Rest Archives - MyCoWe

When I was in school I fell on the field, in the corridor, on the paved ground, stoned areas, in the class and even tripped over nothing. The skirt and pinafore didn’t help with the knees either. My knees and elbows always had scratches and wounds. The school nurse even asked me once while applying tincture “Why did you fall again?” in her loud angry voice. They all healed though; every one of them. The scar would stay for a bit but eventually new skin cells replaced the old ones and now no one can tell I was a reckless child.

Just like a wound every other part of our body, made up of living cells, are meant to heal. The body heals on its own and how?

I would love to share a few healing tips that I’ve incorporated in my life. Skip the ones you feel are ‘extra’ for you, but try them all.

Resting: This is most under-rated in the hustle hustle outlook of people today. Sadhguru on resting, “If your relaxation is not of good quality, your work will not be of good quality.” I had a back injury a while back and my physiotherapist recommended complete rest. It was 80 percent better within a day’s time. The best way to get off a cold and flu is ample amount of rest. Without popping a pill and just giving your body the rest it needs is what I see so many people sort to these days.
Fasting: Fasting is the resting of your digestive system. It is really like a system reboot in the body and it helps the in improving stomach health, healing other parts of the body and even keeps you alert. There’s intermittent fasting, Dry fasting, seasonal fasting and other types. Thanks to my mother I’ve been intermittent fasting all my life. I read about this concept only recently, and it works like magic. I recommend you go through what Luke Coutinho has to share about fasting, he explains it the best and he’s a certified nutritionist.
Breathing: Did you take a deep breath after reading that? I’ve caught my breathing taking casual pauses like its waiting for me to notice. I have heard a few people have cured hormonal imbalances by just following Yogic breathing techniques; Pranayama. I haven’t tried this in a disciplined way, but everytime I’ve done Anulom Vilom it has made me feel alert. Fresh air is essential to life and holding a good posture almost makes it natural to take deep breaths. Correcting posture can correct the breathing to be involuntarily smooth. To be a little extra: You could try the balloon technique in the following link: https://www.sonima.com/fitness/email-apnea/ .
Meditating: I am more acquainted with this now, and written vastly about meditating in my previous articles. Meditating can heal your mind, body and emotional state magically. It takes discipline and consistency to reach there but its definitely something each human being was born to do. We have evolved to depend on different sources of energy outside; electricity, internet, wifi; but the real source of energy is life and when we meditate we focus on that. We are inbuilt with this “soul energy”, we just have to focus and tap into it.
Salt: Yes, Epsom salt baths is trendy if you haven’t tried it yet and the new thing is to buy Himalayan pink salt Lamps! I have been using hot salt potli’s to recover sore muscles and muscle cramps. (heat the salt in a pan, put it in a handkerchief and tie a knot so it doesn’t spill, ready!) This heals the fastest! “The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.”— Isak Dinesen. Learn about Salt healing from this article :http://www.asianage.com/health-fitness/healing-power-salt-101
Copper: Copper bottles have been fashionable for a while now without the science behind it getting famous. Just like our other trends. Copper has anti-microbial properties and it helps in the absorption of iron. As per our Ancient Indian Ayurveda it is an element that helps in balancing our doshas. Again cautious use of this element can restore hormonal health and other imbalances can be corrected.
Tisané: Herbal teas were used as a medicine in so older civilizations. People thought it is witchcraft, but they were just our garden herbs. ‘Tisané over Chai‘ has a few herbal tea infusions you can read on the website. ‘More Tisané’ will be published very soon keep an eye out. Herbs are mother nature’s potpourri which we have at our disposal.

TO BE Contd…

I have so many thoughts playing on my head as to what I need to do next. “You cannot ‘not-be-working’”, “You are wasting time”, “People are going to ask you what’s next and you need to know what to say”, “Do you really need this?” and “Trust me it will do you good”. Majority of them are just getting me anxious for being on a break.

Have you heard of the concept of break year? So I have a few friends who have taken a break year or break months, where they are not working anymore, not studying and have nothing in mind for the present. I am on a break period and its been two weeks. The anxiety could be lethal. I’m scared to admit that I’m taking a break. The whole purpose of it, being a break, is defeated because mentally I’m just constantly fretting.

(A deep breath in, sigh)

If you can sense the millionth of a milli second and have control of what you think, see, do, speak, move, anything that flows or moves in that split of time; (sort of like Matrix) what would you want to do? What is it you would want to spend your time doing if you had just that much time left with you? Its tough to say what I would want to do but I know exactly the things I would not want to be doing. Not using my phone tops the list, rather choose doing nothing.

Productivity is so drilled into us; we need to prove we are busy all the time. We are taught the concept of time management, and the more work we get done in the twenty-four hours, the better we are considered. Have you heard songs where they build up and then suddenly break it off to a complete rest for a beat and play again. If you play a musical instrument, you would know that the rest is equally important if not more. Going with the beats, placing the notes where the fall and rest when we don’t play a note. Even the notations have a sign for rest.

I’m working on a new vegetable garden and I want to share something I learnt about the soil in agriculture. You plough the land, sow the seeds, let it go through the process and reap the harvest. For the next sowing season, you have to let the soil rest. The longer the rest the better for the soil to build up good bacteria and micro organisms, and the richer the soil. Nature has many things to teach us if we look closely. Being busy depletes us of our creative energy, passion, the drive, proactive attitude; it all gets used up to grow our plants. Once we reap some benefit, we have to get back all these good bacteria and micro organisms, which comes back with good rest.

In school we always got a Christmas break and Summer holidays. No work during these breaks. Once you’re in the “Corporate world” the golden word is “Hustle”. What about the maximum stress that a human mind can be subjected to? Doctors will prescribe you drugs, and others- workout, diets and innumerable suggestions for stress related disorders. I thought prevention was better than cure. I would love to see people understand work management and rest management, leisure being the tougher one to manage in a fast paced environment.

I had asked a friend once, when we met, “What are you doing now?” and I was quite surprised when she confidently said “Nothing!”. Now I clearly understand why she respected what she was doing even if no one else was and she wasn’t afraid of saying it out loud. “An Idle mind is the devil’s playground” heard that one. Busy minds don’t give new ideas, may be devil’s playground is a good thing after all. Its only when we stop and breathe, in our moments of relaxation, we get all the good insights. For a muscle to grow after tearing, for the dough to rise once kneaded, for stains to be removed through soaking, and for human minds to think in its full potential; REST.

If by Rudyard Kipling: A poem I want to live by

Tag: Rest

Heal-arious as can be

Time out