barf bags and meditation

What is with the title you might ask? Of course I'm going to tell you. First some background, I have always been the kid who gets carsick. Unfortunately I passed it onto my children also. It didn't matter if it was 2 minutes in a car, if it was too bumpy, jerky, or heaven forbid, TRAFFIC, I was going to toss my cookies. Insert this into my pregnancies and flying pregnant was always a tremendous challenge (bless those kind flight attendants). Also, there will always be a little bag in your airplane seat pocket because of people like me.

But something has been changing for me this year, and it has all started with meditation. I have been meditating off and on for three years, but I really got serious with my practice in December.  I know that my daily mediation with my prayer and scripture study has been changing my life in many positive ways. I am happier, peaceful and filled with love and more grace. I'm working on a post on how and why and when I meditate, but for now, this is about the surprise effect of mediation and travel on me and how my motion sickness is gone.

my favorite buddha at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

It first started on our Disneyland trip in February, I usually get sick on amusement rides, but something changed. I wasn't getting sick, at all. I was enjoying every crazy ride (yes even Guardians of the Galaxy) like a little kid. I was enjoying the butterflies! It was exciting and crazy all at once.

I recently returned from a work trip to New York City for my dance studio. It was a glorious time and there was something new that opened up to me, travel by car. Before, taking a taxi or Uber was completely out of the question. Last trip just from upper east side to Chelsea had me car sick for hours. Thank goodness for the subway, that's how I could only get around, or walking.

The ultimate test would be a taxi ride, so when our taxi driver picked us up at JFK to get to Harlem during 5 o-clock traffic this month I was prepared to see what happened. And...nothing. Nada. Zilch. I could look out the window! Out the side window!!! It was so awesome. I could see Queens for the first time! And the skyline! I can't tell you what an amazing blessing this is to my life.

And it didn't end, which was great because staying in Harlem meant a lot of Lyft/Uber and taxi rides late at night. If you haven't ridden in Manhattan with a taxi driver, imagine a car race from an action movie, now add more speed, more laws broken, more near death experiences.  I am not exaggerating. I can count how many times I though, "well, this is it, I'm going to die in this car today."  But now, despite all of the honking and speeding and stopping and craziness (at one point our driver was having a hilarious phone conversation in farsi while hip hop was blaring on the radio and I saw a rat the size of a house cat)  I could still be peaceful, carry a conversation with our drivers and my friends and enjoy the ride, this was a first for me in traffic. And in New York, there is always traffic. I think it's a city ordinance or something.

So even if you aren't interested in meditation, or think only monks and crunchy granola hippies do it, if you have some issues with sea sickness, car sickness or just general anal OCD about everything (hehe) you really should look into adding
meditation practice in your life.

Here's a short "how to", but I recommend starting with a guided mediation app to begin with.