The moment “You have Parkinson’s disease” catches your ears your life is changed forever. For many, this traumatic diagnosis sets off a series of alarm bells.

• How did this happen? (no one knows for sure)
• How can I get rid of this? (you can’t – for now, maybe ever)
• What do I do now? That’s the power question.

What happens next can set the tone for the quality of your life for years to come. Do you accept the diagnosis and begin to make the ongoing series of adjustments part of your life? Or do you deny it and pretend it doesn’t exist, perhaps telling yourself and others that you’re “fine”?

This is Day One. In our evidence-based writing program, we help people with PD, care partners and medical/wellness providers explore both this moment and the heroic journey that follows. Living with PD is more than a challenge – it’s a series of challenges that can be better met when one is engaged with others who get it. That’s what our classes are – safe and brave spaces of people who get it and want more from their lives. People who are exploring, discovering and sharing their stories.

Join us for our next class, “The Parkinson’s Prison and the Hero’s journey to Escape“, which starts on Jan. 16. We use The Shawshank Redemption and Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey as guiding forces. We discover, as Andy does, that hope sometimes grows in the most amazing and unexpected places. And when we nurture it, it can lead to a path that will set us free.

For more information or to sign up, please click this link. If you have questions, fell free to contact program creator and instructor, Robert Cochrane, PhD at: yesandexercise@gmail.com.

Originally Published on https://www.yesandexercise.org/

Robert Cochrane, PhD Yes, And...eXercise!

Dr. Robert Cochrane is a graduate of UNLV's Integrated Health Sciences department. He's researching the effect of improvisation and storytelling on Parkinson’s disease. He received grants from the Parkinson's Foundation and support from the Davis Phinney Foundation along the way. He is a popular, unique and high energy Keynote speaker, bringing joy, optimism and practical tools for people in the PD community to thrive today.

He has a background in filmmaking, with the Artisan Entertainment release, The Playaz Court, and two Stephen King-based short films among his credits. His father, Dan, was diagnosed with PD in 2001, which shifted Robert’s artistic lens to health. He made his first documentary, the award-winning Boys of Summer in 2004. There are two follow up films in the series with the fourth film coming in 2023.

He moved his family back to Walnut Creek, CA, where he grew up. He lives there with his beautiful wife, two teenagers who are, indeed, "all that" and is a proud care partner for his amazing parents.