People often ask me if I treat chronic pain. My answer is, I treat individuals experiencing chronic pain. Research indicates that among people with identical physical injuries or conditions, the pain sensation varies widely, from excruciating to non-existent. Pain happens in the virtual body created and understood by our brain, while we reflect it physically. That’s not to say pain isn’t real, just that it isn’t as simple as it seems, a direct, inevitable, predictable correlation between a physical event and “ouch!” Sometimes chronic pain persists maddeningly without a medically detectable cause, sometimes treatments to correct seemingly obvious causes don’t relieve the accompanying pain, and on and on. We can get lost in a vortex of surgeries, a maze of pharmaceuticals.
My purpose here is to stir your curiosity and refer you to some sources for a wider, deeper paradigm where your body is not your enemy. I suggest that instead of habitually hunching away from chronic pain, or clenching your body and mind against it, you learn more about it and make your brain your ally in your search for a pain-free life.
I can help you cultivate endorphins, the neurotransmitters with pain-relieving properties occurring naturally in the brain, through Qigong moving meditation and energy work. We can also explore emotional factors that add to your pain, and work to reduce them through hypnosis. Of course, as with all pain, consult your physician first. If your MD recommends physical therapy, I strongly suggest you consider Feldenkrais treatment practiced here in Bend at Healing Bridge by my friends Allison and Charlotte. Acupuncture is another route to try – much to his amazement, my 87 year old uncle found it worked for him!
Two books I’ve found useful in understanding the brain/pain connection are Explain Pain by David Butler and Lorimer Moseley, and Reversing Chronic Pain by Maggie Phillips. Meanwhile, you can begin your experiment in easing chronic pain by adding one small non-habitual movement to your repertoire each hour, maybe even a dance step. Your brain will sit up and take notice.