6 Ways in Which An Ashtangi Used The Practice For Open Heart Surgery

A fantastic guest-post, well, more like a letter really, by Donald. He is an ashtanga practitioner who has just undergone open heart surgery.  We are so happy he is back! Below he tells us how he avoided anxiety and how after one month, ONE MONTH, he is back to practice! Extraordinary!
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It has been a month now since my open heart surgery and I wanted to thank you for your well wishes. I am deeply touched. I felt the presence of you spirit and prayers on that day and wanted to let you know that I’m doing fine.  After surgery, the first week and a half at home was hard. Thank goodness for narcotics! But every week now brings progress and my doctors are surprised with how fast I am healing. I attribute that to years of daily biking and my Ashtanga practice. Already I feel my heart functions better.

Back in early March when I found out that I needed surgery my first thought was that I would train for it like an athletic event. But instead I simply got bummed out. I spent nearly two months filled with obsessive thoughts, frustrations and worries. I felt that it was just my fate that something would come up to interfere with my practice. Whether it was family or friend issues, knee problems, sore back, something would keep me from the mat. I felt sorry for myself. My practice fizzled. Then early one morning (I usually begin at 5:20 AM) I stepped onto my mat, got into child’s pose and started to cry. My tears didn’t last long but over the following days the bad feelings passed.

New thoughts arose. I thought how incredible it is that my heart could be fixed. Thirty years ago it couldn’t be done. And no matter what, my experience will help the next heart patient. I will be a model to my friends. Yoga goes beyond the mat. I can use this time to study and spend more time with my wife. How good my life has already been. I could not think otherwise. Who better can get through this than me? I rallied and my practice returned to normal.

On the day of surgery I was on the mat at 3:15 am. I said my opening prayers, did the standing asanas, marichyasanas, urdhva dhanurasana, padmasana and then closing prayers. I added additional prayers of thanks for the blessings of my life. They are many. I showered. Afterward my wife and I drove off to the hospital.

When I first awoke after surgery I looked up to the faces of my wife of 17 years and my best friend of 35 years and tears rolled down my face. I thought they were angels! I saw what I could only describe as the divine spirit in them. I had never seen that before. Was it always there? Yes, I know that I was heavily drugged but never had I witnessed such purity than at that moment. They glowed.  Awake from my momentary death they were indeed angles.  I was awestruck. Then I threw up and fell back to unconsciousness.

I wanted to let you know that my pre-operative Ashtanga practice has already given me much.

1·         I didn’t have to take any medications prior to surgery to calm me down or ‘even’ me out. Most often patients are medicated pre-operatively. In my case my blood pressure was normal. My heart rate was low. I was not anxious.

2·         While I was in the ICU I overheard my nurse say that she never had a patient who could breathe three times the average air volume on the spirometer right out of the operating room. (For all thoracic surgery, deep breathing is a key to recovery.) I attribute my lung power to Pranayama and years of bike commuting.

3·          I was released from the ICU by early evening, about 8 hours after surgery. That’s quick.

4·         The following day while lying in bed with needles, tubes and wires coming out of my neck, both arms, chest and elsewhere, I felt that I still had a core strength and a sense of presence. In Hebrew it is called “"Hineni" and means "I am here with all of my being.” (I don’t know the Sanskrit equivalent.) I did not feel damaged. I was not fearful.

5·         I already had a plan on how I would use my yoga practice to recover and couldn’t wait to get started. I did not feel depressed.

6·         I was released from the hospital in less than three days.

Now, one month later, my body has calmed down. I am almost finished with the cocktail of heart medications that I was required to take. I am off all pain medications. My ribs and shoulder are still sore but not as much as before. I have some nerve damage in my leg where I was attached to the heart lung machine. But it is improving. I am not entirely out of the woods yet but have confidence that I will be soon. Yesterday my doctors gave me the OK to resume all my activities without limitations.

Next week I return to the mat. I will begin with Matthew Sweeney’s Moon Sequence. In a few months I will write you again and let you know how it is all going. Thank you again, Claudia. The angel in you shines brightly! -

Donald


----   We look forward to hearing more from Donald, a real warrior-yogi!


See Also:
Matthew Sweeney's: Ashtanga Yoga As It Is 
Claudia's current practice
The Only 32 Things You Need To Know About Yoga