I didn’t know about the intricacies of Pain.
I didn’t know that Fear or anger or depression, anxiety, etc., came from pain or what these emotions actually are. I had to learn about this before I could see that I could do something about them that did not necessarily involve taking substances.
I had to learn that my society taught us to be afraid of physical and mental pain, and that once that pain stirred, the goal was to get rid of it fast.
The first time I learned that fact, was when I had toe surgery. My body reacted allergically to meds including Tylenol. At the same time, my head kept screaming: “Do something and FAST or die.” I had had several major surgeries prior, each with the same reaction to pain meds, but toe surgery was the worst.
In absolute desperation I started breathing fast, terrified that my pounding heart was going to jump out of my chest. I concentrated on the pain like a wounded soldier in the face of an enemy in battle, knowing this might be my last effort to live. The breathing plus concentration started to break up the throbbing, searing intensity like a laser beam blasts a large impenetrable obstacle. I continued to breathe and concentrate with every fiber of my being till the pain was “manageable.” That was the first step in learning that pain signals a message (like: DO something here or else!) to my mind. The pain was showing me the way to heal it. It became like a messenger delivering the message of what to do.
I have had further major surgeries, including a broken femur bone (plus 7 more toe surgeries) and used the same process, never taking pain medications.
The method of breathing + conscious attention to the pain works also for depression-pain, anxiety-pain, confusion-pain and other assorted issues. I began to see that these kinds of uncomfortable emotions had a root cause: pain.
Research is now providing us with more evidence that we, as social, human animals all have the ability to heal this pain.
Whatever the pain is, we can learn to listen to it, breathe into it and understand its message, allowing it to change the outcome. The process is organic, tailored to the situation, a clear direction, no hangovers and shorter healing times.
We teach this process which involves a dedication to concentration on the breath with our minds, hearts and spirits, training our minds to hear what the pain is telling us and doing what it directs. Each time we do this, our listening becomes more attuned to the pain’s “language” and the clearer the directive of healing is. Then healing goes faster.
Medical teams are generally astonished at the speed of healing with this process. And it is my joy that experiencing this and demonstrating the results, which people can see for themselves, opens others to learning these methods and seeing for themselves what is indeed possible.