don't try this at home.

Dear Hansraj;

The procedure went surprisingly well. The anesthesiologist was asking me a lot of questions before the surgery because I begged her not to give me a general anesthetic. At first she insisted, even though I promised her I'd be able to go into a meditative state and I promised not to move. It took a while, but she agreed. Only she added that she'd be watching on her monitor and if there was the slightest hint of a problem she'd have to step in.

Well, I lay on that operating table for two-and-a-half hours, repeating mantra, fully awake, aware of the procedure, feeling the stuff they were doing in my heart, and I didn’t move a muscle. I just kept repeating mantra. I so hate anesthetic. Following the surgery the anesthesiologist told Baal Krishn and Liz that she was extremely impressed that she didn’t have to give me anything other than the prescribed anti-inflammatory and mild anti-trauma medication. She said the machines showed that I had gone into a deep meditative state. I don’t know how they can know that with machines, but glory to modern medicine.

It was actually kind of neat. I felt and heard everything going on but was also detached from it all. I was myself kind of blown away by the whole affair! The doctor said my recovery will be much speedier because I didn’t have to be put under or heavily sedated. As well, they let me go home at 8:00 pm. I didn’t even have to stay overnight, which I was thrilled about.

Anyway, twenty-four hours later and, although I'm pretty sore and bruised at the entry point, I feel quite well. I'm not allowed to move much today, but apparently I'll be able to do more tomorrow. I've actually promised myself that the very first thing I'm going to do is get one heck of a strong cup of coffee! The doctor laughed when I told him that. I haven't been able to drink coffee in years. I'm relieved to think that I don't have to worry about palpitations anymore. What a blessing!

With love and affection, sincerely; Chaytna.

editor's note: Chaytna, Deborah Feinstein, has been meditating for over forty years, has lived in Kullu, H.P., India, at the IMI ashram since the 70s and is a Hindi and Sanskrit scholar. Her book 'Let's Learn Hindi' is used at Cambridge University and other colleges. Chaytna and her partner now spend a couple of months each year in Vancouver where she wrote to me from.