Pursuing Symptoms In Healing

One thing we do in healing that is misguided is trying to heal the wrong things.  I don't mean to make it sound like a mistake, even if it is.  I mean that we focus and pursue healing symptoms more than we do in healing the entire mind, body, and spirit.

Every licensing year in the massage world here in Florida, I see the "new" modalities and classes come through.  Everyone out there is promising relief from pain, relief from this situation or that situation.  Use this electrical stimulation device and get rid of the pain.  Use this technique and alleviate the pain.  Provide pain relief with this modality.

While there's some truth and benefit to all of those things, many of them are so misguided.  Sometimes they offer a placebo effect all the time proving to you that the system works.  They get so caught up in their own paradigms of what is going on that they miss the bigger picture.

It meant painful discoveries...

Take, for instance, if I would have focused only on the symptoms of Conversion Disorder that I was experiencing, I would have not made it very far.  No, I had no clue how to heal my life, but it was in that never ending questioning that I found ways to heal.  The symptoms of paralysis, seizures and a numbed body were not where I needed to focus to heal.  I had to go to the core of those issues and yes, it meant some painful discoveries.

Another instance of when this applies is when I had a full body rash.  I could have focused on the symptoms only but little progress would have been made.  While I was trying to find anything that helped alleviate the itching of the rash, I knew that something was kicking it up.  Through deep work into the mind and body, I soon discovered what was fueling the rash.  No, it wasn't easy to go into this space of healing, but without it, I would still be fighting the symptoms.

Stress to a Physical Stressor

One time I was working with a client, doing to their office and doing weekly chair massage.  One of the ladies would often complain how torqued her back felt and how painful it was.  I would work on the symptoms while I was there and often alleviate it.  However, the next week I went back, it would be as if I had done nothing.  I soon discovered that the way she had her computer positioned on her desk was twisting her back.  When you apply the stress of the day to a physical stressor such as this, you're going to get pain.  If I would have just focused on the symptoms of pain in her back and not observing what was behind it, I would have missed the healing part.

There are times of course that you have to focus on the symptoms because you or others need relief.  We need to know that we can get out of that pain.  Sometimes, it is just a moment of "please take the pain away".  Unfortunately, if we're just treating symptoms, we're going to miss the bigger picture of healing.

I kept asking the questions...

I would have never made it out of Conversion Disorder and paralysis if I would have not kept asking the questions that I needed or searching for what could help.  I looked for ways that would physically help me and make a difference, noticing that they helped me heal to my core.

Sometimes we just get caught up in the symptoms as we so badly want them to go away, but more often than not, this does very little for us.  It numbs us.  It helps us disconnect from it, but it doesn't go to the core issue of what is causing it.

Medications and medical procedures don't always do what we think they are doing.  I knew a lady that had 52 surgeries in 48 years.  No one stopped to think about the overall big picture.  They were treating the symptoms.  When she started on healing her core mind and body, it is then that her body started to heal and surgeries and medications were no longer needed.

I know this probably sounds too easy to be true.  I know some will read it and say, "but you don't understand my condition" and "you don't know what I have to live with".  To that, I can only say, no I don't.  I just know what I've seen in my own life and that of many others and I will urge and prod you to go deeper, dig further, and work toward healing the symptoms, not necessarily treating the symptoms.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

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Stress As Physical Symptoms

From the talk I'm giving on Sep 12, 2012 at Southern Technical College, this is a quote from the book The Divided Mind, by Dr. John Sarno

Everyone is under pressure or stress of some kind or another, and we all have both internal and external reactions to these pressures, and then physical symptoms manifest in response to these feelings.  (The Divided Mind By Dr. John Sarno)

Healing The Itchy Hand Rash, Day 7

Healing The Itchy
Rash, Day 7

For background on this post, please begin at the blog post on November 6, 2011 (Healing The Itchy Hand Rash, Intro).

From My Personal Journal on October 16, 2011

Physically Challenged


A challenge physically to function right now in life.  It is strenuous to just exist and demanding to do much more.  Between the difficulty sleeping, late night headaches, body temperature going from warm to cold, I feel like a test subject.


Is some change today in how my hand looks.  Not that my hand looks good, but at least it is changing.  Oh how I try to remember what this experience was a couple of years ago in order to give myself strength and courage to continue.  I'd rather not sing another "whoa is me" song.

Healing The Itchy Hand Rash, Day 1

Healing The Itchy
Hand Rash, Day 1

For background on this post, please begin at the blog post on November 6, 2011 (Healing The Itchy Hand Rash, Intro).

From My Personal Journal on October 10, 2011

Where Is The Open Door?


I feel as if every door is closed right now.  The more I look for it, the more I feel let down, forsaken and alone.  It is almost as if there is no open door or options ahead.  This thought alone is frightening.

It seems I am once again at a dead end.  I'm so tired of dead ends, not understanding and not finding a way forward.  My body and mind are stressed to the max.  My emotions far out number my energy.

Physical Truth Of The Body

The body doesn’t lie. If a muscle is tight it’s tight. An underlying premise of Compassionate Touch is that we can work with the physical truth of the body to resolve any related emotional truths, regardless of the source or nature of those emotional truths. Simply stated, when working through the body we do not really need to know the source of trauma in order to help the client heal. (Compassionate Touch by Dr. Clyde W. Ford, Page 9).

Sometimes when bodywork and healing is done, there is far too much emphasis on the story of the trauma or issue. We try to uncover facts and details and many try to provide these information points as crucial moments in the healing. While there is benefit to knowing the parts of trauma that is connecting in the moment, the current manifestations are far more important than the story.

Using the story or the piece of trauma information to help push through the fears into healing will unlock the stored energy of that traumatic moment. It will give greater clarity to what is currently taking place as well as provide a foundation for further healing.

The body knows what it needs to do. This is the physical truth of the body. When we work with it, we can overcome so much. We can resolve the emotional trauma a body has experienced.

Check out Compassionate Touch on Amazon!



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http://www.donshetterly.com

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Trauma Recovery: Stages Of Anger

For me, I had to go through the stage of anger and that anger was intense. It got directed at many people and some were completely innocent, not even connected to my abuse. I did some very dangerous things at one point in my healing and could have really hurt many other innocent people. Fortunately, those times are long past but I am sad for this stage of my healing.

I believe we all have different ways that we go through healing and not one method is right for all. The anger is an important segment of it and as rough as it may get, it needs to come out.

For years, I just kept it all in because I had been raised that "anger" was wrong and inappropriate at least coming from me. Other family members could get angry but I could not. It took me a long time to allow myself to get in touch with that anger. Yes, I would bottle it up inside and cause my own self physical problems (such as a nervous stomach and ulcer, migraine headaches, vomiting, anxiety) but the only way it came out was when it exploded out of me. I had to learn that there are much safer and more appropriate ways to let it out. Actually feeling anger and connecting to it is part of being human. Holding it in is not very healthy.

As far as God goes - I was raised in a home where so much of my abuse happened at the hands of those that said God told them to do this to me. Points can be made that this isn't a true Christian, etc but the fact remains, that what I endured was so mixed up in religion that my brain has a difficult time separating the two out. I have come light years through this but God has heard his fair share of me screaming at him and calling him every name in the book. Again, it was part of my healing that I had to go through. I see God differently now though but I do understand those that blame God. I can really understand that and feel that pain.

All of the emotions and feelings that we go through in recovery are vital to our own growth. Hopefully we don't stay in those moments forever but without allowing ourselves to experience all of these painful healing moments, it is hard to fully release all of it. That takes different paths and shapes for each one of us.

And all I know for a fact is, I'm not as angry of a person as I once was. I don't hold all the anger in like I once did. I've learned many ways to let it all go and release the anger from my body as it comes up.

See Also:

1) Trauma: Release Anger In The Pool

2) Ways To Release Anger




(Above Picture from my book, A Journey Through Words. Poem entitled "Show Me Your Face" - (c) 05/06/99)



*Read other articles on Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Fun, It Does A Body Good

When you have fun, you relax. When you laugh, you relax. If you don't believe me, try it for a day or two or even a week. We all need this in life. Children are best at this. For some reason as we grow older, playfulness is replaced by seriousness, activity and responsibility. Yes, our responsibilities and priorities change as we grow older, but we should never cease to laugh, play and enjoy life.

I know that sometimes we get so busy that we think there is absolutely no time to stop and have some fun. Most likely though, that is the exact moment we need to do this. We need to heed those inner prompts and go outside to play.

Just a few moments or a day of doing stuff that takes our mind off of the worries and stresses in life, will pay dividends. it allows the tense muscles in the body to relax. It allows the heart to beat out of enjoyment rather than out of frantic moments. The head, neck and shoulders have a chance to relax and let the tension from stress flow out of them. Our mood goes from one of feeling overwhelmed to allowing ourselves to feel joy. Our movement changes from labored steps to skipping down the sidewalk.

It is true that we do have the power to change our body and mind in physical ways. We just need to allow it. What better way to allow ourselves freedom from stress than to give our self moments of fun and laughter in our life.


*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

A Body Is

A body is a multi-dimensional field that extends into the space beyond the physical. It is an organized dynamic of 'material substance' integrating with 'energy fields' incorporating physical, mental, emotional and spiritual essence.

Quote taken from my Textbook at Educating Hands, "Touchabilities - Essential Connections by Iris Burman, LMT and Sandy Friedland, LMT.

For more information: http://www.touchabilities.com/about.html