Now Walking Meditation

Well - sitting on that ball may have contributed to my back injury. I have not been able to sleep, walk, drive, sit at the computer, or much else...without a lot of pain. I threw my back out last week - just when I was feeling quite strong "in my core". Overconfident maybe, I moved too fast and too strongly. I tried to pick up a sock in the laundry room - with my purse already slung over my shoulder because I was about to pick up my child from school.

"Welcome to the club", my husband said, after he managed to carry me to a bed without throwing his back out. I couldn't walk. He fed me Ibuprofen every two hours, handed me his back-belt on the second day, taught me how to move onto and off the couch, and in general monitored my recovery. Today I feel better, except a little older.

Since I have been a couch potato all week, I will have to overcome my fears and "get back on the ball", so to speak. I think the ball was only indirectly at fault - it was more that I couldn't handle my new strength and moved with too much new-found vigor.

Nothing like the danger of throwing my back out again, to remember to keep moving slowly and with awareness like a Buddhists practicing Vipassana walking meditation.

(Photo by Bart van den Bosch, Sukhotai, Thailand)