Yoga and Healing

Living with constant pain can be mentally disabling.  For the last 2 months I have been suffering through a mysterious knee injury (and not gracefully I might add).  I say mysterious because I have not real idea of how the injury was caused.  After countless sessions with my chiropractor I finally went to a physiotherapist who diagnosed compressed nerves in lower spine which then manifested itself in extremely tight muscles all along my hip and leg which then seized up my knee area.  After just one IMS (needling) treatment I had some relief; 2 more sessions and some heavy massage on the leg has almost taken the knee pain away.  I have a tightness in my calf at the moment but otherwise feel pretty darn good.

I’m sure no one really is interested in my injury but the fact remains that while I was suffering such excruciating pain I was unable to think straight.  Consequently I was unable to put my chaotic thoughts down “on paper”.  My point being that good health is not to be sniffed at.  Whether one is in physical pain, mental anguish or simply feeling sluggish good health suddenly becomes the be all and end all of the day.  We are approaching the time of year when Resolutions are looming for many of us.  Let me point out that making a resolution for good health, exercise, proper eating and mental stimulation should become the norm of your life, not a resolution to maybe succeed in.  I’ve said it before and I will say it again, I believe that yoga is probably the best exercise anyone can do for themselves forever.  Being flexible is vital to anything else one may wish to do.  In moderation and as soon as you can possibly start, I say go for it.

I truly believe that yoga is the exercise that has helped me get fitter in other areas.  When I practice I feel more tranquil in my mind, I crave more water and less garbage in my diet, and my body feels almost as though it is singing in bliss.  After my yoga practice I can step on the treadmill feeling loose and ready for something a little more vigorous.  Or I can sit down with a cup of green tea and write a Haiku with serenity.

The nice thing about yoga is that it costs nothing to practice, except time and mental attitude.

Good health should never be taken for granted, and it’s particularly important as we approach our Act 3 (Jane Fonda’s word for senior years).  Stay healthy my friends, seek it, heal yourself, and be safe! 

Yoga, Jogging and Exercise

I don’t know if my family and friends really believe me when I quote my various health practitioners’ surprising appraisal of my various body parts but this body of mine is kind of a miracle. Despite the decrepitude of 50 some odd years I get comments like this one from my new physiotherapist “your flexibility is remarkable, much better than mine” (she’s 27). My optometrist was impressed by the perfect symmetry of my eyes which he said he had never seen before, it is so rare. For years my G.P. was impressed with my perfect reflexes, my “text book perfect blood pressure” and the lowest cholesterol level he had ever seen. My manicurist said I had amazingly smooth feet. And yet, my body is falling apart. I have a pinched sciatica nerve that is not going away any time soon. I hobble out of the car or bus like a woman of 95 (and I’m being cruel to the 95 year old women out there). Despite all my down dogs and sun salutations I have not been able to keep age at bay.

I’ve read a lot of useful information about keeping my brain nimble. I do crossword puzzles (in pen), I Sudoku my little heart out at least once a day. I surround myself with friends of all age groups. I read, I write, I do arithmetic problems. I have even thought of taking up nuclear physics (my brother John raised his eyebrows at that one). Well, that might be a bit extreme but I have started reading more horticulture books. The point being, I have been concentrating on keeping Alzheimer’s a remote possibility and thus neglected a little thing called sciatica. I thought my nearly daily walks, my yoga (twice on weekends), the occasional dumbbell lift and my sit-ups would be adequate to keep this miracle body in shape. Imagine the shock of being told that I had osteoporosis. How much osteoporosis, I asked, is it just the beginning stages? “no, you have full blown osteoporosis.” Before I could actually reel from the shock I got the second blow. “You also have high blood pressure”. How could that be? I’ve always had text book perfect blood pressure. My nemesis flashed through my mind, of course, that’s the problem. Too much stress at work. The doctor wanted me to go on pills but I resisted valiantly. He gave me some papers to read which I did read, cautiously because medical jargon is not my thing. Not that I don’t understand it. I understand it all too well. I ventured to read the papers and then I made the fatal mistake of pulling out my own medical book and reading about high blood pressure. I took to my bed and called my mother.

“Mum, did you know blood pressure can kill you?”

“What did the doctor tell you?” my mother is ever practical.

“He said I should cut back on my salt intake and exercise, lose some weight.”

“What have you been eating lately?”

“Nothing much, just soup and sandwiches.”

“Check out your soup, it’s loaded with salt.”

Soup is killing me? I rose from my death bed to look at my soup cans. I was stunned by the amount of salt in prepared soups. I realized that I had been eating soup nearly every day during the winter months. So I cut out all prepared foods, including soups and three months later I had my blood pressure checked and I was back within normal range.

The moral of the story, when we are looking at the big picture the little things can creep up and can kill you!