Tight Chest? Do This!

It's a fair guess that some of you have some concerns at this time. 

Perhaps a little anxiety. Maybe even a nightmare about the dog you adopted in Rome at 22 years old, drowning right in front of you but you aren't able to save her and then you wake up in a panic? 

I get it. I understand.

For a few days, I had a really tight chest. I even coughed a couple of times. I had no fever. I felt energized. I didn't have a sore throat, but still, I convinced myself I had the coronavirus. I figured it was a number of days until I was on a respirator. 

Look, I'm an Ashkenazi Jew like 80% of you on this mailing list. You wouldn't imagine that I've written years of comedic newsletters and a 500-page book called Meal and a Spiel if I didn't have a little catastrophizing angst inside of me. I mean, please. At its core, humor is a delightful expression of angst. 

We all had (a little) angst and now it's compounding for many of us.

So, I started doubling up on the immune-boosting Chinese herbs my acupuncturist made me, my vitamin C, my vitamin B complex, my zinc. I washed my hands with even more precision and found time to talk to other friends who were also catastrophizing so I could feel better. 

But it didn't make me feel better. None of that helped the angst.

But something did help me.

Two things in fact. 

First, I cried. 

Don't underestimate the power of tears. The little water droplets, or in my case streams, carry with them great release. They pull the dust and old rust out of the corners of the heart. Tears offer spring cleaning. I don't recommend self-pity, but I do recommend dropping deep into feeling mode, as opposed to staying in anxiety mode which comes from being in our heads. Thinking, thinking, thinking.

It's important to drop into the heart. To FEEL. I had to admit to myself that I was scared. I had to feel the fear.

Feel the fear of losing my 82-year-old dad. Feel the fear I'd need a hospital bed and not able to get one. Feel the fear I'd have to live as a high-strung germaphobe for the rest of my life. And for those of you who have come to classes or read my book and know how I encourage everyone to lick their fingers to taste while cooking, you know that the latter would be a serious impediment to my life philosophy. An axe to my spirit.

But just admitting the fear in my heart was the first step to opening it. The door unlocked.

I still had pain in my chest, though. 

So then next I took the most healing anti-anxiety medication possible. Not Xanax! Breath. 

I breathed. 

Not just normal breathing. Deep, strong breathing. 

I breathed all the way into my belly, into my entire abdomen until it filled my whole chest cavity. Ballooning my upper chest like a rooster. I paused holding the breath in. 

I continued, over and over. I took the breaths faster, going right into my heart. I felt a little faint. I paused. Regained strength. I kept going. I started again. 20 at a time. 40 at a time. 

Until finally, I felt a release. 

Release. 

The door to my heart opened.

The breath is the internal massager that we often forget to use. It can move through your entire body actually, but particularly through your windpipes and break stress apart as if it were a masseur's strong hands working out the tension from the inside out. 

The breath is a tool, or a weapon if you will if you see your self as a warrior. 

I see myself as a warrior. I don't kill, obviously. I don't fight. But I am in battle. We all are. For the good of humanity. And the way I see it, the only job we have right now is to keep a wide-open heart. 

An open heart to have compassion for the people who are sick or scared of getting sick. An open heart to have compassion for the people who are losing their paychecks. (Please keep paying your housekeepers and supporting local businesses online!) And MOSTLY, compassion for ourselves, as we are facing a challenging moment on many levels and we deserve our own love.

And one way to love yourself is to make choices to grow yourself. And as you can guess, I would love to encourage you to grow as a cook, to become an empowered kitchen wizard or sorceress who can pull together a magical meal from whatever is in the house.

If you would like to join me in this week's free live online cooking classes, join me on Facebook Live or Instagram Live every Tuesday and Thursday at 4pm PST/7pm EST. Get more details on my Online Cooking Classes page.