Pain
Pain
What’s your relationship to pain? Is it a love-hate thing? Is it long-standing? Maybe it is time to re-visit that relationship!
Eric Dalton states that there are 3 types of pain:
a) Pain coming into the body; b) Pain stored in the body; & c) Pain leaving the body.
When I was younger, I believed in the mantra ‘no pain, no gain’ especially as it related to working out and pushing the limits of my physical body. Lots of pain, lots of injuries. This mantra followed me for many years. Even when I began Yoga, I did it for the physical. I’d push myself into advanced poses when my body wasn’t necessarily ready. Ouch!
As my yoga journey continued and I grew emotionally and mentally – my focus changed to ‘no pain no pain’. If it hurt, stop. Something is wrong here – come out of the pose or movement, re-align, and perhaps try again. During this time, my old patterns were a constant companion – testing me – irritating me – expanding me. I started to think about ‘pain’ and my relationship to it. Physically and emotionally, I began to slow down and listen to my body – started to feel what was happening. I began to notice where I was weaker – out of balance – more or less flexible – and work with the imbalances more mindfully.
On an emotional level, I dove deeper. I believe ‘feel it to heal it’. In order to heal my pain & my traumas, I needed to lean into them and actually feel the pain and discomfort. I knew I must go into it that intensity to heal it – release it or transform it. This is hard to do! It’s a day to day process. It is a dance, where some days I lead, some days I follow and some days I leave the dance floor altogether.
Becoming more aware and accepting responsibility for my life & how I choose to live it, I knew my pain was a gateway to a more expansive life experience. Getting triggered by other people, wasn’t about them at all but it was the unhealed and raw parts of myself that were getting lit up. This realization is both liberating and frustrating. Taking power back is work – deep inner work. It’s the kind of work that can elevate and uplift us but not until it brings us to our knees.
When assessing your pain – physical and emotional:
Where is it in your body
What is it on a scale of 1-10
What does it feel like – sharp, stabbing, achey, dull, irritating, etc.
Can you be with it, breathe with it – breathe into it
Does it change – increase or decrease
Is there a picture/feeling/word that seems appropriate
What can you do in this moment to feel it – be with it and let it inform you on all levels of your being. Learn from it
As I work on this relationship, what I’m realizing:
Pain and our relationship to it needs to be re-evaluated. There’s value in pain. It isn’t good or bad – those labels will limit your perception and ability to work with the pain and heal it. Pain can be helpful or harmful – don’t work into sharp nerve pain. Pain informs us of our physical limits. It also informs us of our emotional wounds – those we know and work with and those we bury.
Avoiding pain is a natural part of our human condition. Are you prepared to continue doing what you’ve always done in order to get what you’ve always gotten? We must brush up against, move toward and into our pain both physically and emotionally to heal and move beyond it.
Physically rehabbing injuries, old patterns, chronic movement misalignments will require you to go into what’s stuck/stagnant/locked down – to gain freedom – to get access to the full potential of strength and flexibility. This will mean pain.
Emotionally, old hurts/wounds/traumas will require a reckoning – a dance into the abyss – a willingness to see all of who we are – the stuff we show others – and the stuff we hide.
There is a physical component to emotional pain and there is an emotional component to all physical pain. You are more than your physical body.
All pain is relevant and has a purpose.
Your pain doesn’t determine your worth/value – it’s a symptom of a life experience or choice.
Pain is a great motivator and a great equalizer. It’s also a tool to encourage you to lean in or lean away.
Pain is inevitable in life. Isn’t it time to acquaint yourself with all sides of it? Time to recognize the therapeutic benefits of releasing pain from the cells of your body – create space for something new?
There’s no magic formula. Each person needs to decide for themselves – how much – which ones to address – and when. What are you prepared to work with – at what level? It’s your journey – it’s your awakening – it’s your choice. Buckle up!
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