Friday was ninety days since my rotator cuff surgery. I thought that 90 days would be enough to get me back to normal. Not even close, although my physical body gets stronger every day. So, the blog continues…maybe it will be 180 days of ahimsa, maybe a lifetime. I will say that I have learned a lot in 90 days. I will never take my physical health for granted. I will be grateful for what I can do every day. I will always practice yoga every day. And, I will be kind to people who cannot do whatever that it. My friends have been very kind to me during the past 90 days (as always but maybe I never noticed) and I promise to be kind to them always.
So, what can I do physically after 90 days? I have been back to yoga class the past few weeks. Many poses are not available to me in the extend that I could do them before. It will be a while before I can do a head stand due to shoulder/arm limitations. Is that a problem? Not when I have legs up the wall! How about crow or side plank? Forgetaboutit! I can do slightly lowered plank and work from the side in table. Yeah! How about thread the needle in table? If every day it gets better, then I better be happy.
I’m losing track of how long it has been since my rotator cuff surgery. The calendar says it has been ten weeks. As long as there is improvement each week, it’s good. I’m not through talking about Cambodia, but being home and facing physical therapy and normal work has required me to measure progress again. Every day brings a break through such as scratching my nose, eating with chopsticks or doing my first post-op upward facing dog. Upward facing dog, or Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, has been my nemesis for the past few years. It was painful and actually not possible to do one correctly with the rotator cuff problems. But this week, I did one pain-free. Now I’m not going to tell you that I can do a Adho Mukha Shvanasana or a Chaturanga Dandasana yet, BUT the components are coming along.
At ten weeks, I should be approaching full extension. Should I not achieve this extension soon, the doctor will give me some meds and manually extend the arm over my head. I really want to do this on my own without the meds. Maybe tomorrow…3:00 physical therapy and I’m motivated.
When the alarm mysteriously went off at 5:30 AM this morning, we decided that a 6:00 AM practice at Kundalini Cambodia was meant to be. In the dark, we woke up a sleeping tuk tuk driver and made our way to Sadhana, taught by a very nice young teacher, Hak. The Kundalini practice was new to us and involves repetitive stretching and breath, then kriya practice to burn physical and emotional impurities. It was a very nice class and ended with a long savasana.
The teacher was so happy to get the t-shirt and stickers that we brought from home that we got to stay for tea and hear his life story. He was born in the Cambodia Thailand border area which is very rural and very poor. His family tried to immigrate to the USA, but only his grandmother was approved for a visa. So, the family stayed and now live near Phnom Penh.
The Kundalini Cambodia community supports many efforts for the children of Cambodia and trains local Khmer students to be yoga teachers. They recently moved to a new space and primarily service the local population, although they do see some tourists.
Since his first language was Khmer, his English was sometimes hard to understand. He kept saying “like your breath, like your shoulders, like your body” which I thought was really sweet. It wasn’t until the end of class that I realized he was saying, “relax your breath, relax your shoulders, relax your body”. Either way works for me!
The Peace Cafe is a great place to practice yoga or meditate here in Siem Reap. It supports many local causes with the cafe and the shop. Yoga class was upstairs on a wood plank floor with open windows and there were about four fans hanging from the ceiling. Did I say that it was hot? I guess that it was over 90 degrees at 8:30 in the morning so we needed those fans. The fans also move the mosquitos around so you are less likely to be bitten. Teacher was very nice and had her hands full with my shoulder, a woman with stitches in h foot and another with an injured neck. All was well with me until we moved to the wall outside the range of the fans. Tree pose with a wave I call it. Just keep swinging an arm around to keep the little bugs away. I was a little afraid to start swatting because it was the Peace Cafe.
Off to Phnom Penh on the mini bus and we are hoping the air conditioning works well. It must be over 100 with high humidity.
I do not think that you can visit Cambodia without giving back to the people, especially the children. NGOs are everywhere. You can eat meals at cafes run as a training facility for young people that would otherwise be on the street. We had an excellent lunch at Friends in Phnom Penh, the most well known of this type of organization. Prices are a little higher than at the cafes on the tourist streets, but it’s well worth it.
Our favorite organization here is Journeys Within our Community, run by Andrea and Brandon Russ from Truckee, California. They live in Cambodia most of the year and run a small hotel which is located next to the JWOK school. The school services all grades and provides a free education to poor village children who would otherwise not have this opportunity. They pay their teachers a living wage so they don’t shake the kids down for money. They provide computer education, hospitality training and general education. They also provide college scholarships for committed students. The University costs $500/year.
We are most interested In their clean water projects which are run by the older students and returning graduates. For $375, a well will be built that services a family or more. Many of the rural children are malnourished, not because they lack food, but because they have parasites. When you see a child with copper colored hair in the villages or on the street, that child is sick. it also takes a lot of time to haul water home from a clean source and that job generally falls to the children. Village parents many times do not send their children to school because they need them to work.
Two wells will be funded by the generous friends and yoginis at Svadhyaya Yoga and our family. It’s just the right thing to do and makes such a big impact on the poor village children. It equals health and time to go to school.
Our three days in Siem Reap has been filled with some pretty interesting temple touring. First, we made the popular tourist circuit with Bayon, newly restored Baphuon, Ta Prohm, Terrace of the Leper King and Terrace of the Elephants. The second day, we toured The remote Banteay Srei, a 900 AD temple dedicated to Shiva. We left the hotel before sunrise and were the only tourists at this temple at that hour. One of the police guards gave us a private tour behind the ropes. Fantastic opportunity to see many of the original well preserved carvings up close. These guys know how to earn a nice tip. We capped off a very hot day by climbing to the top of Angkor Wat, which is not easy.
We are finding more yoga than in past trips. Most classes are taught by foreign teachers that are just passing through. So far we’ve visited classes taught by an American and a New Zealander. Both were very nice and geared to “all abilities” which is nice for me with this shoulder work in progress. It’s getting more flexible, but still not even near a down dog. At nine weeks post surgery, I think I’m doing pretty well. Now if I can get the Khmer massage ladies to understand that I don’t want any yanking or pounding on that arm, I’ll be in heaven.
Filed under: more cambodia
You want tuk tuk? Hands down that is the most common phrase we’ve heard here in Phnom Penh. Every driver hustles for a $3 fare all day and into the night. It’s common to see drivers parked and sleeping in the early morning hours. So, what do I like about a tuk tuk? It’s cheap, quick and fun with the breeze blowing in your face. Keep in mind that any breeze is fun because it’s HOT. Drivers have names recognizable to westerners such as Johnny and Borat. AND, they wait for you and always find you because you pay at the end. My favorite hustle was, “your driver went home so I’ll take you”. Don’t fall for that one.
One of my most favorite things to do here in Cambodia is shop at the markets. Regular stores just don’t appeal to me because fixed pricing takes all the fun out of it. Yesterday we went out of necessity to the Central Market because it was pouring. We scored two very cheap and fancy umbrellas. I chose the plaid Fendi look alike and the Mr found a really big one that advertises Dove soap. We got sidetracked with watches and jewelry, but got out of there in about 20 minutes. Today was another story because I wanted to check out some silk stuff. I cannot get enough of the Cambodian silk scarves and cute silk elephant bags. The Russian market is the place we decided to visit. On our first trip to Cambodia five years ago, we heard that you could buy machine guns at the Russian market. We did not see any today, but did walk down endless aisles of motorcycle and scooter parts. The vegetable section was especially beautiful and very busy. I found my new silk seller friend right away and she fixed me right up with some nice goods, including a couple of slick silk elephant bags. Because I am her new friend, she gave me a gift of a silk scarf embroidered with Angkor Wat.
Back through the moto parts we exit by the dried fish and not a moment too soon for me.
Filed under: Asana
We ate breakfast this morning under a covered patio by the pool during one of those rainstorms that soak you to the bone. Since it’s not the rainy season, none of the guests had umbrellas. So, the hotel staff took turns with a large golf umbrella ferrying guests from their rooms to the patio breakfast area running and laughing the whole time. That’s Cambodia for you. You have to love the tuk tuks, the families of four on a moto, the humidiy and the fried insect vendors. The street children endlessly bother you to buy books or postcards or cheap bracelets. One little child smacked my husband on his leg demanding his ice cream. But, it’s all done with a smile and a little laughter. They seem to love life.
Yoga practice for the day was at Flicks where we met a lovely instructor, Rebecca Norton. She was pretty relaxed about my limited shoulder use and I was grateful for that.
Our tuk tuk driver, Borat (not his real name but that’s what it sounded like) schlepped us to the Central Market, National Museum, Sisowath Quay for lunch, Wat Phnom and on a drive across the bridge. We drove past Naga Land Casino, the Convention Center and Dreamland and Funland amusement parks. We smiled, laughed and loved it.
Filed under: Ahimsa
Improvement! yippee! Finally I’m seeing some good mobility and strength and it has improved each PT session. Today is eight weeks since the surgery and I feel great. Great enough to get on a 14 + 3 hour flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Today is last day home which means all kinds of random last minute tasks…scanning important documents and e-mailing them, calling friends and family, banking, turning down heat and locking up.
Next time you hear from me, it will be less about the shoulder and more about the Cambodia. There will be some yoga in there, too, because we are going to visit a couple of yoga NGOs and maybe Skype in to one of our regular classes. Speaking of yoga, I attended my first group class since the surgery. Thank you, LeeAnn, and Deep Stretch for being patient and gentle. Practicing ahimsa when you just want to bust out trying is hard, but it worked. Had to curtail the ego in order to do that too.
I will admit that I’m taking my sling with me to gather as much airline employee sympathy as possible. When I need help, I’ll ask for it directly. I also plan to have as much fun as possible. My physical therapist said not to come back until my extension was 180 degrees. That’s incentive, for sure!
