BreatheAs I continue to reflect on the recent Mayo Clinic holistic wellness conference, I found it interesting that almost every speaker talked about breathing. (And yes, Barb Schommer and I talked about it in our Self-Care Salon that we presented!) She and I had a recent experience with a hospital patient … here’s the story:

We worked with a man who had had a procedure to rid his knee of infection. He had just finished physical therapy so was in some pain (7 out of 10) and was extremely anxious (9). He was worried whether or not the surgery had eliminated the infection and if not, what this meant for next steps. His wife and adult daughter were also in the room.

Barb immediately began doing Healing Touch, specifically energy clearing while I played the harp. About 15 minutes later, he looked like he was crying. I motioned for his wife and daughter to come over to the bed to comfort him – the wife stood opposite Barb and his daughter held his feet.

I whispered to the daughter, “Would he like the song ‘Amazing Grace?’” and she said, “Yes and also ‘O Danny Boy’ – this was the song that he and I danced to at my wedding.” These songs brought tears to everyone present.

Barb also taught him about his breath and how breathing could help him release any fear or pain. As we finished our work together, he was peaceful and very grateful. His pain score was reduced to 4 and his anxiety was also 4.

To discuss breathing with patients and families in the hospital environment always feels like we are giving them a life skill. What an honor to get to do this work!

 

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