A bright little honey bee with its vibrant yellow stripes was hovering around my black straw. I shooed it away and it kept returning. What is it with this bee? It must be attracted to the aromas of the lemon and mint juice.  Time and time again I shooed it away and then finally it didn’t return, or so I thought.

Finally, I picked up my glass for a long, cool refreshing sip. Granulated ice burst with flavour into my mouth. And not long after something other than ice rolled over my tongue. Thinking it was a piece of lemon perhaps, I bit into it. Aggh! I spat it out and lo and behold the pretty, little honey bee lay dead on the white, table cloth. Naturally the bee left his stinger behind, planted deeply on the left side of my tongue. The biting ache, memories of childhood bee stings flooded my psyche. On the leg, on the arm, on the neck but on the tongue, never!

Why, why now? I am in the middle of something (computer of course) I could not put on hold. “Deal with it”, I kept repeating to myself. I knew the stinger had to come out but the restaurant had no tweezers. I decided to continue with what I had to do and put the bee sting on the back burner.

It wasn’t until three hours later that the little black stinger was removed.  But by now my swollen tongue was well twisted to the right, saliva gathering in my mouth and to top it off I had an aching in the urethra and bladder when I needed to urinate. MMM…well if that isn’t the bee venom being eliminated, I thought. Nothing to do however but just wait and see if it was going to get any worse. The main thing was I could breathe even though I was sloshing my words around in my mouth. It was all rather funny, despite the hysteria of others to take anti-histamine, anti-inflammatory or see a doctor.

By the next day the swelling was down so the tongue was able to straighten up, there was no more aching sensation when I had to pee and in fact I felt fine.  In fact really well, even after my vigorous yoga sessions I felt very, very well. Noted!!

Then next day I was feeling even better. More vigorous yoga practice, loads of Chaturanga, (push ups) and wow not even a hint of stiffness, overused muscle aches, lactic acid feeling, nothing just a lightness, fluidity and ease throughout the body. Admittedly, I have had this feeling of ease from yoga practice before. But I was putting myself through some extra,, rigorous physical practice at this time, and suddenly all physical tensions had ceased. The thought, “Have I finally mastered all I can in asana”, crossed my mind…yes it did, tongue in cheek...haha.

It wasn’t till three days later when I was telling the story to a Chinese doctor friend that some interesting information about bee stings came to light. Bee Sting Venom therapy is an Ancient Chinese Medicine practice; Specifically  to apply bee stingers to people suffering from stiffness, arthiritis, burstitis, tendinitus and other debilitating diseases. Apparently Bee Sting Therapy is in full swing in China right now and proving to be very popular especially those who are suffering from Multiple sclerosis.

Well it all made sense now, why I was particularly feeling so unusually, good physically. I was starting to feel like Wonder Woman. Time to take a deeper look at the humble, honey bee and honour its preciousness and importance in nature. Certainly Brahmari Pranayama is one way and the practice is healing in its very nature of the bee’s sound resonating through the body. But the bee’s Venom?

From Wikpedia; Apitoxin, or honey bee venom, is a bitter colorless liquid; its active portion a mixture of proteins, which causes local inflammation and acts as an anticoagulant. Apitoxin is acidic, with a pH 4.5 to 5.5). A honeybee can inject 0.1 mg of venom via its stinger. Bee venom therapy is used by some as a treatment for rheumatism and joint diseases due to its anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also used to desensitize people allergic to insect stings.

Amazing, and here I was wondering why me? What the hell, and how could this be possible! But simultaneously looking at the very funny side of the whole incidence. A beautiful example of what seems like an unfortunate situation turns into a blessing in disguise.