This Giving Tuesday, December 3, 2024, we ask that you support our 501(c)3 nonprofit Yes, And…eXercise! and help us redefine Parkinson’s disease (PD). Beyond the physical symptoms, PD affects emotional, cognitive, and psychosocial well-being. Recent evidence is finally giving voice to the people with and affected by PD so we can rethink the way treatment and […]
This holiday season, immerse yourself in the magic of storytelling with our free Christmas Movie Hero’s Journey online celebration! Led by award-winning filmmaker Robert Cochrane, PhD, this fun and interactive one-hour online presentation delves into 12 of the most beloved Christmas movies, revealing how they follow the timeless 12 stages of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey […]
This holiday season, immerse yourself in the magic of storytelling with our free Christmas Movie Hero’s Journey online celebration! Led by award-winning filmmaker Robert Cochrane, PhD, this fun and interactive one-hour online presentation delves into 12 of the most beloved Christmas movies, revealing how they follow the timeless 12 stages of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey […]
THE INTERSECTION OF YAX AND YOU The following quotes were pulled together by YAX Board Member, Susan Scarlett. They demonstrate the impact of storytelling and improv with Yes, And … eXercise as told by People with Parkinson’s in their own words. “A year ago, I became concerned that some worsening of Parkinson's was getting in […]
One of my favorite, very silly, barely game-games that we play in the Jam for Joy improvisation classes is YOU! One person starts by pointing at another person in the game and saying “YOU!” The person receiving that point and callout immediately finds someone else to point at and say “YOU!” to. There are great […]
James Parkinson wrote “An Essay on The Shaking Palsy” in 1817, identifying the disease for the first time in medical and academic circles. For as many things as he got right, he excluded the mental health impact of Parkinson’s disease (PD) on those who live with it. Incredibly over 200 years later, we’re still dealing […]
We just completed a wonderfully (and appropriately emotional) Cinema Therapy session featuring the Pixar classic, Inside Out. Participants who have been through other Cinema Therapy classes several times had beautiful things to say about their hero's journey: I learned through the power of failure – and now I'm using it to keep moving. I thought […]
This is rough. There is more bad blood between Oakland and Las Vegas than a mob of Swifties and a MAGA rally. Just this week, Green Day’s lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong said in a People interview: “We don't take no shit from people like John fucking Fisher who sold out the Oakland A's to Las […]
One of my Cinema Therapy students, Terri Van Bibber, said those beautiful words to me after doing her fantastic presentation at the Parkinson's Association of Northern California (PANC) conference on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. Terri presented as Joy – literally. She took our Turning Parkinson’s disease Inside Out class and, from that work, came up with […]
When I picked up my dad on the morning of the A’s final game in the Oakland Coliseum, I asked how he was feeling. In what has become his typical way, he shrugged, looked away and didn’t really say anything. My dad is an A’s fan. He’s just one of those A’s fans that has […]
