In Part 1 of this series we discussed the mental and emotional impact created by tuning into your body and your breath, and it's powerful effect on anxiety, trauma and posttraumatic stress.
We left off in the early years of my yoga practice, back in the early 2000’s. During those years, yoga and meditation became a critical foundation of my wellness routine, and of my process of healing mentally and emotionally from a traumatic life.
My body healed almost as a side effect, as an afterthought. It became stronger, more flexible, more balanced, and more resilient with far fewer dis-eases and illnesses. But yoga’s power to heal the body was truly put to the test in 2007.
On June 27, 2007, my youngest daughter and I were headed home from her karate class. As we passed an SUV waiting to make a left turn across our lane of traffic into a parking lot, a pickup truck driving behind the SUV, (containing an inattentive driver going nearly 60 mph in a 25 mph zone), plowed into the back of it, shoving her so hard into our lane that she T-boned us, collapsing the driver’s side of my car from the center post back.
I was thrown sideways, and the seatbelt I was wearing locked up preventing my forward momentum, dislocating my left pelvis, causing permanent damage to my sacroiliac joint and left hip, along with chest wall contusions and neck trauma (to my already damaged neck).
I was neck-braced, back-boarded and taken to the local ER for CT scanning and pain control. Ultimately, I was released with a wheelchair, a cane, pain medications and muscle relaxers.
Because I couldn't sit at my desk, I was forced to take a leave of absence from my medical transcription job. Through a complicated system of pillows and props I was able to achieve some level of comfort in my bed, spending most of the next four months there, other than difficult trips out for physical therapy, chiropractic care and the swimming pool where I did hydrotherapy.
THE LIVESAVING POWER
OF YOGA
Second in a three-part series
By Kat Tozier
July 2016 | ElementsForAHealthierLife.com | 29