Being in pain sucks (for lack of a better word). As I am typing this, my butt bone hurts from when I fell yesterday down the steps, my stomach is screaming in pain because… well… I am not really sure why, my ankles hurt because… well… not sure why either. POINT IS, all I want to do is mope. Lie in bed and whine to the world about how I was so close to being fully healed from my endless injuries and now; there’s more.
So, I decided to try something new. Something so simple you’re gonna wish you thought of it. Well, you might have but that’s really not the point…. You ready for this? BREATHE. I know I know, shocker. Aren’t yogis always supposed to remember to breathe? Isn’t breathing part of being alive? To the former, yogis are humans too and to the latter I do not mean normal breathing. I mean DEEP breathing. It seems that when we are in pain, we tense. I guess it’s part of our survival instincts. Our breath becomes shallow and all we can think about is stopping the pain.
Thing is, in this current moment there is nothing I can do to ease this pain. I do not want to take pain meds (I try to avoid those as often as I can – resorting to medication only when truly necessary) and I know my stomach will stop hurting in a while. All I really can do is accept. Clearly, this is the perfect opportunity to BREATHE. To let oxygen purify my body. Breathing helps to accept the pain. This is, in my honest opinion, a lot better than staying tense. Long periods of tenseness create stressful energy and headaches. Taking deep breaths might be scary when all you want to do is focus on your injury but you’ll be surprised and how much faster the pain subsides if you just breathe. Let your body melt. Let the earth hug you as you accept what is in this very moment.
And now, a few paragraphs down, and some good inhales and exhales later, my tummy no longer hurts. And I know that my other little pains will go away on its own too. Hm funny how that works….
Namaste.
April 11th, 2011 at 12:48 am
OUCH! Falling down the stairs can be really painful! Good job for stopping and breathing and not letting your self talk snowball out of control! Deep breathing is SO healthy and makes a huge difference. I hope healing goes quickly!
April 11th, 2011 at 11:21 am
Oh yeah. Sometimes that breathing part is a tough one. I have a chronic condition that comes with a lot of pain. When I fight against the pain instead of breathing into it, I feel so much worse. But even that knowledge isn't always enough to get me to actually do it. I hope you feel better soon!
April 11th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Oh, no! I'm sorry you are in so much pain and I hope you are feeling better soon! But kudos for not just popping a pill. I always insist that pain is my body telling me something is wrong, and I don't want to just numb the warning signs but I want to fix the problem. Breathing is such a simple but powerful tool!
April 11th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
how's it feeling today?im right with you on "meds"
April 12th, 2011 at 12:42 am
Hope it gets better soon, Teeg – and you're right, breathing instead of tensing or medicating is always a better bet!
April 12th, 2011 at 1:30 am
Breathing helps…but so does an ice pack for a sore butt! Feel better soon!
April 12th, 2011 at 2:14 am
It's so true about what a deep breath can do! I have also had to learn that. Hope you are feeling much better – you are one dedicated YIOM blogger!!
April 12th, 2011 at 2:18 am
Pain is animal but sitting with it can really be a learning experience. Peace!
April 12th, 2011 at 9:38 pm
Urgh sorry you're dealing with pain :/I tend to be the one who falls up the stairs…