having a cold and self-pacing

[Anthem]

Anyone have any ideas about what is going on with us spiritually when we get sick or have a cold?

I currently have my first serious cold in a couple of years and I am finding it very easy to "go over" in practices. Today I tried to do my regular routine as I am feeling a bit better and found myself moody and irritable afterwards.

Why is it that our bodies (or at least mine) can't seem to handle the normal amounts of pranayama and meditation? I thought these things should help?

[riptiz]

Hi Anthem,
Colds, illness are often a sign of purification much like one gets after receiving an energy healing from another.They usually predate a rise in spiritual levels or inner changes.Normally I find that when things appear to have stopped it is a sign of approaching changes.Very often you can wake up and think ' well I feel as though something has changed but I can't put my finger on it'.
IMHO I belive that a common cold is simply the post incubation period of the virus much like measles.When we have the spots appear it is after the incubation period and the risk of infection is over.I believe the common cold is the same as a sign of detox because the similarities fron a 'healing crisis' are so close.
L&L
Dave

'the mind can see further than the eyes'

[Etherfish]

I don't think it is primarily spiritual. I think people build up toxins in their system faster than they are eliminated, the immune system gets weak, and they are exposed to a bug and catch it.
Water fasts will get rid of it. however, if you have a lot of toxin build up, flushing them out also makes you feel sick. just about any cold will be stopped with a three day fast with only water. Usually you'll start to feel better the second day, but often if you quit the fast you will relapse. If you water fast one 24 hour day a week, you'll keep the toxins out and hardly ever get sick. Or if you eat extremely light food and lots of raw veggies all the time. I don't do either, but do them occasionally. I can feel any bug I catch by a slight fever and tired feeling, and usually start a 24 hour fast then, and never get to the stage of feeling sick.

[Lili]

Hi Anthem,

I have the same problem as you in a sense that whenever I catch a cold I have to reduce practice time.

Also for me during meditation cold symptoms subside or disappear and reappear after that. Another thing is that colds do not last more than 1 day but this day has much more intense symptoms than usual, like very loud and frequent sneezing (sounds like shouting really) nose that runs practically the whole time and stuff like that. But next day it is all over. I think this is related to practices because before I used to have colds with milder symptoms that lasted 3-5 days or so.

[david_obsidian]

Colds are an infection as Etherfish points out, and yet it can be true that colds come on at times of yogic transition ('purification')as Dave says -- it certainly seems to have happened to me.

This disparity can be explained by a possible drop or disruption of the body's defenses as a symptom of the 'purification',  then the infection has a better chance to take root.