Dental Meditation

This week’s topic over in my Zen Pen writing group is Breath. And there’s nothing more conducive to practicing deep belly breathing than sitting in the dentists’s chair. Yes, there I was, folks, with 37 tools jammed in my mouth, the dentist cracking jokes and the hygeinist chatting about celebrity gossip while my teeth were drilled into oblivion. And how I managed to not freak out, was to focus on my breath. In through the nose, out through the nose, feeling the belly rising and falling.

Historically I never minded the dentist, but with spotty dental coverage and laziness on my part, I have come to sort of…dread the event. Not because once I’m there I’ll freak out, but just because I hate the fact that my teeth have gotten cavities so bad that I have had to get a root canal (during pregnancy) and that what I used to take pride in has gone by the wayside. I get to go back next week to have the other side’s cavities all filled up, so yay, I’ll get to do some more belly breathing meditation.

Have you ever found yourself meditating in a strange place? On the bus or in the dentist’s chair or in traffic?