This past week sent me unexpectedly into the hospital with a kidney stone. If you’ve ever had one, you know that the pain is so bad, you’d have them cut your arm off in the emergency room to distract you from the abdominal pain. In fact, the ER nurse that I met upon arriving was asking me to stop squeezing her arm because I was hurting her. I actually just remembered that part today. In any event, two days later and now I’m home, resting, having subbed out my weekend classes and honestly, taking stock of things in my own life in terms of my health.

I think I may have written about my emergency appendectomy a few weeks ago. Again, these two events are unrelated, relatively easy fixes but nonetheless, for an otherwise healthy person, it’s a bit unsettling to be overnight in the hospital two times in the past month. When was the last time you stayed overnight in the hospital? For me, it’s not been since I was in high school for knee surgery.

After the appendectomy, I’d already taken a few step back to evaluate things in terms of what might need to change. And as a yoga teacher who focuses on wellness, it’s constantly in my stream of consciousness anyway but now, after two different episodes, c’mon? It’d take a pretty hardened person not to take a step back. So, for this post, I’ll break from my regular focus on yoga and anatomy to just share a little of what I’ve been thinking about. Maybe some of these things will resonate with you.

Meditation: I’m sure if you’ve even read a little bit, you know that meditation is great for you. It’s got health benefits that include lowering your blood pressure and reducing the level of stress hormones in your system but most importantly, it just feels great. Taking the time to do it feels great and DOING IT feels great. You get the double whammy of feeling good about taking care of yourself plus all the benefits of the meditation itself. I’ve always had trouble meditating regularly but I’ve just started using the Headspace app on my smart phone.  It’s a great aid in keeping you on track. Right now I’m in the free version but honestly, I’d pay for it because it’s that good. The teacher sounds soothing without sounding annoying and fake, they have helpful instructional videos and you get the positive reinforcement of their tracking of how many times you sat and the total duration. More meditation!

The Healing Self: I already had bought this latest book by Dr. Deepak Chopra before my second “issue” and I’m halfway through it in about a week. It’s that good. Don’t expect an easy read, meaning it’s got statistics and health related study data but it’s really fascinating and eye opening. Some of what has hit me thus far include:

• Study results showing the impact of love on the healing response;
• HRV (Heart Rate Variability) is an indicator of the variability in the beats per minute of the heart, or heart beat rhythm. You want variability there because it indicates that you’re not always at a level of high stress; you can moderate your HRV depending on the situation. When HRV is low, it’s associated with a host of bad conditions like heart problems, diabetes and stroke;
• Doing all the right things, like exercising and eating well, doesn’t mean all that much if you live with chronic stress.  Sounds obvious but how many people do you see at the gym, madly texting, emailing and then you see them rush out, talking on the phone? My point exactly;
• PNI is the area of study known as psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) and studies the link between mental activity and the immune system. PNI research has shown that excessive worrying can compromise the immune system and contribute to a host of disorders from heart disease to Alzheimer’s.

All statements above taken from “The Healing Self,” Deepak Chopra M.D, Rudolph Tanzi, Ph.D

Triggers: I started to look at things that trigger my stress. These days, that’s pretty much anything on the news or in social media (I’m joking but not really). In fact, when I was recovering both times, I tried like crazy to stay away from my phone because I knew it’d get me going. There are other things I’ve noticed too. I do like to stay up on current events but at some point, you have to take time for yourself and walk away from the phone and TV and go to the gym or a yoga class or read a book. Also, I’ve noticed in my own conversation, how negative I can be. I’ve been trying to be more focused on the positive. Your triggers might be different but notice your body’s reaction as you go through your day and see if you can come up with a list.

Healthy Diet: My goodness, what IS a healthy diet these days? I thought I ate pretty healthy but since my kidney stone, I was reading up on what’s a concern for people with them and guess what’s on the list? SPINACH! I love spinach! And, it’s a great vegetable! Further, I started to wonder if the extra vitamin C I was taking to prevent the flu created a problem for me. In any event, the point is this. There is SO much out there purporting to be the model of the best diet. I still hold true to the basic idea of “fruits, vegetables and lean proteins.” Now, the one thing I will say I’ve realized is I have very little variety in my diet. So, when I say “I love spinach” I eat it 3 times a week. So, one take-away for me is that I need to bring more variety into my diet because too much of a good thing can be bad.

Find time to take stock of where your life is going. There’s so much out there about “finding your dream job” or “living your dream” and part of me wants to call B.S on that mantra. First of all, there are plenty of good reasons why people can’t live their dream. Maybe their dream doesn’t allow them enough money to cover their basic expenses or medical costs? Secondly, and I can say this from experience, if living your dream involves starting your own business, it takes a LONG TIME to get things up and running. Sure, there will be those people that have a breakthrough client (“Oprah loves my book!”) or those people who make money overnight (I made $30K on my first online course!” ) and I’m not denying them that joy but the more common experience for anyone looking to work for themselves is that it’s a grind. It’s a matter of nose to the grindstone, learning, testing, applying what you’ve learned and having inspirations along the way. How does this apply to your health? Well, if you’re in that corporate job feeling stress because you’re not “living your dream” or you’re working for yourself and you’re feeling stress because you’re wondering about the security of your business and future, it’s all the same, right? So, take time to stop at least 4 times a year and take a day to take stock of what you’re doing and if it’s working for you.

So, today, maybe carve out an hour, meditate for a bit and then open your eyes and take stock of your life. Do it while you can and be grateful you have the opportunity.