Beth Knudson, Registered Yoga Teacher

Last night, I took my sister Meredith to the Miley Cyrus concert for her birthday. It was a HUGE show at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. We had a great time, in spite of the two hours we spent in the Problem Resolution line.

This was the first show the AA Center has done with paperless ticketing. There were lots of issues to get worked out and lots of problems to resolve, probably more than the Box Office was prepared for. Scanner equipment wasn’t working right, re-issued paper tickets were showing up on scanners as invalid, etc. Everything sending people back to the Problem Resolution line. We ended up there twice.  The staff was as helpful as they could be and was very apologetic about all the issues. I understood, even after our second 45 minutes in line, that everyone was doing the best job they could.

Many of the people around me were not as understanding. It was embarassing to me how rude and mean some of these people were: yelling at the Box Office staff through the closed blinds to open the windows, calling the Box Office from their cell phone while in line to complain about how long the lines were (and not nicely), and when not actively directing their negativity at the staff, grumbling to each other about how stupid this system is, and that they should let us go in a special door.

What a drain.

I thought I was going to witness an ugly concert mob during my first wait in the line when one lady walked up to the front of the line while we were waiting for the windows to open and announced that she was going to start a new line since there were 4 windows. All the ladies around me started yelling at her! One lady behind me even sidled up to me, I guess because I was being noticeably quiet, and said, “You’re with us, right? We’ll take her.”  Maybe that line-cutter was in the wrong, but was it worth all that? I just shook my head in amazement. I have never experienced adults acting in such a way. Maybe they were just doing the best job they knew how to do, too.

During my second time throug the line, I was behind a group with that same mindset of “they should treat me special because I have to wait,” but the lady behind me was much more easy-going. She kept telling her daughter, “We’re going to be fine.  We’ll be in our seats by 7. And even if we’re not, we’ll just miss a little of the opening band. We’ll be fine. No need to panic.” Some of my faith in humanity had been restored.  There were still people around that could go with the flow.

My sister and I also had some additional issues to creatively solve. She’s diabetic and had to do her insulin shot and eat by a certain time. Fortunately, she had packed a peanut butter sandwich in her purse in case of emergency (a smart diabetic move), so I knew we had that as a back-up plan. We just kept gently modifying our plan as the situation changed. Ultimately, we were in our seats by 6:40, she did her shot and ate her sandwich in her seat by the time the show started, and we had an awesome time being in a Miley State of Mind.

So here’s my hope. My hope is that next time you find yourself in what could be a stressful situation, you stop and think about the ones you might percieve as making it stressful. Are they doing the best job they can? Is it really worth throwing a fit? Maybe it’s the universe giving you the gift of an opportunity to practice patience and kindness. Maybe it’s an opportunity to learn that things really do work out, even when they seem impossible.  I was just glad to be there with my sister. And in the end, this is what it was really all about for me:

Meredith, after the show.

Got this from a friend today.  There is good information here.

Dr. Vinay Goyal is an MBBS,DRM,DNB (Intensivist and Thyroid specialist) having clinical experience of over 20 years. He has worked in institutions like Hinduja Hospital , Bombay Hospital , Saifee Hospital , Tata Memorial etc.

Presently, he is heading our Nuclear Medicine Department and Thyroid clinic at Riddhivinayak Cardiac and Critical Centre, Malad (W).

The following message given by him, I feel makes a lot of sense and is important for all of you to know

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it’s almost impossible not coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. “Hands-off-the-face” approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).

3. Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don’t trust salt). H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don’t underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.

5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. Drink as much of warm liquids as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.