....out of sorts

Yogis,
It all began with a tree limb. Or maybe that was just what got my attention. My car was packed and ready to leave for vacation when a torrential rainstorm threw a small limb on top, causing the back top spoiler to dangle by a wire and leaving dents on the door and roof. It is now three weeks later and I am still driving around in a rental vehicle with an unpleasant smell that drives like a boat.

Next, I was stung by a small bee on the bottom of my toe. No big deal. I get stung at least once a year. I remove the stinger and immediately make a spit poultice of plantain, a weed that grows in most lawns, and put it on to help speed healing. I know the drill……the next morning the whole toe will be slightly swollen and itchy but all will resolve in a couple days. Twenty-four hours later I take off my sandal and notice a small blister. Within two hours it swelled to size of my toe, filled with fluid, sticking up from the top of my foot by about an inch. 

For the next week I can’t put on any shoes other than my minimalist sandals with one thin band across. No running. Yoga practiced and taught without ever touching the top of my foot to the ground. Sleeping with my legs crossed to avoid contact. Everyone who sees it says they have never seen anything like it! My dermatologist assures me that my instinct to leave it alone is the best approach. Blisters create nature’s perfect healing environment. But OMG!

In the meantime I get a call from the realtor that the AC at the beach house is broken. I schedule a first available appointment for 3 days later only to get a call from a tech the morning of the visit asking me what’s up. What’s up?? He had never been to the house and was heading there to diagnose, not fix.  Confusion ensued while renters dealt with window units going in and coming out. Problem fixed. Two hours later…..not fixed. 

Then I begin to cough and proceed to lose my voice. 

We all have times like this. When everything is a challenge and life appears to be working against us. One thing after another after another. It’s so easy to become overwhelmed. To complain. To get upset. To want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head. 

I feel out of sorts. This is where the practice is the most useful. 

Life has a rhythm. A flow. When you are in it, life is incredible! But at times you feel like you got flipped over and are now struggling upstream and getting water up your nose. This is how I am feeling, so as I sit silently to meditate I have been asking to be realigned with the flow. Opening myself to reconnect with life’s hum. Visualizing these current obstacles floating by as I ride the current. And then knowing without a doubt, that they will. 

Meditation, along with yoga and breathwork, are tools we acquire and learn to use for our life’s toolbox. We must use them every day though, especially when life is good and they don’t seem necessary, because otherwise they get rusty. Then when life requires them, you whip them out and make even the most challenging of times contain an inner sense of joy, peace and calm. And humor, of course……

I will admit that on Saturday I did crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head for a bit.

Sharpening the blade,
SARAH