In both religious and secular contexts around the world, prostration has a long and significant history as a practice that fosters wisdom and physical health and demonstrates respect and openheartedness.
While it can seem foreign, those at Bodhi Meditation who embrace this easy practice do so not only because of its transformative effects such as promoting weight loss, improving mental focus, and strengthening the immune system, but also because it is a way to respect one another. Here is Michelle’s prostration experience.
I was born with scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine. Most cases of scoliosis are mild, but for some, the spine deformities continue to get more severe as children grow. I suffered so much over the years. When I was five years old, I started getting bad headaches. My parents got me glasses, thinking that was the answer. (But it was my crooked spine.) At one point I limped, another time I wore a brace for a year because of a twisted ankle. Four years ago I developed a frozen left shoulder (that lasted two years). I had one perfectly good tooth pulled and three root canals on my left side because the nerves in my neck were pinched from the twisting spine which pulled the muscles. The muscles pulled my trachea to one side, so I wore my hair long to hide the bulge in my neck. My clavicle wasn’t balanced; my left shoulder was at least two inches lower than the other. I lived on T3s five days a week to relieve pain and take medication to relieve my chronic acid reflux. As a result of chronic pain, I was depressed, but refused to take anti-depressants.
My body continually tries to compensate for a twisted spine. Because I am not aligned, my immune system is affected and I always catch colds. Over the years I tried cranial sacral work, physiotherapy, an upper cervical spine chiropractor, and acupuncture. I had brain scans and MRIs. I’ve been to an osteopathic physician and an orthopedic surgeon who wanted to fuse my back (but I didn’t). I swam, practiced yoga and pilates, had massages, and sat in hot tubs to relax the muscles. If the muscles were relaxed, I wasn’t in as much pain. I also cleaned at the Centre in an attempt to clear my karma.
When I first arrived at the Bodhi Meditation Centre in early 2013, one of the volunteers asked me, “Have you had a stroke?” That tells you what the left side of my face looked like. Meditation was the key to relieving the pain. I can now control my pain through meditation (and no longer take pain medication), but it didn’t change my spine.
One day, out of the blue, teacher Qi said to me, “You need to do prostration for 20 to 30 minutes a day.” I had never complained about my back because I had so many other problems.
So I did. Two weeks later I went to my physiotherapist, Kerry Maxwell, for intramuscular stimulation and she said, “Michelle, you have the best alignment I’ve ever seen in your back. What have you been doing?”
I told her and showed her, the prostration I was doing every day. I stretched out my arms, brought them together over my head, brought them down touching my forehead, throat, and chest, dropped to my knees and stretched out on the floor, arms extended, bumped my head on the floor three times, and pushed myself back up to a standing position. I didn’t want her to think that this was religious repentance and told her she didn’t have to tap her head on the floor if she didn’t want, but she said, “You do have to do that. It sets the top of your spine and the atlas and it realigns the bones in your head.”
I thought during meditation that if I was able to get rid of scoliosis, I would be able to do anything because I’d feel so much more aligned with my brain. My wish was heard. I will continue to practice prostration on a daily basis. I don’t need runners to do it, I can do it anywhere at any time. It’s the first time something has helped straighten my spine.
It is important to do prostration with meditation because relaxation and opening are essential once there has been restructuring. Meditation delivers energy to all the new pathways as well as helps deliver messages to the brain that there is change. Without it, the restructuring may not last.
In response to my improvement, my physiotherapist noted that structural scoliosis is one of the more difficult things to treat. “We often look at managing the symptoms rather than curing scoliosis as, other than surgically, it is almost impossible to straighten out a spine,” she said. “Michelle has proved me wrong. I am quite amazed at the significant improvement in her spinal alignment that she has achieved with prostrations. We have been using a technique called IMS (Intramuscular Stimulation) to help keep her pain and muscle tightness under control, but as of today, I am reducing the frequency of Michelle’s visits to once a month, and if things continue to progress the way they have over the last few weeks, I may end up discharging her from treatment altogether.”
She said she will suggest prostrations as an exercise to all her patients with scoliosis. WOW!
Shared By Michelle Gould
Disclaimer:
- The effects associated with practicing Bodhi Meditation can vary from person to person.
- Any and all content, views, opinions, and/or responses in this student sharing are solely the views, opinions and responsibility of the respondent and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Bodhi Meditation.
- Bodhi Meditation does not provide or replace any medical advice or treatment. We recommend everyone adhere to their medical treatment and prescription.
How To Practice Full Prostration
Extended Learning:
Prostration for Better Living
Content:
- How to prostrate: picture & video demonstration.
- In-depth practice guide.
- Benefits of prostration.
Format: mp4 video and pdf
