Mental Recovery

Way before P90X, I hated yoga.  I was going to a gym, working out regularly in the cardio room, which I had to myself, practicing JKD.  Invariably at 3:45, a lady would come into the room and turn off the lights.  She wouldn't ask.  She just did it.  She was the yoga instructor.  I guess it was room prep.  Softly discourage the violent martial artist guy out so the calm and peaceful yogis could om in.  I don't know.  It didn't matter.  But it went on for months that way until one day my knee (pre-surgery) was bothering me so bad.  I sat on the floor and rubbed it.  I had been living with the pain for quite some time.  On a scale of 1 to 10 it was about a constant 3.  Just annoying.

Instead of killing the lights, the yoga lady came over to me and said, "Do you remember how you hurt your knee?"

Honestly, I did not.  It had happened long ago.  Probably something stupid I did.  Even today I don't remember - anymore.  But that day, she asked me to pause and remember.  And I did.  Then she said, "As long as you hold onto that memory, you hold onto the pain." 

Here's what happens.  It was something stupid I did.  That much I recall.  And the feelings and memories that go along with it stir up every time the resurfaces.  Whether conscious of it or not, a lot of electro-chemical effects start all over again, just as powerful as the moment I first hurt the knee.  I remembered what I did, how stupid I felt, and the knowledge of lingering pain to come.

Until we let go of that memory and emotion, we never fully recover from injuries.  As soon as all that mess came back to my mind, I let it go, and the pain in my knee significantly diminished.  We were both delighted.  And we became friends.

So when P90X came along shortly thereafter, I was fully primed to do yoga.  You better believe it.

Injury is bound to happen in OCR.  Use this powerful technique to mentally and emotionally recover.

Now for my readers I want to introduce you to a new facet of this blog - the Mud Smear Award.  It will go to the person who, totally at my discretion, deserves that muddy badge of honor.  Today, it goes to my OCR trainer Chad Mason.  I caught a picture of him doing the yoga crane pose while on vacation, way out on a tree limb, hanging way out over the ocean.  Very cool Chad.