Zazen during surgery

[ZenHarmony]

Quite an interesting article, Jundo, thanks for sharing!

As someone who has had to deal with chronic pain most of my life, I discovered long ago that fighting the pain only made it worse, intensifying it and making it last longer than necessary. Breathing through the pain, and accepting it as it is, always proved to make it so much easier to deal with, so much so that I used that method to give birth to two out of three of my children with no drugs and no vocalizing. I was even able to coach my 17 year old daughter so that she was able to have my beautiful granddaughter without drugs.

Gassho,

Lisa

[Risho]

That's pretty damned amazing Tom, but pain meds are incredible. lol

[Rich]

Tom, That took some courage. Never having had surgery I was wondering - was the pain just on the surface or was it deep inside?

[Taigu]

Bows to you.

Yes. Gret example.


I still prefer no pain. And here in Japan, just what it is. Painful treatement. Ok too.


Gassho


T.

[Jinyo]

That's amazing Tom - you must be very focussed.

I manage fillings with NLP - but a tooth extraction did not work out OK!

Dokan - I have probs big time with Sinusitus - keep taking the meds

Gassho

Willow

[galen]

I have had a pacemaker implanted for many years but I am not self reliant on it. It is there because a genetic defect sometimes during stress can cause issues with my heart that the pacemaker takes care of. I found out a few days ago during a checkup that the battery had died and since they cannot be changed I was scheduled for surgery yesterday to have the old pacemaker removed and a new one implanted. I told the surgeon that I wanted to be awake for the procedure and that I did not want any sedation. He asked if I wanted a bullet to bite down on and I said no, I would do zazen instead. So he numbed the area on my chest where he was going to make the incision and I started. Since I couldn't sit cross legged and had to lay on the operating table I had to modify it slightly. Instead of just sitting I just laid. I noticed my breathing and tried to not think. There were a couple of times when I noticed pain or discomfort but was able to let it pass and return to zazen. More than that though it wasn't a whole lot different than doing zazen on my cushion. My mind would wander to things that had nothing to do with the surgery and I would let those thoughts drift away and return to not thinking. Every now and then the surgeon would ask if I was okay and I would respond "Great". One time when he asked how I was the nurse told him that I was meditating. After about 45 minutes he stitched up the incision and said "that's it, all done" and I stopped my zazen. I was ecstatic. I was not drugged up and I didn't have to spend the night in a hospital. In fact, since I hadn't had any sedation, I was driving myself home an hour later.
I hope this doesn't sound like bragging because that's not why I'm relating this story. I just wanted to tell someone what zazen did for me and most of my family and friends wouldn't understand so thank you all for letting me tell it to you.

Gassho,

Tom

Tom, that was a WOWzer!

As has been said here, it seems that was a great example, you exemplified, of mind over matter. Seemingly taking a break from the phenomenal world of relativity, to join through breathing, into your ultimate nature of what Is and we all Are. Thank you!

If we remember, as Jundo points out in his referencing, Wick in his intro told us about the time he was still playing scientist and did the cold water experiment 40 feet down in near freezing temps without a dry or wet suit, through breathing and deep focus of 'being' cold, while others could only stay about 20 minutes (thats unreal in of itself) he staid for an hour until they told him to surface. Like Tom here, it seems the only way that would be possible is to slip out of the world of relativity into a higher realm of our highest true nature, after all its only relative.

Tom, this absolutely does not seem like bragging on any level, purely sharing this non-phenomena, phenomena. Well done, great example of sliding to the world, non-world of our ultimate true nature!



galen

[galen]

I have had a pacemaker implanted for many years but I am not self reliant on it. It is there because a genetic defect sometimes during stress can cause issues with my heart that the pacemaker takes care of. I found out a few days ago during a checkup that the battery had died and since they cannot be changed I was scheduled for surgery yesterday to have the old pacemaker removed and a new one implanted. I told the surgeon that I wanted to be awake for the procedure and that I did not want any sedation. He asked if I wanted a bullet to bite down on and I said no, I would do zazen instead. So he numbed the area on my chest where he was going to make the incision and I started. Since I couldn't sit cross legged and had to lay on the operating table I had to modify it slightly. Instead of just sitting I just laid. I noticed my breathing and tried to not think. There were a couple of times when I noticed pain or discomfort but was able to let it pass and return to zazen. More than that though it wasn't a whole lot different than doing zazen on my cushion. My mind would wander to things that had nothing to do with the surgery and I would let those thoughts drift away and return to not thinking. Every now and then the surgeon would ask if I was okay and I would respond "Great". One time when he asked how I was the nurse told him that I was meditating. After about 45 minutes he stitched up the incision and said "that's it, all done" and I stopped my zazen. I was ecstatic. I was not drugged up and I didn't have to spend the night in a hospital. In fact, since I hadn't had any sedation, I was driving myself home an hour later.
I hope this doesn't sound like bragging because that's not why I'm relating this story. I just wanted to tell someone what zazen did for me and most of my family and friends wouldn't understand so thank you all for letting me tell it to you.

Gassho,

Tom

Tom, that was a WOWzer!

As has been said here, it seems that was a great example, you exemplified, of mind over matter. Seemingly taking a break from the phenomenal world of relativity, to join through breathing, into your ultimate nature of what Is and we all Are. Thank you!

If we remember, as Jundo points out in his referencing, Wick in his intro told us about the time he was still playing scientist and did the cold water experiment 40 feet down in near freezing temps without a dry or wet suit, through breathing and deep focus of 'being' cold, while others could only stay about 20 minutes (thats unreal in and of itself) he stayed for an hour until they told him to surface. Like Tom here, it seems the only way that would be possible is to slip out of the world of relativity into a higher realm of our highest true nature, after all its only relative .

Tom, this absolutely does not seem like bragging on any level, purely sharing this non-phenomena, phenomena. Well done, great example of sliding to the world, non-world of our ultimate true nature!



galen

[Dojin]

Hey Tom.
i find this interesting since i am a nurse and i actually work in the operation room so i see and take part in operations everyday.
it is amazing how much our mind can control our body. mind over matter i guess.
but what is most important in your story is the amount of how much our perception determines our reality.

i see it many times in the O.R. with local anesthesia some people dont feel anything you only feel the perception of something being done to you.
while others scream in pain from the perceived pain the y convince themselves they feel even though the nerves have been blocked with the anesthesia agent.

Gassho, Dojin.