Reflections on Stopping a Cold in Its Tracks

Or managing one when that plan goes awry.

The day I met The Bear Den. 10/10/20

Happy Anniversary to me! Today marks the beginning of my junior year here at The Bear Den. 11 has always been a super powerful special number, time, and day for me, and so on 10/10/20, when I first laid eyes on this sweetest of little houses and my landlord asked: “when do you want to move in?” Without hesitation, I said 11/11!!

That gave me one month to purge, pack, and move. I swore I’d NEVER move during Vata Season, and there I was, smack dab in the middle of it, anxiety and all. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done (I think I’ve said that with every move I’ve had to make solo.) My hair started falling out. If it hadn’t been for a few angelic friends who helped me pack and then unpack on this end, I would probably have been bald.

Once the boxes were finally unpacked, this little piece of paradise began to work her healing magic on me. The wee house, the hill it sits on with her medicinal plants, the surrounding trees, and the magnificent mountain ranges.

I feel healing happening here every day.

So, what the hell happened last weekend?

First, the dreams came.

Three nights in a row.

They were so vivid. I felt deep loss and grief. For people from my past and for places I’d lived.

They were leading up to the lunar eclipse in Taurus on Tuesday morning and were particularly relevant to my own astrology chart. I was curious as to what might transpire for me (and for the nation as the eclipse happened on Election Day here in the US.)

Eclipses are nothing to scoff at, and their energy can affect us for days, weeks, or months. This one, I just heard an astrologer say, would be felt until March of 2024!

The morning after the last dream, I felt just the tiniest sensation brewing in my lungs, and all of my holistic spidey senses stood at attention. That was the signal for me to jump into action!

Because I have become a master at stopping colds and flu in their tracks. I honestly can’t remember the last time I was sick. Back pain, yes. But illness, no. I like to say to people who will listen to me :) to pay attention to your body’s signals! A tickle in the throat or ears. Unusual fatigue. A change in your breathing. A sensation in the lungs, like I was feeling.

So, I jumped into action.

I took Elderberry Syrup. A shot of fire cider. Yarrow. Echinacea. Zinc. This tea and that tea. I could go on and on. It’s a little embarrassing how extensive my personal apothecary is.

All the while thinking, “I’m going to write about stopping a cold/flu in its tracks!”

I took an Epsom salt bath and went to bed early, fully expecting to feel like a million dollars in the morning.

I had yet another grief-filled dream.

When morning came, illness had quickly set in, and I knew that my body wasn’t having it with my stop-a-cold-in-its-tracks antics.

I realized sadly that I would have to change the subject of this post.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, fall is lung season,. Ayurveda and TCM both teach that the lungs are the repository for grief. An Ayurveda teacher once said that I had too much old grief in my lungs and that it was like trapped stale air.

He taught me a breathing technique to expel grief.

Take a slow deep breath through the nose and then slowly let it out through the mouth, making a sssssssssss hissing sound like a snake, and expelling every last bit of air.

I’ve been doing that this week.

For two days after I knew there was no stopping it, I was so drained of energy that I could barely stand up. Bear in mind that Vata people like to be moving. Vata is movement, and so it’s our natural state of being. I hate to feel tired during the day. It’s one of the reasons I try to eat a really healthy diet, especially lunch. so that I have good energy in the afternoon.

I had been taking too many different herbs while not being able to eat anything, and the mucus coming up and out (a good sign) was making me nauseous. There’s no feeling I hate worse than nausea, so I stopped. Limited myself to ginger, cinnamon, lemon, and honey.

And then I heard The Voice say, “Go to bed! Just sleep!”

And so I took to my bed late morning with Nomad, my trusty Lion, and my beloved hot water bottle.

That turned out to be the best medicine of all.

This is Nomad, my trusty Lion friend. He used to travel everywhere with me.

I wished that Florence Nightingale was here. Washing my sweat-soaked sheets and making me a healing broth. Throwing open my windows to let in the fresh air. Living alone can be challenging when you’re sick.

Florence once appeared to me in a meditation years ago. Yes, she did. :)

The next morning I bundled up in my robe and sat outside with my face and lungs and my own healing hands to the sun. I felt the healing love my friend all the way in PA was sending me, and all I felt was peace and calm.

I realized how I almost need to be hit over the head with a hammer to slow down. Be quiet. Deeply rest. Turn off my phone and computer. I slept 12 hours that night, in spite of sleeping for hours during the day.

I realized that I don’t need to use every single herbal remedy in the house. Sometimes sleep is the thing. At least that’s what The Voice said.

I could just dismiss this as “a cold.” Which it is. But years of studying and practicing energy medicine taught me that there’s so much more to any illness. Once an illness makes it into the physical body, it has already gone through layers of our energy field.

Knowing this, I work hard at eating well, going to bed early, avoiding toxic places and people, and letting the healing vibes of this place wash over me every day.

I am so blessed.

Yesterday, I went out back into the woods barefoot and sat with some of my favorite trees. I sunk my feet into the damp leafy earth, tried not to think about ticks, put my back up against the tree trunk, and did the snake breath.

Then I sang to the trees and the birds and any other animals who might be around but were too shy to say hello. :)

My backyard

Good diet and Nature time aside, there’s only so much we can avoid. There are toxins in our food, water, and soil, raining down on us from the chemtrails. Today, as I look outside, I have never ever seen them as bad as they are right now. I am hesitant even to go outside.

I cannot believe people still regularly eat non-organic food. Even organic food today is far from perfectly clean unless it’s local, but supermarket food that is not organic is absolutely laden with glyphosate and other pesticides, and that is very, very scary and making us sick.

I’ve ruminated a lot over the past few years on germ theory vs. terrain theory, and I have to say that terrain theory is winning my vote.

Over the past three years (Wow! Three years of medical mania!) I worked really hard to keep my body and spirit healthy and strong, and vibrant. I put a mask on my face only once, and that was one time too many. I didn’t wear rubber gloves or use toxic hand sanitizer. I touched surfaces. I continued my practice of picking up trash in the city. With my bare hands.

I never got sick.

I can’t explain why some people did. Was it toxic overload? I think that’s what happened to me this week. I’d been eating crappier than usual. And those dreams and a few other contributing factors. Wild fluctuations in the weather. Stress, of course.

I think I posted this video before, but it’s worth sharing again. It’s the best simple explanation of germ theory vs. terrain theory.

And now I’m putting the saga of my cold/detox story to rest. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do as soon as I hit “Publish.”

Thanks for letting me whine to you.

By the way, no, I didn’t take a C-word test.

No, I don’t believe I got sick from someone coughing on me.

Or from touching the ATM screen.

My body needed to detox, and it is surely doing that.

“The greatest evil trick played upon mankind was teaching man that his body’s self-cleaning programs are diseases that require poisons for ‘treatment’.”
-- Dr. Ben Tapper

I hope the next time I write and read this to you, my stuffy head is stuffy no more.

Much Love,
Barbara