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This month’s we’ve been focusing on non-pharmaceutical approaches to pain relief. (If you missed the previous articles you can click to read part one and part two.) The Chinese Medicine concept that’s been central to our discussions is that all forms of pain are caused by stagnation, and furthermore, that the mind and body are inseparable. So, many of the holistic approaches I’ve mentioned are beneficial for both psychological and physical pain. Let’s look at some more ways to promote movement in order to alleviate stagnation and pain.
- Exercise. Exercise can be a delicate subject when it comes to treatment of pain, since many conservative doctors still advocate immobility, especially with injuries. But immobility tends to exacerbate stagnation. And long term immobility due to pain can be a nail in one’s coffin, since it often leads to weight gain, poor circulation, as well as loss of strength, balance, and flexibility. We must keep moving, even when we’re in pain. There are always ways to move that are non-damaging. If you can’t come up with an exercise regimen that works for you, consider seeing a physical therapist.
In recent years, progressive trainers and doctors have even employed immediate controlled movement for injuries such as sprains, with athletes often making astoundingly rapid recoveries. Moving the traumatized area is vital for promoting movement of stagnant lymphatic fluid. Meanwhile, in the psychology community, there has been an impressive rise in the recognition of the value of exercise in psychological pain – such as anxiety and depression. Moving the body moves the mind, helping us to get out of an uncomfortable rut.
- Visualize. A great way to mobilize the mind is through the deliberate focus on a desired state rather than our usual tendency to focus on what we don’t like and want to be different. If you’re in pain, thinking about the pain itself and how much it sucks only makes it worse. What we focus on naturally grows to dominate our experience.
There are all sorts of useful ways to visualize for pain. A good starting point is to imagine yourself happy and pain-free, doing something you love. Spend five minutes a day doing this with your eyes closed. Really try to build the feeling you’d expect to have in this state – relieved, grateful, ecstatic, triumphant. See it, touch it, taste it, rev it up. If nothing else, it will be a five minute break from the usual despair, but I believe it’s likely to do much more. You need to have a clear sense of your destination if you want to get somewhere, and this exercise will really help with your pain, whether it’s physical or psychological.
- Stop Resisting. As I touched on in the first article of this series, resistance just begets more stagnation. As often as possible, try to catch yourself resisting your pain, fighting it with your body and mind. The pain is like a crimped hose, and the resistance is like clenching your fist around the crimped hose – it certainly doesn’t make it better, and can often make it worse. When you catch yourself tightening up inside in response to the pain, the most efficient thing to do is just stop and relax. Breathe. Let it go. Then choose a new focus – like whatever task you’re engaged in, or helping someone, or making music, or learning, or playing a game. Don’t let yourself feel bad that you’re not over it yet. Don’t blame yourself for resisting again. Don’t try to figure it out. Just let it go, then let it go again, then let it go again.
This isn’t a technique that you’ll just do once and your pain will disappear forever. It’s a discipline that you commit yourself to. But as simple as it seems, this alone can be profoundly life changing. Resisting your pain is like arguing with reality; you can’t win – you can only make it worse. Letting go of this fight isn’t the same as giving up or asking for more pain. It actually frees up your energy and lets the pain run its course.
Even if you’re not in pain, I invite you this week to try to notice when you’re resisting your circumstances – the external happenings, or how you feel, or your own thoughts – and without doing any thinking about it, let go of the resistance. Tell me what happens.
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
[post_title] => Unlocking Pain, Part Three – Keep Moving
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[post_content] => In my early 20s I had a boss who would ask me every morning, “How goes the battle?” I had never heard that expression before, but recognized that he meant, “How’s it going?” At the time I was learning about neuro-linguistic programming and becoming attuned to people’s word choices, so it struck me as an interesting – and loaded – phrase. Then I began to notice how common it is for people to characterize life as a fight – an ongoing series of conflicts, something we need to slog through, with a risk of imminent danger and an us-versus-them mentality.
Even if we see ourselves as winning the battle, if we hold this perspective, there’s still a chance of getting ambushed, right up to the last minute. So, we must always have our guard up, sleep with one eye open, check our drink for poison, and so on. It causes chronic stress, and we’re never entirely free.
Meanwhile, there are people who see life in a more positive light – as a game, a gift, an opportunity to explore, connect, experience, and be of service. Are they naïve? Are they less successful? Are they blindsided by the unexpected? I don’t believe so. If anything, because their perspective isn’t innately stress-inducing, they have greater resources for adapting to whatever comes.
I encourage you to examine your relationship with the world. How would you sum up your story? What kind of words do you use, both to others and yourself, when you talk and think about your challenges and ambitions? How do you feel about others aiming for the same goals as you? What sorts of bodily feelings go along with this? For extra support in re-wiring yourself, check out our workbook, Freedom, and try doing it for a month.
If you do find that you’re harboring a “battle” mentality, I wonder if it’s possible for you to symbolically wave the white flag, saying to the world (and yourself), “I’m not at war with you.” I know the stakes feel very high sometimes, but what if. . . (1) you could clearly see that being in ongoing conflict is more detrimental than it is beneficial to you, and (2) you had an unwavering link to something you could trust, an assurance that you are fundamentally okay, no matter what.
We often speak of rousing our inner warrior and the term “warrior” comes up a lot in self-help books. The warrior archetype is deep in our collective consciousness. Everyone knows it. And there’s a good side to it. Often, we evoke the warrior archetype when we wish to inspire ourselves to be clear, sharp, and disciplined, to stand up for our values, to protect those in need, to be brave, to have integrity and honor. But the other side of being a warrior is, of course, that you’re at war.
How can we embody these virtues without the sense of perpetual conflict? We live according to archetypes all the time – father, mother, husband, wife, cop, healer, good guy, bad guy, peacekeeper, curmudgeon, artist – mostly without realizing it. The first step is to become aware of the archetypes we’re subconsciously abiding by. Just making it conscious starts the process of releasing us from an archetype’s limitations.
Second, we can begin to forge a picture of something better and freer than any single archetype – our own Highest Self. Who would you be if you were clear, lighthearted, determined, loving, creative, peaceful, spiritual, purposeful, artful, present, honest, forgiving, kind, and brave?
Contrary to what your mind might say, that’s not too many virtues for one person to possess. You’re already somewhere on the spectrum of embodying every one of them. Whatever you dub this most-evolved you – Highest Self, Noble Leader, Queen/King, Divine Being, etc. – know that this is something you can freely choose at any moment.
Spend some time visualizing and feeling into this Highest Self. Imagine that she/he is just waiting for permission to step into the driver’s seat. When your small mind takes over and your habits run you, the Highest Self is nudged into the backseat. It may take some conscious surrender to let go of your default program and allow the better You to be in charge.
Another visualization you might find useful is to see yourself in the center of a circle of many different versions of yourself – all the possible ways you could be. Look around and see if you can spot the one that is the clearest, highest expression of your virtuous essence. Make a choice, and step into that Self. Try doing this every morning for a week and see what changes.
Be well,
Peter
[post_title] => Be Better Than A Warrior
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Calendula is one of the most astringent herbs for the skin, despite it being low in tannins. This makes it gentle, yet extremely effective to combat skin ailments, from minor scrapes and cuts, to rashes, burns, and chapped, dry, cracked and irritated skin. Calendula officinalis, also known as pot marigold (despite it not being part of the marigold family), is the most commonly used type of calendula in topical applications. It grows easily in sunny locations, and is widely considered by gardening aficionados to be one of the easiest and most versatile varieties of flower to grow, since they tolerate most soils. The florets from the calendula plant are edible, and are often added to spring salads to add a touch of warm color and a slightly spicy aroma and flavor.
When mixed with Lavender essential oil, the combination is a rapid skin healer, and has commonly been used by herbalists for centuries as a poultice applied to burns immediately after the initial injury. Nowadays, things like salves and creams made from calendula, for topical application, are a staple in most herbal first-aid kits and medicine cabinets, and are a go-to for skin irritations such as paper cuts, kitchen burns, chapped lips, and diaper rash. Calendula succus, which is made by extracting the fresh juice from the leaves and young flowers and preserving it with alcohol, is popular among naturopathic physicians, who use it during minor surgical procedures to help heal the incision, and topically on skin wounds and infections. A tea made from the leaves and flowers can be used as a mouthwash to combat gum inflammation and tooth infections, and as a gargle for sore throats and tonsillitis.
As you can see, calendula can be very versatile, and along with Lavender, represents one of the top herbs to keep on-hand for use at home. Organic calendula is one of the top ingredients in our Muscle Melt linament, to help soothe skin and keep it from getting irritated by the strong vasodilators, such as Arnica Montana and Pippali Indian Long Pepper, which give Muscle Melt that cool-but-warm-at-the-same-time sensation that we all love. Calendula is also added into all of our Dragontree apothecary brand lotions, giving them amazing healing, soothing, and skin-calming properties."
-Michele C. (Lead LMT at The Dragontree PDX)
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This month’s we’ve been focusing on non-pharmaceutical approaches to pain relief. (If you missed the previous articles you can click to read part one and part two.) The Chinese Medicine concept that’s been central to our discussions is that all forms of pain are caused by stagnation, and furthermore, that the mind and body are inseparable. So, many of the holistic approaches I’ve mentioned are beneficial for both psychological and physical pain. Let’s look at some more ways to promote movement in order to alleviate stagnation and pain.
- Exercise. Exercise can be a delicate subject when it comes to treatment of pain, since many conservative doctors still advocate immobility, especially with injuries. But immobility tends to exacerbate stagnation. And long term immobility due to pain can be a nail in one’s coffin, since it often leads to weight gain, poor circulation, as well as loss of strength, balance, and flexibility. We must keep moving, even when we’re in pain. There are always ways to move that are non-damaging. If you can’t come up with an exercise regimen that works for you, consider seeing a physical therapist.
In recent years, progressive trainers and doctors have even employed immediate controlled movement for injuries such as sprains, with athletes often making astoundingly rapid recoveries. Moving the traumatized area is vital for promoting movement of stagnant lymphatic fluid. Meanwhile, in the psychology community, there has been an impressive rise in the recognition of the value of exercise in psychological pain – such as anxiety and depression. Moving the body moves the mind, helping us to get out of an uncomfortable rut.
- Visualize. A great way to mobilize the mind is through the deliberate focus on a desired state rather than our usual tendency to focus on what we don’t like and want to be different. If you’re in pain, thinking about the pain itself and how much it sucks only makes it worse. What we focus on naturally grows to dominate our experience.
There are all sorts of useful ways to visualize for pain. A good starting point is to imagine yourself happy and pain-free, doing something you love. Spend five minutes a day doing this with your eyes closed. Really try to build the feeling you’d expect to have in this state – relieved, grateful, ecstatic, triumphant. See it, touch it, taste it, rev it up. If nothing else, it will be a five minute break from the usual despair, but I believe it’s likely to do much more. You need to have a clear sense of your destination if you want to get somewhere, and this exercise will really help with your pain, whether it’s physical or psychological.
- Stop Resisting. As I touched on in the first article of this series, resistance just begets more stagnation. As often as possible, try to catch yourself resisting your pain, fighting it with your body and mind. The pain is like a crimped hose, and the resistance is like clenching your fist around the crimped hose – it certainly doesn’t make it better, and can often make it worse. When you catch yourself tightening up inside in response to the pain, the most efficient thing to do is just stop and relax. Breathe. Let it go. Then choose a new focus – like whatever task you’re engaged in, or helping someone, or making music, or learning, or playing a game. Don’t let yourself feel bad that you’re not over it yet. Don’t blame yourself for resisting again. Don’t try to figure it out. Just let it go, then let it go again, then let it go again.
This isn’t a technique that you’ll just do once and your pain will disappear forever. It’s a discipline that you commit yourself to. But as simple as it seems, this alone can be profoundly life changing. Resisting your pain is like arguing with reality; you can’t win – you can only make it worse. Letting go of this fight isn’t the same as giving up or asking for more pain. It actually frees up your energy and lets the pain run its course.
Even if you’re not in pain, I invite you this week to try to notice when you’re resisting your circumstances – the external happenings, or how you feel, or your own thoughts – and without doing any thinking about it, let go of the resistance. Tell me what happens.
Be well,
Dr. Peter Borten
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