I got my ears pierced at 4 years old.  It was with a gun in a Sears store and it hurt so bad I ran off after it was done and hid my head in a bin of ladies bras.  After that I remember my mom cleaning the piercings with rubbing alcohol and me screaming in pain every time she did.

So, of course it makes sense to get more piercings after that experience, right?  At about 14 I called my Mom from the mall to let her know I’ve decided to get a piercing at the top of my ear, it was very new and uncommon back then.  Her response was “over my dead body” but of course I did it anyway, hurt like a M*therF*kr!  That piercing was horrible, bleeding all the time, swollen, I couldn’t sleep on my right side for a very long time.  So after a few years a got a second one just a bit higher than the first one, Mother of Shiva it hurt, bleed, was infected and again no sleeping on my right side for a solid chunk of time.

These days I attempt to learn from past experiences but I didn’t get that message back then and just kept on piercing things!  Next came my belly button.  The image here is two young girls, maybe 16, a needle, scissors, a desk, lamp, rubbing alcohol, a horrible hoop earing, and needle nose pliers.  It took hours to get the needle through and finally I had my friend Jenn, just cut the skin to get the sucker through.  Man I was proud of that piercing, after all I bleed and sweat for it.  Oh yeah, it got infected and not only a 1 year later I ripped it straight out with my backpack, ouch and I have a wonderful scar there now to remind me of the wonderful decisions I’ve made in the past.

Alright, one more piercing story for you.  On a  solo trip to Vancouver I decided on my second day to get my tongue pierced.  I booked the appointment, went in to get it done.  The clamp that they hold your tongue with hurt and the actual piercing was so intense and it lasted a very long time.  I even remember a fleeting thought that this was a very bad decision that I had made.  Too late!  About 10 minutes later I fainted walking down the sidewalk, alone.  Lucky for me two young women saw me go down and decided to help me out.  I woke up on a makeshift chair made out of Coke cases with an Asian man hitting me in the arm repeatedly asking me if I needed an ambulance. I decline, since I learned the hard way you have to pay for ambulances in B.C when you are from Ontario.

My tongue was swollen for a week, I couldn’t talk without drooling on myself and I spoke with a lisp, not for that week but for many many years!  I knew I spoke differently from this piercing but I was not taking it out, I earned it and I thought it made me original and well, it seemed to always be a big hit with boys.

After I started yoga I noticed some poses would pull on my belly button piercing, (which I might add I had re-pierced professionally and added another one underneath going the opposite direction, so cool eh?).  This pulling only got more annoying and painful the more hooked on yoga I got.  So I eventually took it out!  I put it back in a few times to make sure I could decorate my horribly mutilated belly button whenever I went to the beach or something.

I was introduced to Ayurveda, many years ago and really dove into studying and practicing it.  I came across a tongue diagnoses diagram and noticed something very interesting and horrifying to me.  Turns out when you get your tongue pierced you are actually piercing directly through the area connected to your heart when you do it.  I took it out, years later I still have a weird scar on my tongue but the good news I no longer speak with a lisp and I feel more connected to my heart 😉

Over time I started to feel like the metal in my body was interfering with the flow of prana, vital life energy.  As I got more and more sensitive to this flow I noticed a subtle shift when I took the piercings out.  The point of sharing this with you is not that you take out your piercings but rather think about them a bit more and see if somehow they affect your energy.  I am also 18 weeks pregnant and think of my son or daughter, calling me to tell me they are getting there ____ pierced!

Currently still have my original piercing and let my “doubles” and the ones at the top “grow in” yuk, and they never really do.  Other than that I have a small nose stud that I keep proudly to represent my yoga journey.  It never got infected, yay!  It decorates my feminine side and for now still serves me besides getting in the way of my alternate nostril breathing at times:)

Hope this made you smile a few times and got you thinking.

Many blessings,

Mindy