Unlearning Chronic Pain, Part Two

 Your mind and body have build-in healing responses that are just as powerful as their protective pain and stress responses. Whether it’s a meditation on gratitude, a relaxation pose that puts the body and mind at ease, or a breathing exercise that strengthens the flow of energy in your body. Another exercise I like really well is called breathing the whole body—they all share the benefit of bringing you back to your natural sense of well-being.

Gratitude meditation: This is one of my favorites and my students like it as well. Sit quietly, quickly bring to mind every thing that you are grateful for (spouse flowers, talents,) set a timer for five minutes before you start if you run out of things to be grateful for, start over.

Relaxation Pose: When I ask my students what their favorite relaxation pose is, most of them will say legs up the wall. This is just what it says: Scoot your butt up to the wall swing your legs up the wall and rest for 10 minutes.

Breathing exercise: The best breathing exercise for strengthening the flow of energy is “breath of fire” take a deep breath in inhale and exhale quickly until you are out of breath then start over. Do this four to six times to energize your body.

Breathing the whole body: You will want to lie down for this one. Place your hands on your belly. Notice the belly rise and fall, and notice the breath moving in and out of your body. Imagine that you can inhale and exhale through different parts of your body—as if your nostrils were moved to that part of the body. Start with your feet. Imagine the breath entering your body through the soles of your feet, and exiting through the soles of your feet. Feel the energy in your feet as you breath. Repeat this visualization for other parts of your body: Your lower legs, knees, and upper legs. Your hips, lower back, middle back, and upper back. Your belly and chest. Your shoulders, upper arms, elbows, lower arms, hands. Your neck. Your forehead and the crown of your head. When you get to the area that feels tense, uncomfortable, or painful, don’t skip it. There are several things you can try that may make you feel more comfortable. First, stay with the visualization and direct the breath right at the sensations of discomfort or pain. Imagine that the breath is dissolving or massaging the tension and pain. Imagine the solidity of the tension or pain softening. Find the space inside the pain. Second, try moving your attention back and forth between the uncomfortable area and the comfortable area. For a few breaths, breathe into the painful area; for the next few breaths, breathe into another area, switching back and forth like this can teach the mind how to give the uncomfortable sensations less priority. You are practicing a healthy kind of distraction: intentionally shifting your focus while still being present in your body. When you have worked your way through the whole body, let yourself feel the breath enter the body through your nose, mouth, and throat. Imagine the sensation of breathing through your whole body, as if the were gently expanding as you inhale and contracting as you exhale. Feel, or imagine, the flow of energy through your whole body.

Consistent relaxation practice teaches the mind and body how to rest in a sense of safety rather than chronic emergency.

                                    Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                And Ayurveda Consultant

Unlearning Chronic Pain

People tell me all the time that their doctor tells them “your pain is in your mind”. Chronic pain is in your mind. That doesn’t mean the experience of pain is not real. For year’s doctors thought that pain could be caused only by damage to the structure of the body. They looked for the source of chronic pain in bulging spinal discs, muscle injuries, and infections. However there is a second source of chronic pain, the very real biology of your thoughts, emotions, expectations, and memories. Chronic pain starts with a trauma of some sort, and is sustained by how that initial trauma changes not just the body but the also the mind-body relationship. Knowing this is good news. It means that trying to fix the body with surgeries, pain medications, or physical therapy is not your only hope. By first understanding chronic pain as a mind body experience and then using Ayurveda’s toolbox of healing practices—including breathing exercises, yoga, meditation, Thai Yoga Therapy, and a dosha balancing diet—you can find relief from pain and begin to reclaim your life.

Here are the basic steps of the pain response: sensation, stress, and suffering. The protective pain response begins when the body experiences some physical threat (trauma), such as a cut, a burn, or an inflamed muscle. This threat is detected by specialized nerves and sent through the spinal cord and up to the brain. Where, among other things, the threat signals are transformed into pain sensations. Emotion-processing areas of the brain also get the message, triggering a wide range of reactions, from fear to anger. Combined, your thoughts and emotions about the physical sensations of pain make up the suffering component of the full pain experience.

An emergency stress response triggers a cascade of physiological changes that give you the energy and focus to protect yourself from life-threatening danger. Even after the threat is gone, the pain response is not over. The mind and body are very interested in making sure you know how to protect yourself from this threat in the future. So the nervous system begins the process of learning from this experience. Any kind of injury or illness, even one that is short-lived or appears to be fully healed, can change the way the nervous system processes pain.

Through the repeated experience of pain, the nervous system gets better at detecting threat and producing the protective pain response. So unfortunately, in the case of chronic pain, learning from experience and getting “better” at pain means more pain.

Learning from past experience are the memories of the body and mind that influence how we experience the present moment. Memories of the body and mind keep you stuck, felling the same emotions, thinking the same thoughts, and even experiencing the same pain. Memories of the body and mind do not always lead to suffering—they also lead to positive change. Just as trauma, illness, pain, and stress leave traces on the body and mind, so do positive experiences. What you practice, you become.

Learning is lifelong, and none of the changes you’ve learned have to be permanent. Your mind and body have learned how to “do” chronic pain, and your job is to teach it something new.

Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                                           And Ayurveda consultant

It’s “corny” but true

I feel like I should write something about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). In Ayurveda we talk a lot about diet, and how some foods that are good for Pittas are not so good for a Kapha. And if they are good for a Kapha they may not be so good for a Vata. And so on. I also encourage you to stay within your dosha diet because you will feel better.  HFCS IS NOT GOOD FOR ANY OF THE DOSHAS!! I believe HFCS is the sole reason why there are so many obese children in the US today. The TV commercials would have you believe that it is no worse than sugar. And even try to imply that it is somehow 'natural', with this phrase: "It's made from corn, has no artificial ingredients, has the same calories as sugar and is okay to eat in moderation” High-fructose corn syrup starts out as cornstarch, which is chemically or enzymatically degraded to glucose and some short polymers of glucose. Another enzyme is then used to convert varying fractions of glucose into fructose. High fructose corn syrup just doesn’t exit in nature. The deceptive advertisments by the Corn Refiners Association have basically been LYING to you with their propaganda that "HFCS is no worse for you than sugar".                                         

In terms of your health and your waistline, neither one is good for you. Over time, with excess consumption of either HFCS or sugar, they can both lead to diabetes, obesity, and other mayor health problems, including premature aging, and a bulging belly! My husband and I avoid HFCS at all costs and we use a minimal amount of organic sugar. This is not easy HFCS is in EVERYTHING. Ketchup, Mayo, Ice Cream, Ice Cream toppings Soda Pop, the list goes on. If you buy it, it probably has HFCS. We read the labels; you can find the things you want with out HFCS it just takes time (accept ice cream topping, so we make it). They probably still have sugar but I still think sugar is better for you than HFCS. The two things that I avoid like the plaque are HFCS and hydrogenated oils. They are the food additives that cause the most damage from a biochemical standpoint internally in your body.

Even though both sugar and HFCS are bad for you I avoid HFCS more because your body DOES NOT know how to process HFCS.

Princeton researchers found that rats given water sweetened with HFCS gained significantly more weight than those given water sweetened with plain sugar, despite calorie intake being the same between both groups. According to professor Bart Hoebel, “When rats are drinking HFCS at levels well below those in soda pop, they’re becoming obese—every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don’t see this; they don’t all gain extra weight.

I hope I have given you food for thought, for you to at least try to fully avoid HFCS from now on. Knowing this, why in the world would you ever want to touch another soda again! This doesn’t mean eating loads of table sugar is good for you either. When I make a treat for Gary and I it is always made with all wholesome foods (so they must be good you, right? That’s what Gary says as he is eating his fourth cookie). But, a cookie is still a cookie. So take it easy.

                            Nancy Adams, Certified Thai Yoga Therapist

                                            And Ayurveda consultant