Broken Ribs...

Really bad luck and bad timing. But, accidents happen, and the best thing is to try to accept it and do the best of it. I´ll be going on a yoga holiday soon, and I guess I won´t be able to do much yoga for the next 4 weeks or something. And in the begining of August, Dena Kingsberg is coming to Stockholm, but hopefully I will have healed sufficiently by then to be able to do atleast a modified practice.

So, what has happened? I was invited yesterday by my brother in law to go "Segwaying". It´s a kind of vehicle that goes forward when you lean forward, and stops when you lean back. It looks very peaceful and easy. All was going well until we were supposed do go downhill a quite steep gravel slope. Somehow my segway got a backspinn or something, and the next thing I knew I was falling over it in full speed. I landed right on the wheel with my rib cage. I´m glad I had a helmet, or I would have had a cuncussion as well! My first thought was that I had broken my ribs. Then everyone was saying (denial I guess), that I was probably just bruised. So, we went back , and then we went for dinner. All the time the pain was getting worse and worse. On my way back home, I decided to go to the hospital to check it out.

Well, after four looooong hours at the emergency, I finaly got to see a doctor who said that I most probably have fractured ribs. Healing time 4-8 weeks. Nothing to do but take pain killers. Lots of them! I am taking three kinds, three times a day (poor liver)! He said that it was important to manage the pain. I looked it up on the net, and it says that it´s important to be able to breath in deeply so that the lungs can heal probably. Otherwise there is a greater risk for lung infection. Good thing I know how to do pranayama! The pain is really bad when I inhale deeply, and whenever I move! I also have pain in my neck. Hopefully that will go away soon. Hope it´s not whiplash or anything, but that it´s just pain from the muslces straining in the fall. The pain is said to get worse the coming days, and then it will subside slowly.

I won´t be doing any yoga for the next weeks. Too painful to just move! I don´t know how soon I can start doing asanas again. I do beleive it´s good to not be completly still when injured, but still take it easy. Anyone have any experience of this? I´d be glad for some advice.

A Time To Reflect

The summer holiday is a perfect time to stop, a space inbetween, a time to reflect and think about what has been acomplished during the year, and what you wish to acomplish for the second half of the year. I beleive that you need time away from your everyday activities to to get this room in time and space to see yourself clearer.

Here are some questions that I will be asking myself this summer. The best thing is to write them down. It becomes more powerful then, because you then have to be more specific than if you just answer the questions in your head.

1) What do I already have to be greatful for?
2) What are my hopes and dreams for the rest of the year?
3) Are there any obstacles that are in the way of acheiving these goals?
4) What can I do to remove these obstacles?

I beleive that one of the greatest obstacles for most people is fear. It is a habitual way of thinking that is deaply rooted in our minds. A great way of overcoming fear is to visualize. Take a situation that you wish to acheive, but where there is fear in the way (ex: talking in front of other people, traveling on your own, changing jobs, expressing feelings, leaving a bad relationship, creating new habits etc). Imagine yourself in that situation. First feelings of fear are most likely to pop up. Just let them pop up, but don´t hold on to them. Then when things have calmed down, see yourself in the situation that you wish to acheive. Do this every day, and fear will diminish. The hard part is just doing this everyday, creating this new habit. It´s much easier to just go on in our old habits, like watching TV at night, or facebooking or blogging:-) instead! Or perhaps the fear that things can actually change! It´s much safer to just be where you are...

Buddhist Mindfullness- The Video!

Buddhist Mindfulness

I would like to share with you this brilliant speach on Buddhist mindfullness, held by a teacher from the FWBO, the Buddhist Sangha where I practice.

Mindfullness of the small, everyday things.
Mindfullness of the body.
Mindfullness of the positive, negative or neutral feelings of the body.
Mindfullness of the citta (heart/mind), or the stories that we tell our selves.
Mindfullness of the Dharma, or bringing the practice into action of what we can do in the now, to change the situation.

Click here: Video