I never thought a couple of days of simple yoga practice could end with a trip to the hospital.

Well, I can’t really say it was simple. It has been awhile since I have practised, and it was a pretty hardcore session. My legs trembled with the strain and the obvious tightness of my ligaments.

I was shocked- appalled actually-at how stiff I was and how far I had let my health slide.  After my first 50 minute session, I felt pretty wiped out and I was a bit concerned by how weak I felt and the uneasy feeling in the place where my baby sits.

I did my research to double check that yoga is indeed okay when you are pregnant and found nothing but praise for it with a few pose avoidance recommendations.

Feeling a bit more confident, I decided to have another session, this time only 25 mins to ease my already sore muscles into the unfamiliar stretching movements.

Oh boy. I felt worse then I did the first time. And as the day wore on, the headache pounded a little harder and the flu aches and chills started to invade my body.

Flashbacks to a few years earlier, lying on my hostel bed in Yangshao, China, Craig beside me. We were housebound with flu and general malaise and could not explore the beautiful karst countryside that surrounded us.

The cause? A Chinese massage. A couple of years without having one and the ancient healing technique managed to open up those lymph nodes to ooze out the built up toxins in our body.

This was the same feeling. More research, which comprised of friends answering my facebook questions and a chat with my master fitness trainer sister,

“You haven’t done yoga in a long time, so you have stretched your joints, muscles and ligaments into postures you are just not used to. You have unsettled all your lymph nodes and all the toxins that have been lying there are now coming  out.”

Shit. I have some built up toxins.

I immediately felt even sicker with the thought of how badly I had let myself go.

“Just drink lots of water and don’t give up the yoga. It’s not really the cause, just the messenger.”

Further friends confirmed that it was not just the toxins, but possibly built up stress. It all made perfect sense.

A Ball of Fire and Ice

I was rapidly deteriorating. The poison seeped throughout my body with aches and pains, and targeted specifically my throat, hip and pelvis region. My whole body, a ball of fire and ice, burned with raging pain one minute and then cooled down with the chills the next. I could barely speak and swallowing was difficult.

Being pregnant there was little I could take for the pain, but every four hours I was popping panadol. Useless really. Orange frosty fruit ice blocks spared me little release from pain in my throat.

The sharp burning pain around my pelvis region intensified, and with that as my major concern, I got everyone up in the middle of the night and went to hospital.

I felt so sick and I did not want to take any chances for my unborn child. Of course, the doctor told me it was just a virus, making me feel like a weak idiot and I became even more frustrated that there was nothing I could take to rid my body of this monster.

Learning the lesson

I knew that what was happening to me was not just a virus. I am a big believer in the fact that sickness in our body is usually has an underlying cause or message that needs to be addressed. It represents a lesson that we have failed to learn and so the Universe’s final resort is to attack our body in order for us to pay attention, listen and learn the damn lesson.

There was of course the physical side to my sickness that I alone was responsible

• Too much sugar
• Too much coffee
• Too much stress
• Too many projects
• Not enough sleep
• Not enough exercise
• Not enough joy

The killers to our health, and things we have so much control of, but don’t take our health seriously enough to control them. We allow the burdens and the tasks of our busy lives to take precedence.

My constant plea during my days of pain was for the sickness to please leave my body. What is it you are trying to tell me?  What have I missed and why is this happening now?

I rarely get sick like this, so I took some time to think about the times in my life where I have felt pain on a similar scale. There were about 4 and each time preceded a time of great change in my life; great change for the better.

And with that thought came a huge lift of joy. There will be good to come out of this. I am shedding the skin of shit from yesterday and moving into a brighter future.

“Heal your life,” by Louise Hay has always been a favourite book of mine, and I use it often to help discover the true underlying root to any physical problems I may have. She has never been wrong for me, and when you read that book you can see how she hasn’t for so many people.

I looked to what was going on with my sore throat:

“The inability to speak up for one’s self. swallowed anger. Stifled creativity. Refusal to change.”

The intense pain around my hip, legs and pelvis region would not ease. I had to release whatever it was that was causing this pain.

And so I turned to Louise Hay again and was not surprised to discover the following:

“Fear of going forward in major decisions. Nothing to move forward to. Fear of the future… Lack of joy flowing through life. Bitterness”

It made absolute perfect sense to the situation of my current life and my head space. I felt intense relief to know I could finally nip this in the butt.

I spent the evening saying my affirmations in relation to these issues. Most importantly, I let myself know that I was not afraid of this change, I was ready to move forward and I was so excited to embrace this new direction.

I woke the following morning and the pain in my legs and hips was completely gone. While my sore throat certainly took a few more days to clear up, I was well on my way to a brand new me.

I felt lighter than I had in years. A peace and calm returned to me and which has not left. I suddenly felt very secure and safe. I felt like my life had turned around and was moving into a new phase of growth and success.

More importantly I felt a return of joy- my long lost friend. I’m laughing more and crying less- moving into second trimester could have an impact on that too.

I wake every morning and my immediate thought is “Wow! Another fabulous day. I can’t wait to see what magic is on its way. Let’s get going! ” It has been a while since I have habitually noticed such sunshine.

And since I shed my skin, great things are happening in my life, without me even thinking about it.

I greet the day with my moving forward affirmations and I end in the same way too. I’m practising yoga again and love the stretchier me I am feeling. Toxins be gone.

Does this all sound a bit woo woo to you? Let me tell you the woo woo is closely related to the mojo. Trust me. I’ve experienced life with the mojo and without it.

When you get back in touch with the woo woo, the mojo gets back in touch with you.