 episode, “Music as Therapy,” here.

In September, All Home Care Matters invited us back on their show. In this episode, we shared more about our online music program for seniors and even provided a 20-minute demo...

In August, we had the pleasure of being a guest on the All Home Care Matters podcast and YouTube channel. All Home Care Matters features resources, tips, and discussion on important age-related topics to help families navigate long-term care matters. Their YouTube channel has an extensive collection of videos which provides all kinds of information to family caregivers and answers to commonly-asked questions.  In my interview with them, I shared about the power of music and how music therapy can be utilized in senior care. If you’d like to watch it, click here.