Jin-ik Jang / Businessman

I always had congestion in my sinuses and could never breathe properly through my nose due to chronic sinusitis. It started when I was 15 years old, and at some point in my life I stopped being able to breathe well through my nose. So I had to breathe through my mouth, but it was stuffy and made me feel terrible. I thought it would get better on its own after time and ignored it until it got so bad I decided to go to the hospital in my mid 20s. Inside the nostril is a small hole, but that hole was blocked, and the doctors told me I had swelling inside my nostrils.

Due to my chronic sinusitis, I was unable to have a regular social life

When I received treatment, my symptoms would get better temporarily, but would soon come back and it was the same as before. I got frustrated. I searched and went to famous ENT doctors but it was the same. Later, I gave up. For someone who has never experienced not being able to breathe through your nose before, one doesn’t realize how debilitating it is to living a regular life.

First of all, you cannot concentrate well. Whatever I heard, I quickly forgot, and when I gave the wrong answer, I felt like people would distance themselves from me. I wasn’t able to have a proper social life.

Looking at my 30s, I never achieved anything, had no confidence in myself, and was unable to stand up tall in life. I hated ‘this me’ and was in torment. At that time, I learned of Ma-Eum Su-Ryun. I began to recall the life I had lived and started to throw away my minds. I grew up near the East Sea in Gangwon Province. My father died early from an illness when I was in elementary school and my mother was too busy trying to make a living. At that young age, I wanted to be noticed, to be loved, but I was in no position to receive it.

Then on top of that I always heard, “Since you are the oldest son you have to be like such and such”. Hearing only those kinds of words gave me a lot of dissatisfaction. As an introvert, I pushed all my emotions deep down inside.

During my second week of meditation, my sinuses suddenly opened up and I could breathe

As I did the meditation, I could look back on myself objectively and throw away these minds. It made me so peaceful and happy. About two weeks had passed like that. I felt like a boulder in my chest was lifted, and then my sinuses cleared up. Nothing could feel so relieving as that!

I was able to see that my loneliness, anger, resentment, and all the minds compressed deep inside myself affected my body. My lower back, shoulders, and head, there wasn’t a single part of my body that didn’t hurt. All those minds I had been piling up inside me was making things worse. I realized I was always tense, subconsciously tightening my entire body, and preventing it from using its full potential.

As I meditated, my sinuses would clear up and then congest up again, then clear up again. This pattern repeated itself but the periods of of being able to breathe through my sinuses got longer and longer. Breathing was comfortable so my chest felt comfortable. My body was comfortable to the point where it surprised me.

I ate a lot of processed foods and had a habit of eating too quickly.  Also, compared to the amount of physical activity I got, I ate too much. Overeating caused me to get distracted and sleepy, and of course, decreased my concentration. Since I experienced these problems first hand and threw them away, I naturally began to eat slower and stay away from processed foods. I now have the power of the mind to control little things like that. And as I continue to do this meditation, I feel my body gradually getting purified.

As my sinuses cleared, my concentration got better. I used to easily give up on things, but since I discard the negative minds that “I cannot do it”, now there are many things I complete. I still find all these changes that happened to me amazing.


Source: www.meditationlife.org