"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." --Theodore Roosevelt
You wake up, a headache already settling in behind the forehead. Congestion makes it impossibly to breathe through the nose. You get out of bed, determined to practice, clear your nose and settle into your meditation seat, only to have the nose start running again. You wipe. You take a few breaths, and maybe start feeling a little frustrated that you can’t breathe through the nose as you normally can. You become aware of a scratchiness in the back of the throat. You get up and get a drink of water. Begin again. Repeat. Blow nose, sit, drink water, sit, begin again, repeat.
Sometimes when we are sick, it might be best to stay in bed and save our practice for a time when we can sit with more energy and patience for ourselves. But whether we’re on the mat, the cushion or in bed, we can still apply our yoga practice to being sick.
First, there is self-compassion. Ask youself: do I need to be sitting up right now? Does my body want to be doing postures or meditation? Or does my body need rest right now? Being sick is a prime time to tune into self-awareness and truly give the body what it needs, whether that is more time in bed, a cup of hot tea, some vitamin C-filled juice, or other things. If you feel frustration at not being able to practice as you normally would, notice that, and then try to practice compassion.
If you feel you have the energy to practice asanas (postures), try to really tune into what the body needs in that moment. Maybe your usual practice is filled with vigorous sun salutions and arm balances. On a sick day, you might need to try more of a yin practice, taking it easy and slowing down. You might need to skip the alternate nostril breathing if your nostrils aren’t cooperating. Practice self-acceptance and contentment with the present moment and to quote Theodore Roosevelt, do what you can with what you have, where you are.
Being sick also offers us an amazing opportunity to turn towards the pain of our bodies rather than turning away from it. Whether we are confronted with a cold, a sore throat, or pain in our body, our initial reaction is usually to turn away from the pain and to find ways to make the pain stop, such as through cold medicines or pain medication. Instead, shine the light of your awareness on the pain or discomfort. Explore the sensations of a scratchy throat. What does being sick really feel like? When we turn towards the pain and explore it in a nonjudgmental way, we find that the pain or discomfort isn’t one fixed thing, but rather it ebbs and flows and changes in the moment. A sore throat has different layers of feeling, maybe dryness, a sandpaper quality...explore what it really feels like. Our resistance to it only compounds the pain and discomfort.
Then there is gratitude. This is often easiest to practice one we are healthy again, but there’s no need to wait for that. You can practice gratitude right away! Be thankful for all the days that you haven’t been sick and maybe didn’t even realize it. Be thankful for the health that you do have. Thich Nhat Hanh has a practice of scanning body parts and thanking those body parts for working properly. For example, maybe we have good eyesight - but how often do we feel thankful for this eyesight? Usually not until it is taken away. Even when you are sick, you can appreciate the parts that are working well - perhaps your legs that allow you to walk, your eyes. When we start to appreciate the body parts that are working, we can have a greater appreciation for life in general.
Finally, there's the practice of beginning again. As with the introduction scenario of "blow nose, sit, drink water, sit, begin again, repeat," we can simply begin again. So what if we had to stop our practice to blow our nose or get up to get a drink? It doesn't mean that everything is ruined. We can begin again, from where we are right now.
We may wake up feeling bad, but sometimes if we can manage to get ourselves onto the yoga mat or meditation cushion and sit with our discomfort for a while, eventually we can move beyond it. It’s not so terrible after all. It’s not maybe our ideal situation, but it is our present moment, and through our yoga practice we can accept the present moment as it is, work with it as it is, with coughs and pains and all.
Meditation teacher Phil Jones, who offers free guided Insight Meditations through the Winter Feast for the Soul, says that when we dedicate ourselves to daily practice, we are dedicating ourselves to practice even on the days when it’s not so easy. We all have days that we just don’t want to practice, and we have days where it’s much harder to show up to our practice. Some days we don’t want to practice - and those are the days when our practice can maybe teach us the most. We can practice tapas, discipline, and we can practice aparigraha - letting go of our expectations of how we should feel and how the present moment should be. On sick days, our practice may need to take different shapes and forms - maybe the shape of picking up a yogic text instead of the shape of a downward dog - but there is always a way to practice.
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