Healing Back Pain: The Mind- Body Connection
Oooolala!I'm back from the Lenten silence!
I KEEP THINKING to write about the book in the title and will do so very quickly now...
To cut a long story short, I had a really painful shoulder this time last year. The Drs and Physios decided it was because of a combination of tennis and yoga. Too much aggression on the court combined with too much stretching in the studio. I was weakening my ligaments, they suggested and throwing my shoulder out of the socket when I served (not good for the overly stretched ligaments and muscles!)
I went to physio, I joined the gym to do weights everyday and I saw the consultant who recommended I have a steroid injection. I had TWO steroid injections to "settle" the inflammation that was visible on the MRI scan.
I was told 'no more yoga,' and very rapidly went insane.
When I moved house in early July I tried a new yoga studio as I really really missed yoga. I dutifully notified the teachers of my bursitis (inflammation of the bursa) and modified my practice.
During my initial 20 day trial offer, I was in a panic... I was thinking "my shoulder hurts, I shouldn't be here, I'm making it worse..." and walked out of the class. As I left I told them why I was walking out and told them I had been overdoing the yoga when I had been told not to attend.
Naomi asked me whether I was open minded and course I said "YES!" She told me about this book:
Now, in May I had been to a lecture on medical astrology and had just been reviewing my notes. I have Pluto in the 6th in Scorpio which translates as something along the lines of: symptoms and illnesses will have a root cause that is not directly obvious.
This book basically states that we bury emotional issues and stresses in our body and they manifest as pain.
Key points that struck me as sensible:
The body heals itself. We are self healing. The notion that backs are poorly and stay broken for years is actually stupid.
In the 80s stressed out people had stomach ulcers. Modern medicine caught on to the idea that this was a psychological cause and people stopped getting so many ulcers. Stress hides in the back these days.
People with physical symptoms and pain (like me with my shoulder) become stressed out and fearful of making the pain worse... which only exacerbates the problem.
Stress, lack of oxygen and proper breathing cause TENSION in the body and this manifests as pain.
I won't ruin the whole book as the book is a PROCESS that you must read. Certain types of people are prone to this condition (type A stress heads who think they must always COPE and bottle things up.)
ANYWAY! I read the book, carried on with yoga. Immediately stopped seeing the Drs and Physios who were all endorsing this idea that my shoulder had decided to inflame and remain painful and inflamed for 9 months... I started practicing yoga (nearly) daily and now I am rocking and rolling and ready for tennis this summer!
OBVIOUSLY this does not translate as ALL back pain is in the head. However... for tense, highly strung people who buy into the idea that their back is problematic, they may need to read this book and dig deeper into their psyche. A medical astrologer could also potentially IDENTIFY where psychological tension derives from.
ALL IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS! The mind is complicated and sometimes physical pain is easier to deal with than emotional pain. Explore that idea!
It's a great book!
Read it!
xxx