Passing a kidney stone like a Yogi

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. - Buddha

So today I passed a kidney stone. OUCH! We went to Fantasy Island for the JDRF walk and I could feel the tenderness of my lower stomach and back begin. On the way home, the pain was excruciating, to say the least. I finally got home and immediately curled up with a heating pad and frozen bag of vegetables. Cold is not necessarily indicated for kidney stone pain, but it's what I thought I needed. As I tossed and turned, kicked and screamed, stretched and cried --just waiting for this pain to cease, my loving boyfriend, in an attempt to help with my suffering, found a YouTube video for me, a yoga session dedicated to kidney and bladder health. The moment I laid into savasana (well, as best as I could manage to sit still with a stone ripping it's way down my ureter) I felt at peace. I still felt the pain, but the imagery that Dr. Melissa, the yoga instructor painted empowered me to own that pain. She pointed the focus of the session to be water. At first, I said "OMG just start," as I went to fast forward the beginning meditation I was immediately drawn in. She went on to say each breathe was a wave rippling through our body, each thought was traveling down a stream and instead of following each one we stand above the stream on a bridge watching them pass. The thing that really got me was when she discussed emotion. She said that it is less important what emotion we are feeling, and more important that we are letting them flow.  I thought about my pain. I thought about it being temporary and I thought about it being necessary to feel it. Had I brought myself to the ER (Which, unless I was positive a kidney stone was what I was experiencing, I would have!) I would have been given morphine to numb the pain. The pain that I was feeling would not been able to have run it's course and the fear of that pain coming back would not be so easily diffused by the confidence that I overcame it. About an hour later, the stone passed. I never finished the yoga session that day, but I did return to the present moment again and again, even as it presented hurt. I gained courage that day. 

I truly believe our emotions are related to our physical health on a cellular level. I will never, because of the complexity, be able to understand the whole picture,  how each part of us is related to another, or how each one of us relates to one another, but oneness is my belief. I am never less than fascinated when I do feel these relationships and how they contribute to my whole, our whole. 

Gotta feel to heal, yo. One Love.


Yoga Session for Kidney and Bladder