​​In the first dozen years of this century, much of my massage work was with residents and staff of a retirement community in Boulder. Parkinson’s Disease (PD) was something I saw quite a few of my clients deal with over the years. And I saw how the symptoms were so individual: one client exhibited extreme tremors, one had difficulty speaking, and one would be out for a walk and freeze in the middle of crossing the street.

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive neurological movement disorder. The dopamine-producing neurons in the part of the brain called the substantia nigra become damaged or die. PD affects not just movement, but voice volume, mental health, sleep, facial expression and body language, and can cause pain, decreased movement on one side of the body, and cognitive impairment including poor memory and dementia.

From my perspective, PD is a condition of loss, and can be difficult and demanding for both the person diagnosed and the person caring for them. There are medications and interventions like Deep Brain Stimulation which can help. Importantly, exercise can mitigate symptoms and is thought to help slow progression. 

In Boulder, a man I knew with PD developed an exercise class specifically for those living with Parkinson’s. It was helping him and helping many of the people taking his class. I learned his method and taught for the first few years after I moved back to Steamboat. I know that the folks who came to class had rough days, but we sure had a lot of fun in that class.

Dance for PD, a program developed by Mark Morris Dance Group in NYC, holds classes for people with PD. The collaboration between people living with PD and the members of Mark Morris is beautifully shown in the film Capturing Grace. It is striking how a person’s movements might be jerky or uncontrolled, but turn on the music and that same person is dancing beautifully across the room. 

Much of the research in the past 30 years was focused on finding the genetic cause of PD. But from more recent research, it looks like although genetics may set a person up for PD or other chronic conditions, it is environmental exposure to toxic chemicals that trigger the condition to develop. 

One such chemical is TCE (trichloroethylene), which is also substantially linked to cancer. There is a significant amount of the stuff in the groundwater under Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp in North Carolina, and Marines stationed there were breathing it in each time they turned on the faucet. One researcher found that Marines at Lejeune were 70% more likely to develop PD than Marines at Camp Pendleton in California whose water is not contaminated with TCE. 

TCE was finally banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in December 2024, but in January 2025 the Trump administration rolled back the ban.  In general, the U.S. is behind the eight-ball when it comes to banning toxic chemicals - a move which would significantly reduce many chronic illnesses. There is even a new field called exposomics which looks at an individual’s exposure over their lifetime - because many of us do not know if we’ve been exposed, and if we have, to what. 

In the meantime, using water filters, air purifiers, and minimizing eating food in plastic may help reduce exposure. 

I think about the people I’ve known who were living with PD, and though some did amazingly well (usually those who had a consistent regimen of exercise, medication, healthy eating and support), how much better it would be if the chemicals that had likely caused their condition had been banned. Life would definitely be better. And I hope we can do better going forward.

Source/Learn More

• Wired article: Scientists Thought Parkinson’s Was in Our Genes. It Might Be in the Water

​It is a strange season here in Steamboat Springs. Following a November with warm days more reminiscent of September, Mother Nature eked out a few inches of snow the first week of December, and then daytime temps returned to the 40’s this week. The white stuff is melting away.

Having lived here in the early 90’s, my recollection is of cold and snowy Thanksgiving week ski area openings. I remember walking to work when the temp was -15’ and wondering if I would survive. (Not only did I live, I got so warm with the ridiculous amount of clothes I swaddled myself in I had to de-layer halfway there.) Since I moved back to Steamboat in 2013 some seasons were better than others, but never a start to the season this dry and warm. I’ve been thinking this is a first. Not so.

In December 1976, things were so bad at ski resorts in Colorado prayer services were being held for snow - daily. Locals in Steamboat headed to mid-mountain, shook snow off the trees onto plastic sheets and moved it to pack the runs. With only 29 inches of snow by early January 1977, the airlines cancelled the winter flights, lodging reservations were cancelled, and Colorado’s state senator was requesting emergency funding from President Ford. 

The Steamboat Ski Area closed that year on February 13. Hundreds of people were out of work. The closure and prior visitor cancellations had a huge impact on the entire town. When enough snow arrived to reopen in early March, even the schools closed to allow students and teachers to ski on what they dubbed “Steamboat Day.”

That 1976-1977 season was the impetus that eventually resulted in Colorado ski areas investing in snowmaking. Snowmaking allows for more consistent early season openings and a consistent base for later in the spring when warmer days begin to melt the snowpack.  

Clearly, this season, although the runs are few, snowmaking has provided the means for the area to open and remain so. The Wild Blue Gondola moves skiers to and from the colder and snowier south summit, avoiding the snowless lower slopes. 

We’ve come a long way since 1977. In both snowmaking and a fancy new gondola there’s a bit of an insurance policy, and with the generosity of this community, people out of work or working limited hours can get some help from LiftUp. 

In the face of our current snowless season, it feels encouraging to remember that we always have abundant years too. It is heartening to look at the story of the ‘76-’77 snow crisis and see how the locals pulled together and overcame the challenge. 

But I also can’t help wondering if these low-snow years will come more frequently than in the past. Something to think about.


Learn More/Source
Steamboat Pilot: Life Before Snowmaking

​Sam Berns’ 2013 TedX Talk, “My Philosophy for a Happy Life,” is on my mind for many reasons.

He was 17 when he spoke, and he lit up the stage with his humor, enthusiasm, descriptions of his challenges, and his approaches to those challenges. Some slices of his life he shared via pictures: he and his closest “goofball” friends, he and his supportive family, a video of him performing with his high school marching band on his specially engineered snare drum, and a snippet of the HBO documentary about him, “Life According to Sam.” 

Sam had a rare genetic disorder called progeria: 
Progeria (pro-JEER-e-uh), also known as Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome, is an extremely rare, progressive genetic disorder that causes children to age rapidly, starting in their first two years of life. Children with progeria generally appear normal at birth. (Mayo Clinic, Feb 1, 2018)

What is remarkable about Sam is not that he had this condition, but how he chose to live his life. In his TedX talk, his approach to a happy life is a description of  how to live life fully, and realistically. Fully because he whole-heartedly pursued his interests and deeply appreciated the friends and family who loved and supported him, realistically because he shared that he sometimes had bad days, and his strategy to move through those difficult times. 

What his talk elicited in me wasn’t so much count-my-blessings-that-I-do-not-have-to-cope-with- progeria-in-my-own-life, but rather the feeling of rising to a challenge. In some ways, Sam handed over the playbook of what to do when life throws this or that at you, how to keep marching towards the end zone, staying in the game because you keep playing, because you keep overcoming, because you are clear about what is meaningful in your life and you have the vision that you can do what you set out to do.

Sam Berns’ Philosophy of a Happy Life:

1. Be Ok with what you ultimately can’t do, because there is so much you CAN do.
2. Surround yourself with people you want to be around.
3. Keep moving forward.
4. Never miss a party if you can help it.

Watch the TedX Talk: Sam Berns - My Philosophy for a Happy Life


Originally published April, 2023