Your Health is Your Choice with Sara Troy and her guest Adam Stanecki, on air from July 11th
I believe that the breath is the foundation of all health and wellness. It is the most fundamental aspect of our being. And yet it is often overlooked. I am on a mission to remind people that they can positively impact their health, wellness, and performance through breath practice. Breathe practice has been a part of the human experience for thousands of years and it is time to reconnect and harness the power of the breath.
My name is Adam Stanecki. I’m known as The Breath Geek. As a child, I struggled with severe asthma, which I managed to eliminate with my own breath practice. I have been interested in the breath for my whole life. Learning how to breathe correctly literally changed my life. I am a Certified Instructor with Buteyko Clinic International, an Advanced Instructor in The Oxygen Advantage, and a trained breathwork practitioner and psychotherapist. I teach the Buteyko Breathing Method to adults, teens, and children to naturally treat asthma, allergies, anxiety, and more. I also coach individuals, corporations and sports teams to perform better with functional breathing.
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Their Story Matters with Sara Troy and her guest Ruth Smith, on air from July 25th
I was born with water in my veins – or so it seems.
As a child I often wished that gills had been standard issue for humans. Water and I have always had an inseparable connection. For forty-two years, teaching and coaching of swimming in pools in Australia and overseas has been my genius.
At 14 I became an active Australian Surf Life Saving Club member and the first professional female Beach Inspector in New South Wales. My professional and volunteer hours were…wet. In my early career in the disability-care field I was fortunate to be introduced to hydroptherapy, The Halliwick Method and numerous influential mentors.
Water is my ‘impact vehicle’, the medium through which I facilitate the transformation of lives, especially when children with intellectual or physical challenges are added to the mix.
As National winner of the 2022 Australian ‘Teacher of Aquatics – Access & Inclusion’ award my work leading the Aquatic Therapy industry in Australia has been recognised by our national peak body.
Put simply it’s a water-based healing modality that utilises specialised equipment and techniques to enhance students’ proprioception, motor planning, self-regulation, fine and gross motor skills, cognitive focus, muscle tone, communication and co-ordination. Water safety and propulsion is a common therapeutic goal.
I’m inspired working with ‘neuro-diverse’ and physically challenged youngsters. It’s a soul-driven mission that I can’t explain. Simply, it’s a privilege from which I derive inexplicable and immeasurable satisfaction and sense of self-worth.
My legacy is to remain at the cutting edge, develop both research and university-level post graduate courses and continue the development of the next generation of aquatic professionals.
While ever I’m physically capable I’ll continue to have water logged skin and smell like a chlorine advertisement. Working with this challenged cohort is often like looking into another’s soul. At other times it’s like they have allowed me to cross over their threshold and am invited into their world. Maybe only fleeting at times, but it is there I have my greatest impact.
My WHY.
This if two fold.
Aquatic therapy – using the magical medium of water to work with students 1:1 with challenging behaviours which precludes them from participating in the traditional group swim class. For example, cerebral palsy, downs syndrome, autism, non verbal, hearing impaired, other rare conditions. AT uses the water to developed proprioception, motor planning skills, fine and gross motor skills, focus, pro social behaviours, co-ordination, etc. AT uses specialist equipment and has a multidisciplinary approach.
Around the world there is an increase of students with challenging behaviours into our traditional swimming lessons. Our teachers here in Australia are not well prepared for this neurodiversity within their lessons. I am concerned that we may lose more teachers from this industry if we don’t have them feeling empowered, confident and competent to work with this population. I, with my colleague Lyn, we are Aquatic Mentors and we are setting about providing training and support to swim school operators and their staff around this very subject.
It all started at Uni. I was doing Sport Science and was heading to the Australian Institute of Sport where I would be THE person to create the fastest swimmers on the planet. I was always interested in the way the body moved in water. I took an elective which saw me working with a pediatric physio who used the water as her therapy medium. I was hooked. Later in my travelling the world I was fortunate to work with James McMillan in England who developed the Halliwick method of teaching “handicapped” people to move efficiently throu the water. Returning home, another touch point was working with allied health professionals in the transport accident rehab facility – head injury unit. Again, water was used by the physios and OT’s for rehabilitation.
Those years stayed with me as I grew a family. I continued to be involved with teaching, coaching while helping people with disabilities finding employment. I found it easy to be amongst the neurodiverse community and in 2015 I was able to combine by love of the water and my gift of working with students with challenging behaviours in my own swimming centre.
I continued to travel and learn more and more after doing all I could here in Australia. I travelled to the USA and Canada and hope to plan another study tour to the Phillipines where they are doing interesting things in this space as well.
My dream is to have a Centre of Excellence for Aquatic Therapy, a purpose-built pool in Australia where the allied health professions can have rooms for their clients as well. It would be a multidisciplinary approach for clients from around the world all under the one roof. It would also be a place where people can come and train to be aquatic therapists from all around the world.
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Sara’s View of Life with Sara Troy, on air from July 18th
Can you sense my frustration and disappointment, and is it completely understandable? I have been nurturing this dream of creating a book for “Our Forgotten Children” for years, and it’s a noble cause. I have extended invitations to people I’ve interviewed, offering them a chance to participate for free and even promising that the proceeds will go to their charities. Yet, the silence from their end is disheartening. It’s natural to question their lack of response. Are they not interested in the book, the work involved, or is it something to do with me? These doubts can indeed shake one’s confidence and make one question the viability of the dream. I’ve got a publisher lined up, but I need the authors to produce the content. They had expressed interest initially, but now their silence is deafening.
Yes, I’m venting. Yes, I’m confused. And yes, I’m disappointed. But does this mean the end of the book? Or is it just another detour on this journey? Sometimes, it’s necessary to take a step back, reassess the situation, redirect our efforts, or even re-invite potential participants. It’s not easy, but it’s part of the process.
Indeed, we all encounter roadblocks in various aspects of our lives, be it work or daily routines. These challenges often prompt us to question our actions and decisions. Am I doing this right? Should I even be doing this at all? For me, the book is the right path, but I’m left wondering if I’ve invited the right people. Wearing all the hats can be overwhelming, especially when you’re passionate about the cause. This project is a fundraiser for organizations that serve our children, and while I can’t afford to pay anyone, I wish I could find someone who shares this passion and would love to embark on this journey with me. I have a publisher lined up, and to cover her costs, I’ll be organizing a fundraiser. It’s a lot to manage, but I believe in the cause and the impact this book can have.
So it leaves me with the option to invite different people to embark on this journey, both as the author and someone who wishes to help me by wearing a hat that is wobblily on my heard, yet fits them perfectly.
I will take a few days to ponder, and then, reach out to some new people working with children and see where it goes. Thats is what we have to do, right! pivot how ever frustrating it can be, go with the flow.
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On September 18th 2015, I had the biggest life changing event happen to me and my family to date. I lost not only my best friend and fiancé, the man my children saw as Dad, I lost my future. I was forced to not only say goodbye to the man I loved but to be the one to give the official words to turn off the life support machines keeping him alive.
Once I discovered DNA jewellery and keepsakes I knew this was my purpose in life. To ensure no other families have the same regret of not having something to hold onto after losing someone taken too early. While we focus on loss we also celebrate the good times too.
Every aspect of my business is in memory and honour of Manny, I launched TTA on the anniversary of his passing to celebrate him and how even in his passing, he is supporting our family and is a part of our lives daily. The name coming from a saying he’d repeat over and over that it’s how long he’d love me and until he took his last breath, he kept that promise and now I live everyday keeping up my end.
Unlike many other DNA artisans, I ensure I cater for all moments in life, turning all of life’s memories into keepsakes you can hold, I do tend to be more drawn to loss, especially the loss of loved ones because that’s why I started my business.
At the time of Manny’s passing I had no idea this industry existed, my goal now is to never hear another person say “I wish I knew you existed when….” And only hear “thank god I knew” to help families during all stages of life.
Today Tomorrow & Always was officially launched by accredited artisan and mother of four, Allison Ockenden in Manny’s honour – letting him live on in her heart and hands as she crafts each precious and entirely unique keepsake.
Today Tomorrow & Always was created with the vision of helping others celebrate life, love and loss. Cherishing births, relationships and marriages as well as commemorating the life of lost loved ones by creating memories you can hold and admire.
Allison’s goal is to create a priceless mementos to represent any memory you have from times throughout your life, because life holds so many precious moments that deserve to be re lived again and again.
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Their Story Matters with Sara Troy and her guest Mindy Scheirer, on air from July 18th
Before starting the Runway of Dreams Foundation in 2014, Mindy spent 20 years working in fashion as a designer for the INC collection and as a stylist for Saks Fifth Avenue. Mindy was inspired to start Runway of Dreams after her son Oliver, who has Muscular Dystrophy, dreamed of wearing jeans like everyone else. After using her design skills to adapt jeans that met his needs and increased his confidence, she went on to conduct extensive research as to the modifications required to mainstream clothing to meet the needs of the largest minority in our world- people with disabilities.
In 2016, Mindy partnered with Tommy Hilfiger to make fashion history creating the first mainstream adaptive clothing line in the market. Runway of Dreams was founded on the basis that clothing is a basic human need. The foundation develops, delivers, and supports initiatives providing a platform to broaden the reach of mainstream adaptive clothing and promote people with disabilities (PWDs) in the fashion industry. The 2022, the Runway of Dreams fashion show was recognized as one of the top seven NYFW shows by Forbes, highlighting the latest designs from the Adaptive category featuring brands such as Kohl’s, Target, JCPenney, Zappos.com and Tommy Hilfiger.
Due to the overwhelming amount of requests Mindy received at Runway of Dreams from a multitude of brands and industries for connection to PWDs, in 2019, Mindy created GAMUT Management. GAMUT is a trailblazing consulting and talent management company that represents people with disabilities (PWDs), across the fashion, lifestyle, and entertainment industries.
GAMUT exists to lead brand’s towards doing better, more inclusive business, helping to engage with, and develop new products for PWDs. GAMUT works with a diverse range of clients including Adidas, Victoria’s Secret, Footlocker, Kohls & QVC. disabilities.
Mindy has been featured in ?Newsweek’s ? “The Creative Class of 2019: Innovators,” and ?People magazine’s “Heroes Among Us: Making the Fashion Industry More Inclusive”. She has also been featured in USA Today, Parents Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vogue Business, WWD, NBC’s Today, ABC’s Good Morning America & The View, Access, CNBC, Forbes, and Fox News Channel.
An inspiring ?TED ?Talk speaker, Mindy has received numerous awards including Arc’s Catalyst Award for “Marketing Influencer of the Year”, Citrin Cooperman’s “Women at the Wheel Leadership Excellence Award”, the Association of Image Consultants “International Bravo Award” and Enable Inc.’s “Michael Graves Award for Creativity and Persistence”. Mindy has also been given the honor of ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange in recognition for her innovative work in the Adaptive space towards raising awareness and driving change for people with disabilities.
Mindy studied Fashion Design with a dual program at the University of Vermont and Fashion Institute of Technology.
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