Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Yoga of My Toe

Although I'm not flexible or very strong, I've never had any real health issues inhibiting my yoga practice. Nevertheless, after every single practice I always thank the Goddess for my healthy body allowing me to practice, the fabulous sessions with the catastrophically disappointing.

Then... I opened the door over my toe. Yep, OVER my toe. A yelp and some pretty significant swear words combined with my collapsing face down on the bed clutching my toe brought Andrew running to my rescue. It wasn't long and the sobbing started and when Andrew asked to see my toe he got a big "touche poin!!" (don't touch!).

Yes, I am a big giant wimp.

It's a running joke in our home (and growing up with my family) that I really shouldn't have any appendages left, I stub everything so much. You'd think I would have grown callouses, but no the f-bombs spill out every single time.

This time though... something else happened. Andrew put on the bandaid while I looked away and hiccuped and I limped for the next three days. It was seriously painful and I soon realized that my fourth toe was swollen, bruised and felt weird (I left out that I actually came close to passing out and had to lie down for thirty minutes). It took a full week for me to be ok with actually changing the bandaid myself and I soon accepted the fact that I was (ICK) going to lose the nail (hence the passing out, nauseous feeling).
(I apologize for the foot-phobic readers- but behold the tiniest of injuries that completely halted all yoga practice for over a week!)

It became clear that yoga was out of the question. Most postures included some sort of pressure on the toes and when standing was painful, even a blanket touching my toe, asana took a break. How could such a tiny tiny little part of my body affect my yoga practice so significantly? I took my fourth toe for granted.

This tiny little thing that I thought useless since I can barely move my toes apart at all was effectively stopping my asana. Whaaa???

Over three weeks later and I still have that ridiculous bandaid on my toe and practice still feels a bit weird. Such a simple lesson.

No matter where you're at in your yoga, we are fortunate to just be practicing. Take a moment to thank either your Divine or just as importantly yourself for a body and mind capable of yoga in any form.

Blessings!

article and photograph copyright of EcoYogini at ecoyogini.blogspot.com

7 comments:

  1. I am glad your toes is better...I have my fair share of toe injury stories! I have been labeled accident prone and in all fairness...they (my parents and Diego) are right. Diego often jokes about getting me a toe helmet! LOL

    I feel like leaving my practice for so long (since Dec!) to let my wrist heal has left me vulnerable to viruses. I have been the sickest I have been in years this last month! Now that my wrist is better it may be time to resume my practice...Although, I am VERY thankful for my body's ability to heal itself. It has had quite a work out! :)

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  2. great post, great reminder. Thanks for sharing! Now you have the opportunity to experience your practice in a whole new way. I'm curious where this journey will take you! :)

    I hope your toe feels better soon!

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  3. over 200 bones in our foot, it is a powerful thing...feet are beautiful, they give us the power to literally stand on our own and see what's out there and take us where we need to be

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  4. Lisa, this EXACT same thing happened to me when I was about 10 or 11! I closed the door over my toe, and it actually ripped half of my toenail off. I then had to go to the doctor and have the other half removed so that it could grow back properly, lol... I have felt your pain! it's NOT fun!

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  5. It's not that I'm foot phobic, but I have had two significant toe injuries - two broken toes and a bone graft (bone from my hip transplanted to my toe!).

    So I both sympathise and shudder about your injury, ooooh!

    There's plenty of yoga you can do sitting/lying down, just avoid the standing stuff. Hopefully your poor little toe will feel better soon.
    :(

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