One week later

It has been a week now since the op and I am finally feeling a bit more normal again (emotionally). I have been overdoing things physically and am in a bit of pain again so will not be doing much over the weekend.

Talking to a colleague, T, yesterday encouraged me to reconnect with what I have learnt and valued from yoga. It is easy when we are healthy to enjoy the benefits of a holistic approach to living but I have not used this enough over the past few months. I got the new Yoga Journal magazine which had a great article about sadness and the importance of maintaining mindfulness during low periods - not always trying to escape it. There was a great technique included in the article for meditation on sadness. It has helped.

Back to T though, she is going through some hard times and seems to be suffering from anxiety or at least panic attacks. In her case, there may be a clear physical reason for this and hopefully she will find out more after a specialist visit. In the meantime though, she has been struggling against some nasty experiences - fast heartbeat, pressure in the chest, fatigue and insomnia. Poor thing. My yoga centre have sent a voucher so that she can try it out. She has had the common experience dealing with a possible psychological disorder where doctors have not listened to her and are just prescribing drugs - like valium of all things! And telling her to relax - "practice breathing" they say but not one will ever give any real information about how to do this. Hopefully she will find that yoga and the meditation classes will help give her some skills that she can use. I know it has helped me greatly over the years.