Most often, releasing pain is not a very black and white situation, and it is not very succinct. We want it to be but it is not. It is almost never about one muscle group simply because of how our amazing bodies are designed. By the time we, as beings who are easily distracted, recognize pain, a lot of patterns and compensations have developed that require attention in order to return to a functioning system again. So… Bottom line: It is important to recognize the gift and wisdom that doctors and other therapists, like myself, have to offer in your healing processes but it is also important to access what resonates with our own mind and body. Then, from there, we can access our own inner wisdom and trust our own intuition, showing up to do our part, which includes A LOT of self awareness of patterns of movement, patterns of thought, and routines in our day-to-day experience that aren’t serving us. From here we can shift one step at a time.
Our next challenge may be realizing that the “healing process” doesn’t have an end-point. There isn’t a final layer that is released. What if healing and wellness really is a “journey” (and that isn’t just pretty talk), and a journey means something we are invested in and paying attention to versus being distracted by, or inconvenienced by, resulting in continually chasing our tail to find the quick fix? Does that mean we are destined to always be in some kind of pain? NO! We all deserve to feel good no matter what our age.
Perhaps, somewhere along the way, we got the message that our bodies were ideally supposed to just keep going and allow us to do what we need to do and want to do, despite traumas or emotions we stuff down or injuries we push through. We might have also learned that, if we just move on and suck it up, we will feel fine. For many, our parents didn’t know how to assimilate a trauma themselves (much less instruct a child on how to do that), so it was easier to just say “let’s move on.” The fact is, our bodies are reactive and can only hold so much, just like any container! Our bodies need input from us as it is reacting to our life. So maybe the healing process is LIFE and we are meant to be aware, not dismissive, when it comes to our bodies…compassionate for all it allows us to do over a lifetime, not impatient when it is struggling. If we are continually in the experience of life, and our bodies react to life, then how can healing be just a one-time event? Perhaps our society has framedthings a little “off” as far as our impatient approach to feeling well and we need to find an approach that includes us having a relationship with our bodies and discovering more about what it needs each day, as we determine how it needs to move and how it needs to express itself.
When we stop searching for someone to “fix” us and our pain, we begin to heal. It is then we can see that we often have a lot of patterns that need recognition, so we can then start the intention to shift those patterns both physically and emotionally, one step at a time. I encourage you to tap into whatever wisdom and techniques resonate with you and your body, but, at the same time, consider that you are a powerful being with a huge capacity to create change within yourself. If you have others on your “health and wellness team”who get that, you are sure to be on your way to the experience of wellness and the life-long journey of healing and releasing whatever your body may be holding from the experience of life. This concept of you becoming the “primary therapist” is essential for you to embrace and put into practice.