It strikes randomly and unexpectedly and is one of the most annoying experiences: the “hiccup”. The sound escapes at the most inopportune time, usually when it’s dead quiet and everyone turns to look at you. It would be bad enough if it was a single occurrence. But when it starts, it repeats at somewhat regular (but maddeningly, slightly variable) intervals. First, it’s distracting, then it’s annoying, then it threatens your sanity.
You can try all the home remedies. Ask someone to scare you. Drink some water. (With variation: upside down or from the opposite side of the cup, certain temperatures…). Hold your breath. Breathe into a paper bag. There are myriad home-spun suggestions – all of them are of marginal benefit at best.
There is, however, one trick that I’m passing on. It almost invariably works. We call it the “Turkish Trick”. It goes like this:
Take a deep breath. Now hold it for a long count of 5. Then – without breathing out – take a sip more of air and hold THAT for a long count of 5 seconds. Then – without breathing out again! – take another sip of air and hold THAT for another long count of 5 seconds. Then and only then – SLOWLY! – exhale for a final long count of 5.
Done properly, you’ll sit there and wait for that next hiccup. Then as time goes on, you’ll realize that it isn’t coming and your face will brighten. You can then go on with your day, unafflicted.
It’s wonderful! The first time I did it I couldn’t believe it. But there is one caveat to this trick, I’m afraid.
It doesn’t work if you do it to yourself.
Many of us have tried in our family. And almost invariably it fails. You start hiccuping mid-breath. Or you get to the very end and you’re blowing out and it’s interrupted with a random hiccup. It feels even worse because you know the technique works, so you try again and again in frustration.
Until you find someone who knows and tap your finger on their shoulder and ask “Can you Turkish Trick me?”
I’m not sure why it works that way. Perhaps it’s because we count too fast when it’s just us. Or that somehow splitting the focus between counting and breathing somehow renders whatever mechanism is at play ineffective. All I know is that it works when someone else does it.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that there are actually many things that we are unable to do on our own. There are the mundane things – a spot on your back that you can’t itch or a dress that you need to zip up.
But it extends further than that. When I was younger – in my young and middle adulthood – I went through a period of self-reflection and self-improvement. Reading, Meditation, journaling. Often times it required solitude and self-reflection.
But there are aspects of ourselves that we can only see when other people reflect them back to us. Some of those are behaviors that you are blind to, that require a mirror for other people to hold up to reflect back onto you. But there are also aspects of ourselves that only show up in relationship to others – whether that is a partner, our family, or our friends. Like the proverbial tree falling in the woods, these are parts of ourselves that only exist with an observer.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t benefit to being on your own and working on self-improvement. But understand its inherent limitations. Just like you can’t do the Turkish trick on your own, we all have parts of ourselves we cannot access unless you tap someone on a shoulder and ask them for their attention.
There is no length of sitting on a cushion that will reveal those to you. Meanwhile, feel free to tap me on the shoulder anytime.