Trying to practice whilst ill...

vixthenomad

I have a cold at the moment. For many people this would be a minor irritation, but I get a cold about once every three years, so when they hit, they hit hard. And I am finding it basically IMPOSSIBLE to practice. I can't meditate because I keep coughing and sneezing and my breathing's all raspy, I ache all over, my head feels like it's full of cotton wool and razorblades, and worst of all I am MONUMENTALLY irritable. I have been an absolute horror to live with and I genuinely feel sorry for my family at the moment for having to put up with me.

What are good ways to modify Buddhist practice whilst poorly? :-/

daemyo

Great opportunity to BE sick. When we're sick, like with any other unpleasant experience, we mentally run away from it as hard as we can. Sit in a chair, or sit up in bed, and do a full body scan really slowly. Actually experience each ache or wheeze. Intense practice! Good opportunity to generate compassion.

I'm sorry your feeling poorly. please take good care of yourself and feel better soon.
I_I? <--- Chicken soup for Vix

Ada_B

Everything and everyone can be our teacher if we have the right attitude. A cold is a harsh teacher - the sort that beat you with sticks. Nevertheless, you can learn from it, and probably lessons you could not easily learn any other way.

Be aware of your thoughts about this cold and see what it could be teaching you. If nothing else, awareness of your irritable mood can at least stop you from thinking you've arrived and help you realise that you are still a flawed human being with so much to learn

But don't be sad about that - having much to learn is like discovering an uncharted country.

Zenshin

You could try walking meditation, Vix, a lot easier than trying to focus on the breathing when ones tubes are full of mucus!

vixthenomad

Thanks, guys and girls...some great suggestions here. *cough* *splutter* :grumble: :coffee:

aMatt

Consider apologizing when you catch yourself being harsh with your loved ones.

And eat soup.

Floating_Abu

Get better soon, keep warm and drink lots of fluid! (lemon juice, oranges, vitamin C too!)

Namaste,
Abu

driedleaf

...the middle way?

Jeffrey

ginger ale.. keeps sugar in the blood and balances the stomach

Epicurus

To be perfectly honest....you can try paying attention to the bodily sensations and whatnot...but I'd say do any activity that distracts your mind to something more pleasurable than thinking about the sickness like watching movies and playing videogames.

Also some compassion. To yourself and the fact you feel a little guilty about being a horror to live with. Which is really the same thing as being compassionate towards the people you are living with. And empathetic to how people in general feel bad and cause suffering on others and themselves when they are in a bad state. You catch my drift.

Dakini

"Practice" isn't limited to meditation. The way you handle your cold, the way you react to it, is practice. (See thread on "What Is 'Practice'?") You're in the thick of "practice", right now. Mainly, don't increase your dukkha (suffering) by ruminating on how miserable you are. Do your best to accept your current state without fighting it, and meanwhile, drink lots of liquids, and do whatever else the doctor might recommend. Also, remember: this, too, shall pass.

Cloud

It sounds like keeping constant mindfulness during this time would be a good practice, to see your irritability and what-not arising and just notice it, not letting it lead you to bad actions!

taiyaki

compassion for self. take care of your body and rest.

it is no accident that we become sick. watch what you eat. watch what you drink. wash your hands. take a bath. drink some tea. relax and try to just be with your sickness.

that is your real practice.

Mountains

I'd try a chicken soup, bed rest, and old movie meditation myself. But that's just me

Mountains

ginger ale.. keeps sugar in the blood and balances the stomach

As long as it's sweetened with cane sugar and not HFCS or (god forbid) some nasty man made artificial something. Real, honest to goodness ginger beer hits the spot once in a while though.

Jeffrey

Why is sucrose preferable to fructose? An apple has fructose in it.

As far as I can tell this fructose stuff is just propoganda. Humans have been dining on fructose for millenia.

Mountains

Fructose is okay, it's the man-made High Fructose Corn syrup that's the problem. It's a completely different molecule from regular simple fructose as found in bananas and strawberries and apples. It's the number one reason for the obesity epidemic in the west (and now in the less developed world as well). It should be banned. As should nutrisweet (aspartame), sucralose, and the other petrochemical derived nasties that are foisted upon us by the big drug companies and industrial agriculture.

Jeffrey

its the same molecule

Corn sugar is dextrose and an enzyme has been added that converts some of the dextrose into fructose. Same fructose as in an apple. Its not a different structure its just a mix of simple sugars and the fructose has been increased from the dextrose.

Fructose tastes more sweet than dextrose. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose

aura

Sure, yeah, HFCS is just "dextrose and an enzyme that has been added..."
which sounds all just fine and dandy until you start looking at its hepatotoxicity

Jeffrey

aura fructose is in fruit. so fruit should also have hepatotoxicity.

Jeffrey

incidentally what is the hepatotoxicity of dextrose and sucrose? Sucrose is split by the body into fructose and dextrose. Sucrose is table sugar.

Mountains

HFCS is treated by your body more as a fat than as a sugar. It's the reason we now have 8 year olds that weigh 200 lbs and are diabetic in America. There's nothing good about it.

aura

aura fructose is in fruit. so fruit should also have hepatotoxicity.

Yeah, sure: all cats die, Socrates is dead, so Socrates was a cat....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601831.html

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

Jeffrey

why is fructose in a fruit different? I would imagine that it is because of amounts. If you drink 3 faygo drinks with high fructose corn syrup that is probably like eating 2 bunches of bananas?

Does that make sense? In all things moderation.

I did read some things that the liver has to metabolize fructose into glucose for the cell to use and that can harm the liver. But it still remains that sucrose is broken INTO fructose and glucose (dextrose). Therefore you are advocating a non-sugar diet. Or you are ignorant of the effect of sucrose? Are you advocating a non-sugar diet or are you saying sucrose is off limits too?

I see some of the point now guys. Its kinda like coca leaves and cocaine? Does that sound about right?

Ada_B

Fructose in whole fruit is different because the pulp (fibre) evens out the release of the sugar into the bloodstream and is excellent for gut function. Fruit also contains vitamin C and other vitamins and minerals, so it has far more nutrition than ghastly HFCS (which I believe is banned or just not used in UK - I haven't seen it in anything).

If you eat whole fruit, or smoothies made from whole fruit, you get the whole nutrition of the fruit. If you drink filtered fruit juice, especially long-life apple or grape juice, you are basically drinking sugar. It's marginally better than fizzy drinks, but not a lot. Go for fresh juice with the pulp, such as cloudy apple juice or orange juice with 'bits', or as I said, fresh smoothies.

Canned fruit can be almost as good as fresh if fresh is inaccessible or too expensive. Also consider frozen, especially berries.

Jeffrey

Hmmmm so fruit can be a rare treat. I really enjoy fruit juice. I guess it still has the vitamin C and so forth.

ThailandTom

I once heard of a monk who meditated through a case of maleria, the fever wa so say like a wild fire but he managed to centre hiss thoughts. So I guess with the right effort and concentration it can be done.
However, we are not all monks and I can relate as many of us can to being ill and meditating.