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| Isla del Sol, Titicaca Lake (Bolivia) |
While visiting the Lake Titicaca area, I and many other travelers experienced something that we won't easily forget: altitude sickness.
There's no way to avoid it at 4000m above sea level: the thinner air causes a speeding heartbeat, panting, headache, vertigo, nausea, loss of appetite, insomnia... Symptoms may vary, but each one of them make people miserable with equal intensity.
That kind of tragedy inspired me. While tempting to not faint at every step I took uphill, to recuperate both the pleasure of traveling and the ability to fully breathe during my daily meditation, I realized how the altitude sickness isn't that far from the challenges we face in our everyday life at sea level.
Stress, anxiety, vertigo, bad digestion, phobias, separation, deadlines, panic attacks... These are some very common circumstances and the predominant feeling is lack of a way-out and of air.
I missed air so much during my travel around Peru and Bolivia. Exhausted by hiking, I put together my resources to take care of altitude sickness: info on internet, locals and other travelers' advices, yoga techniques.
The following is what came out: a tragicomic decalogue to survive altitude sickness, but also anyone who doesn't let us breathe (including ourselves!).
Whenever we run out of air, this is the Decalogue to catch our breath again:
1. L.D.B.
It's not a synthetic drug, it is the acronym of one of the most effective yoga techniques: the Long, Deep breath.
In case of emergency it calms the mind, slows the heartbeat down and expands the lungs, so that a big shot of oxygen goes to the brain.
The breath can also be held in for a few seconds, as long as it doesn't make us feel dizzy!
2. SIESTA.
Rest is a must. Sometimes we are not able to take it easy and relax, running from an appointment to the other or becoming slaves of our agendas.
Fighting unexpected circumstances only produces more stress: we'd better wait for the worst to pass by, patiently. No complain, no tension, no blame: statistics demonstrate that it just gets worse otherwise!
When the worst arrives (and it always does!) we will look it in the eye without moving a muscle, possibly sipping a hot relaxing infusion: we will be more observers and less victims.
3. FOCUS.
Connected to the previous point, this one is for those who think "I can't stop, my agenda is more important than me!", people who don't know how to stay still.
While traveling I realized that resting for someone is not so easy to practice. They want to get everything done, possibly right away.
If that is what happens, at least we can try to focus on one thing at a time.
By engaging the brain on one item only, we avoid to overwhelm it during the emergency that it is already trying to deal with.
4. CALM.
The heart pumps faster to take the missing oxygen to the brain, provoking panting every time we go uphill (in life as much as on mountain trails).
Visualization, associated to a deep and aware breath, is very good to calm down in case of panic. The image of a placid and clear lake, for example, helps whenever we freak out (lake Titicaca was my best friend for a while!).
5. SLOW DOWN.
The body needs to recuperate and adapt to the new circumstances: we can't overload it by moving as usual.
One step after the other, one heartbeat and then the next one, one thought at a time and so on: movements should be sweet and aware, through tensions, stress, panic and anything else.
6. LOOK AT THAT!
Get yourself distracted from the tragedy going on: the more you look for air outside of you, the least you find it within.
There are always very interesting views right in front of our noses and we might lose them if blinded by stress.
7. BUON APPETITO!
A healthy diet is fundamental to manage stress: it would take chapters to write about this but here we will go through some highlights about altitude sickness and relative stress.
First of all, eat often and light: we don't want our body to be too busy taking care of garbage we ate, otherwise it will be even more difficult to manage the sickness. Plus, if we are going up to 4000m today, let's start to eat light a few days before.
When air lacks cereals are good, because carbohydrates provide oxygen. Eating bread or crackers alleviates nausea.
Herbs: ginkgo against physical and mental tiredness and ginger for a healthy stomach. Chamomile and valerian are very relaxing.
In Peru infusions made of coca leaves are very popular. Yes, coca leaves: it looks like in very small doses it is not a drug and is actually a good remedy in case of altitude sickness and bad digestion.
Last but not least, the best remedy for a good health: drinking lots of water. It cleans the blood and improves circulation.
8. TRIPLE E.
E stays for Early, the key word.
Have dinner early, go to sleep early, wake up early.
Digestion will thank us and so will our body consequently.
9. SWEET DREAMS
Sleeping may be very annoying when we lack of air: headaches can be more intense when we lie down because the blood goes to the brain more rapidly. The direct consequence of that is the dark force also known as insomnia.
LDB, the first technique listed here, is helpful in this case: if practiced right before going to bed it makes it easier to fall asleep and it soothes the headache if practiced as we wake up.
Breathing from the left nostril has a calming, relaxing and refreshing effect.
Laying on the right side stimulates the breath from the left nostril.
If the headache is unbearable, we can also sleep in a semi vertical position, by putting a pillow behind our back.
10. NEUTRAL COMMUNICATION.
Dulcis in fundo, this point couldn't miss here. If it is not the mountain but a partner, relative, boss or any "vampire" human being specialized in not letting us breathe, it's time for us to communicate.
We will use few, simple, kind words to tell the vampire how much its bite is draining us.
If that wasn't enough, we would wish the poor thing a good trip on another boat, because sailing together on ours would make us flip over and drown in the middle of that huge ocean that life is.
Each one of us is on a journey and, along the path, things don't always go on as we expected, provoking frustration. Stress, panic attacks, choking relationships, blocks or obstacles along the itinerary that we had planned so passionately are part of the experience.
Altitude is good (remember the ooh aah point we explored on this blog? If not, the post is still there!). From a higher point we can see what is going on with us, including what we might not like and might react to. When our mind gets entangled with denial, the body manifests blocks by getting ill or out of our control. That is a good starting point, because we can work on our mind to heal the body also.
Meditating every day while feeling sick for the altitude, I experienced that kind of transformation.
What happens is that, after a while, the body adapts itself to the new altitude and the breath fills it with the fresh and pure air of the mountains. From that moment on, we enjoy our journey more than before.
