Ch-ch-changes

UPDATE: I’ve been waiting to make this announcement (didn’t want to jinx it), but…drum roll…I’ve been a cane for a week now! Hooray! All is going well. My leg started getting a little swollen yesterday, but I caught it in time, rested, iced it, and it’s in good shape again. In light of the good news, (and in thanks of the health and love I have on this Thanksgiving-eve) I have a rather reflective blog today.

Brian and I moved into our new place a few weeks ago. After my surgery last December, we were lucky enough to stay in an elevator-access building near MSKCC for two months, and then with Brian’s aunt and uncle, right on Central Park and also near the hospital. This was great for my recovery, but meant we never returned to live in our apartment in Brooklyn again, except for one weekend in April when we packed the whole thing up. When we arrived in Denver in May, we lived in a small one-bedroom condo, but didn’t unpack the majority of our boxes since we were waiting to move to a bigger place. SO. This is the first place we have really been able to call home in eleven months. It feels good. However, Brian and I have discovered it’s been kind of an emotional experience as well.

Basically, it was like our old life had been locked up in a time capsule and we're slowly excavating it now. Like all the pictures of our “before” life; or my angel mobile that I created with the names of everyone who had helped me, or I knew were praying for me; or the pair of pajamas I wore all the time during the weeks after surgery. I put those PJs on again a few nights ago and was flooded with the memory of the months I spent being in bed most of the day with my leg in the continuous passive motion machine. I feel slow now, but I was REALLY slow then. It’s weird.

With all the memories coming back as we build a new home together, I wanted to focus on our present and future, and create some new healthy habits for myself. I had been wanting to do a cleanse since surgery (to rid my body of the remnants of anesthesia and painkillers), but, you’re not supposed to do one after surgery. I figured eleven months was a long enough time to wait so last week I finished a nine days cleanse, which included five days of a liquids-only diet.

Last week I also started going to Kundalini yoga classes, which I’ve wanted to do for a couple years now, but for some reason was scared to. After my cleanse I felt grounded, healthy, and finally ready to try it. Kundalini yoga focuses on breath work and chants and mudras (hand positions). It has been amazing, and because there are almost no standing poses, I can participate in the whole class. I leave there feeling totally energized and rejuvenated. I knew most of these elements of yoga from the training I completed last year, but these classes are putting them together in a whole new way that is intense and transformative.

Power of the mind-body connection, yo!