the body 1, me 0; the body is keeping score.

When I returned from my XC bike ride last year, I didn’t waste a moment before diving head-first into developing our Pause Breathe Reflect app. After sensing the country’s pain, our app became an urgent priority – it was time for action. It was also a chance to be mindful, do nothing, and recover, but I clearly didn’t do that.

Mindfulness helped ease most of my pandemic stress. Still, I didn’t appreciate how much of my clients’ worry about the future and the hours spent on Clubhouse holding meditative and sharing space over the last few years I absorbed. It was quietly building as I headed toward a total knee replacement, the ride, our app, and just life.

With the app’s release on November 1st, I could finally feel it.

We built something beautiful that is equal to or better than anything out there, and I knew our approach to mindfulness was changing lives, but I wasn’t happy. By Thanksgiving, things felt heavy.

Then, on December 2nd, I tweaked my right knee turning around at the grocery store. It wasn’t sexy – it was a simple pivot. At the time, I thought it was nothing, but the following day it was something else.

Over the last two decades, my right leg, also significantly damaged in my accident, made up for my left leg limitations. It quietly put in the work and didn’t complain, even with all the fawning over my total knee replacement’s success, but I think it got a little jelly.

In aisle four, it sent a message: I’m going to give you something that will force you to slow down and let things go. Body 1, Me 0

So, here’s what we did next, we got a puppy. Yep, that’s right. I bet you didn’t see that coming. I know, not exactly the slowing down thing to do, but look at her! She’s soooo cute.

Despite several tests, what was happening within my knee was nebulous, which was super frustrating because I wanted to know what it was, but in time, I discovered it was the type of injury I knee-ed (sorry, I couldn’t resist).

You see, I didn’t tear any ligaments or the meniscus, which would have required surgery and rehab. Instead, my injury was just enough to force me off the bike, away from training and invasive treatments. It gave me time to connect (my 2023 word) with our puppy, and in a joyous moment about a week ago, my body released the gunk that had accumulated.

And here’s what’s nuts, only then did my knee start to improve. Crazy, right?!?

Indeed the body keeps score even for meditation teachers and executive coaches. Without my mindfulness practice, my path leading to this moment could have been more challenging or prevented things from unfolding as they have.

I share this story as a reminder to connect with your body because it whispers to you before it creaks or screams. As they say, our issues are in our tissues, and meditation is scientifically proven to support better health. Think of mindfulness as medicine.

And our version could change your life as it did for Deanna and me.

Please let me know if you can relate to this week’s story, and until next week, have fun storming the castle!

Michael