Breath, Just Breath

     I was experiencing crushing pains in my chest and sternum, solar plexus area for hours, thinking I was having a heart attack, but not wanting to call 911, because my son was coming home, we had to vote,....  
     After sleeping with a heating pad and using a hot water bottle at a friend's house where there was a dinner party, I finally went to the doctor.  
    They did an ECG, and the doctor found my ribs, sternum, and collar bone, all my chest bones tender when pressing.  Then they took two vials of blood to check for some kind of infection that starts with a c or something, some big long word I cannot pronounce, and did chest xrays.
     Everything was fine, thank God.  He said it was sore from stress, not breathing.  He demonstrated slow deep breathing.  I asked if I should stop doing yoga and working out, push-ups, etc..  He said keep exercising, and do deep breathing and yoga, then come back in a week.  I told him the things I was stressed about, which are too personal for my blog, and he gave me advice about my personal life.  
     I was really happy to leave without a prescription, to know what the pain was, to know it was not my heart or anything serious, felt I had gotten really good care, and was impressed that a doctor told me to do deep breathing and yoga.
     Truthfully, I had been forgetting to breath, even while doing yoga, because I do yoga at home, not in a class, because I cannot get to one.  I was just not breathing.  Since, I started breathing, I do not have any pain.  I know I was breathing, but not deep enough.
     I learned something.  I was afraid to exercise, though, and I still do not want to do push-ups and sit-ups yet, until I am sure the pain will not come back, but I started my yoga practice back, with deep breathing to go with it.  I should probably go back to my meditation practice, and pausing.  Sometimes, you just have to remember to discipline yourself to do these things, because there are so many things to do each day, even if you do not go to work.  You still have to run a house, shop, cook, pay bills, etc..  Namaste.