 | |
| Pigeon Pose - hip opener (Photo Credit: Yoga Journal) |
For the last couple of months, I've been feeling sort of plagued with worry over things. Things that are only somewhat in my control. I've been dealing with some sort of anger issues (as evidenced by that last amazingly bad gallbladder blowout).
Don't ever let anyone tell you that your body doesn't store unexpressed emotions, because it DOES. Living proof of that: the pain that I've been living with in my lower back and hips and thighs for the last couple of months, all the while I've been worrying about (but not talking about) these issues in my life.
Sunday was our workshop day in yoga teacher training down at True North Yoga. We begin our Sundays with the 8:30 Gentle Yoga class, taught by Debbie, who leads the teacher training program. This particular Sunday, I was feeling intensely stressed out - Tom was away, I was on my own with Colden, and Colden had to go to his grandparents' house for another day, after spending pretty much all of last week there while dealing with the gastrointestinal side effects of the antibiotics for his double ear infection. (Just typing that makes me feel stressed out again.)
At any rate, this gentle yoga practice was all hip openers. Debbie has told us that we store anger in our hips - maybe that's why the gallbladder meridians run down from the hips along the outside of the thighs for a bit. I was having a hard time relaxing in this practice, but the stretching certainly felt good, and even though it was supposed to be a gentle class, I pushed myself right to my edge and a little beyond because it felt right for me.
Well.
The next practice at 10:00 was a Hatha class with Michelle, another teacher that I adore. Michelle's Hatha classes leave me feeling like someone has wrapped a big, wooly, cozy blanket around my mind. Usually.
In this particular practice, however, I started to get mad. Really mad. Pissed off mad. Finally, at one point, I just couldn't take it anymore, and I dropped down into child's pose for a bit. I got back up and tried to join the class again, but I felt more anger bubbling up from out of somewhere, and back down into child's pose I went.
I was seething.
I kept thinking to myself, this is ANGRY child's pose.
I just let the anger bubble up out of me and wash over me. I had no idea what I was angry about, really. Sure, I was stressed out, but I wasn't conscious of being angry.
So, I just let it go.
After a few minutes, I felt better, and I got back into the practice and had a very lovely Savasana at the end.
During lunch break, I was talking to some of my fellow trainees about the anger I felt in the second practice. From beyond the screen on the other side of the room, Debbie reminded me, "You know, we did hip openers this morning."
Oh, d-uh.
It was just another one of those eye-opening moments for me that we really do store our emotions in our body. It's another clear example of that whole mind-body connection.
When I told this story to my teacher in my Monday morning vinyasa class, we had a good laugh about it, and she said, "It's amazing, the things that happen in your yoga practice."
She's right. It is pretty amazing.
I hope you are feeling better from your gallbladder attack. I came across your blog while doing research on the gallbladder and, since I have just finished a liver and gallbladder flush (it flushes out liver and gallbladder stones), I thought I would mention it to you, in case you are not aware of this flush. If you just google these words you will find hundreds of comments from people who did the flush and expelled a lot of stones (Google Images also has a lot of pictures). The main person who made this healing process popular is Andreas Moritz, a German naturopath doctor. You can find the details online, but reading his book would be best: "The Amazing Liver and Gallbladder Flush". One thing that I learned is that when there are stones in the gallbladder, there are also in the liver. For people who are having a gallbladder attach, Andreas recommends: (a) taking Epson salts [1 tablespoon in 8 ounces of water on an empty stomach - this will soften the bile ducts, allowing a few stones to pass] and (b) drink a 6-0z cup of red beet juice during each of the 3-4 meals following the attack [also for stuck stones]. The elimination of *all* stones from the liver and the gallbladder require many flushes, one flush each month. That varies from person to person, but it may take 10-15 flushes to eliminate everything. On the other hand, not just the actual gallbladder attacks will be gone, the health benefits are great. Good luck in everything.
ReplyDelete