A new me....

Apip99

Good Afternoon one and all,

After ‘lurking’ for a short time I thought it was about time to post and say hello.

Not really sure if I’m in the right place, but here I am.

My back ground. Well 8 weeks ago I was in A&E for a second time with serious chest pains. Thankfully Heart attack was ruled out (Only 33 years old BTW) But they could not get to the root cause of my heavy pains. They could only suggest that I had had a panic attach. Although I had nothing to panic about, or worry over. Married, 2 kids (okay so there is a stress level raiser there) Great secure, job, and all going great.

I was recommended an acupuncturist. Which at first I thought, nope, not for me, you’d be mad if you believed in all of that carry on. But with the pains as they were I would have done just about anything. So off I went to see this guy, and meeting him has changed my life. And I do not mean in a I feel better kind of way, I mean my life is not as it was.

After seeing him, my chest pains were gone, completely. And he said that I need to take time for me, read, and enjoy my life, not just live it. It made sense as I never really had me time, or did much for myself. And reading, well, I think the last good read I had was the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Books were never high on my list of priorities. The book that I borrowed was ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’. WOW! From just reading that book here is a list of what I do and Don’t do now.

I don’t smoke
I don’t watch the News
I don’t drink to access
I don’t let negative thoughts in to my mind (well, I’m trying)
I do not drink anything with Caffeine in (I user to drink about 10 cups of tea a day!!)

I get up at 6am every day
I do yoga every morning and some evenings
I am calmer
I eat healthily every meal. (Loving the salads now)
I walk where ever possible.
I have a day at weekend where the family, do something (climbed the Sugar Loaf the other week)
I now take Spirulina every morning.
I read more
I try to mediate.
I set goals

You can kind of imagine the person I was before from that list. And thank goodness that I meet the acupuncturist, who by accidently put me on the path now find myself on.

Why am I here then,. Well I don’t really know. I know that I am on the path to enlightenment, and now enjoy every single day in a way that I never would have imagined 8 weeks ago. I was raised C of E. Not in a strict way. It was a gig that I never really got me head around, although I felt spiritual, it wasn’t towards the church, and now as I have had this awakening I guess I’m looking for a little guidance so that I can develop myself further. I have seen the possibilities after just a few weeks of my new life.

I do have one drawback on my new life though. Tinnitus! I used to suffer from time to time, but since the new me, it is constant and the ringing makes it very hard to meditate as it’s a huge distraction. Any thoughts on how to calm this issue.

So there is me in a nut shell.

Kindest regards,

Apip

gnu

Hi Apip, and welcome! First of all I'm so glad for you that your health scare has made your life better - so often good things seem to come out of hard or scary experiences.

I'm trying to make similar changes to those you've made. Very gradually! But they all seem to reinforce each other and my life seems more integrated somehow now. My choices are less at odds with each other.

I'm just at the very beginning of my Buddhist journey - it's taken me till now to decide that that is the path I want to take - but I'm sure there are more knowledgable folks here who can guide you with that.

I was interested in your tinnitus - I suffer from it a little myself. I found that I don't notice it all day while I'm busy and going about my business but at night, when it's quiet, it was very obvious. In fact, in the beginning I thought it was some sort of noise in my bedroom! I've started trying to meditate and become aware of it then, and also during the other quiet times during the day - I'm pleased to report that I am having these more and more. I'm inclined to think you must be becoming very still and serene with your new way of living to find your tinnitus is more bothersome! When I've noticed it during meditation, I just acknowledge as part of what I'm sensing, the same way I acknowledge my foot is pressing on the floor or something - and I move on. That said, it's early days yet so we'll have to see how it goes.

Sorry I can't be more help but I just wanted to say hello and wish you well.

18AD

Congratulations on your newly found happiness!

With regards to the tinnitus, don't try and fight it. I recall on mediation where you concentrate on the sound in your ears and try and identify the highest pitch possible and keep going until you can't conceive of a higher pitch and just concentrate on it. If it's not a ringing in your ear, it'll be something else distracting you! Just go with it.

Otherwise you might like to find a nice mantra you can chant. You could use OM or just hum deeply. I've done this a few times and find I end up concentrating on the sound from inside my head instead of the sound coming from outside.

A singing bowl might be another idea. I still haven't gotten my hands on one! Soon! Soon!

Good luck.
AD

Apip99

Gnu and 18AD, thank you for your replies.

Interesting thoughts on the Tinnitus gnu. I had read some where to make the ringing part of my meditation. And it makes sense, if you can’t beat it, join it theory. I shall try and see how I get on.

18AD, Funny you should say about the pitch as I do seam to have a level of control. I can make the pitch increase when I concentrate on it. I have also taken in that after Yoga the pitch and ‘volume’ are both much higher.

Singing bowls, now there is a sterling idea. The guy that I buy my Jose sticks from in the peoples park market sells them. I will look into it.

I shall up date as and when.

Can anybody recommend mediation CD’s to guide. I have tried a couple and has either not found them convincing due to the persons over the top accent, or attitude. Not very calming, or easy to focus on.

Kindest regards,

Apip

studiorat

Tinnitus is caused by damage to the cilia in the cochlea. These hairs correspond to a bandwidth in the spectrum of our hearing. Damage is caused by knock to the head, loud noises, dental surgery, sports injuries and a number of other causes.

What's happening is these damaged cilia or hairs are sending electrical responses to your brain and being perceived as sound. It is highly unlikely that you are changing the frequency of this perceived pitch by yoga. As it would mean repairing and damaging the cilia in your inner ear. More than likely is you are creating pressure in your inner ear by trying to change this pitch by clenching your jaw etc and changing the size of the cavities in your head thus changing resonant frequencies within your hearing system.

Masking with other sound will get rid of the sense of tinnitus, try leaving the radio on between channels. The white noise should mask the tinnitus.

deisekidd

DOES ANYBODY NO IS THERE ANY BUDDHIST CENTRES IN CO. WATERFORD
THANK YOU

bou

Hi Apip99,
Glad to hear you found some useful ways to changing your lifestyle and re-prioritise.
I went through a period of having panic attacks some years ago. An episode would take a week or longer to develop, starting with a tightness in the chest and some mild pains around the centre of the chest. A feeling of a fast and strong heart beat with occasional flutters gradually developed. This developed to the point of having a sudden onset of a racing and strong heart beat which felt like I must be having a heart attack. I took myself off to A&E only to hear them say I was just fine. The symptoms actually disappeared after having the confirmation from the doctor that I was ok.
I didn't think I was stressed particularly but in hindsight I had a low level of tension over a long period. This was generally around not being happy with my situation and being a bit depressed. When I started meditating and taking an interest in Buddhism, I became a good deal happier and suffered a lot less stress. The panic attacks mostly went away and when they came, they were shorter and milder as I could see what they were, the causes and ways to work with them.

I have just recently seen a teaching where a lama talks about a restless agitation and speediness which western practitioners are particularly prone to due to our cultural environment and upbringing. In the Tibetan spritual/medical system there tsa lung and tiglé, which in English are channels, wind (or inner-air) and essences, and in Sanskrit are nadi, prana and bindu. The 'lung' is like an energetic life-force of which there are a number of types. One type is associated with how mind becoming active in thinking and the senses. Lung problems develop when we allow ourselves to get habitually into a restless agitated frame of being where the mind is speedily darting about trying to find things to satisfy a feeling of uneasiness. We're looking outside for all kinds of things to bring happiness and contentment. The point of the teaching was that we need to consciously let go of the restlessness and settle the lung energy in its resting place in the abdomen. I certainly identified with a lot of what he said and will try to work with the exercises he taught. These use the breath and awareness to focus on the lung feeling and bring it down in the body. I understand that it takes a long time familiarizing with the practice to prefect it but that it quite quickly brings noticeable benefits. One benefit which develops is that joy, interest and colour in life become more pronounced as the tsa lung tigle system becomes better balanced.

I've also had some mild tinnitus from time to time. For me it seems to be only occasional and associated with how I'm feeling physically and possibly due to what foods I've eaten. I guess it's food intolerances. Some things can make me groggy. cause headaches and cause low energy and tinitus is in the mix of effects that can be brought on. Maybe you could see if it is food related. Possibly with the new clean living there might be some physioligical/chemistry adjustments going on and maybe is causing stronger tinnitus.

I try not too pay much attention to it and just try to accept it as part of my environment. Its only actually there while you focus on it. Its like if you have a mild ache in you leg while meditating, you only feel the pain as long as your attention is on it. As soon as you get interested in something else, the feeling of pain disappears and only comes back when your attention comes back to it again. All that said, it isn't sever or prolonged tinnitus I have had so I can't really comment on dealing with that.