Cyndy Noel - Courageous Hearts

ENDORSEMENTS

The love and courage that are at the heart of being human shine through this moving tale of a couples journey with Alzheimers. Cyndy discovers that her mindfulness practice is a valuable tool for navigating unfamiliar and unpredictable terrain which brings a heroic and life affirming dimension to caring for her husband. Courageous Hearts is a wonderful book for those who practice mindfulness as well as for anyone challenged by Alzheimers.

Anna Douglas, Ph.D.

One of the founding teachers of Spirit Rock

Courageous Hearts is a must read for anyone who is struggling to fix a disease that has no cure. Life will transform us. Its part of our souls journey. Courageous Hearts gives us a peek as to how that process occurred in the lives of two people brought closer together because of dementia. Thank you Cyndy, for sharing your transformation with all of us.

Kent Mathews, MSW, Lead Care Manager, Family Caregiver Support Center

Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments

Area Agency on Aging

Courageous Hearts: A Journey through Alzheimers is a powerful memoir of the truth of enduring love that meets and embraces pain with wisdom and an open heart. This book will be very helpful for caregivers who serve people living with memory loss.

Bob Stahl, Ph.D. Co-author of A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook (1 st & 2 nd editions), Living with Your Heart Wide Open , Calming the Rush of Panic , A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook for Anxiety , and MBSR Every Day .

Where scientists and clinicians often focus solely on stress and coping related to the weighty tasks of caregiving, what Cyndy describes focuses the reader on the care partners growth opportunities. This sad, funny, and engaging story of challenges, both big and small, invites us to stay mindful of our strengths, even in tragic circumstances.

Sara Honn Qualls, Ph.D., ABPP

Director, Gerontology Center,
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

Courageous Hearts is a powerful guidebook, in which Cyndy offers timeless wisdom for how difficult situations and perceived obstacles can lead to personal growth and insight. In doing that, she shares a deeply touching story about navigating her husbands Alzheimers with mindfulness and compassion. I believe this book has a gem to offer everyone seeking more courage in meeting the unknown, as well as specific and direct encouragement for anyone in the role of caregiving or being with a loved one suffering from Alzheimers.

Deborah Eden Tull, Founder of Mindful Living Revolution

Author of Relational Mindfulness: A Handbook for Deepening Our Relationship with Ourselves, Each Other, and Our Planet (Wisdom, 2018).

In life there is change all around us, yet Alzheimers disease seems to be a crash course in impermanence. Each person must find their own way as a caregiver. In Courageous Hearts , Cyndy shines a light on ways to make this journey clearer to traverse. Instead of reacting, she found ways to respond to what was occurring. Instead of hiding in fear, she found ways to summon her courage. Her honesty and vulnerability reach out to the reader and take their hand, helping them understand what is happening and giving them permission to feel their emotions and grieve. In doing so, their ability to be present is strengthened, which supports them in learning to let love to lead the way.

This book is a beacon whether you are at the beginning of this journey or recovering from it.

Megan Carnarius RN NHA LMT, Author of A Deeper Perspective on Alzheimers and Other Dementias: Practical Tools with Spiritual Insights (Findhorn Press, 2015).

Copyright 2022 by Cyndy Noel

Courageous Hearts

A Journey Through Alzheimers

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be used or reproduced, transmitted, stored or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks or information storage and retrieval systems, or in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher.

Obstacles and Spiral reprinted with permission from Robin Izer

Clearing reprinted with permission from Martha Postlewaite.

Ron reprinted with permission from John McGill.

Cover Art by Ron Noel

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SAN # 991-6032

A Library of Congress Control Number has been requested and is pending.

ISBN: 978-1-955272-06-3

eISBN: 978-1-955272-05-6

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Contents

Dedicated to those whose lives
have been touched by Alzheimers Disease.

As the director of Mindfulness Education at UCLAs Mindful Awareness Research Center, I have been immersed in mindfulness practice, research, and education since the 1990s.

I met Cyndy Noel when she participated in the Training in Mindfulness Facilitation at UCLA in 2015. This yearlong program trains facilitators to teach mindfulness to others. Participants come with a wide range of backgrounds, many working within the healthcare, education, mental health, or corporate spheres. Others come with personal visionswanting to bring mindfulness to, for example, neglected children, refugees, underserved populations, or communities that dovetail with aspects of their lives.

I remember my initial meeting with Cyndy where she talked about her husband who had Alzheimers, how mindfulness had significantly helped her care for her husband, and her vision to share mindfulness with others in her situation. It was a beautiful vision that I wholeheartedly endorsed. Little did I know that many years later it would become this wonderful book you are holding in your hands.

Over many decades I have observed mindfulness move from the margins to mainstream culture. While once a fringe practice in the West (although rooted in ancient meditative traditions of the East), it is now widely accepted as a helpful educational and clinical tool for stress reduction, pain management, emotional regulation, and the cultivation of positive mental states. Cyndy includes those aspects of mindfulness, in writing about the value it provided to her while she was caring for her husband.

The scientific literature and body of research around mindfulness is promising, but still very young. There is much to study, and we are likely just at the beginning of understanding the impact of mindfulness and how it relates to the wide-ranging situations that occur in life.

Periodically, I am asked, Can mindfulness help with dementia, Alzheimers, or cognitive decline? The research in this area is limited, although promising. Studies have found that mindfulness may affect a broad range of measures in this population, including a reduction of cognitive decline, reduction in perceived stress, and an increase in quality of life, though there is a need for further research in this area, as well.

Perhaps more relevant here, mindfulness is helpful for the caregiver. Research has looked at the positive implications for those caring for people with Alzheimers as well as caregiving for a variety of diseases and conditions. Those studies also point to reduction in perceived stress, improved quality of life, improved mood regulation, and, in these cases, a decrease in the care-burden. Again, the research is very young!