Last Fall, as I sat on my desk, I felt a sharp pain move from my right hip to my leg. It was an excruciating pain I have never felt before. I treated myself with a dose of Advil, Epson bath salt and the pain slowly went away after 10 days.
Six weeks later the same thing happened. This time, the pain was from my left hip that soon traveled and penetrated my entire lower back. The pain was throbbing, decapitating and unforgiving. I could not sit and I walked slowly hunchbacked like an old person as the pain called my name at my every move.
That same weekend, I was supposed to be in a 20 hour yoga teacher training. Given my situation, I doubted my level of participation. I went anyway… and I was glad I did.
The instructor led a 20 minute guided meditation everyday of that weekend. The pain progressively calmed down every day. By Sunday morning, I was doing head stands!
I reflected on what had happened and came to this insight: sure, the pain was physical, but the cause was mental. At both instances, I had allowed myself to ruminate on unpleasant events from work. I was unaware that those thoughts ran like a broken record in my mind, every bit of their negativity being absorbed by my physical body. Meditation was the exact antidote. During meditation, I imagined every inhale fill me with self-kindness and every exhale was a letting go of what did not serve me. Twenty minutes of this simple exercise healed me in big ways!
Here are 3 simple ways to cope with daily stressors:
Let go! Treat every end of the day as a letting go moment. Do not take your day’s drama to bed. Hit the reset button. Tomorrow is a new day.
Be kind to yourself. Be aware when ruminating negative and defensive thoughts run in your mind like a broken record. Practicing a daily mindful awareness exercise like meditation and yoga helps a lot.
Nurture good thoughts. Our life is shaped by how our mind thinks.
Let go! Hit the reset button. Tomorrow is a new day.
“Hard it is to train the mind, which goes where it likes and does what it wants. But a trained mind brings health and happiness.” – The Dhammapada
What has your experience been?