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Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2)

Hopefully, this is the final update:

I visited the surgeon today and received a full report on what happened during the surgery, the problem and the prognosis. It is truly excellent news for returning to my work on the meditation cushion, as soon as possible.

The doctor said that the surgery was a success, he was even a little surprised to see the otherwise excellent condition of my knee. He said, “You have the knees of a 35 year-old.” The cartilage is pure and completely undamaged, and he said that I can resume normal activities any day now. (He even jokingly chided me for continuing to use a crutch in his offices!)

The only downside in our conversation was hearing from him that the cross-legged position of seated meditation will continue to produce especially difficult compression on this segment of the knee that got damaged. To sit in meditation requires a radical ergonomic bending of the knee, and then simultaneously torquing it in a sustained twist as the right leg lays flat on the mat.

So, it will be a challenge and a practice of particular mindfulness about this area going forward. I suppose it also means that this has been the last 90-day intensive retreat which I do in that particular seated position – – but a chair is always available when that time gains its inevitability.

I hope this is the last stuff that I need to post about this. But I have been getting messages and emails, and cannot reply to every single one. Therefore, I put out the updates here in this spot, and hopefully leave it all behind.

Thank you so very much for your “non-thoughts and meditation”!

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