# She thought she'd had a stroke — it was dehydration

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-joondalup-retreatant-dehydration
- Themes: meditation, health, common sense
- Life situations: overdoing meditation, illness on retreat

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A member of the three-month rains retreat in Joondalup grows very sick and is taken to hospital thinking she has had a stroke. The cause is dehydration: she had been cutting back water so she would not have to leave long sits for the toilet.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

There's one of our as he's probably listening, one of our members of our three-month rains retreat over in in Joondalup, Perth, she know, she thought she had had a stroke. Cuz you know, she started really getting very sick. We took her to the hospital. The obvious, dehydration. She wanted to just meditate for long periods of time and if you just have water, you have to go to the loo. And so she thought, I better not drink that much. And sometimes people forget the easy things. The obvious solutions are sometimes the best. And after that, she was fine. Just need dehydration.

## Teaching point

The obvious, simple solution is sometimes the one meditators forget.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

A retreatant was rushed to hospital fearing a stroke; she was simply dehydrated, having cut back on water to avoid toilet breaks during long sits. Ajahn Brahm reminds us the Buddha ate, rested and slept well before his awakening. Look after the basics. A rested, relaxed body makes deep meditation easy.

## Source

- [Energy in our Body and Mind from Inspiration | Ajahn Brahm | 2 November 2018](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWz3LAAj-J0) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 53:56 to 54:40: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWz3LAAj-J0&t=3236s