By Kimber Jones

Here at Vira Bhava, our yoga isn’t meant to fix, avoid, or perfect ourselves- it’s here to integrate ALL parts of us. The light and the dark, the shadow and the sunshine. At the end of the day, loving all of our pieces is what brings us into wholeness, connection, and allows us to live life fully.

If you’ve ever injured yourself and been SO frustrated and had lots of negative, judgemental internal dialogue like “I can’t believe I let that happen” or “I’m so frustrated I’ll have to miss out on things while I’m sick”, you know how challenging it can be to accept these times and love ourselves through them without wishing things were different. When I dislocated my patella skiing and was walking in a straight leg knee brace for 3 weeks, all I could think about was what I wasn’t doing during that time, what I was missing out on.

I’ve been studying and implementing Ayurveda into my life for 10 years. And if I had to start all over on my journey of healing my ulcerative colitis, it would be easy to shower myself with knowledge, tips, and practices. But what I was missing early on in my healing journey was the ability to slow down and love the parts of the healing journey where I was hurting the most. Seems crazy right? 

But if I didn’t go through those times that hurt, I wouldn’t be so ready to stand at the tops of mountains and scream at the top of my lungs about how amazing Ayurveda is. 

My healing story is my purpose. My dharma.

So if you’re struggling with a physical injury, an illness, or weird body and mind things that you wish you could just “fix”- I invite you to slow down and find gratitude amidst the struggle. This isn’t in an empty way asking you to bypass the negative. This isn’t pandering the “love and light and good vibes only” toxic positivity spiritual bull-crap. This is saying, when you have the capacity to hold the negative- the hurting, the frustration, the pain, the suffering
AND

Take your blinders off so you can see the bigger picture too- the gratitude, the learnings, the chances to laugh at yourself.

THAT is healing. 

So if you are in the midst of feeling frustrated and at odds with your body, here are some practices from Yoga and Ayurveda to help expand your awareness and let the love in.

1. Guided healing visualization meditation

Begin in a comfortable position for meditation- one where your body can be relaxed but your mind can be awake. If it’s comfortable for you, seated with a tall straight spine.

If you are familiar with the practice of prana dharana, practice that for a few minutes, then collect and move the prana you have accumulated to the area of the body that is currently suffering.
If you are not familiar with prana dharana, once you have settled into your breath and feel collected and present, move your entire awareness to the area of the body that is suffering and let your attention rest there.

As your attention rests in this place, begin to visualize each breath sending swarms of worker bees, minions, oompa-loompas, or tiny construction workers to this place. Any way that these helpful forces show up for you is totally perfect and divine. Each inhale brings a new wave of workers to the construction site in your body.

Then imagine these workers getting to work! They break out saws, ladders, paint brushes, leaf blowers, the whole shebang, and they get to work on that hurt part of you. It’s like you are watching a house getting totally remodeled at the micro-level and at super fast speed. Hundred of these little helpers without complaint totally immersed in the job of working on you.

Watch as they hammer, nail, repair, paint, refinish, clean, and refresh the entire “house” of this part of your body. They work diligently and with a smile on their faces! No task is too big as they start to put you back together.

Stay here as long as you would like watching them work. Then watch as they paint the last board, hang the last window frame, and pack up their tools. Exhale all of your workers down the spine into the place behind the navel in front of the spine. Express your deep and sincere gratitude to them, and then let them go. Take a moment of gratitude to your body and your spirit.

If you’d like you can conclude with the Metta, or loving kindness meditation, aimed at yourself. 

2. Abhyanga

The Ayurvedic practice of oil self-massage is a fantastic way to not only send yourself some love, but also aid in circulation, nervous system regulation, and overall healing.

Use unrefined sunflower, almond, coconut, or sesame oil (from the self care section of the grocery store, not the cooking section. Nothing toasted). Or grab some of my favorite ayurvedic oils from Banyan Botanicals here and use code KIMBER15 for 15% your first order!

Either A) you, B) the oil, or ideally both need to be warm. You can warm up a small bottle of oil in some water in a saucepan on the stove, in a mug of hot water on your bathroom floor, or use a baby bottle warmer. Rub the oil into your skin using long strokes on the long bones and circular strokes on the joints. About 2 tablespoons total. Let your strokes be infused with love and gratitude for this amazing gift that is your body. Take your time, make this luxurious.

You can cover every part of your body. Ideally, let the oil soak into your skin for 10-15 mins before rinsing off in a hot shower. No soap! Watch your step getting in/out of the shower, since things are oily they might be slick. You can also do this after a practice for maximum oil infusion.

Avoid this practice while menstruating, if you have a fever or a very thick white coating on your tongue, or have just had surgery

3. Yoga Nidra
Yoga nidra is a powerful practice that allows our body to deeply rest and restore while simultaneously accessing our subconscious. Yoga nidra works with a sankalpa- our truest intention and desire. Perhaps you practice with the idea “I am healing” and allow that seed to be planted into your subconscious.

There are lots of great guided yoga nidra practices on youtube or the app Insight Timer. I love Judith and Lizzie Lasater. Also check out offerings at your local yoga studio.

4. Journaling
Everything is an opportunity to practice self-inquiry and equanimity. If you feel disconnected from your body while it is hurting, like it is somehow offline and inaccessible, try journaling first and see what might come up, then afterwards perhaps get on your mat for an embodied asana practice after emptying the mind.

Some journal prompts to ponder:

What is my body trying to tell me right now?
What am I grateful for right now?
If I imagine myself a year from now, how do I envision myself after this healing experience? What have I learned? What am I grateful for?
How can my experience serve someone else?

Is there any part of this experience I’m repressing because I don’t want to feel it or face it?

How am I contributing to my own suffering right now?

What’s here if there’s no problem to fix?

5. Get on your mat

It can be hard to be asked to practice when we might not be able to do “as much as we are used to”.

What would it look like to practice in a way that truly honored what your body wanted and needed in that specific moment in time? Who knows, maybe that’s an hour of savasana or just legs up the wall for a few minutes.

What if you let go of the expectation of what your practice “normally” looks like?

If you’ve felt shut off or disconnected from your body during this time, what does it feel like to just truly be in your body? Without an agenda? If that’s uncomfortable, can you lean into the discomfort and make space for it?

This is our yoga. Happy healing my friends