Knowing that someone you care about has just gone through surgery can make you want to comfort that person. Life is hard enough, but having to go through surgery is one of those difficult experiences that many of us must face at one time or another. It is nice to know that you can be there for someone when they are going through this difficult time.

If someone you care about has recently had surgery or is scheduled to undergo surgery, you undoubtedly want to send them get-well wishes after surgery. But, what is the best way to go about making someone feel your caring and support after they have gone through surgery? The answer depends upon a number of factors, including your relationship with them, each of your respective personalities, and your budget.

Here are some tips for how to comfort someone after surgery:

1. Give them a call:

Sometimes, the best way to comfort someone is to reach out and touch them – with a phone call – after surgery. However, if you take this approach, remember: do not tie them up for too long on the line. He or she will be in recovery mode – and for anyone who has been through surgery, you know how exhausted your body can get. So, just give them a quick call to get them on the line and let them know you care. Then, get off and let them have their rest!

2. Write them a letter:

Letter-writing is a lost art. Text messages and e-mail have replaced letter-writing. But, there is no electronic substitute for a good, well-written, thoughtful letter. If the surgery patient is your boss or colleague, there is no need to get too mushy: just let them know that you have been thinking about them and that you hope they recover soon. If they are a loved one, it’s okay to let your feelings go a bit and tell them how much they mean to you.

3. Pay them a visit:

Paying him or her a hospital or home visit is a real sign that you have taken time out of your busy schedule to comfort them. If they are still in the hospital, be sure to call ahead of your visit to check with them (or with the attending nurse) and make sure it is okay to drop by for a quick hello.

4. Bake or cook them something:

Nothing communicates your well wishes like a freshly baked cake, batch of cookies, or even a home-cooked meal. Just remember to check first to make sure the surgery patient does not have any dietary restrictions, as is common for people in the days and weeks after surgery. Otherwise, you could end up eating the food alone!

5. Buy them a gift:

If you have the budget for it, a well-chosen gift after surgery can be a whole lot of fun to give (and get!). hint: make sure that you buy something you think THEY would want, not something YOU would want for yourself! In particular, find something that he or she can use to pass the time during their recovery period.

I did not get my first pair of Tai Chi Shoes until I was into my second year of training. In the first two years I had turned up to classes in array of different style footwear to train in, quite a lot of the time big clunky shoes with nice big grips. I used to wonder what that massive smile I was greeted with at each class I went to in them from the instructor.

I found in my learning the instructor really did not tell us what to do a lot or how to do it, or at least this was how he tried to practise. He would show us and anything else we learnt whether that was about Tai Chi, our own personal development or anything else that could be learnt would only be through discussions about personal or another’s experience. Those with wide eyes and open ears and heart to the spiritual non invasive lessons of this great art tended to develop the most.

I was the youngest and the only student from 12 to own a pair of Tai Chi Shoes, the others in the end adopted to take their shoes off and train in socks, then when their training advanced a bit they decided to be in bare feet, this is probably the best way if you are not going to take a trip to your nearest martial arts stockists usually many miles away.

The trouble with training in socks is quite often because the floor in the halls where you practise have been polished or have tiles you will risk sliding making your steps too long or for some even falling over. You will have no real grip on the floor when you are finishing one of the movements, it will not help with the following of one movement into the next, your mind will be thinking mostly about not slipping or I am slipping.

The main issue people may find about going bare foot will be quite often the floor of the hall may not be clean from all the people choosing to wear their out door shoes, or from previous class bookings. One member in our class actually had cut their foot on some unseen glass, as the church hall had been used for a wedding reception and not cleaned properly.

Tai Chi Shoes For A Training Aid

There are many good reasons for wearing Tai Chi Shoes when training, but I would like to suggest that they really are an aid in your training and not just something that is fashionable to the art or just to protect your feet. One of the first warm up exercise we would do is the tai chi walk, it used to be quite funny as sometimes we would have a race to see who could walk flowing but the slowest, the last person over the finish line so to speak was the winner.

Tai Chi Shoes will help you grip the floor with out being stuck to it as normal shoes with hard or soft soles usually will. When practising the walk or doing steps in your Tai Chi Form the shoes will allow you to learn to keep your feet close to the ground and perhaps feel where your feet are above the ground. For those that may believe in it or one of the lucky few, you may well feel the energy emanating between that of your foot and the ground.

Be careful when buying your shoes not to make the mistake that many do. You will want to buy tai chi shoes with cotton soles, you may find a shop saying that they stock this kind of foot wear but when you get them they have rubber soles, these are actually kung fu slippers and you may as well wear your normal shoes. Tai Chi Shoes are made from cotton and so are the soles, usually the soles will have a cross type of thread which aids in their durability and helps in stopping them to slide on slippery surfaces. Like most things in Tai Chi the choice is yours.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, I hope that it has helped make up your mind to whether you should indeed splash out for a pair of Tai Chi Shoes to aid in the development of your training and your steps.

Since the very beginning of the human race there have been healers. Throughout the centuries every culture around the world has formulated its own form of medicine and practices to cure the ills of its people. Traditional Chinese Medicine for example, focuses not on specific physical body parts, but instead on the purpose and function of those parts. Many people hold to the belief that these time-honored and indigenous practices have no place in a modern society with its technological advancements and scientific breakthroughs. The simple fact remains though, that a large percentage of people around the world have no access to modern medicine. They rely solely on ancient healing techniques to keep themselves and their families healthy. Is it possible that our modern society has become so advanced that we have lost touch with some of the most basic and simple healing practices in favor of over-medicating our bodies into submission?

Going Back to our Roots

Like the Chinese, the Native Americans have long held to the belief that the spirit is an absolutely essential part of the whole of the human being and is therefore a necessary ingredient in its overall health and well being. Spirituality has been a key part of the healing process throughout most of history; it is only in these “modern” times that society has pushed it aside as secondary and unnecessary. In fact, Native American spiritual practices were banned in the United States and until the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed in 1978, people were threatened with incarceration if they were to even be caught in attendance at a healing ceremony. The example of the Native Americans is not the only such instance of a society turning its back on its very roots. The Chinese acted in a similar fashion, banning the use of Classical Chinese Medicine for well over thirty years until the 1960s.

Old v/s New

While modern science has indeed made great strides in many ways toward repairing and healing the human body and has even embraced a great many schools of thought when it comes to issues of the human mind, it has yet to fully accept that there is indeed a real connection between the two. Mind and body are treated as separate entities instead of parts of the whole. The common bond shared among centuries old wisdom around the globe has been put aside and scientific fact has been put in its place.

Today, the practice of such things as meditation, yoga, traditional native healing, Sufi Healing and Chinese medicine have found sanctuary under the broad-spectrum umbrella of Holistic Medicine. The healing methods of the Buddhists, Shamans and others are finding their way back into a society who hungers for answers they are not receiving from modern scientific research. Still, finding reputable and well trained practitioners can be a challenge in today’s civilized cultures.

Holistic Solutions through DVDs

The Center for Healing Arts is an organization that was created to help individuals who are looking for something that modern medicine does not give them – specifically an opportunity to learn and work toward mending the mind, body and spirit and realizing that they are all integral parts of what make us a whole and healthy being. Through a subscription based educational program, the Center offers DVDs on a variety of holistic healing practices ranging from Yogic Healing and Sufi Healing to Shamanism and Kabbalistic healing. The programs are taught and facilitated by renowned experts in their fields and provided to subscribers every other month for them to view and practice in the privacy of their own homes. Through their online community, subscribers can find like minded seekers and practitioners from around the world to share information and support with.