Today’s Buddhist teaching is once again from Dekyong :

As well as trying to deal with my mind I’m also taking steps to resolve issues with my body.  My physiotherapist has now prescribed a series of exercises to address restricted movement in my shoulders and legs.

There is little doubt that bilateral hip replacement has reduced the chronic pain that I used to experience.  What I hadn’t  understood is that is new hip joints are not the end of the story.  If I want to make the best of the Surgeon’s work I need to exercise to maintain muscle mass and flexibility.

My shoulder problems are explained by physiotherapists as ‘white hair rotator tear’.  Unfortunately, I have the credentials on both fronts and an operation for someone of my age is not guaranteed to work.

Buddhist assert they are not their body: little consolation when pain is keeping you awake at night.  When I was last at Madhyamaka my good friend Kelsang Dorde

taught me a simple breathing meditation that helps me get back to sleep when I’m woken in the early hours – yet another ‘no-brainer’  from the man!