Van the Man

Van Morrison is a genius. Without question, without any doubt in this writer’s mind, Van Morrison is a genius. He is one of the most influential people and acts in all of popular music. His style is unique and his music genres range from jazz/fusion to gospel/soul to pop and rock. He is incredible and has influenced more musicians than just about anyone else in popular music history.

“The Last Waltz” was held in San Francisco as the swan song – literally – for the music group ‘The Band.’ Robbie Robertson was disbanding the group and this was their last hurrah. The performance was commemorated by a film directed by Martin Scorsese as well as having the concert recorded which now includes a complete 4 CD set. The stage was set – literally – for special musical guests to join in with The Band one final time.

Van Morrison was one of those who joined in, and his manager had to kick him on stage because he was so nervous. Can you imagine – a person of his stature nervous - Van Morrison nervous? Van Morrison had stagefright? Well, he went out and was just spectacular as he really brought the house down with his rendition of ‘Caravan.’ He was so excited, he kicked his way off stage he was so happy. Robertson gave him his tag line ‘Van the Man’ as he was leaving the stage. It was A Moment.

Where does this leave us? If ‘Van the Man’ can get nervous, where does that leave us? We can all get ‘stage fright’ regardless of who we are. It can happen. It can especially happen if we have to undergo something completely new like physical therapy. Many of us have a nice, insulated little world going on. It may not be perfect, but it’s ours. When a situation forces us out of our little corner of the world there will most likely be a sense of trepidation, we may be nervous and with good reason.

Having stagefright when we attempt something new is normal but it cannot rule our lives. We train for every day events. It is called our routine. We have our morning routine, our dinner routine. The point is that we unknowingly practice the same rituals day in, day out. That is the intent of therapy, to practice the same type of items to the point where we do not have stage fright. When we practice walking, we take one step correctly and repeat it 99 more times.

Getting in to the ‘every day’ routine of therapy is a conscious effort, but one worth taking. The idea is to replicate certain movements that are appropriate to your every day living. This way, your confidence is there when you go to that particular task. For instance, I practice getting up and down from a chair when I know I am going to a meeting. I use a therapy cushion and practice stepping on and then off. I do this especially on days where I see myself going out and may have to climb a stair or two.

Core training and strengthening is a real important fundamental element in everyone’s training regime. Sit-ups, ‘ab’ crunches and stretching — and let’s not forget how important it is to get a good stretch in when ever you have therapy.  

It really does not take much either. You can work out in a gym or your bedroom or anywhere in between. The use of ‘thera-bands’ are big as you can use them in a variety of ways for many different exercises and they are low-cost items.

The idea is to embrace therapy as a way of life to improve our life skills so that we too, like Van the Man, can kick ourselves off stage because we are so happy.