Medicine Show

I've been sick for the better part of this week. It's quite stunning because I don't get sick very often. I used to spend my winters in misery, suffering from colds that would inevitably morph into bronchitis.
I would be on antibiotics for months on end. My asthma would flare. I'd have all sorts of just feeling bad for months on end. Due to the copious amounts of pharmaceutical interventions, my stomach would be messed up and I would just feel like crud.
I made some definite lifestyle changes over the course of the last few years. Those changes I am convinced has allowed me to not get sick like I used to.
The first thing I did was to step up my yoga and meditation practice. I do my morning and evening asana practice, which I call my bookends. When I feel like I am getting the sniffles, I focus more on deeper stretches, like triangle and pigeon and camel. These open my hips and chest, and I swear my asthma has improved to the point I don't use my inhaler anymore.
I have a pandora station for my meditation practice. It's calming and beautiful. The mantra I use when I start feeling icky is hum fat swaha. You just repeat it over & over silently, and I visualize feeling healthy. At the same time I use a mudra for my hands that helps promote healing:

Put the tips of your thumb, middle and ring finger together. Do with both hands

I can't guarantee you will have the same success I have had, but it can't hurt.

I am also working on eating healthier and avoiding things that are bad for me. I get enough rest, or at least try to. Both of those make a world of difference.

Since I started eating better, I made a polar shift to wanting to use natural remedies as much as possible. I take zicam & sambucol when I start getting the sniffles. Both help with boosting the immune system, and don't have nasty side effects.

To help with congestion, I do extra neti treatments. It helps with swelling and gets rid of the gunk up in your head. It doesn't have the same issues as most decongestants, and the best part is you can do it as often as you need to.

The other thing I do is drink tea. Yogi tea makes a great cold season sampler, which is delicious and healing.

I'm just glad to not feel as cruddy as I used to feel, without the medicine show.