For those of you who see me on a regular basis, you know I have been experiencing some pretty frequent hot flashes lately. It’s that time of my life, and so, like every woman who has gone before me, I know, this too, shall pass.
I also have been aware that my hot flashes are directly related to stress. The last big round of hot flashes that I had were back when I was planning Jeff and my trip to England and Scotland. About three quarters of the way through the trip, the hot flashes decreased significantly, and about a week later, I was pretty much done with them.
Since November, I have been anticipating three big events in my life. In my work world, I had two retreats I was planning. A one-day retreat that included coordinating the day around 4 other people’s schedules. Because I had 4 presenters, I had a tight budget with very little wiggle room and dependent on X amount of people to come to break even. And then I was planning my long weekend retreat to Colorado for this June, also within a tight budget. (While I do pay myself for my yoga classes and food, it’s not my goal to make a huge profit from my endeavors. My goal has always been to bring wellness to women who may not be able to afford the retreats and healthy opportunities that wealthier women take for granted.) And so there was the stress of not only planning these retreats but also just breaking even from them.
At around the same time I was planning the retreats, a Soul sister friend asked me to marry her and her fiance. What an honor! But I confess, the planning for a wedding (and my first time, with no idea if I was doing things “right”) added some extra stress in my life.
And so, due to life circumstances, my life got more stressful, and my hot flashes kicked into full gear.
Now before you think, “Oh, no! Jill was under a huge amount of stress! That’s so bad!” I want to tell you, at no time did it feel like bad stress. It wasn’t a worrying kind of stress. It wasn’t a sad or angry kind of stress. It was a “busy mind” kind of stress, with lots of planning. Just like the trip to England and Scotland. I was looking forward to these endeavors with JOY!
But it was a busy time, and my body has always told me when I am stressed out. From the time I was 18, I would get cluster headaches during stressful times of my life throughout my 20s. In my 30s, stress would mess with my digestive system. And by the time I was in my early-40s, I was diagnosed with chronic ulcerative colitis.
I understand that my body reacts to stress, both good and bad stress. And that is why my yoga and meditation are so important to me. They bring balance into my body and mind. They allow me to center myself and breathe through the stress. They help my body heal faster. I haven’t had cluster headaches or colitis for years, and I hope I am on the tail end of my hot flashes as well. I recognize the changes I have made in my life to keep those ailments at bay, and that includes lots of exercise and lots of quiet, calming time. I came to yoga so I literally could improve my balance, but I learned through the years that yoga balanced more than my tree pose.
By the way, this past weekend, following the wedding (the day retreat was last weekend), I barely had any hot flashes, and those that I had were more like “warm” flashes. Just as I had expected.
Find YOUR Bliss!