3 Recent Ponderings
1. Pain arrived as an Invitation to Wonder and Wander last week
It consumed my awareness. Focusing my mind on the concept of time. I gathered some of my family to explore the time constructs taught in vedic astrology. Yes, they too were surprised at this topic. It is one of my favorites.
The rhythm of pain was haltingly catching my breath. I would gasp. Then grasp for a meaning or some guidance, but my lungs quickly inhaled before any logic or insight could arise.
I found the Sanskrit word ‘ritam’ for ‘rhythm’, made this easier to understand.
Ritam is the immutable exceptionless law of nature that regulates all other functions of nature, in my case, the aspect of pain sensations connected to my breath.
According to the ancients, Ritam is of the divine will that is unalterable. A law, which at a certain point, states that where our exhalation ends is where our world comes to an end and that is where our inhalation begins. Medically this makes sense to me. No breath, no life, no me. Yeah, that works for me.
So, there is a pre-established behavioral law that governs the inhalation and exhalation for every species and every person. [A very broad topic that I am now quickly escaping from…] We all have our own pre-set breathing behavior that once disturbed causes disease, illness, mood swings, etc., such as my atrial fibrillation, irritability and more immediately…PAIN!
Ignoring for the moment, other rhythms/ritams affecting the function of my organs, metabolism, mind, and personality, I found breathing to be a valid gateway for certain levels of pain management.
There is a breathing (pranic) rhythm that has been assigned to us [This is my subtle reference to vedic astrology.] that makes us stingy, selfish. These make us so special, creating our unique disposition. Within this stinginess, there are some windows to give us options to be less stingy. All of this is in the breath. If a person suddenly changes their behavior, it means their breathing pattern has changed. I notice my sleeping granddaughters’ breath changes before they wake up.
2. Taking Time to Breathe
Pain triggered ideas of my mortality, which led me to wonder how I am spending my time. Some folks waste time, kill time, take time, get lost in time, manage time – the possibilities are endless. I choose to wander down the avenues of time that my bone pain highlighted. Relief was not easy to find nor easy to maintain.
There were alleys of sensations – mainly unpleasant ones. Others of quietude that would manifest and then submerge without warning. Puddles hiding sharp pain pricks and soft mudpuddles that soothed those cuts. Overall pleasant moments and painful ones washed over me with playful abandon. Realities that harbored no malice, it was just what that moment of time brought. Taking time to breathe, meant gaining some control.
3. It is not nice to fool Mother Nature, it is also a really bad idea
By leaning on Ritam as one of the laws of nature, then if I am no longer living in conformity with the laws of nature, I suffer. Yep! I do.
This is my hypothesis that my life-long mindbody laboratory has validated over 60 years.
Over the years I stopped bombarding my taste buds with stale, artificial, unhealthy food. I studied and imitated sleep patterns as regulated by nature’s forces, along with nature’s demonstrations of exercising, breathing, and resting patterns — found in parks, shopping malls and zoos. Even though modern life says we have conquered nature with pills and machines, I found great insights in the out-of-doors. This fortnight of pain has shown improvement with an exploratory blend of modern clinical magic and learning to live in conformity with nature. Yes, I take my pain meds, but I also intentionally breathe.
Love,
Terri and Blair
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Fear is selfish.
Courage is selfless.