Please read the Glossary of My Terms to be able to follow this post.
When I was forty nine I discovered – thanks to my then partner – that I had obstructive sleep apnoea; when you fall into deep sleep the upper palate and surrounding tissues block the airway; breathing is halted. When oxygen deprivation becomes acute, there is a reflex to restart the breathing, which disturbs sleep. Deprived of uninterrupted deep sleep, you are tired the next day … your pursuits are hampered.
I was prescribed a CPAP (Continuous Production of Air Pressure) device. The device houses a fan that pushes air into your airway while you sleep, preventing its closure.
After retirement I’ve been sleeping in the afternoons, as I sleep poorly most nights. Most afternoons my sleep is apnoea-free, so I do not use the CPAP device. When I wake up, feeling deeply rested, I can feel distinctly, flexings in the upper palate and surrounding tissues that have precluded apnoea. And I am in a deeply peaceful space. I could remain in this space for several hours … however I curtail this, feeling the need to get on with this and that.
For a few years during cold weather, I have been sleeping without the CPAP device; the cold air pushed up my nose gives me a head cold. I’ve discovered that some nights I do not have apnoea, also that the apnoea attends on distinct mental discomfort. I’ve discovered also that this discomfort arises in most instances from circumstances not specific to my life, but to items such as the war in Ukraine, North Korean missiles, and the like. If, lying in bed, I manage, using Helper, to alight on the underlying circumstance, the discomfort and apnoea ease off and I am able to have uninterrupted sleep for some hours. In this way I am made to pay heed to developments I’ve glossed over or been unaware of … to recognise that at a deep level I feel citizenship of the world.
My first experience of heartnosis was at a conference with the theme ‘The Meaning of Illness’. It lasted the duration of the conference; four days. Copious synchronicity occurred for me around this conference.