Barbara Salsberg Mathews is a lifelong creator and artist who has always had a passion for visual and theatre arts, music, and dancing. As a teenager, she wrote and illustrated two children’s books before studying mime and improvisation in Paris, France and becoming a professional mime performer. Her career also included teaching art and drama at the high school level.
The skills she mastered as an artist and teacher would become instrumental in helping her cope with an unexpected life challenge. Over the course of a year and a half, Barbara asked her doctor three times for help with her weakened former dominant arm and shaky hand. The first time she was told she was just aging, the second that it was a pinched nerve or an essential tremor, and the third and final time that it was Parkinson’s disease (PD).
She describes the news feeling like “a punch in the gut.” Once she was alone with her husband, she broke down and cried. Barbara had to re-write her future in light of her diagnosis, and it took some time to accept her new reality. For two years, she stopped doing a lot of the things that previously brought her joy, such as painting and drawing, because Parkinson’s impacted her dominant right arm and hand. Barbara also found it difficult to walk due to her right foot going numb.
However, this withdrawal from her favourite activities meant that she lost her “happy places,” so Barbara found workarounds to be able to continue doing her art – for example, instead of painting huge canvases because of her weak arm, she switched to a smaller canvas that she could rest on her lap while painting. Barbara also got a fold-out artist’s stick to support her arm and stabilize her shaky hand. Because PD has changed her energy levels, Barbara opts to paint in half-hour spurts instead of hours like she used to. Even her art style has adapted to her needs.
She also created a method to help override her numb foot so she could resume regularly walking.
Barbara says she parks her attention on harvesting joy. One way she does this is through a regular meditation practice, which helps her relax and sharpen her focus. This attitude began when she worked with a bully many years ago. Barbara found her anxiety growing as anticipated crossing this person’s path. She realized her thinking was ruining her day and opted instead to notice the beautiful autumn leaves falling all around her. As the seasons marched on, she continued to look for beauty everywhere.
Making art also feels meditative for Barbara. She completely focuses on capturing the details of the subject she is painting, and the rest of the world seems to fall away. Art also helps Barbara to stop feeling sorry for herself and instead, live life fully in the here and now.
Her two recent books, What Parkinson’s Feels Like -and- Harvesting Joy: Things people with Parkinson’s do to be at our best, share others’ experiences and ideas alongside her beautiful illustrations. In these books, Barbara shines the light on her PD brothers and sisters, highlighting their wisdom through her art. In doing so, she learns from them and enriches her own life. You can download a free copy of Harvesting Joy by clicking here.
After reading about a man with Parkinson’s who retrained his body to walk normally again by slowing down and paying attention, Barbara became inspired to apply mime techniques to her PD symptoms. She was able to train her face and hands to “wake up,” improve her gait and balance, and increase her range and fluidity of movement. And thus, Mime Over Mind was born, a project that uses mime as a therapeutic tool for PD symptom management.
After receiving a CARE Fund Grant from Parkinson Canada, Barbara created a series of free, self-study therapeutic mime videos for people with PD, available on her website, http://MimeOverMind.com/videos with lesson handouts, and also on her YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mimeovermind.
Mime techniques are fun, easy to learn, highly customizable, require no specialized equipment, and can be performed anywhere and at any time. Mime may help retrain the brain by using fine and large motor skills, imagery, and motor memory. Repetition and mindfulness are used in creating mime illusions.
Parkinson Society BC is pleased to announce that Mime Over Mind classes will be offered virtually through the Society again in 2027! We hope you’ll join us Mondays starting January 18 until March 1 from 2:30 – 3:30pm PCT for some laughter, creativity, and connection!