| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Monte |
Posted - 09/09/2010 : 11:25:12
Hi Everyone,
Nothing is more important than how you feel! We don’t always appreciate this truth when we feel good and everything is going smoothly. However, when we are experiencing back pain, burning sensations in our butt, shooting pain running down our leg or frustrated with a chronically stiff and sore body, we remember and long for the day that our feel-good body will return. Nothing is more important than how you feel and how you feel is a direct result of how you are being!
But what determines how we feel? It is our thoughts, behaviors and attitudes. Our mental states are the initial generators of energy. This energy, whatever quality it may be is then transmitted to our nervous system and then dispersed throughout our body. TMS is a Mind Body Syndrome. The cause is our mind and the effects are symptoms in our body.
Herein lies the cause and the solution or treatment for inner tension induced pain syndromes (iTIPS) like TMS or MBS. Everyone wants to rename Sarno’s TMS…even Dr. Sarno has renamed it: Tension Myoneural Syndrome. It’s 2010, let’s get with the times (iPod, iTunes, iChat) and make having TMS not such a psychological stigma! iTIPS
Whether you are new to learning about inner tension induced pain or a 20 year Sarno veteran re-experiencing TMS, you can reverse the symptoms and learn to live with this mind body syndrome without pain and other symptoms controlling your life.
iTIPS truth #1: Inner tension induced pain is caused by our day-to-day patterns of thoughts/behaviors/attitudes. These patterns are doing two things:
1. Generating inner tension/pressure/stress/anxiety
2. Repressing emotional energy (which generates more inner tension). Pay attention because you need to understand #2 if you want to reverse iTIPS and learn to live symptom free.
I have been taking psychological surveys at the runningpain.com site for over 5 years. Do you know what the number one psychological behavior trait is in people experiencing chronic pain symptoms? It is chronic worry. I have been consulting with TMS patients who are still in TMS pain (even after years of psychotherapy to uncover repressed emotions) since 2003. Why are these patients still in pain? They have journal-ed themselves a personal library of books and healed their unfinished business, so why are they still experiencing TMS symptoms?Chronic TMS is not, I repeat is not a deeply repressed emotions caused disorder. When you understand and accept this truth and begin to change your day-to-day patterns of generating inner tension and repressing emotional energy, you can efficiently and effectively begin to treat the real cause of TMS and reverse the effects.
iTIPS truth #2: Awareness that you are experiencing TMS is usually not enough to reverse symptoms. You have to change the way you are generating inner tension and repressing emotional energy in your day-to-day life. Let’s say you are aware of TMS, you begin to think psychological and ignore the physical symptoms. Many times you will break the pain/distraction strategy and receive immediate improvement. But over time you continue to “be” (thinking/behavior patterns) in your old conditioned ways. You still worry, strive, perfect and please, which means you are still generating inner tension and repressing emotional energy on a day-to-day basis. Eventually you will receive the effects/symptoms of this tension energy. Pain/symptoms return and now you are searching for why these symptoms have returned or never completely went away (distraction). Awareness that you are generating inner tension doesn’t change the fact you are still generating inner tension and repressing emotional energy in the present moment.
iTIPS Truth #3: There is an intelligent and powerful pain/distraction strategy involved in TMS and you must learn how to communicate effectively to this strategy in order to reverse TMS. There are big, huge reasons Sarno told us 40 years ago to: 1. Begin to think psychological 2. Stop physical treatments 3. Resume normal activities. These are the basics of communicating to this intelligent/powerful strategy. When a person has a little doubt, searches for a fix, goes down the physical treatment path, becomes consumed/distracted by a symptom—they are“feeding” the strategy and keeping it alive in their life. We are not going to figure out all the intricities of this strategy, so there is no need to try. When you understand and accept that the strategies purpose is to distract you from the psychological and you learn how to effectively communicate this acceptance versus “feeding” it with distraction, you can disable the strategy and reverse the effects in amazing ways. Respect the strategy and communicate to it with confidence, conviction and acceptance and you will never get stuck. This is the #1 area where people get stuck!
Sidebar: I attended the Mind Body Conference for TMS in March of this year. I sat down and had a discussion with one of Sarno’s leading TMS psychologist. After introducing myself, and what I did as a TMS Coach, he replied that he had no idea that there was even a need for someone to help people struggling to reverse TMS!
So I asked this expert TMS psychologist what happens to patients after they are finished with their sessions. He replied that he had no idea. There was no follow up with these patients and he assumed that they were fine! I relay this story only to let you know that you are going to live with TMS or Mind Body Syndrome or the cause and effects of this syndrome forever. There is not a cure but there is a way of being that allows you to live with this syndrome without the painful effects.
Sidebar #2: I literally just received the following introduction to an email. I hope that what I am preaching is beginning to become abundantly clear: Hello Monte, I went on Dr. Sarno's site to see what was new in treating TMS. I am one of the 20 yr veterans you spoke of in the video. Upon seeing Dr. Sarno and going thru the program in 1992 I did have significant relief for about one yr. I did see Dr.xxxxxxxxx for a while in one-on-one sessions and was able to manage the pain. Unfortunately too often the pain still rages and effects every aspect of my life…
Understand that I am not “picking” on the TMS community of professionals that are trying to help people with TMS. Most of these professionals have not lived with TMS. They have not experienced the pain strategy and the day-to-day way of being that is necessary to reverse TMS. It’s too easy to say that this is a repressed emotions disorder and when we heal your past all will be well. That’s a load of crap! If you want to live with TMS without the constant recurrence of symptoms, read on.
iTIPS Truth #4: It doesn’t matter what the bio-chemical event is. Don’t get stuck here! This is a mind body syndrome. The mind, nervous system, brain, oxygen and tissue are all involved. Yes it is real pain (effects) but the only thing you can control is the cause or how you are being right now (thought/behavior patterns). What quality of energy are you generating and then automatically transmitting to your nervous system on a moment-to-moment basis? This is a cause and effect syndrome and the only part of this syndrome that you can affect is the cause. Don’t worry about the how and the why…it doesn’t matter!
iTIPS Truth #5: As long as you have a mind and a body you are going to live with mind body effects! Everyone generates inner tension but not everyone experiences the chronic effects and strategy involved in TMS. If you are a TMS person then you are always living with the potential of experiencing the strategy of chronic pain and any “new” mind body symptoms created to keep you distracted. This is not a disorder that you are going to cure and then never experience again. But you can learn to live with your mind and body in a way that you don’t continually experience the TMS effects/strategy.
If you are learning about these mind body pain syndromes for the first time or if you have been experiencing them for quite some time, I’m here to help you learn how to reverse TMS and live pain/symptom free. Here is a brief review of The Master Practice Program:
Think Psychological – Stop physical treatments (even thinking about them) resume normal activities and genuinely investigate how you are being on a day-to-day basis. Identify how you generate inner tension (worry, pleasing, striving, perfecting, controlling, being self-conscious, holding stuff inside). Ignore the physical symptoms (they are just temporary effects). The bottom-line is that you have to genuinely engage in the psychological cause and ignore the physical effects. You want to do this with Acceptance, Confidence and Conviction. Any doubt, searching, half-believing will “feed” the strategy and keep you stuck. This is the basic principle that Sarno taught us 40 years ago and it is the key to breaking the strategy involved in TMS. More people get stuck here than anywhere else. Why? They don’t believe 100% and thus they don’t genuinely engage in think psychological 100%. Yes, yes I know you were doing something physical that started this whole thing. It is called a “trigger”. We all have them. Get over it and begin to think psychological.
Think Clean – This is a multi-faceted practice that involves much more than thinking. In fact it encompasses a lot of non-thinking and it is the key to learning to live with TMS but without the symptoms. Since we generate inner tension with our thought/behavior patterns we need to learn how to change the quality of this energy. We can be a toxic, tight, closed-off, pressurized striver/pleaser/perfector or we can be a healthy, open, allowing striver/pleaser/perfector. The choice is yours and it begins and ends with your thoughts. Just as pain is a signal to think psychological, being aware of how you are feeling is a signal to become aware of and change the way you are being. How do we do this? Be aware and ask yourself a better question. “here I am in my striving/pleasing/perfecting mode generating tension/pressure/anxiety…how can I be here and be more open/flexible/balanced”. Genuinely ask this questions and you will be guided to a more open and allowing pattern. This greatly helps us change the quality of energy that we are generating and transmitting to our nervous system.
Sit with your emotional energy – there are times that we just need to allow what we are feeling to just be. This means to shut off our thoughts and be with our emotional energy. Make the decision to be with your feeling while not investigating, justifying and questioning it. This is a practice that allows your emotion or feeling to be open and free versus repressing it with one of your patterns. This is a powerful practice that will help un-repress your energy.
Journal about how you are being on a day or weekly basis. Take 10 minutes to explore how you are being and to plan your think clean strategies for the day. This is present moment, day-to-day journaling that helps you be aware of how you are being right now and gives you a strategy for the day.
Practice being present moment based more and more versus being in the past and future. Take a few of your elementary, mindless, daily activities like taking a shower, fixing diner, cleaning the house, driving the car, waiting in line at the market. Instead of being in the future or the past in your patterns, make the decision to be engaged in the present moment. Notice the difference in the quality of energy that you are generating in the present versus being in the past or future.
Begin to do these practices as a way of being more open, balanced, flexible and allowing in your day-to-day life and not as a treatment that is fixing something that is wrong. Nothing is wrong! This is perfect cause and effect in action. In TMS, what you give out in quality of energy is what you receive in effects. Focus your attention and put your effort into being more open, allowing, balanced and flexible and you will receive a body that is of these exact qualities!
Summary: This is a simple cause and effect syndrome with a powerful, intelligent, complex strategy attached to it. The only thing that matters is how you are being right now. How you are being right now is the only thing you can affect. Think psychological, Think clean and don’t get distracted and caught up in the drama of TMS.
If you are stuck I am here to help you.
www.runningpain.com/masterpractice
www.runningpain.com/consultation
Past updates: www.runningpain.com/updates
Stay the course,
Monte Hueftle
TMS Mind Body Coach
Monte Hueftle
monte@runningpain.com |
| 1 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| avik |
Posted - 09/09/2010 : 18:13:32
quote:
Originally posted by Monte
Chronic TMS is not, I repeat is not a deeply repressed emotions caused disorder. When you understand and accept this truth and begin to change your day-to-day patterns of generating inner tension and repressing emotional energy, you can efficiently and effectively begin to treat the real cause of TMS and reverse the effects.
The first senetence above is a very bold statement; can I ask how you came to this conclusion?
What research have you done that backs up the above claim? |
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