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| Post-Polar Bear Plunge Glow Coney Island |
Well, I had no choice but to prepare myself well for the Plunge on New Year's Day! Through the greater part of December "I just did not feel quite right," it was either chest and/or throat tightness and/or I was beginning to suspect that I was developing chronic heartburn, not that I knew exactly what it was supposed to feel like, but I do sometimes eat dinner rather late - although my diet is pretty healthy. Two friends mentioned suffering from heartburn in the recent past and were doing something about it; one of the keys seemed to not eat late at night which I do try to avoid, but sometimes it does happen.
In addition, on December 26 I had some stomach cramping, it did not last very long, but after thinking that it was caused by something I ate I started suspecting that it was a mild virus instead (a friend had the same symptoms); cramps lasted up to two minutes and continued for two to three days in intervals of 5-6 hours, fortunately, my sleep was not affected. Either way, I could not help but be feel confused about so much going on in my body at the same time. I took some deep breaths and decided to let go of trying to figure out "the whats and whys" and decided instead to leaf through the book. I was going to undo this, I smiled having regained some confidence. I wanted to be healthy for my New Year's Plunge, I wanted to turn this around this year not next year! If symptoms did not change, I feared it would not be smart to go into the water and I would miss out on this crazy, crazy, sexy, uplifting, tradition.
If I picked "wrong protocols" (Dien Cham) it would not hurt me (please note, pregnancy would be contraindicated for certain points and there are some other contraindications - please always check and be mindful and remember the 0 zone/0 point has a regulating effect, in case anything feels off when working on specific points) and the likelihood was great that there would be points/reflexes that would just be perfect to rewire where it was needed. So after Christmas I finally designed a new Dien Cham routine supporting the immune system, the respiratory system as well as the digestive system and I explored the Standard Session as well. In the past for the most part, I had been using the Basic Session and just added whatever I thought would help me on any given day with tense/sore areas. My Chi Gong practice, light yoga and pranayama/mantras routines had certainly relieved symptoms for hours at a time and I felt strong enough enough to work, enjoy time out in the park with the dog and do whatever else needed to be done. However, it was time to be more agressive and deal with what was going before the Plunge since I did not ever want to feel again the way I did after last year's dive into the frigid Coney Island waves! (Here is a link to the respective post). Wishful thinking? No, not at all, I am a firm believer in the benefits of using self care - thus this blog! It should be noted that on the average I do not spend more than an hour on self-care, that does not include the two walks with Mowgli, however.
Acupressure's Potent Points (A Guide to Self-Care for Common Ailments, Michael Reed Gach) was consulted as well. One of the suggested points for heartburn (Stomachaches, Heartburn, Indigestion) is right in between the lower end of the sternum and the belly button (Center of Power). It was tender so I worked it a couple of times spread over two days but never right after eating - there was an almost immediate release.
I marked the Dien Cham points on a form (love doing this), individually for every single protocol and made copies of them with my I-Phone. It seemed like most of what was not right undid itself within 2-3 days (in addition, no overeating at all this holidays season, only a sip of wine occasionally, and the usual routine). After the plunge which was lovely, despite the fact that it took me forever to go in all the way, I stopped doing the immune points as well as the acupoints on the body and my focus now is the Standard Dien Cham Session which consists of 30 + points but still can be done very easily in less than two minutes if you combine points. The points are worked in the following order: cheeks, nose, forehead, temples, above, then below mouth/chin, ears - feels lovely on the face, lovely on the body!
2012 has been interesting so far and the fact that I managed to turn around the tension that was accumulating in my body last minute last year before the countdown has left me newly delighted about my wellness toolkit, inspired and with the commitment to continue being even more proactive about my health and continue blogging - got lots of other stuff to write about!
Coney Island Sunset on New Year's Day 2012
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