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Published: February 3rd 2012
No sooner had I bought my ticket to India than I already had an invitation to meditate. Perfect. Because only days after my arrival in Delhi, I’ll be in a strict, ten-day Vipassana meditation course – without any clue of what I’m doing. I’ve never meditated before and I wanted a little taste of what I was getting into.
It turns out that meditation is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Within minutes, my right foot had fallen asleep. I tried to block it out and focus on my breath. Eventually, the tingling went away and was replaced by a deeper numbness that began traveling up my leg. Again, I tried to focus on my breath. But, I could hardly even tell I was breathing past the words, thoughts, images that flashed inside my head.
How long can a foot go without blood supply? Am I risking permanent damage here? I really can’t feel anything. Hello? Foot? Are you there? You have to move. You have to. No! You’re not supposed to. Do this exercise right. But my leg is going to fall off. It’s not going to fall off. People do this all the time. You can do it! Just breath. How long has it been? I don’t think I can do this. Okay. Think. We took five minutes scanning our body… it took another two to start feeling discomfort… I’ve been thinking about it for at least another five… but who can tell under these conditions? We should be at least half way done. Half way! You can do this! No! I can’t! I need to move! Tick. Tock.
The clock! Tick. Tock.
Don’t look! Tick. Tock.
You’ll be so disappointed when only seven minutes have passed. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
I wiggled my toes. No feeling. I needed to move more than just my toes. Would people see me? I opened my eyes millimeter by millimeter until I could see everyone sitting calmly – eyes closed – through my eyelashes.
Good. You’re safe. Now just move slowly so they don’t hear you. There you go. That’s it! I brought my knee up until just enough blood had returned to my foot to make me realize precisely how little oxygen the tissues there had. It was going to have to be enough.
There. Are you happy? Now. Focus on your breath. Focus. Breath. Breath. Breath. Alright! This isn’t so bad. Crap! Stop thinking! Breath. Breath. Breath. Why did that guy have to cut my bangs so short? GRRRRR! I WANT TO MOVE MY FOOT! Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Come on foot! We can do this! Tick.
Breath. Tock.
Breath. Tick.
Breath. Tock.
The sound of the gong. Oh, sweet relief! Not wanting to look like the novice I was, I tried to wait at least ten seconds before shooting my leg out and rubbing life back into it. I didn’t make it to five. The blood flashed hot as it ran back into my lower extremity. Pain. Pain. Pain. Then tingles. Then I could feel my foot again. I could feel it connected to the earth; feel the energy flowing from the earth to my foot, from my foot to the earth. And it felt good.
What I learned from this exercise: I have a right leg.
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Chandraseker
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travelndeal
really useful thank you for your information...