I spent last weekend at the Shambhala Mountain Center doing a meditation retreat. It was a lovely get-away and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in that sort of thing.
As those who have read my story know, meditation was a key part of my healing process. Meditation helped me to heal from both the mental and physical aspects of fluoroquinolone toxicity. It helped to relieve my anxiety, and stopping the cycle of anxiety was necessary for me to heal. When I meditate my digestion is better, and I can even feel my GI tract operate more efficiently. (Maybe that’s just a feeling and not objective reality, but it is possible that meditation is helping to tone my vagus nerve and support my autonomic nervous system, and thus actually improving my digestion.) I sleep better when I meditate. My concentration and creativity improve when I meditate. Meditation also helped me to emotionally and spiritually come to terms with getting sick. It helped me recognize my strength and resilience so that I could get through the fluoroquinolone toxicity journey.
Meditation is simultaneously simple and difficult. On the surface, it’s just sitting and being. But when you do it, it’s actually quite difficult. It’s difficult to just BE, without the distractions that are constantly bombarding us.
The retreat that I just returned from focused on loving kindness. We all need loving kindness in our lives. Floxies are especially in need of loving kindness as many things that they value–health, relationships, a pain-free life, sleep, money, etc.–are stolen from them by fluoroquinolone toxicity. When those things disappear (or seem to disappear), it is easy to let shame, fear, anger and meanness build up. Meditation helps to dissipate shame, fear, anger and meanness–and focuses energy back on patience, love, kindness, forgiveness, etc.
My favorite advice from the retreat included:
- If gentleness and loving kindness don’t work, try more gentleness and loving kindness.
- Try not to be too focused on / attached to outcomes.
- There is grace in every moment–even the horrible ones.
They’re important, and valuable, things to remember.
For those who aren’t able to do a retreat away from home, The Urban Monk is offering a free 7-day Reboot Program.
According to The Urban Monk, Pedram Shojai,
Over the next 7 days you will:
- Get more energy from your food and burn fat all day…
- Generate 10X more power in your body…
- Create a ‘force field’ shielding you from stress…
- Learn to stop time and drink from infinity…
- Detox your body and soothe away anxiety with high quality sleep…
- Tap into an unlimited source of hidden energy available to each one of us…
- Gain extra clarity, focus and powerful intention…
Hopefully it can help you to heal physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually from aspects of fluoroquinolone toxicity too.
I recommend meditation to all my Floxie friends. If you can go on a retreat, please do. If you can do the 7-day Reboot, it’s a great place to start too.
I can’t guarantee healing from meditation, but it’s certainly a good thing to try.
