Dealing With Pain In Life

One of those subjects that we all experience whether we admit it or not, is most likely one we all want to be gone.  I'm talking about pain.  Pain is part of the human experience.  Pain is a part of life whether we want to believe it or not.

There are different kinds of pain from emotional to physical to chronic and then some that are the result of a physical accident or injury.  Each one takes its toll on us and drains our energy.  Sometimes the pain gets so unbearable that we do everything we can to avoid it, disconnect from it or believe that it doesn't exist.

As humans, we are pretty good at numbing ourselves from pain.  It is easy to do if we stay busy so we don't have to think about it or we have beliefs that help us hide from the pain.  It is easy to do if we just have gotten to a point where we ignore it because it is too much for us to deal with.  Numbing is a powerful human skill that we all possess and it is practiced routinely.

Chronic pain...

If you suffer from chronic pain, it seems like there is no end in sight.  It seems like there is nothing that will help.  There is no option but to deal with it in whatever form works for you.

Emotional pain...

If you suffer from emotional pain, tears will not always be enough to wipe it away.  Love is sometimes hard to let in to soothe it.  It is a loneliness that is felt clear to the bone when you suffer from emotional pain.

Physical pain...

Physical pain sends us running for help before we can blink an eye.  It is pain that we want to stop and have it stop quickly.  It is pain that is often hard to endure depending upon the severity of it.

Just hoping the pain will end...

Through all of this, our brain tells us something is wrong and either we know what that is, or sometimes it is just too complex for us to understand.  The more complex it is, the more we tend to suffer in silence apart from the world, just hoping that the pain will end.

Our bodies know how to numb us and try to protect us, but some days, that is not even enough.  Often we turn to all kinds of products, substances, and beverages.  Sometimes we turn to belief systems and medication all in an attempt to ease the pain.  Believe me, when the pain gets tough, I start looking for anything that will help, even if it isn't the best thing for me in the long term.

Pain is part of the human experience...

Pain is part of life.  It is part of the human experience.  Although I'm sure this isn't what most people want to hear, I know it to have truth from my own life and experiences I've been through.  I know it to be truth from what I have seen in others.

If you're experiencing pain, keep in mind, "this too shall pass".  If you're dealing with chronic pain, it isn't as simple as that thought.  If you're dealing with emotional pain, know that it isn't the end of the world.  Things will get better and they can get better.

I'm a firm believer in that whatever experience we are going through, things can change.  It may not change in the way we expect it to or in how we believe it should, but things can change.  I have overcome the odds of physical situations when the doctors told me I would never make it.  It is hard for me to accept that things cannot change.  I've seen a different world.

 
Whatever you do, try not to hide and disconnect or numb from the pain.  Try to keep yourself grounded with what you feel, but look for ways that physically take you out of the pain, not just mask it or hide it or make you believe it doesn't exist.

We all have far more potential within us to heal and deal with pain than we realize.  Yes, it gets hard to do.  Yes, it gets hard to endure.  I'm not saying it is easy or quick.  I am just saying, we have far more potential than we realize.  We have strength we know not of and I fully believe that for every inhabitant of this planet.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Chronic Pain Prolonged With Painkillers?

There is nothing worse sometimes than when you hurt.  When you're in pain, you just want it to be gone as quickly and simply as you can.  If you're a highly sensitive person, pain is not your friend.

Let's face it though, no one wants to suffer through chronic pain or any type of pain.  In this country we will do just about anything to avoid it.  Painkillers often become the way we deal with life, medical conditions, chronic pain and other situations we find ourselves in every day.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2010, enough prescription painkillers were prescribed to medicate every American adult every 4 hours for 1 month.  (source:  drugabuse.gov).  We all have most likely read just how much painkillers are being abused and overused these days but that statistic is frightening.  I have seen the recent news of Prince overdosing on Fentanyl (Fentanyl Deaths Soar) . 

Pain medications among fastest rising additions...

Heroin and pain medications are the fastest rising addictions in the US according to www.addictions.com. As they discuss, there is great potential for addiction no matter what drug is used.

While painkillers seem to be America's best friend, they are dangerous and according to a new study by University of Colorado, could be more harmful than good.  In the study, they reveal that opioids such as morphine actually increase chronic pain.

Not just long term painkillers...

We are not talking about a long term painkiller that is being used, but just a few days of treatment that ended up causing chronic pain for several months.  In their study, the painkillers were triggering an immune response which caused the release of pain molecules.  Once this happens, it increases the perception of pain in the brain.

I am saddened to see just how many painkillers are being used today and how many addictions result from this practice.  It has been many years since I have taken any prescription medication whatsoever.  I try hard to keep myself healthy or find effective alternatives if something is needed.

Self-Medicating is not helping our bodies...

We cannot keep self-medicating our bodies and expect us to be fully human.  It is not helping us individually or our society, because rather than getting rid of the pain, we are just numbing ourselves to it.  Numbing does nothing but take you further into the darkness of life while helping you believe that you're doing the right thing.

The more we go into the pain, the more aware we are of what is happening in our body.  Yes, when the pain gets to great, then it is very difficult to manage and I do understand that.  However, taking more painkillers is not the answer like this study suggests.  Finding ways to connect with our body and come out of numbness will yield much better results over the long term.

If you want to learn more about how the placebo effect works, take a look at the following blog post on Placebo Effect And Medical Care .

(click image to read)

Question Of The Day

What ways have you found to alleviate pain without using painkillers?

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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What Is Chronic Pain - Interview With Dr Paul Canali

This video interview is a very good one.  It is done by Jim Fazio and Dr. Paul Canali.  Unified Therapy by Dr. Paul Canali has changed my life.  He has helped me to understand that chronic pain can be treated and healed.

Chronic pain is in the brain, even though it feels like it is in each individual muscle of the body.  I know that may sound weird, but it is true.  I have felt it and experienced the difference in my own body going through the healing work of Unified Therapy.

Did you know that 15% to 20% of all adults in the world suffer from chronic pain.  It is what keeps doctors up at night and drug companies in business.  Yet, we aren't getting better as a world society and that is because don't fully understand chronic pain or the nature of pain.

Many research studies have been done in neuroscience and they are finding that the volume knob for chronic pain is not in the body, but in the brain.  They are also finding on brain scans that if the person experiences pain in the arm, it does not show up in the region of the brain for the arm.  Instead it shows up in the emotion centers of the brain.

Chronic Pain Is More Than Lifestyle Choices

Do you ever have one of those cartoon moments, where steam comes out your ears after reading something?  Well, today was one of those days.

When I read the following quote, it made steam come out of my ears.  No, I'm not going to name the source because far too many people think this way and quite frankly, they are only seeing "part" of the story.


The quote is:

Lifestyle is the cause of chronic illness and lifestyle is the only evidence-based solution for the prevention of, and recovery from, chronic illness.

In addition to the entire premise of this statement being short-sighted and downright wrong from my own experience, when you use the word "ONLY" as the foundation for your statement, you are standing on melting ice in the middle of a lake.  This is one of the things that is wrong with our health care system and why people don't get better.  I know the place that wrote this means well, but there is more to the picture than this "belief" about chronic illness.

Inadequate at best and harmful at worst...

I will not disagree that chronic pain often has lifestyle choices that are not healthy.  However, that is like telling a person with depression, to just be happy or a person who has sleep issues, that they should just go to bed at a set time.  These forms of advice and counseling and help are inadequate at best and harmful at worst.  They don't assist the person and help them.  They only cement the judgment and shame deeper into their consciousness.

In many of the chronic pain and chronic illness, there is something more below the surface.  There is something that set the person up for the situation they are now facing.  Maybe no one can see it.  Maybe no one can even begin to believe it.  Maybe it is something that no one is even thinking about, but it is there.  I've worked with far too many people and seen evidence of what I am saying, to not be able to believe that lifestyle changes along can help every situation.

All too often we've seen people look for help that isn't there.  We've seen this person or that product offering the "cure-all" for their condition.  I used to work in research evaluating products for a company before we took the plunge and spent millions to find out if something worked or not.  Of the products that were backed up by science and research and trials with big name companies, approximately 85% of them did not show a statistical improvement for whatever it was that we were testing.

Needless to say, these companies and even colleagues of mine would rip my research to shreds.  Yes, it was meticulously done and yes, myself and other individuals reviewed it before the data was released.

I find the same thing in the health and healing communities.  Some of the "products" out there make my eyes do flip-flops and the claims make me vomit.  Sorry, if you're one that does not want to hear this, but from my experience, it is the truth.

Chronic conditions have deep layers...

Chronic pain and chronic illness is present for a reason.  It has deep layers which I don't think we truly understand today.  However, there is new pioneering work that is being done and can often reverse these conditions or have a significant impact upon them.  Situations and health conditions that we thought were not treatable are now being seen that we can influence them.

Yes, lifestyle choices does make a difference, but if there are underlying situations and stresses below the surface, then you can beg someone to change all day long with little results.  Heck, even the person suffering from Chronic Pain and Chronic Illness can hope something changes, but unless the underlying pressures are released, this will be nothing but a prayer.

A message from our body to our brain...

Pain is there for a reason.  It is a message from our body to our brain trying to get our attention.  Sometimes, maybe most of the time, it is difficult to understand how this could even be true, let alone how we can solve it.  The answers are not from feel good statements, but are through interventions that takes us deep within where we feel our body.  It is not where we escape it.

Here is a good video by good friend Jim Fazio as he interviews Dr. Paul Canali about Chronic Pain.  Dr. Paul Canali is a pioneer in the treatment of trauma, pain, and anxiety and offers a new approach that is highly effective.  This is not belief or theory, but actually applied therapy that has helped thousands of people he has worked on.

I want to push each one of us, whether we suffer from chronic conditions or we are in the healing community try to help people deal with these conditions.  We cannot sit back and expect the tired and old practices that have become our paradigms to continue being ineffective in our healing modalities.  We have to be more and often that starts where we least expect it to begin.

Instead of limiting your healing beliefs to lifestyle changes only, find out what makes the person tick from the inside.  What is it that holds you or them back?

I used to think that Dr Canali had some special gift, but now I'm beginning to see that what he has learned resides in each one of us.  It was not just him that could help others.  Yes, it may take another compassionate and caring individual without judgment to walk through the healing fires with us, but healing comes from within us.  Let us not look at it through simple eyes, missing the deeper moments.

Chronic pain and illness is not easy.  However, there are therapies emerging that can help so much, if we allow ourselves to go check them out.

#ChronicPain

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Numbed Pain

If you're one of those people that deal with chronic pain, this post does not necessarily apply to you.  It is something different that I am talking about here than chronic pain where you hurt day in and day out.

What I am talking about is pain that we numb or what I referred to in the title as Numbed Pain. It is the pain that we avoid and disconnect from.  It is our busy days that keep us from feeling the pain in our body.

Yes, we do numb our pain.  We go through our days of stress and nonstop activity, oblivious to the pain and messages that our body is using to get our attention.  We often don't want to face the pain, so we stuff it down and hide it.

When I was traveling every week, my life was on constant go from one city to the next with very little rest or downtime.  When my head hit the pillow in a hotel room of a strange city, that's when I had the chance to rest.   Crossing one time zone after another and sleeping in one strange place to another, I didn't know what rest was.

In addition, I spent most of my waking hours either on the phone being the main support contact or answering emails or planning the next training session.  There was no downtime.  My body didn't have time to feel all the pains and stresses and issues in the tissues.  I automatically and subconsciously avoided it.  I numbed out to the pain.  I disconnected from it.

Avoided the pain but it impacted my body...

The thing is, even though I was avoiding and numbing the pain, it was still impacting my body.  I just didn't realize it nor could I see it.  It wasn't until after I quit the job and had massive amounts of downtime that I really started to see just how much of a toll it took on my body.

It is human to numb and avoid, but the more we do this, the more we miss critical notices from our body of what is truly happening in the body and the mind.  The more we don't feel what is happening, the more stress and issues we are storing within the cellular components of our body.  These things rob us of precious energy and strength.  These things rob us of peace in our life.

Oblivious to numbed pain...

All too often we are oblivious to numbed pain.  We have been successful at avoiding it and now it is like we are complete strangers speaking two different languages.  All the while, it is impacting us in very real biological ways.

If we continue down this road, it will get our attention at some point.  We may be able to hide from it, evade it and ignore it.  Sooner or later, it will catch up to us and the likes of it will not be pretty.

I'm not speaking from some new age concept here.  I'm speaking from experience because I almost lost my life many years ago from numbing the pain.  I ignored it and didn't deal with the stresses and trauma I had experienced in life.  It showed up as Conversion Disorder after some other events became the catalyst that formed paralysis and a near death experience.

I'm not saying that I'm perfect and have learned my lesson well on avoiding and disconnecting from numbed pain.  However, I have done a tremendous amount of work on myself to free myself from the chains of trauma and stress.  It is through this physical and biological healing work that I've learned how to transform this into a life I never thought possible.

The thing is that any of us can keep avoiding the pain and not feeling it.  The more we do of it, the more chronic it becomes.  The more we continue to avoid it, the more it begins to work harder to get our attention.  If we continue down this path, the brain will do all it can to keep us alive but other physical realities of our bodies and minds may become nothing more than dead weight.

It is up to each one of us how we choose our life and what we allow ourselves to become aware of each day.  If we allow pain to be numbed, we will be sentencing our life to great difficulty.  You may be getting away with it at the moment, but just how much longer before your luck runs out and you pass the point of no return?

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Favorite Blog Posts Jan 2013

I always love reading things that are consciously connected thoughts on pain.  In this blog post from Tricycle.com, an interview was conducted with Jon Kabat-Zinn.  I became aware of Jon through a video at a Google meeting in their corporate office where he talked about mindfulness.  You can see more on the post I wrote, Mindfulness With Jon Kabat-Zinn.

In this blog post, he talks about using the Buddhist practice of meditation to help treat chronic pain and illness in our life.  While I am not here to promote one practice over another or specify the specific procedure one should use, what I found interesting was how he viewed pain.  In fact, what I have learned in my own life is very similar when it comes to pain and illness.  I arrived at the same point in a different way which doesn't really matter, but the insight he gives is what is important.

In the following statement, he puts pain in perspective that we so often don't do in our own lives.  "Physical pain is the response of the body and the nervous system to a huge range of stimuli that are perceived as noxious, damaging, or dangerous."

How To Conquer Pain With Ginger

I'm writing this because it is something that has worked for me.  I'm not trying to be a medical expert, so this is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice for you.  Please use it in the best possible way for yourself, but do so with medical advice if that applies to you.

I am a person that tries hard to never take prescription medications or over-the-counter pharmaceuticals and drugs.  It is the way I am.  I've basically been this way since I was a young kid where my dad would try to force everything down me that I didn't want to take.

Now, I'm not going to say that I never take anything, but if you come in my house, you will see very little medications anywhere.  I would have to go to the store to buy most things.  I do have a small bottle of Aleve that seems to last me forever.

Unfortunately, I still get physical pain even though I do a lot of mind-body work on myself.  Over-exertion, emotional stress or just plain old stress can create pain.  Lack of exercise can also bring about stress in me.  When the pain gets too intense, then I start looking for relief.

Keep in mind that I don't just grab a pain relief pill at the first chance I get.  I try to identify what is going on in my life that caused the pain and see if I can make corrections to alleviate it.  I work through breathing and mind-body guided movements applying the felt-sense concept so that I can move myself out of pain.  In other words, I try natural things available to all of us before I reach for something that will mask the pain.

When these things don't work or maybe I need an extra boost to the connection of the pain to the part of the mind body experience that is impacted, I reach for some ginger fire water that I make.  From my experience, it helps and it also helps reduce inflammation in my body which seems to be the culprit energizing the physical pain.

I know there are different ways you can do this, but I'm going to give you what I do.  Please let me know if you do something different.

My recipe is as follows:  (please note that these are approximations for quantities of ingredients).

Ingredients:

1. About .25 pounds of ginger (more or less) - cut into thin slices
2. Approximately 1 gallon of water
3. Large handful of Goji Berries (click link for high quality ones)

If you click the picture to the left, you will see the exact Goji Berries that I use.  They are high quality and we actually use some of these in our daily whole food smoothies.  If you purchase several packages at one time, you save money on shipping.  The Goji Berries give the ginger fire water a good taste.  Golgi berries are a superfood and they very healthy.  

I actually slice the ginger up into thinner pieces just so it can cook more thoroughly.  Place all of these in a large boiling pot and cover it with a lid.  Bring everything to a boil and then reduce heat to a steady boil for about an hour.  Once it is done, I let it cool and put it in quart glass canning jars which I store in the refrigerator.

When you need it,  just take about a cup and warm it up slightly in a pan on the stove and drink it.  It doesn't take much from what I can tell, but it sure helps me.

This is how I conquer pain with ginger.  I have seen it referred to as Fire Water and I will tell you that it does have a spicy kick to it.  I enjoy the smell of it as it is boiling and cooking.

This is what works for me on pain and if one cup isn't enough after a few hours, I'll have another cup.  I try not to overdo it but I think that I read a research study the other day where they were using ginger to help people with chronic pain.  I just cannot find the study now.

Do what is best for you and if you're taking medications, it is probably smart to check with your doctor to make sure they don't have any issues with you doing this.  I'm not a medical doctor, so I can't give you advice on your condition.  I'm just letting you know what I do in my own life.

Sometimes I think it affects my stomach and digestive system a little.  I have a sensitive system anyway, so that is the only precaution that I am aware of at this time.

You may also be interested to read a recent blog post on Chronic Pain Prolonged With Painkillers.

(click image to read)

Please comment below if you try this recipe and let me know how it worked.  I'm sure others would be interested in your experiences.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Eliminating Pain

I readily see things posted on the internet from well intentioned people and places.  New age practices and even modern medical interventions tend to only focus on eliminating pain.  Yes, I understand if you are experiencing pain or chronic pain, you are probably so tired of dealing with it that you want to do anything just for relief.  While this may be a necessary step for you, it is short sighted.

If your goal is to only "eliminate pain", you are missing the bigger picture. While none of us like pain, it is there for a reason and learning to connect the emotional with the mind is far more important than focusing on eliminating pain.  When you go in and connect the pain with the emotion and the message the mind body interface is trying to share with you, you will do far more than eliminate pain.

We can interact with our biology and our physical body in ways that we generally dismiss or ignore.  Our culture teaches us that we have to go to someone to rid us of pain and physical problems in our life.  Unfortunately what our culture does not teach us is that we can do so much more with our physical body than we ever thought was possible.

Neuroscience In The News On April 18

These are articles that I found of interest relating to news about Neuroscience.  In this issue, I have highlighted articles about the antimatter and the discovery of antimemory, the discovery of a potential new source for pain inhibition, and nerve terminals and nerve signaling.

Please check out the article links below and feel free to comment with other information related to these subjects.  I enjoy learning as much as I can about the brain and passing this information on to everyone else that shares these passions.

This is for the week beginning April 18, 2016.

Please come back each week and hopefully I will have some more highlights.  Feel free to share with me ones that you have found and I may highlight those as well.

Feel free to check out the highlighted articles from April 11, 2016

Antimatter and Discovery of Antimemory

In trying to understand the effects of imbalance, scientists reached the conclusion that there must be a second process in learning that acts to rebalance the excitation caused by the new memory and keep the whole system in check. The theory is that, just as we have matter and antimatter, so there must be an antimemory for every memory. This precise mirroring of the excitation of the new memory with its inhibitory antimemory prevents a runaway storm of brain activity, ensuring that the system stays in balance. While the memory is still present, the activity it caused has been subdued. In this way, antimemories work to silence the original memory without erasing it.

Article Link:

• Discovery of Antimemories could Revolutionize Neuroscience
• Source:  The Conversation

Potential New Source For Pain Inhibition

According to Dr. Ted Price, associate professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, the discovery of neuroligin-2 as a cause exacerbating chronic pain is significant for the research community.

Normally, a GABA neurotransmitter acts to inhibit neuronal activity, such as pain. However, when pain becomes chronic there is strong evidence that a process called GABAergic plasticity can cause GABA to lose its inhibitory activity, sometimes making the pain even worse.

“When you hit your hand with a hammer, almost everybody has the same reflex reaction — that is, to rub your finger which, in turn, helps to reduce pain. The reason that works is because it increases GABAergic inhibition in the spinal cord,” Price said. “However, people who have chronic pain — if they do the same thing — find that rubbing it actually makes the pain worse. That’s because the GABAergic system loses its efficacy and, in fact, can become excitatory.”

Article Link:

• Neuroscientist Discovers Potential New Source for Pain Inhibition
• Source:  www.UTDallas.edu 
• Dr. Ted Price, University Of Texas

Nerve Terminals and Brain Signalling

This spectacular image – which took the best part of a year to create – shows the fine structure of a nerve terminal at high resolution, revealing, for the very first time, an intricate network of fine filaments that controls the movements of synaptic vesicles.

The brain is soft and wet, with the consistency of a lump of jelly. Yet, it is the most complex and highly organized structure that we know of, containing hundreds of billions of neurons and glial cells, and something on the order of one quadrillion synaptic connections, all of which are arranged in a very specific manner.

This high degree of specificity extends down to the deepest levels of brain organization. Just beneath the membrane at the nerve terminal, synaptic vesicles store neurotransmitter molecules, and await the arrival of a nervous impulse.

Article Link:

• Nerve terminal nanofilaments control brain signalling
• Source:  TheGuardian.Com
• Reference:  Cole, A. A., et al. (2016). A Network of Three Types of Filaments Organizes Synaptic Vesicles for Storage, Mobilization, and Docking. J. Neurosci. 36: 3222–3230 [Abstract]

Masking Pain In Life

This is a discussion that I think we all need to have in this world.  Pain is a big topic and the addiction to pain killers is growing at astonishing rates with little to show for its existence.

I've dealt with so much pain in my life; emotional, physical and chronic.  It has not been easy at times, but I've learned some shortcuts through it that help me greatly.

Often pain takes us into a moment of not feeling and not wanting to feel.  It takes us into self-protection.  It brings out the best numbing skills we have.

We try to avoid it and do just about anything we can to act as if it doesn't exist.  We try to use beliefs in all kinds of thoughts and philosophies and religions to make it appear that pain will disappear or has vanished.

Pain is there for a reason...

Pain is there for a reason.  It is a messenger to our body that something is not right or that something needs our attention.  Pain is the wake up call if we've avoided the earlier messages from our body and most people never hear those messages.  We are too asleep to hear the trains go by.

Pain medication and methods often mask the pain.  They make it seem as if it is not there.  While these medications and treatments may make us believe that the pain is gone or reduced, it is an illusion.  It may help us temporarily, but if we're not careful, the brain quickly embraces anything that reduces or takes the pain away.   Most of the time, we're not strong enough to counteract that and this is evidenced by the amount of prescriptions that are being consumed in our world.

It's a never-ending cycle...

Sometimes we have to do what we need to do in order to reduce the pain so we can catch our breath.  However, if you don't watch out, that's like a never-ending cycle that just reinforces an outside substance rather than embracing the healing power you have inside of you.

When we are young and we fall down or something happens, our parent is generally there for us to help us feel better.  However, the hidden message being taught is that we need someone else (or something else) to take our pain away and to make us better.  Yes, it might be innocent, but without the right tools, it enforces that part of the brain that looks to outside forces and diminishes the part of our brain that looks within.  It begins the process of setting ourselves up later for a life where pain engulfs our life, especially if we're not able to advance and learn.

I know pain is a much more complex entity than it may appear to anyone reading this.  Pain is insidious with how it gets us to respond.  It is crafty and cunning.  It is smarter than most of us and in fact, most research struggles to fully understand how pain works.  Researchers know parts of it, but they have not fully figured this one out.

Yet, I didn't think I could...

In my own life, I have seen times where I could take on the pain and yet, I didn't think I could.  I have been confronted with horrible physical realities and while feeling like I was powerless, I have found a power within me to heal and conquer.  The things that most would tell me are impossible to change are the things that I have began to understand that I could.

Believe me, it takes a heck of a lot to do what I am suggesting here.  It is not easy, but I know that deep down within me, there is a way out.  There is more than we currently know and understand today.  It is embracing the power we hold within, while not numbing and disconnecting in life that gives us much more than we can see.

Masking pain is one way of dealing with pain.  We all know how to do that, but as I'm seeing in this world, masking is not working.  The pain is still there.  People are still struggling to deal with pain.  So, our ways of masking pain are failing us.

Isn't it time that we begin to look outside the box in treating pain?  For if we continue to only see the tree, rather than the forest in front of us, we may likely miss the discoveries that can propel humanity into a new future.  Masking and numbing the pain will not get us where we need to go.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Feel Your Body

  Written by Don Shetterly

Okay, the title of that blog post might be raising a few eyebrows and if it is, I'm okay with that.  There is nothing wrong with the statement, and I'm not trying to dupe you into something that is not.  Trust me, the statement "feel your body" is pure, and it is helpful.


Most of us humans go through life not feeling our bodies.  Yes, we think we do, and that we are in touch with it.  Unfortunately, we are very good at fooling ourselves far too often.  I know, no one wants to hear that, but it is true.

There are reasons why we don't completely feel our bodies.  I don't want anyone to be too hard on themselves for not feeling their body because, in many ways, this is part of being human and aware.

Some of the reasons that we do not feel our body include the following:

1. Past experiences.
2. Stress in our lives (whether we create it or it is around us).
3. Physical issues we are struggling with.
4. Diet.
5. The level of exercise and activity.
6. How we learned to deal with stress in life.
7. Trauma.
8. Abuse
9. Rape
10. Childhood Sexual Abuse.
11. Unconsciousness.
12. Numbness.
13. Keeping ourselves busy all the time.
14. Not taking the time to feel.
15. Being afraid to feel.
16. Dealing with an overwhelming life.
17. Dealing with chronic pain.
18. How we connect with the world around us.
19. Immersed in the latest news and issues of the day.
20. Avoidance

These are some of the reasons why we do not feel in our bodies.  With some of these, it is easy to look at and understand.  With some of the other reasons, it may be harder to understand.

When I was working a nonstop schedule of weekly travel and handling 400 to 600 emails a day. plus being the lead tech support person for a project, I found myself feeling almost no pain.  However, even though I didn't feel it, the pain was taking its toll on me through exhaustion.

It was when I finally stopped for a moment that the pain caught up with me, and it was not pretty.  I had suppressed it so much that I didn't feel it.

I'm amazed at what our bodies do to us and for us when we are oblivious to reality.  I saw this play out when Conversion Disorder paralyzed me.  I have observed it play out in other people and at other times in my life.

Recently, I went through some major healing work because anxiety, depression, despair, and pain were getting to be too much for me.  I could hardly go on in life.  I did not realize how painful my hamstring area was until I got in that session and allowed myself to feel.  Of course, the muscles were exhibiting the reactions to trauma from years past, but I was completely oblivious to it.

I see people talk about stress being all in our heads, but that could not be farther from the truth.  Stress is everywhere.  Yes, some don't feel it consciously, but it is there.  Stress impacts us every day, and if we hide from it and ignore it, then it will build up.  As stress continues to build, it will get our attention at some point in life.

If you're going through chronic pain and other conditions, you may be feeling pain but there is so much other stuff that has been blocked. It pushes the limits of pain to levels that are extremely difficult to endure.  It is as if one side of life has been pushed to the max while another side of life has been forgotten and numbed.

Feeling your body can be scary and frightening.  We have plenty of medications and drugs out there to prove this.  There are enough wine, alcohol and OTC pain relievers so help us disconnect and numb from what is going on.

Sometimes past experiences impact us more than we realize, and they start suppressing one side of our body systems while elevating other parts.  The more this happens, the more the fear increases and when it gets to be too much, we are shutting down our connection to what is going on in our bodies.

It is natural for humans to do this.  It is part of our survival mode, but unfortunate the survival mode doesn't get turned off after stress or experiences or past abuse and trauma.  Our brain then gets hijacked by all that happened to us or all that we experience, leaving us as puppets, rather than in control of our lives.

The more we can stop and recognize all of this, the greater the chance we have to overcome so much.  Experiences in life, stress, and trauma that we have endured suppress the healing power we have within us.

Just recognizing this in the mind is not enough.  It is only part of the equation.  We need to go in and feel our bodies.  We need to go in and feel every fiber of every muscle and each cell of every tissue.  It is through that connection to the body that we give ourselves the greatest hope of being more than we are.

The more we feel in the body, the more we can enact change and make better choices for our lives.  If we don't do this, the stress and trauma will take over and leave us as bystanders in our own life.  We have the option to connect more than we do and if we do this, the payoff is far beyond anything you most likely can comprehend in this moment.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

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Trauma And Chronic Pain

What we have learned over and over again in working with numerous types of pain is that whenever chronic pain is not resolving even when reasonable treatment has been used, inevitably trauma is the missing link. Once unreleased trauma is identified and liberated from the body, most conditions will then begin to resolve. - pg 23, Freedom From Pain by Peter Levine

Interact With Our Biology

All too often, we see health care and healing as something that sends us to a doctor looking for a diagnosis and pill to alleviate our symptoms.  Unfortunately, this is not healing, although it is the mainstream thought in our society.  Healing and health are much more than a short term fix of taking a medication or going through a procedure.

While I understand that many will agree with this to a certain point, many of those same people will fail to fully grasp what this means.  In the same respect, there will be many that completely disagree because their paradigms prevent them from seeing something different.  Unfortunately, it is only at a point where we are sometimes brought to our knees before we begin to wake up and shift our paradigms that we so fervently cling to in life.

I do not write these words because it is some concept passed down to me.  I write these words because I have seen first hand how when we interact with our biology, we truly heal ourselves.  It is at this moment that we find the true essence of our pure self and we connect to that which helps us evolve through the pain or difficulty into a greater awareness of consciousness.

Chronic Pain Is A Public Health Crisis

A 2011 report issued by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) calls pain a “public health crisis,” emphasizing that more people are suffering from chronic pain than from diabetes, cancer, and heart disease combined.

 

Book:  Freedom From Pain by Peter Levine
Levine, Peter A. Phd; Phillips, Maggie (2012-07-02). Freedom From Pain . Sounds True. Kindle Edition.

Chronic Pain Is Emotional Pain

One by one bodies began to talk.  They told stories that amazed me and astounded my clients.  One by one it became obvious that their physical pain was a plea to listen and take action on long-held emotional pain.  Only then did chronic physical symptoms start to change.  As these patients confronted their abuse their bodies let go of the related physical pain.

Compassionate Touch by Dr. Clyde W Ford  (Pg 120)

Tension In The Body

Do you ever doubt just how powerful stress is in the body?  I know we all know that stress affects the body, but all too often we are mind numbed robots living on a busy schedule, eating ourselves to death, taking pain pills, or just ignoring what is going on.  We are masters at it in our world and its taught from a little baby on through our lives.

It happens so frequently and so unconsciously that we barely notice (if ever).  We go through our days smiling and acting as if everything is okay.  We convince the world that we have no pains, ills, or discontentment.  Even if we realize something is amiss in our body, we tend to employ many different ways of boiling water, rather than cooking something in the kitchen, so to speak. 

I've had those moments when I'm going 16 hours a day nonstop and in those moments, I rarely feel pain in my body.  It isn't until I stop that all of the sudden, I notice it.  My mind is preoccupied in running from the pain to do what I have to do, rather than stopping to embrace it.  While this may be necessary in the short term, if we continue this way over time, the buildup of the stress and pain leads to chronic pain and other health conditions.

Killing Ourselves With High Medical Bills

In a recent article in Time Magazine, a detailed account is given of someone experiencing life threatening cancer and not having adequate insurance to cover it.  In this scenario that was presented, the couple did have insurance, but since they were self employed, the policy was not enough to cover the costs of cancer treatment at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.  You can read more of the details in the Time Magazine article, Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us.

Even though we are killing ourselves with high medical bills in this country, I am not trying to vilify MD Anderson Cancer Center.  In fact, I believe they are helping to bring together all facets of healing and health care.  The only thing that bothers me in this article is that their president is also tied financially with some major pharmaceutical companies.  I find it sad that there is this close of relationship between health care services and companies that are profiting from the same thing.  In my mind, it is a conflict of interest and you will have to decide for yourself how you feel about it.

Of course we can sit here all day and blame someone or everyone for the high medical bills.  Regardless of who we blame, each one of us individually are killing ourselves with the state of healthcare in this country.  It is up to each one of us to change how we perceive what health care and healing is, rather than just following the status quo and doing what society dictates we should do.  I am very adamant on this, because I know that while medical care is necessary, it often negates the individual's role

Acupuncture For Bad Backs

According to a recent news article posted on time.com, acupuncture does work! In this study, there were 638 participants with chronic low back pain that received one of three different acupuncture treatments.

One group received individual care in the classic acupuncture. Another group received acupuncture at standardized points for back pain. The third group were poked with toothpicks instead of the standard acupuncture needles but the toothpicks did not penetrate the skin as regular acupuncture needles would.

None of the patients knew which treatments they were getting. Each patient received 10 treatments over the 7 weeks. A control group of back pain patients were told to continue doing whatever it was that they normally did to control back pain.

After the 8 week follow up, twice the number of patients getting any of the three types of acupuncture treatments showed improvement in their daily functions such as walking or going up and down steps without pain, compared with those only getting traditional care. It was also noted that all three types of acupuncture type treatment even the one with the toothpicks had about the same reduction in pain. A year after treatments, acupuncture patients reported a 63% improvement in pain reduction.

While there can be all types of ways to analyze this, evaluate it and draw conclusions, acupuncture clearly does help. So the next time you have pains and before you say Doc, give me some meds to take away the pain, why not give acupuncture a try? Medications aren't always the best way to treat pain and in fact some times they get in the way of the situation that truly needs our attention.

I was scared to death of acupuncture until the first time I had an acupuncture needle put me in me. It was not as bad as I thought it would be and was not like getting pricked with a needle to draw blood because to me that is much worse and more painful. Believe me, I'm frightened of the thought of needles! So if I can do it, surely anyone can go to acupuncture! There is a lot of wisdom in the some of these ancient healing forms.

Information Source: Time.com

Trauma and Renewal Conference At Barry University

Trauma And Renewal Conference
Barry University, March 16, 2012

On March, 16, 2012, Barry University in South Florida will be holding its 17th annual Professional Conference. The topic this year is trauma and renewal: implications for research and practice. The featured speakers are Charles Figley, PhD and Kathleen Figley, Dmin.

I personally have never been to one of these, but it looks like a great event to attend especially if you work in the area of trauma. My good friend, Dr. Paul Canali is going to be one of the presenters at this event. The topic he will be speaking on is Healing Trauma And Chronic Pain Through Autonomic Re-Regulation and Somatic Awareness.

Dr. Paul Canali is the founder of Evolutionary Healing Institute and the originator of Unified Therapy. Through Dr. Canali's work, there is hope for people to heal as they discover the autonomic balancing reflex in their system. Unless trauma is released in the physical body and connected through the awareness of the mind, it will reside as potential energy searching for an exit route. If it is not released from the body, the exit routes can include anything from depression, anxiety, physical ailments, body pain to rashes, conversion disorders, sleep problems and many other situations. Dr. Canali has found a way to heal the body that is highly reproducible and is based upon scientific principles.

Just Get Over It

I'm sure we have heard the following phrase at some point in our life whether it was at home in our family growing up, or in society through our job or social contacts.  If you haven't heard the phrase, "Just get over it", then you're one of the lucky few.

All too often when people go through extraordinary circumstances that are challenging, it isn't easy to move past those moments.  It takes time and it takes a lot of courage to get your life back.  Unfortunately people who are triggered by the stories of others or are just oblivious to what another person is going through, comes out in the way of this very insensitive remark, just get over it!

When confronted with threats and traumatic experiences, animals have the ability to fight back or escape whereas humans usually cannot do this.  In our civilized society, we are taught that we just move on in life after some experience has taken place and stuff our feelings and emotions deep inside of us.  If you're a male in our society, I think it is more difficult because men are supposed to be in control, show little emotion and just be strong.  To be seen in any other way is to be considered weak.  I'm sure females have similar experiences, but since I'm not female I cannot speak to that consideration.