I’m the kind of person who needs help slowing down. My brain is always racing, rearranging to-do lists, planning what I’ll do as soon as I finish what I’m doing.
Over the course of this last year, I’ve been dealing with some lower back pain that came on suddenly.
In my quest for relief, I have introduced both a chiropractor and an acupuncturist to my back.
The chiropractor came first. She will often have me lay on the treatment table, with these blocks strategically placed, to help course correct my torqued pelvis. Gravity needs time to work out some of the kinks in my body, so I just lay there, as still as possible.
The acupuncturist joined several months later. I’ve never been a fan of needles. I don’t get nauseous, but I don’t like to watch them pierce my flesh. Gives me the heebie-jeebies. I close my eyes when any needle crawls under my skin. Once the acupuncturist has strategically placed the needles, I lay there on the table, eyes closed, for 10-15 minutes, not moving.
Never before in my life have I ever just laid on a table during the course of a day, fully awake and alert.
But I like it.
It is the only time I am completely still and quiet. Sometimes my mind hangs out. Other times it solves some problem I’ve had recently. And other times I have a burst of creative inspiration.
It is a gift to sit (or lay) in relative silence.
And yet, even though I know this, I have not been successful at ever achieving this during the course of a “normal” day.
I imagine when I am “on the table”, I am entering into a form of meditation.
I see why people like it.
For me, it seems, I have to be on pins and needles.