Cramping My Style

The final position for the prayer can be a little awkward if you're praying in a congregation. Basically it's a sitting position, but one that finds you slightly askew, at a slight angle to your own legs. (It's oddly tricky to describe, but you'd get it if you saw it.) If the congregation is packed you sometimes find yourself sort of toppling into the person next to you.

Normally I don't have much of a problem with all this, despite the trickiness involved. But today the alarm bells rang for me. As I sat into the position I realised my right leg was going into a spasm of cramp and there wasn't anything I could do to avoid it. If this happens, as it has done once or twice when I've been praying at home, I just stretch the leg out a bit and this eases the problem. But that was not an option today.

The odd thing was that I got through the minor crisis more easily than I dared imagine at the onset of the pain. I suppose it was a case of just accepting the pain since there was no other option. But once accepted it became instantly controllable, though the relief I experienced when the prayer concluded was significant, to say the least.

In future I'll just have to remember that this old body of mine isn't what it used to be - not that it has ever been all that much, sad to say.