Why Do We Want to Heal Ourselves from Sickness?
“How Worrying Affects the Body,” an article from WebMD illustrates how mental sickness creates physical sickness. Hormones become triggers during periods of emotion, and can cause difficulty swallowing, dizziness, dry mouth, fast heartbeat, fatigue, headaches, inability to concentrate, irritability, muscle aches, muscle tension, nausea, nervous energy, rapid breathing, shortness of breathe, sweating, trembling and twitching. The prolong triggering of stress hormones can cause suppression of the immune system, digestive disorders, muscle tension, short-term memory loss, premature coronary artery disease, and heart attack. http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/how-worrying-affects-your-body
When we minimize the stress that we feel in our lives, the doors open up for more positive productive activities that take the place of the time used to worry. These might include fun physical sports, getting involved in charity groups, spending quality time with the family, etc. However, do be aware that you can do to much. On the one side there is holding yourself back. On the other side, there is spreading yourself too thin. I have been know to do this in my own life.
Since beginning yoga, I have been learning to be very careful about how hard I push my body. Getting sick might have been an effect of too much exercise. I know that certain postures can be more strenuous on the body than others. I have heard that when you are sick there are certain sequences of movements that you should avoid all together. At the first sign of sickness, a tickle in my throat, little sniffles, and a cough here and there, I was sure to take notice. I do not do very well when I am sick. Work becomes a struggle to concentrate on the smallest things, food losses its taste, activities I enjoy become too much effort, I can get irritable, and sleep is interrupted by coughs and a plugged up nose. And now, four days after the mucus of throat irritation are starting to leave me, I am very glad that I was patient, and decided not to go to those yoga classes. Think of all the times in life we miss out on because we push ourselves too hard.
This is a great article illustrating how pushing yourself hard physically can get you sick. Caitlin Boyle author of Health Tipping Point and avid athlete, writes about her experience of getting sick after a marathon and several findings that support a need to be careful when doing physically strenuous activities in “Can Exercise Make You Sick.” She finds that without adequate rest days for muscle and immune system recovery, one could face sickness, injury, or even shortening one's life span.
http://www.healthytippingpoint.com/2012/08/can-exercise-make-you-sick.html
“Smile take time, smile to heal, before sickness is what you feel!” :-)
How Do We Heal Ourselves from Sickness?
- Do we let fear get the best of us and turn into stress? Are we always thinking that something will go wrong? Or do we embrace the day, and whatever lies before us with a Love of life? Let's not worry ourselves sick!
- Let go and let God! There is something much great then us all guiding the course of our lives. It is a choice we make to hold on to stress or to let it go. Learning
- mindful meditation,
- practicing yoga, or
- talking to a professional therapist could really help to loosen one's grip on attachments to worry.
- Making conscious choices to be Loving moment by moment, will not give us time to be stressed out. Start by Loving yourself with some
- appropriate exercise,
- healthy eating choices,
- cleaning and organizing.
- Taking responsibility for our decisions based in stress is also very important, because this is when we are most able to let go of our need for controlling situations beyond our control, which is the cause of our stress.
- Be humble, apologize and forgive.
- Be thankful for another chance.
- Do your best to make Loving choices to heal any wounds.
- Let go and let God! There is something much great then us all guiding the course of our lives. It is a choice we make to hold on to stress or to let it go. Learning
- Do we allow ourselves to do things that we know would be good for us? Or do we hold back on taking part in that workshop, learning group, health class, or fitness activity because there is not enough time or money? Let's not be afraid to invest in our health!
- Make a budget of your daily activities and expenses.
- Evaluate the importance of how you spend your time and money.
- Make realistic and healthy decisions.
- Remove anything unhealthy and unnecessary.
- Replace it with something that is good for you.
- Balance healthy good with enjoyment, both are important for long term success.
- Do we take on more than we can handle? Are we ignoring signs like fatigue, coughs, runny nose, soreness, stiffness, lack of ability to focus, etc. because we believe that we are invulnerable? Being vulnerable is a good thing. Vulnerable teaches us to Love life and allows us to be truly creative!
- Making a list like the one mentioned above is a good way to seeing if the things we are bring into our lives are really doing us good. Be as honest as you can with your feelings and how you are responding in terms of physical fatigue. It could be time to cut some things out for the good of our health.
- It can be hard not going to activities and functions, or purchasing something we believe would be for our best health, but that is a hard decision that we have to make at times.
- Is this for our best health? Knowing the difference between what we know is right for us, and what we feel pressured to take part in from peers is a good place for us to start. Sometimes others can be very convincing, but that does mean they know what is right for us. We are the only one who really know what is best for our health, after all it is our body, mind, and communicates directly with us before anyone else.
- Pay attention to the messages that our mind and body are sending when we are at the activity or thinking about the purchase in question. Does it make us feel a sense of rightness, or are we getting a bad feeling in the pit of our stomach? Does it make us want to smile because deep down we know it is good, or does it make us roll over in our sleep with worry?
“Smile take time, smile to heal, before sickness is what you feel!” :-)
How Matsyasana can Help Us Heal Ourselves from Sickness!
We are going to look at Matsyasana or fish pose for this week. When I performed it, I noticed that it really lowered my congestion, which is a big relief, and gives my throat time to heal. According to Yoga Journal, traditional yogic text calls Matsyasana the destroyer of all disease. Yogini Amy Sung tells us that Matsyasana breaks up congestion because of increased circulation as an effect of opening up the throat and lungs. She continues that it also increases the blood flow to the thymus and the spleen, helping white blood cells target infection.
And, when I am recovered from my illness, Matyasana is still a very good asana or posture to practice regularly because it can help me maintain good mobility and posture for when I am traveling to and practicing those healthier activities. Yoga Journal tells us that Matsyasana is also a very good at stretching the hip flexors or the psoas, and improving posture. The psoas is the primary muscle that joins the spine with the legs. A healthy psoas makes a healthy individual that can better endure physical activities. Take a look at this earlier article's section on Baddha Konasana to learn more about the importance of the psoas and hip openers. http://forselflove.weebly.com/blog/-how-to-love-yourself-by-living-simple-and-true
Let's Practice Matsyasana! :-)
CAUTION: Do not practice if you have high or low blood pressure, migraine, insomnia, a serious lower back or neck injury.
Matsyasana can be performed in several different ways depending on experience level and body flexibility for any given day.
- We will look at performing it with either legs straight like in Savasana or corpse pose (learn how to perform and more about the wonderful benefits of Savasana here: http://forselflove.weebly.com/blog/january-10th-2016 ).
- Or you can perform Matsyasana with knees bent like in Vajrasana or Diamond Pose (learn how to perform and the great benefits of Vajrasana here: http://forselflove.weebly.com/blog/-how-to-love-yourself-by-finding-the-diamond-in-the-rough ).
- We will look at performing it with either legs straight like in Savasana or corpse pose (learn how to perform and more about the wonderful benefits of Savasana here: http://forselflove.weebly.com/blog/january-10th-2016 ).
- Laying on the back with either legs pointed straight out or knees bent in Vajrasana, lift your pelvis slightly of the floor, and roll your shoulders so that you feel a slight raise above the floor. You can leave your arms slightly underneath the sides of your torso, or move them under the back and rest your buttock on the backs of your hands.
- With an inhale press your forearms and elbows against the floor while raising you head and torso.
- Lower your head. Depending on the arch of your back, you will touch the back or the crown of your head to the floor. CAUTION: Your neck should not feel crunched. Only allow a minimal amount of weight on the head!
- Hold this pose for as many breathes as you are able to.
- Recommended feel good practice: First, only follow these suggestions if they help you relax more. Remember the goal is relaxation. Simply breathing is enough in many cases, but these might deepen your experience.
- As you breathe try thinking to yourself the following sentence with each breath. “Smile take time!” inhale. “1” exhale. “Smile to heal!” inhale. “2” exhale. “Before sickness” inhale. “3” exhale. “is what you feel!” inhale. “4” exhale. Continue this as long as you would like.
- Smiling will help you relax even more.
- Pay attention to how your body feels right now. Do you feel run down or tense in any way. If so think about the reasons you might feel this way. Are there any changes in your life that you could make to alleviate stress more or heal your body from sickness and/or injury? Yoga asanas or postures like Matsyasana are a very good start, but take some time to evaluate your priorities. Take some away, and/or add some health ones.
- Recommended feel good practice: First, only follow these suggestions if they help you relax more. Remember the goal is relaxation. Simply breathing is enough in many cases, but these might deepen your experience.
- Raise your head slightly and lower your torso to the floor. Place your arms at your sides if they are not already there. Thank your body for carrying you through such a wonderfully healing practice, and your mind for allowing you to practice today. Remember to keep doing your best to heal yourself from sickness and smile! :-)
Here is a great more in depth demonstration of Matsyasana by Yoga Journal, which includes benefits, tips, modifications, props, partnering, and variations. http://www.yogajournal.com/pose/fish-pose/
“3 Simple & Basic Yoga Poses to Fight the Common Cold” by Amy Sung tells us the cold fighting benefits of three very popular and accessible yoga asanas including Matsyasana. http://www.spafinder.com/blog/healing/3-simple-basic-yoga-poses-fight-common-cold/
Do you practice “Healing Yourself from Sickness?” Please share in the comments area here or on Face Book in the "For the Love of Self" discussion area some of the ways you have practiced “Healing Yourself from Sickness” in life. Has it help you get out of difficult circumstances in your life? How has it helped you prevent worse circumstances in your life? Sharing our experiences can help us all prevent sickness in our lives. Thank you, my friend, and keep doing your best to heal yourself from sickness!
If there is a topic you are passionate about or question that you would like answered about how to Love ourselves better, I would love to hear it. Please write a comment about it here or on Face Book in the "For the Love of Self" discussion area.
Thank you very much for taking time to think about your wellness and health by reading “How to Love Yourself by Healing Yourself from Sickness!” Learning how to heal myself from both mental and physiological sickness has really help me enjoy life in the present moment. Writing this article has been a real help to deepening my understanding of how to go about self healing. Think of how life could be if we only could feel more wellness through our own effort instead of relying so much on medications and the like. I have learned that it is certainly possible! Though it does take sensitivity, commitment, and restraint. “Smile take time, smile to heal, before sickness is what you feel!” May good health greet you today! Aaron Szczurek <3 :-)