From gardeners to marathon runners, at some point, most people who exercise experience tension or pain. Be it back ache, a stiff neck, joint pain, sore muscles, etc, it’s unpleasant and we want it gone. And body tension isn’t confined to those who exercise. In fact tension and aches and pains are usually greater in those who don’t exercise….so keep up and read on!
Short term pain is often dealt with through pain killers or a trip to your specialist. So whether through medicine, massage or manipulation were looking for something or somebody else to deal with our tension. In the short term this tends to work. However in the long run, these can actually keep us in the pain loop. It’s time to step out.
For any kind of tension or pain, be it physical, mental or emotional, the long term solution doesn’t lie with anything external.
We need to listen to and connect with our body
There are two key reasons why we might experience persistent tension/pain.
- Something in our posture, our environment or how we use our body is perpetuating, perhaps even causing the problem.
- We have disconnected ourselves from that body part.
No. 1 can be assisted with a holistic therapist and something I focus on with private sessions. But today I would like to talk about point no. 2. About disconnection. All too often all that we know about the body part in question is that it hurts. Let’s find out more about what is going on.
Most long term injuries are down to one thing…..a lack of awareness.
Like I said, pain/tension is unpleasant and something we want gone as soon as possible. But what if the experience of pain was the way in to changing it? What if the body-part that has been painful for a long time simply wants your attention? For some this might sound like a crazy notion.
But this is quite simple, you just need to take some quiet time and really experience what is going on. Take a good look at your pain and see it as is without giving in straight away to the temptation of changing it. Trying to ‘fix it’ through external methods or by ignoring it, hasn’t been working.
What I am suggesting here and in the video below is to actually allow yourself to experience the pain/tension. Just for a few minutes, bring your full awareness to it and discover how deep it goes, how wide, what shape it forms, where does it begin and end, does it have a colour, is it warm or cool, etc? Gather as much information as you can, like catching up with an old friend! Or an investigator gathering information…become your own pain detective.
After just a few minutes of clear focus you might begin to notice the pain start to shift or at least change its shape or intensity.
Please click on the video below and I will talk you through a simple process to help increase your awareness.
You can try it more than once…and as always please let me know how this works for you.
Take care
Thanks Danny
