Embrace Healing

I didn’t want to break my neck, but I did. It was an accident. The sequence of events could have gone any number of ways and created a multitude of results, but it didn’t. It only happened one way.

When I think through all the possible results, my present situation is one of the best. To have my neck break and stay perfectly aligned with no pain, weakness, or numbness is a miracle. In this one accident, I think I’ve used up all nine lives and called in all my favors simultaneously. Despite my seemingly good fortune, I’m not always happy.

Having a broken neck hasn’t been fun. Sometimes, it’s frustrating and annoying. But you know what? I could be dead, so I try not to complain. Instead, I turn to my yoga practice.

Intention

In yoga, whenever I’m in a difficult pose, I return to my intention that I set at the beginning of practice. I often try to keep my intentions very simple so that I won’t forget them later. Some of my intentions have been:  have fun, lift out of your hips, and rooting down lifts you up.

These days, the intention that I set when I get out of bed is:  Embrace healing.

With my restricted activities, I’m not practicing yoga poses, but that doesn’t mean that I have to quit practicing yoga. Yoga is so much more than just poses that simultaneously challenge your body and help it feel better.

For me, yoga extends to my attitude and my philosophy regarding my personal code of conduct. Yoga helps me embrace the changes in my life and grit my teeth and lean into the challenges.

Lean Into It

I still vividly remember days in the past when I’ve had a challenging yoga practice. It seemed like every posture was designed to annoy or taunt me. Then, they were all strung together one after another, seemingly trying to break me.

Instead of becoming frustrated or annoyed, I would lean into the experience. I would turn to my intention and say it over and over. Have fun; have fun; have fun. I would repeat my intention until I was finally taking my own advice.

Truthfully, it reminds me of the part in What About Bob? when Bob is telling himself, “I feel good; I feel great; I feel wonderful.” Over and over again, he tells himself the exact same thing. Sometimes, he changes the inflection of his voice to assert to himself that he really means what he is saying.

That’s what an intention is. It’s a few words that give you strength and have a personal meaning, words that can help you rise up out of a bad place and move past the discomfort of your present situation.

So, next time you find yourself recovering from something, whether physical or emotional trauma, I invite you to embrace healing. Lean into the discomfort and know that you will emerge a stronger person.

What do you do to help yourself embrace healing? Let us know in the comments below.

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