THIS INNER WORK... REALLY WORKS

I have been in the game of tapping into the function of people's bodies for over twenty five years. I honestly can't believe it has been that long since I stepped into the Athletic Training Room at Hofstra University after my freshman year in 91' asking them if I can switch my major from the boredom of pre med Chemistry labs on Friday afternoons to the exciting opportunity to stand on the sidelines of a Friday night football game waiting for an injury to spring into action.  The best part was that, as their trainer, all the players would get you into the local watering holes regardless of how awful your fake ID was because they used their braun to bounce at the door. #membershipbenefits

The Science of Believing You Have a Body with Lots of Potential

Anyways, after a while helping athletes get off the floor you get used to them ignoring their pain body and asking what they could still do. The number one rule to stop a depression after a season ending injury was to get them in the pool or on an arm bike or into some yoga so they can stay identified with wellbeing, not the loss. 

Fast forward several years later and I am working with clients dealing with chronic back pain. These clients/ patients spend most of their day explaining over and over why they will never be able to participate in anything. By the time they get to me they have played that record for their subconscious so long that they seem to fight me sometimes on my professional shares that I have seen things change. I get it. They are often so used to dumping their pain body out on providers that they don't even know what they feel at the moment. They are rarely living in the moment. It is either back in the past when life changed or forward into the future they are sure is being created. So my job, as an integrative PT using mindfulness and the power of now in my work,  is to bring them to an agreed upon sense of peace even if for only a minute. If not, no matter how many degrees or critical research reviews I do, they will never feel good for very long.

The Science of Believing You Have a Broken Body

😬There is this concept called a nocebo and what that is is basically the objective clinical negative effect of negative beliefs about an outcome after the application of a procedure, medication or treatment approach the person receiving the care had little faith or positive hope in. Most know about placebo which is thinking something will work and then making it happen. There are famous studies showing this to be the case in everything from fake knee replacements reducing years of pain to spontaneous remissions from cancer. In fact, I just recorded an upcoming Owning HER Health Podcast episode with a local Integrative Physical Therapy colleague and friend of mine who is down to 4% function in her kidneys, is not on dialysis, has outlived hospice and goes dancing several times a month. She attributes a lot of her continued vitality to the power of her mind and books and mentors such as Dr. Joe Dispenza, DC and his book Becoming Supernatural  which takes readers through some meditation and mind shifting exercises to redefine the power of a disease label. 

Early on I would have to remind myself to consciously detach and do some energy work of my own because strong pain bodies tend to feel really dark. They want to feed off the brightest bulbs they interact with. I get it, who didn't shift swiftly towards a firefly as a kid? 

Permission to Care. 

I don't think enough of my very intelligent but linear minded medical world peers really understand that it is a necessary occupational hazard when your job is helping people in chronic pain deal with the outcome of having a mind preoccupied with the worst feelings in us.  

Sometimes the heavy load of connecting with that pain body on a daily basis starts to come home in a painful body of your own. In fact I teach a lot of my energy healing tips to my pain clients because I know how heavy the mental, emotional, social, financial, and sense of purpose doubts can be. Yoga has been my best tool for offering the most gentle glimpse of self efficacy which is the very root of any of my client's breaking free of the grip and suffering some sensations currently hold over them. 

 Don't Get Me Wrong! 

💕I am not saying crappy life circumstances don’t make it harder but it is a mind shift for my clients to really move out of victimhood and thrive into the idea 'IT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY"  & mine alone, to chose what I am going to do with these sensations and what belief systems I am ready to let go of. Having found me after so many other things fail, my clients are often understandably skeptical. They are difficult to engage in any commitment. It is almost like they don't know what to do when someone is actually meeting them where they are and not rushing them off a call. They almost forgot what it feels like to be heard and seen but also expected to participate in the process and actually win blessings just for showing up and being willing. That always feel sad to me.   

Making the Shift

So here are 3 questions I offer you to make that shift from victim to thriver. 

🤔 Can I unbury myself enough to hear success, taste it, feel it, see it, learn it, & use it one day?

What do I believe the problem between the me I see today meeting the me I see happy tomorrow? Can I even see me happy anymore?

What will life feel like when I get to the other side?.

Email me at [email protected] with your answers. I would love to see what you say.