{"id":7065,"date":"2019-06-27T06:00:03","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T06:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insporising.com\/copy-of-043-discover-a-radically-positive-way-to-divorce-gabrielle-hartley-esq\/"},"modified":"2021-03-03T23:20:28","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T15:20:28","slug":"044-how-silence-helped-heal-my-severely-injured-wrist-dr-bita-yadidi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insporising.com\/?p=7065","title":{"rendered":"044: How Silence Helped Heal My Severely Injured Wrist &#8211; Dr. Bita Yadidi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.radiopublic.com\/e?if=inspiration-rising-WY5X55&amp;ge=s1!9f90d02470470023d3ff87ce9d6d7c7fcc290634\" width=\"100%\" height=\"185\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-popups\"><\/iframe><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Dr. Bita Yadidi<\/strong> is California Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist, a Doctor of Oriental Medicine specializing in Preventative Medicine, a certified Chi Gong, Tai Chi, and Meditation instructor. She is the founder of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wellnesstobe.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wellness To Be<\/a>, an East-West Integrative Wellness Center in Beverly Hills, California, where Bita and her team specialize in preventative and restorative health using acupuncture, cupping, moxabustion, infrared sauna, lab tests, herbal therapy, nutritional guidance, lifestyle coaching\/counseling, and mind body exercises. Dr. Yadidi received her Masters degree in Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine from Yo San University in 2013 and continued her education, receiving her Doctorate of Acupuncture &amp; Oriental Medicine specializing in Healthy Aging and Longevity in 2016. She received her undergraduate degree from UCLA in Sociology and Education in 2000.<\/p>\r\n<p><b>In This Episode, You Will Learn:<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>How Bita sought healing through traditional Western medicine.<\/li>\r\n<li>Why she chose to attend a 10-day silent meditation retreat.<\/li>\r\n<li>The three ways we experience suffering.<\/li>\r\n<li>What happened to her wrist during the retreat.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><strong>Create beautiful, engaging social media in 5 minutes a day &#8211;<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.riseupcreatives.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">www.RiseUpCreatives.com<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Connect with Bita:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.drbitayadidi.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DrBitaYadidi.com<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wellnesstobe.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WellnessToBe.com<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WellnessToBe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/wellnesstobe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Instagram<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/drBitaYadidi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dr-bita-yadidi-daom-l-ac-74536810\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dhamma.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dhamma.org<\/a> (location of the silent retreat)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t Miss A Single Episode:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><strong>Subscribe<\/strong>\u00a0on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/inspiration-rising\/id1448649388\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/music\/m\/Iqrp5q3bagph2t23malprd3dxvy?t=Launch_Yourself_Today\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Podcasts<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/42zIsXzjCibZt49xdCRvB4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/podcast\/in-plain-sight\/launch-yourself-today\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stitcher<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Leave a quick review<\/strong>\u00a0on any of the podcast apps to tell people what you think about the show.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Take a screenshot of the podcast<\/strong> and post it on Instagram or Instagram Stories. Tag us <a href=\"http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/insporising\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@insporising<\/a>. We\u2019ll repost and give you a shoutout!<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><!-- \/wp:post-content -->\r\n\r\n<!-- wp:spacer {\"height\":31} --><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\" style=\"height: 31px;\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<p><!-- \/wp:spacer -->\r\n\r\n<!-- wp:separator --><\/p>\r\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\r\n<p><!-- \/wp:separator -->\r\n\r\n<!-- wp:spacer {\"height\":35} --><\/p>\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-spacer\" style=\"height: 35px;\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<p><!-- \/wp:spacer -->\r\n\r\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":1,\"align\":\"center\"} --><\/p>\r\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Interview Transcript<\/h1>\r\n<p><!-- \/wp:heading -->\r\n\r\n<!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Bita, thank you so much for taking time to hang with me today.<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Thank you, David. I\u2019m so excited to be here and exchange some thoughts and experiences together.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Tell us, why did you choose to go on a ten day silent retreat? This sounds absolutely crazy to the average person. Why did you do this?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Good question, everyone asks me that but what happened was, on August 1<sup>st<\/sup> of 2018, I had a really freak accident and cut my wrist with glass and two of my tendons and two of my nerves were fully lacerated on my right hand. When that happened, I had about eighty stitches and as you know, I\u2019m an acupuncturist, doctor and healer, and I couldn\u2019t use my right hand.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">So, I did what I knew best. I did physical therapy three times a week. I did my acupuncture once a week. I took my supplements. I was doing my own kind of meditation. But I wasn\u2019t getting better. The hand was super swollen, super red and extremely painful and nothing was getting better. I did resort to Western medicine. I had a few different consults with orthopedic specialists and pain management doctors. I went on two rounds of oral steroids. We did one set of injections on my right hand and I was still not getting better.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">So, I asked the doctors, \u201cWhat\u2019s going on in the Western world?\u201d And they said, \u201cYou have a negative mood.\u201d Your body thinks that it\u2019s still on fight\/flight mode. We\u2019ve got the nervous system; we\u2019ve got the parasympathetic and we\u2019ve got the sympathetic. So, the fight\/flight mode is where healing doesn\u2019t happen. My body was still on that mode and so they offered me to get nerve blocks. They said, \u201cOnce we get nerve blocks in there, then we can block the negative loop and healing can begin.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>That sounds intense.<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Really intense and my background is all natural for over ten years. I try to stay completely away from synthetic drugs and I always try to start with the natural holistic approach and if things don\u2019t get better, then I love integrating both worlds. So, that\u2019s what I was doing but still nothing was getting better. After consulting with the pain management doctor, I asked a few questions and I came to that conclusion. I said, \u201cGive me some time. Let me decide if I want to do the nerve blocks. Or let me come up with another idea.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">I went into journaling and into meditation and I knew exactly what was going on with me. There was an emotional attachment to this injury of mine and I wasn\u2019t healing because my mindset and my emotions and my spirit was not healed and I was not aligned. I was still in conflict and attached to the injury. I was impatient of getting better and then attached to the identity crisis that this injury brought. So, after going through that and some education, I realized what I needed to do. All I needed to do was get my nervous system into a state of rest and relaxation and get myself back into sync with my parasympathetic nervous system. So, with that said, I asked myself, \u201cWhat is the best way for such a severe injury? I have to do something intense right away.\u201d That is when I looked <span class=\"s1\">www.dhamma.org<\/span> up. It\u2019s a vipassana mediation retreat and that\u2019s how it all began.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>To somebody who is not an aficionado of Eastern medicine, you\u2019re saying there\u2019s some sort of emotional connection to your wrist and that\u2019s the reason why it\u2019s not healing? That sounds like total whack-a-doodle stuff to me. What are you talking about? Shouldn\u2019t it just heal on its own? What\u2019s the connection between emotion and your wrist not healing?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">I sincerely believe that the root of all disease comes from suppressed emotions. Every organ system and every part of the body, it\u2019s all interconnected and emotion is energy in motion. It\u2019s connected to our spirit. If the energy is blocked and if the emotion is blocked because we\u2019re suppressing it or we\u2019re not looking within and turning on the flashlight and asking ourselves, \u201cWhat\u2019s going on? What\u2019s the root cause?\u201d healing isn\u2019t all physical healing. The emotion consists of your spirit.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">In Chinese medicine for example, the emotion connected to heart is excess joy. The lungs are connected to grief and sadness. So, if you\u2019re dealing with grief and sadness and you don\u2019t approach the emotions first, you\u2019re not getting to the root cause, you\u2019re just band-aiding it. So, you\u2019ll get a little better bit but the true healing doesn\u2019t begin until you go and look within yourself and really be true and sincere with figuring out, \u201cWhat\u2019s going on with me? What am I not wanting to see? Where are my attachments? Where are my fears? Where are my shadows?\u201d If we don\u2019t put that work in, healing truly doesn\u2019t happen 100%. You\u2019re not going to see the same results and this has happened over and over again with my patients and their experiences. The minute the mind and the spirit become one, the body fully turns around.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Okay, so I need to get my mind and body aligned. Is that what you said? Mind and spirit? <\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>I\u2019m forgetting what I need to align here; mind, body, spirit. How about that? We just get all three in alignment?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Yes.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>And you felt that there was a potential of a retreat helping you do that?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Yes, but only because I had the disconnect and I knew in order for me to be able to have clarity and allow truth to arise, I needed a space that allowed me for quietude and I wasn\u2019t able to do it here at home with two kids, a husband, a family and work. I wasn\u2019t getting better with all the Western and Eastern modalities. My gut, my intuition, my knowledge and my wisdom, I just knew that I needed to find a silent meditation retreat.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>How did you go about choosing this location? Did you know of it because of your background?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Yeah, I had known about it and heard about it through a friend of mine who we went to acupuncture school together. She had gone to about three to four of these and she had always shared it with me and said how amazing it is. She just loved it. I didn\u2019t have time nor physical or mental energy to do any research, I just went into prayer mode and I said, \u201cIf this is the right thing, it\u2019s going to open up for me. So, let me go online and send in an application.\u201d For this retreat you need to send in an application, it\u2019s not like you pay and you get in. It\u2019s free but it\u2019s a huge waitlist. I went online and I just said, \u201cI\u2019m going to apply.\u201d I applied for the time that I wanted and I got denied. I didn\u2019t get in. They said, \u201cWe\u2019re full.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>What was the name of that again?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">It\u2019s called Dhamma.org and they teach a technique called vipassana meditation. Vipassana has been handed down by Buddha and it\u2019s a way to eliminate all suffering.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Okay, so you got denied the first time because of the timing?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Yes, they said, \u201cI\u2019m so sorry, this time we\u2019re full. You can apply for the next retreat.\u201d The next retreat was mid-November around Thanksgiving and that\u2019s just a crazy time because I\u2019m always hosting my family over for Thanksgiving. But again, I said, \u201cGod, if it\u2019s meant to be, I feel this is the path, we\u2019re going to apply. If I get in, I\u2019m going.\u201d And I did. I turned in an application again and I waited and I got an answer right away that said, \u201cYou have been accepted, let\u2019s do it.\u201d So, that\u2019s how it all started. There was no planning. There was no research. It just effortlessly opened up for me.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Okay, so you show up the first day. You arrive, where is this? What is it like? Take us through it visually. You\u2019re driving up to the place, I know you\u2019ve got to feel nervous. Maybe you weren\u2019t but I\u2019d be nervous.<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Oh, yeah. I\u2019ll share a little personal story. It was in Northern California. I live in Los Angeles, so I had to fly up to San Francisco. It was right around when we had all the fires going on, so it was not the best air quality. From SF, I had to get my rent-a-car and drive three hours North, past Napa Valley, to get to this town called Kelseyville. It\u2019s my first time actually doing something like this by myself. So, I get the rent-a-car, driving up, I have my navigation, I have the map and David, I\u2019m freaking out. The sun is setting, the road seems to be winding, it\u2019s getting pretty dark and I have this crazy fear like, \u201cOh, my God. What are you doing Bita? This is crazy. I can\u2019t believe you\u2019re trusting this entire process.\u201d All those thoughts started coming through my mind as I\u2019m getting closer to the destination and then something wild just happened.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">As this fear was about to take over me and as I was seconds away from saying, \u201cForget this. I\u2019m going back home,\u201d immediately I called all my guides and all my angels. I said, \u201cI\u2019m calling all my guides, all my angels, we\u2019re here together moving forward to what is truly meant for me.\u201d So, even the drive to this place was heart wrenching for me and very difficult. But the minute I got there and parked my car, I\u2019ll never forget, we walked into this beautiful space; redwood trees, cabins, beautiful leaves all on the floor. Once I did my registration, they gave me my cabin number and I went into my cabin with a roommate. The minute you walk into the cabin, silence had began, so I wasn\u2019t even really able to speak to my roommate.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>No way.<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Yeah. So, if you want to speak, you were supposed to show up between five and seven PM. Silence began at seven PM.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>You were late. Did you write a note? Like, \u201cHey, here\u2019s my name. Here\u2019s who I am. Please don\u2019t mug me while we\u2019re sleeping\u201d?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">I called frantically to tell them, \u201cI\u2019m running late. I\u2019m almost there.\u201d They said, \u201cNo problem.\u201d I was only able to speak to the head facilitator. He gave me a little paper of the rules and regulations and that was it. You went into your cabin. It\u2019s a small little room, super simple. Two, bunk beds or two small twin beds. You unpack your stuff and there\u2019s no phone, no journals, no pens, no books, no magazines, no television, no music, nothing. It\u2019s you in a room with a stranger.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Can you keep your clothes on? Oh, my gosh. It sounds like they\u2019re taking away everything from you.<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Everything. All it is, is you, your clothes and just being you. That\u2019s it. With a schedule. The schedule was also hardcore crazy. You had to wake up if you wanted, from three to five AM in your own room to meditate or five to seven AM in your own room. What really happened was, at 6:30 the gong would hit and you would have to be at breakfast rounds from 6:30 to 7:15. Then eight AM until ten AM was mandatory meditation. After that you could continue meditation in the meditation hall or you would go back to your room and meditate. Again, you would have a second meal at eleven or twelve o\u2019clock. Then after that, meditation from two to five. You go back into your room and rest or meditate. After that, come back again for evening meditation from six to nine PM.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Is this guided meditation or it\u2019s just total silence?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">It\u2019s total silence. The way it worked on the first day, the next morning, you walked into the meditation hall and you can\u2019t even smile at the person next to you. You can\u2019t even nod at the person next to you. You can\u2019t even wave \u201cHello\u201d. The first morning when I woke up and I was heading to breakfast, I found myself automatically smiling, automatically wanting to nod and wave and I had to catch myself and stop myself from doing that because it\u2019s breaking the Noble Silence rule. I realized as the days went by, I\u2019m a person that I was on automatic pilot all the time without being aware that I\u2019m constantly doing things without really understanding that I\u2019m doing them. It\u2019s just you\u2019re a robot on automatic pilot.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">So, the first \u201cAh ha\u201d moment for me already began at breakfast time, not even at meditation yet. It was like, \u201cOh, Bita, you can\u2019t even just be you.\u201d The second \u201cAh ha\u201d moment was when you go into the meditation hall, women sit on one side, men on the other. You have two facilitators and you sit on your little meditation chair or cushion that they\u2019ve appointed you and the facilitator basically says, \u201cMeditation has begun\u201d. Then there\u2019s a recording and the recording is from Master Goenka, the original teacher from Dhamma.org. He walks you through a recording, teaching you what we need to do and you listen to the recording. The recording stops and now you\u2019re meditating. The meditation was a two-fold. The first two days, they taught you to simply focus on top of your lip and this triangle right here.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>For those who can\u2019t see us, it\u2019s the triangle from the bridge of your nose, down to the top of your lip, right?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Exactly, like a triangle. And with this technique, all they wanted you to do was just be an observer of any sensations in that area. So, if your breath was shallow, it was shallow. If it was deep, it was deep. We\u2019re not altering what our natural state is, we are just observing. So, for two days we were doing that, and that is called \u201cAnapana\u201d. That\u2019s the meditation technique; anapana, focusing on the sensation of breath, the air coming out of your right nostril, going into your left.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>For two days?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">For two days, David. On a minimum I was meditating eight hours a day.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>You really know your nose now. I bet you\u2019ve got a real tight relationship with your nose.<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Real tight relationship. Very tight. There were sensations that I never thought I would be experiencing.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>What\u2019s the point of that? What\u2019s the reasoning behind that?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">It\u2019s for an agitated mind. For one, it\u2019s to discipline the mind and then calm the agitation down and thirdly to be able to figure out those sensations. So, you don\u2019t go straight into the other kind of meditation, which is vipassana, without first calming your mind. Disciplining your mind. Creating patience. Being able to pick up on those sensations that you would never think you had.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">What was really cool about this technique throughout the entire ten days, you\u2019re not allowed to react to those sensations. So, if you\u2019ve got an itch right above your lips, you\u2019re not allowed to take your finger and itch it. If you\u2019ve got an itch on the back of your neck during this process, you\u2019re not going to itch it. If you want to turn your head and circle it, you\u2019re not. So, you\u2019re not reacting to any sensation, all you\u2019re learning is to be able to become an observer and practice the law of nature, that nothing is permeant. Everything has ebbs and flows and if you just focus and observe, this shall pass as well. So, it also really tests your patience, your tolerance and your reactivity to things.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">The first two days, that\u2019s all I did. David, I was exhausted. You would think if you\u2019re sitting on your butt eight hours a day and sleeping in between, you should have massive amounts of energy but I was wiped out by nine PM the first two days. I\u2019ll never forget, I walked from the meditation hall into my cabin area, opened my bedroom door and I collapsed onto my bed with the same clothes on. I just collapsed and I realized that\u2019s how much energy one needs to use to be able to process and clear and move things around. So, the first two days, I did have this incredible excitement. I was super looking forward to it. I was embracing everything that was coming my way but I couldn\u2019t believe I was so exhausted and I was also not hungry. They only feed you by the way, two meals a day. Your last meal is at twelve PM and there is no more food until the next morning.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>I\u2019m assuming at this kind of place they\u2019re feeding you bark and sticks and moss or something like that? Am I right?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Actually, they\u2019re feeding you really yummy vegetarian food. Nothing fancy but amazing food. It\u2019s really good.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>High quality, organic moss. Really good stuff.<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Really good stuff, right. I don\u2019t know about high quality but definitely organic. I also appreciated; you\u2019ve got to remember this retreat center is very simplistic. There are no candles. There are no incense. There is no Buddha out there. It is just pure. So, there\u2019s no religion or faith or anything that might make you want to say, \u201cAh, I don\u2019t feel comfortable.\u201d It\u2019s complete neutrality because it really is not about religion or faith or following a way. It\u2019s all about learning how to tap into your inner being, to begin to clear the suffering that the mind has actually created for you. It\u2019s all about mindset. Am I making sense?<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Oh, yeah. Yeah, I\u2019m with you for the first two days. What happens after that? What\u2019s going on here?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">So, day three, four, five, six, slowly emotions are coming up and sensations are happening. We\u2019ve moved from the anapana to vipassana. With vipassana, basically you scan from head to toe, toe to head, observing all the sensations that are possibly arising. And if it\u2019s not arising, you don\u2019t get attached to it. You basically say, \u201cI\u2019ll try again,\u201d and you continue to scan. So, you\u2019re just scanning head to toe, toe to head, constantly for hours and hours.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>And you\u2019re waiting for some sort of sensation? Is it emotional or physical, both?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Yes, it could be anything but we are strictly really observing physical sensations. So, is there buzzing? Is there heat? Is there heaviness? Is there cold? And again, you\u2019re not allowed to react. The third thing they taught you was that there are three ways we cause suffering to ourselves. And three ways we do that is through aversions, cravings and ignorance.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Aversions, cravings and ignorance. Okay, so those are the three ways we experience suffering?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Yes, and what does he mean by that? Buddha believed that aversions like, \u201cI hate this.\u201d \u201cI hate you.\u201d \u201cI hate that food.\u201d \u201cI hate doing this.\u201d When we go to an extreme of hate, it is self-induced suffering. And simultaneously, if we go to the other extreme, which is cravings, \u201cOh, I love you.\u201d \u201cI love this food.\u201d \u201cOh, I love this sensation.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cOh, I love everything.\u201d You\u2019re also creating suffering. Why? Because both of those extremes, you\u2019re going to a place of attachments. \u201cI really am loving this meditation sensation, therefore now I want it and I want more of it.\u201d So, you\u2019re creating an attachment which now takes you away from the present moment of experiencing now.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">So, the technique that you\u2019re doing day three, day four, day five and all the way until day ten, you are disciplining your mind. As you\u2019re scanning head to toe, toe to head, you begin to develop or cultivate or feel these sensations and you\u2019re loving them. There was a moment where I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, my God. My entire body is buzzing. I love this feeling.\u201d But immediately I was able to catch the mind and say, \u201cOh, I\u2019ve got to be in a state of neutrality. Just observe that this is a sensation and the law of nature, it\u2019s here now and it is going to go.\u201d But if I attached to it, \u201cI want this sensation again and again,\u201d now I\u2019m self-inducing suffering. Because what if I don\u2019t find that sensation again? Now what happens?<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">This technique of vipassana, you are training yourself to sit still and to become an observer of the mind and the body. Simultaneously, just being able to accept what is at this moment. We did this for ten whole days. Day three, day four, day five was pretty good for me. It wasn\u2019t bad and energy started coming. But I must tell you, by day six I was like, \u201cOh, my God. Get me out of this space. Get me out of this room. I want to see people. I want to talk.\u201d The most frustrating for me was that I love journaling and I wasn\u2019t able to journal. I had all these \u201cAh ha\u201d moments and I\u2019m not allowed to journal. So, I was really letting go of all my attachments and letting go of the idea, \u201cWell, when I have \u2018Ah ha\u2019 moments, I need to write.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">One of the biggest things that happened for me, it was raining day six, seven and eight. Before vipassana, I had this attachment to rain. I had this story that when it rains, energetically and emotionally, I go a little bit down. I become slightly melancholy. I want to go home. I want to turn on my fireplace and I want to have my hot chocolate or my glass of wine. For me, I had that attachment when the weather got cold and it started raining. So, rain was not something that I looked forward to. Here I am on day six, seven, eight, and it\u2019s raining. I don\u2019t have my fireplace. I don\u2019t have my wine. I don\u2019t have anything that is a comfort for me. So, what do I do? How do I navigate through this emotional, mental process?<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Well, I continued doing the meditation technique. That\u2019s all I could do because the only thing that you can do if you didn\u2019t want to meditate, was walk the grounds. There was a trail that you could walk in nature and there would be moments that I was like, \u201cI can\u2019t meditate any more. I\u2019m either falling asleep or I\u2019m exhausted or this is too much. I need a break.\u201d So, after the mandatory one hour in the three seating\u2019s, I would sometimes remove myself, go in my room, take a little nap and then after the nap I would go for a walk to just connect in nature and be outdoors and that helped me.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">I don\u2019t know what happened, I can\u2019t even explain it. It\u2019s something so experiential, but that aversion and craving with the rain that I was having, it disappeared. By day three, I was actually fine. The whole point of all of this that you\u2019re doing here, is not to go home and go back to your old habits, it\u2019s, \u201cHow do I integrate what I learned, what I experienced, what I sensed, into my everyday life?\u201d So, what was really cool, one of the things when I returned back from Kelseyville back home, three days later we started having a rain. Major rain and four days of flood. And first time ever, everybody in my family was like, \u201cOh, I hate the rain. This sucks. I want to go back home.\u201d I was like, \u201cOh, this is totally fine. Let\u2019s move on with our day.\u201d There was a big shift in me where I realized, \u201cOh, I have no cravings or aversions. This is insanity.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Another thing that was huge for me, on day seven I walked into my room and my roommate, her backpack, her clothes, her bag was all wrapped up in a corner and she wasn\u2019t there. I got hit again with this set of emotions. I didn\u2019t know my roommate but when you live with somebody, even if you\u2019re not speaking to them, in that silence there is so much voice and you connect. There\u2019s energy. You get attached. When I walked in and I didn\u2019t see her there and I saw her bag and everything closed up like she\u2019s leaving, my heart fell into my gut. I was able to observe, \u201cWhat are these feelings about? Am I dealing with feelings of rejection? Am I feeling with attachment? Am I feeling with safety? Does Bita feel more comfortable having a partner next to her even if it\u2019s a stranger? Does Bita feel rejected?\u201d I went through all these thoughts. I was like, \u201cOh, my God. Did I do something wrong? Does she not like me? Was I stinky? Did I snore? What did I do?\u201d It was all about me and don\u2019t we always do that?<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">We\u2019re always thinking, \u201cIt\u2019s me.\u201d I wasn\u2019t able to really speak to her but I got a note from her that she wrote, \u201cI was dealing with some anxiety attacks. I was asked that it\u2019s best for me to leave.\u201d So, she left and I just thought, \u201cOh, my God. None of this was about me.\u201d That was another \u201cAh ha\u201d moment, where I walked in with a stranger but there were all these attachments that I had. And to be able to have that insight and to be able to hear how the mind is processing those feelings and how destructive or constructive it can be. For second it was destructive, I was questioning me. I was questioning all of me, but honestly, I had no direct connection to the outcome of what was happening. So, for me I was able to discern, \u201cWow, look how the mind can go into different routes; positive, negative, constructive, destructive.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Day seven, eight and nine, I was all alone now. It was a whole different experience for me. I was really lucky because I experienced having a roommate and I experienced not having a roommate in silence and what happens there. Day seven I was super lonely, \u201cOh, my God. I have nobody in my room.\u201d Even though we never talked, I wanted a buddy there. I was dealing with emotions of loneliness and just allowing for those feelings to arise and let it go. And then, for a whole day, when it was time to go back to the meditation hall which was about ten feet from my cabin, I\u2019m walking and to the left of me is the gate, then the highway and behind that highway are lands and lands of farm. So, as I\u2019m walking parallel towards this meditation hall, for a second, I said to myself, \u201cAm I a prisoner? Is this how prisoners are? Is this how they feel? I\u2019m locked up and that\u2019s the world outside of here.\u201d There was that moment of asking myself, \u201cWho is truly a prisoner of this world?\u201d And my response was, \u201cThe people who are not experiencing what I\u2019m experiencing are the prisoners to their life.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">There was this liberation and this freedom where I realized that I was so free and I didn\u2019t have any obligations. I didn\u2019t have any attachments. I didn\u2019t need to hurry up and answer every frickin\u2019 text that comes through, every question, every phone call. For the first time I was a hundred percent being me. Just being, breathing, feeling. There are no words to describe the experience that I went through. It\u2019s very challenging but you\u2019ll begin to understand it when you experience it. It was really, really amazing and life changing.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Within two days of doing just the breathing meditation, my right wrist and palm of my hand, all of the redness and inflammation had completely subsided. It was gone. Day three and all the way through day ten, I was finally able to rotate my wrist with no pain. I had better extension. I had better flexibility. I had flexion. I had no more pain. So, here I am, I went in with the intention of clearing the physical pain but it was not only physical but also my emotional. I was having a hard time touching my right wrist. I couldn\u2019t put my left palm of my hand over my right wrist and just give it some self-healing attention it needed. I wasn\u2019t even able to touch it because there was so much aversion to it. But in that meditation retreat, when I was in my room and I was resting, I would put my left hand onto my right wrist and I would say, \u201cI love you, Bita. You are enough. I forgive you.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">So, not only am I sitting in silence, disciplining my mind, cultivating sensations and learning how to not react, but simultaneously my heart opened up and I remembered who I was again. That\u2019s what this retreat was really all about. I remembered who I was. All these months and years, debris goes on you and here I am, I\u2019m a healer doing all the work that I\u2019m always doing but there are still areas in us that we\u2019re not able to see until we do create that space of silence and quietude. Your inner truth, that voice that is constantly talking to you but because you\u2019re so scattered and you\u2019re so busy, you\u2019re not able to hear it. But this space finally allowed me to hear my truth and allowed me to see the divinity that resides in all of us. It allowed me to just come from this place of pure love and pure bliss and that\u2019s how the healing began.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Would you say that your wrist is 100% healed now? How is it functioning?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">So, it\u2019s 90% healed. I have zero pain. From the day I went to vipassana until this day, November will be a year, I have zero pain. The only challenge that I\u2019m having is I can\u2019t fully extend it back because I\u2019ve developed a lot of scar tissue. I got to break that scar tissue, so I\u2019m working with my acupuncturist and doing my healing work at the office but I\u2019m back working. I\u2019m back to doing healing work. I\u2019m back exercising. I\u2019m back to normal way of life, where the doctors had told me, \u201cThis will not get healed minimum for a year. And you won\u2019t be able to heal it unless you do take these nerve blocks and steroids.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>That is amazing. Amazing.<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">It was really cool and it was like, \u201cYou know what? I\u2019ve studied this. I\u2019ve been treating people with this. I knew it.\u201d But now it was like I\u2019ve got to live it for me and see really how real it is. I can tell you, God forbid, if I get sick physically, before I take myself into a hospital, I will be doing this vipassana meditation retreat. Because not only is it silence, but you\u2019re thinking about food and nutrition as well. You\u2019re eating a plant based diet and you\u2019re eliminating animal protein and when you are sick, when your body needs to heal, nutrition plays a huge role. If you\u2019ve got the nutrition, you\u2019ve got the mindset, you\u2019ve got the meditation and you\u2019ve got the spirit, it\u2019s the entirety of your beingness that really takes you to that place of true healing, versus isolation.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>How have you taken these principals back into your daily life over the last year?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">The first couple months I was super disciplined and I meditated every morning and every night for one hour. You think an hour is crazy, which prior to vipassana, I would meditate for fifteen minutes, thirty minutes, \u201cOh, my God. This is so long.\u201d But now an hour is nothing. If I meditate for thirty minutes, it\u2019s like, \u201cWhoa, time just went by.\u201d I\u2019ve become a lot more disciplined in my meditation rituals every morning and every night. But not seven days a week, on an average three to five days a week. I don\u2019t do it every night now, but I do it at least one seating within three to five days. It\u2019s given me that discipline to show up for myself and to not forget who I am. Because it really is all about, how do you show up for yourself? If you\u2019re expecting others to show up differently for you, if you\u2019re not showing up the way you want to for yourself, how can you manifest the life or relationships that you want from others? So, it\u2019s my self-worth, my self-value, myself honoring me.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Two, I\u2019ve really not looked for perfection anymore, I look for progress. I\u2019m not as reactive as I used to be. So, when things surface up and come up for me, I\u2019m able to take note. I\u2019m able to pause and I\u2019m able to see, \u201cOh, there\u2019s the hate or there\u2019s the excess love in there. And there\u2019s where I\u2019m going to get in trouble and I\u2019m also going to get the other people in trouble because I\u2019m projecting that energy to them too.\u201d I\u2019ve been able to develop better relationships with others. I\u2019ve been able to develop more clarity with who I am. I\u2019ve separated the ego and the aversions and been able to be really true to who I am. And if I can\u2019t meditate, because of this technique, the very first one I told you about &#8211; anapana, I\u2019ll go right back into just doing my breathing. If I\u2019m stressed, if I had a really tough day, I\u2019ll just in the car, in the office, in between patients, even if I\u2019m lying down in bed and I don\u2019t have the energy to meditate, I\u2019ll just focus my entire energy on right next to my nostrils, above my lips, in that triangle and I just reconnect to my breath.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>That\u2019s powerful stuff. If somebody was interested in incorporating silence or meditation in their life but if feels like, \u201cOkay, this feels almost impossible. I\u2019ve got kids running around or I\u2019ve got work all day. I\u2019ve got my phone going off. I can\u2019t go to a ten day silent retreat,\u201d how would you suggest that they begin this process for themselves?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">I would suggest that they can carve out to start with, five minutes. If you\u2019re brand new just carve out five minutes. We usually say start in the morning and night time, but I\u2019ve gone through this path, so I\u2019ll even say forget morning, noon or night. You pick a time that works for you, commit to that time daily. Five minutes a day, whatever works in your schedule but commit to it. It\u2019s hard because we\u2019re busy, so instead of just saying, \u201cOkay, I\u2019ll do it,\u201d calendar it in. Put it on your iPhone and get yourself a reminder that, \u201cI need to meditate.\u201d Start five minutes a day and be realistic. If you can\u2019t do seven, do five. If you can\u2019t do five, do three. Just start. Because I really believe in the compounding effect. It\u2019s not an all or nothing.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Start two times a week and do five minutes of just focusing on your breath without wanting to inhale deeply or exhale or changing your breath. Just begin to become observant of your breath above your lip under your nostrils and just stay with that. Close your eyes, put your timer for five minutes and just observe your breath and see if you pick up any sensations. If you don\u2019t, try again next time. Practice that technique of, \u201cI\u2019m not going to be attached to my meditation either.\u201d So, if I don\u2019t sense something, I don\u2019t sense anything. If I\u2019m beginning to feel heat, \u201cOh, there\u2019s heat coming.\u201d You\u2019re just observing with no attachment. I always say start as simple as five minutes a day. Something that\u2019s realistic for you and work your way into progress. Ultimately five to seven days. Ultimately one hour. I don\u2019t think everybody can do one hour twice a day, so I would say work your way to one hour, five days a week. That\u2019s pretty sufficient in my opinion.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>That is intense. An hour five days a week, you\u2019re going to be basically a monk at that point. You\u2019re a verified monk.<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Yeah, we\u2019re getting there. We\u2019re getting there.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Alright, I want to make sure that people check out your website, which is <\/b><span class=\"s1\"><b>www.wellnesstobe.com<\/b><\/span><b>. You consult with people all over the world via video, but people in Southern California that are having health issues, what are the resources that you can provide them?<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">We do acupuncturing here. We do nutritional counseling. I do lifestyle coaching. I do Tai chi meditation and Qigong. We also have a detox protocol and we do half-day or whole day retreats and our expertise really is preventative medicine. So, how can we maintain our health or take our health to the next level? We have a focus on any and everything, but mostly emotions, anxiety and mostly targeted towards ladies.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Great. So, for half-day retreats or full day retreats, I know you have those coming up periodically, so no matter if you\u2019re listening when this comes out or a year from now, you can go to <\/b><span class=\"s1\"><b>www.wellnesstobe.com<\/b><\/span><b> and you can check out the resources that Bita has available for those retreats. And also the one on one coaching, that would be available to you no matter where you live in the world.<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Oh, yeah, and then if you\u2019re here, come on in for a nice wellness treatment. We do acupuncture, we do cupping, we\u2019ve got an infrared sauna. We really target the mind, body, spirit and soul on a very alternative, holistic healing modality which is also infused with functional medicine. So, if you need nutraceuticals, if you need a nutritional layout, we\u2019ve got it all for you. We\u2019ve got three doctors working with us and they\u2019re all amazing doctors.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Bita, you\u2019re going to be at our first Inspiration Rising live event, which is Thursday September 12, 2019. I\u2019m going to be interviewing Bita not just on silence but wellness and how wellness can transform your life. We want to make sure if you\u2019re interested in getting tickets for that, it\u2019s <\/b><span class=\"s1\"><b>www.insporising.com\/live<\/b><\/span><b>. Go and check that out. <\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Bita, thank you so much for taking time to just hang with us today. So, amazing. Absolutely amazing about your wrist and beyond your wrist, your whole being being opened up and healed through this process. So powerful.<\/b><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">Thank you. Thank you so much, David. It was awesome sharing this with you and looking forward to the next one in September. So excited.<\/p>\r\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\r\n\r\n<!-- wp:separator {\"className\":\"is-style-wide\"} --><\/p>\r\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\" \/>\r\n<p><!-- \/wp:separator -->\r\n\r\n<!-- wp:paragraph --> <strong>Subscribe to Inspiration Rising<\/strong> on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/inspiration-rising\/id1448649388\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/music\/m\/Iqrp5q3bagph2t23malprd3dxvy?t=Launch_Yourself_Today\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google Podcasts,<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/42zIsXzjCibZt49xdCRvB4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Spotify<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/podcast\/in-plain-sight\/launch-yourself-today\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stitcher.<\/a><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Bita Yadidi is California Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist, a Doctor of Oriental Medicine specializing in Preventative Medicine, a certified Chi Gong, Tai Chi, and Meditation instructor. She is the founder of Wellness To Be, an East-West Integrative Wellness Center in Beverly Hills, California, where Bita and her team specialize in preventative and restorative health [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insporising.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insporising.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insporising.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insporising.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insporising.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/insporising.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insporising.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insporising.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insporising.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insporising.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}