Who do you trust?

　I was assisting with Nicky’s private lesson the other day. The student showed us her health questionnaire and explained her symptoms. She has been suffering lots of pain in her back. Previously, her doctor told her that her spine was like a 75-year-old—despite her only being in her late 40s. We expected to work through some therapeutic yoga postures for her but, surprisingly, she carried out normal asana yoga postures beautifully, without any pain. We were all quite amazed. What I discovered from this session was that her pain and lack of self-confidence actually all came from her mind. She had been told that her body was in bad condition, and that she must go back to see the doctor to get medications and more work done by them. She was a good patient, respecting her doctor and trusting their diagnosis. In essence, though, the crux of her problem was that she forgot to respect and trust in herself. She convinced herself that someone else had the responsibility to heal her, but not herself.

The Ulcer and the Suitcase

　Around the same time, I accidentally bit my tongue during eating. It quickly became a big ulcer on my tip of tongue. It measured around 1cm2 and was incredibly painful whenever I talked and ate. I felt like my entire mouth was badly swollen. It took 10 days to heal completely without me being able to do anything. This happened just after I came back from Japan. During my trip, somehow, my suitcase developed a little hole; like the ulcer on my tongue. I left it in the corner of the room intending to fix it when I could get the time, later. 12 days later, my suitcase hadn’t healed at all. On reflection, this was very interesting for me— there are some obvious differences between me and the suitcase

Our Bodies’ Superpowers

　I realised that, when all creatures are born, they are imbued with vitality, power and a super ability to live and find their way through life. Each individual cell inside our body has these things; all animals have these things; all plants have them, too. Every part of my body is working so hard, irrespective of my will or order; breathing, circulating, healing… so many things are happening inside of my body, even now my body is getting better every moment. I believe that we really need to realise this miracle and respect, trust and appreciate this superpower before we hand over our trust and well-being to something else.

Sub-contracting our Health

　Of course, there will be times when we will need someone else’s help, however it’s important to remember that, in the end, our bodies heal themselves. When we break a bone, the doctor puts a plaster cast on, but it’s our body that does the healing. The doctor and the plaster cast may smooth the way, but the legwork is all our own. We have everything that we need inside us, but we tend to forget this very simple point, especially when we suffer long term pain, or when our pain is very severe. The temptation and pressure to rely on medicines is great, even though we almost never actually need them. In fact, the more that we rely on medicines, the more we limit our own ability to heal ourselves. By repeating this process we rob our body of the chance to exercise its self-healing abilities. It may even reach a point where, one day, it might not work for us any more. To encourage and multiply our body’s remarkable, innate ability, we need to just begin to respect and trust ourselves.

Whose Body is it, anyway?

　The way I like to think, is that I’ve borrowed this body of mine from when I was born. I do not own this body in perpetuity. I have borrowed it to express and experience everything while I live. My body was given as the perfect machine from the beginning. I just need to look after it well, with respect and trust, without disturbing or underestimating its own abilities. We should be the first and last person to trust ourselves. This is very important. Every morning I say hello and thank you to all parts of my body, from the top of my head to my toes and fingertips, all my organs, and whatever other parts I know the names of—I realise there are so many things I still don’t know about my body, though. I do this because my body is the best buddy for me through my entire life.

Conclusion

　The student’s face was brighter and smiling with a sparkle in her eyes when she finished Nicky’s private lesson. Doing yoga to reconnect her mind and body was the experience she needed to bring her confidence back and begin trusting herself, once again. She told us that she felt as though she received a new ‘me’ as well as a new life.

　This was another fantastic experience with Nicky’s private lesson to see miracles in practice