I spent a blissful two weeks on vacation and got a half day reprieve from professional development in form of a dental appointment on Monday morning. A three year-old had allegedly died after a trip to the dentist recently, which rattled me a bit, going into my own dental appointment. Yet, I’m an avid flosser; so I passed my exam and treatment with flying colors.
As soon as I stepped into the building just in time to have lunch and get some work done in my classroom, I started to feel ill. As much as I enjoy being a full-time artist during vacation, a part of me feels a severe disconnect between my strong creative drive and teaching at my present school. I figured that was affecting my health.
Tuesday was the first day of school for students. At the end of that day, I felt even sicker. I’d learned since Monday that the cedar pollen count had been high and that H1N1 was sweeping the nation at near pandemic levels. I tend to dismiss the alarmist reports of the American media since I’m well aware that they sensationalize facts for ratings. At the same time, I could not deny my constant sneezing, coughing, gathering of clouds behind the eyes, and slight chills.
Whichever combination of pathogens had invaded my system, I was determined to be well by the weekend. I started taking nightly “garlic shots,” which is what my family calls swallowing crushed raw garlic with plenty of water. I also put drops of hydrogen peroxide in my ears and went to bed earlier–a couple of nights, I didn’t even read (gasp!) before turning off the lights.
One thing I would not sacrifice was my bikram yoga practice. I knew staying in the hot room for 90 minutes would help detox my system. Even though the room was at a balmy 105 degrees, I didn’t break out into a pouring sweat like I normally do since I didn’t have the energy to exert myself in two sets of each posture. Even if I did both sets, I didn’t have energy to go to my edge.
Or put another way, my edge was simply staying in the room and moving as much as I could. The real challenge was internal. For two evenings in a row, I went to yoga since I had to get groceries on Thursday and cook Friday. In retrospect, that back to back hot yoga practice, along with garlic shots and more sleep truly kicked those pathogens’ ass! I felt so good on Thursday until about 7:30 and went to bed an hour and a half later. By Friday, I almost felt 100%. Close enough.
I cooked for the potluck that I was going to and managed to have a fabulous time socializing. Just like last month, I brought tupperware to pack up lunch for the following week.
I got even more rest, sleeping in on Saturday morning. I went to capoeira and had to modify nearly everything since my teacher did a lot of jumping moves. At one point, I noticed that my left hip had finally unlocked. This came a week after having a deep tissue massage on my lower back and left leg. I was initially ecstatic until my spine started some uncomfortable popping and a catch settled between my shoulder blades. No amount of gentle spinal twists could alleviate it.
So today, much to my delight, I woke up without the catch and I discovered that my left ankle had recalibrated along with my spine. For the first time since the accident, I did postures my previously gimpy left hip had prevented. My left ankle had become more flexible and could bare more weight. Just the amount of energy gained from the postures truly fueled me on. I’m so happy that my body’s reached another stronger plateau.
What a terrific way to start off the week…I’ll just see what happens when I walk into school tomorrow.
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