| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Monte |
Posted - 12/15/2010 : 08:15:25
Dr. Sarno’s genius 40 years ago was making us all aware of the pain or distraction strategy involved in TMS. He told us to change the way we think about the cause of physical pain – think psychological. The result has been millions of people experiencing the reversal or elimination of their pain symptoms because of this one big, huge change.
What determines the efficiency and effectiveness of this initial relief of symptoms and what allows us to continue to live without the symptoms? Many people do not experience the instantaneous reversal of pain and many find that the pain/symptoms return months, years or decades later! Why is this, what is the missing ingredient for some?
Reversing the TMS mindbody syndrome is all about the genuine quality of your communication to this powerful, creative and intelligent strategy. What determines the quality of communication necessary for reversing TMS? 1) Belief 2) Acceptance 3) Confidence/Conviction 4) the follow through to walk this path on a daily basis versus just being aware of it, talking about it or systematically following instructions in a book.
If you do not genuinely believe in the TMS mindbody theory for chronic pain and other chronic symptoms then you are never going to confidently communicate to this powerful strategy any type of acceptance of the psychological cause basis. With that being the case, why would the symptoms ever go away? They are perfectly serving their purpose of distracting you away from the way you are being!
More people are stuck right here in this place of 60-70-80% acceptance than anywhere else in this syndrome. This person hasn’t even begun to learn how to live with TMS because they are still fighting/resisting with what TMS is.
What allows a person to live with TMS, but without the pain and other symptoms affecting their daily life? First, understand one big truth – As long as you have a mind and a body you are going to experience mindbody or TMS effects. Everyone has mindbody effects, but not everyone has TMS mindbody chronic effects with a creative strategy attached to them! Can you accept that you are a TMS’er and do you understand that there is not a cure that eliminates TMS from your life? The sooner you can give up the need to know why you got this chronic pain strategy and the quicker you can be okay without knowing why this strategy acts out in your body/life the way it does, the more efficient and effective you will reverse and begin to live with TMS without the painful symptoms.
Back to our question, what allows a person to live with TMS without the painful symptoms? More than anything it is the quality of how they are being on a moment-to-moment, day-to-day basis. Remember, this mindbody syndrome is caused by our day-to-day thinking and behavior patterns. Our thoughts and behaviors are doing two big, huge things:
1. Generating Inner Tension - Have you ever really listened to some of the things you say to yourself when you are striving, perfecting, controlling, worrying or pleasing?
2. Repressing or enabling us to avoid/deny our emotions. Our thought and behavior patterns are repressing agents! Just like food is for emotional eaters, alcohol for alcoholics and work for workaholics. We go into the future in worry/striving/pleasing and we avoid our feelings. We go into the past in anger/resentment/guilt and we are denying ourselves the opportunity to experience and allow our emotional energy to be.
Awareness of these truths is not going to change the fact that you are still generating inner tension and continue to repress emotional energy on a day-to-day basis. We need to put healing practices confidently into action on a day-to-day basis in order to effect true change.
How do we think psychological in a way that allows us to live pain free?
1. Forget TMS. You know everything you need to know about this syndrome. Thinking about TMS keeps you distracted. It keeps you in the strategy!
2. Re-focus your attention back to how am I being right now or what is going on with me right now. This needs to be a sincere quality of investigation followed by authentic action of change in being more open, allowing, flexible and balanced.
3. Your intention is to be, live, think and behave in a more open, allowing, flexible and balanced way. Again be sincere and not too casual here. If you really understand and totally accept the dynamic playing out here you will be guided.
4. When you journal have it your intention to be open and honest with yourself. You are not looking for something in the past, you are connecting with your feelings right now. This is you and a piece of paper. Open up and be honest with yourself about how you feel!
5. If you are a closed-off person, sincerely practice opening up a little more often. Use these words…I just want you to know how I feel, I feel…
6. Practice just being with your feelings and nothing else. No mind chatter that is questioning, justifying and analyzing. Shut off the mind and be with your feeling. Emotions are energy and all energy wants to move, be allowed, have the freedom to be experienced. When you are with your feelings without the mind interrupting you allow this emotional energy to be and there is tremendous relief in this.
7. Incorporate being mindful/present into the mindless (but big, unconscious, tension generating) activities in your life: taking a shower, fixing dinner, commuting, etc.
8. When practicing any type of guided imagery, root lock, journaling, yoga, or just being mindful/present, as much as you can do not think of these as treatments, but more of a practice that is helping you be more open, allowing and balanced.
It is the quality of your belief and the quality in which you partake incorporating these new, more (balanced, flexible, open, allowing) ways of being into your life that allows you to live with TMS and live without the pain and other symptoms constantly challenging you. This is not about, is this TMS and why and how is this happening and when am I going to fix this so I can go back to my life! Healing from and living with TMS is all about – how am I being right now without it having anything to do with fixing something that is wrong!
Your body is a pure reflection of the balance or un-balanced state of the thoughts that you think and the emotions or feelings that are being stored, experienced allowed or dis-allowed. Give up the part of you that has to know why and how this is happening and when is it going to end. Remember and put into practice the following truth: The most empowered living position is to have my energy in present time. Healing is greatly enhanced in the present moment.
Stay the course,
Monte Hueftle
TMS Mind Body Coach
818-486-8525
www.runningpain.com
www.runningpain.com/updates |
| 2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| waterboy |
Posted - 12/15/2010 : 10:38:05
Thanks for the post, Monte. I was thinking about this exact topic over the past few days. I first started looking into TMS about 2 months ago and think I very quickly got to the 60/70% level. This was a big improvement over how I was feeling before, and I think saved me from having a huge freak-out over moving to a new state and starting a new high-stress job. However, I've been frustrated at that 60% level. Sometimes even now I get pain that is almost as bad as it was before I started my TMS "work".
However, I've been realizing lately what true acceptance really is. For some it can come quickly, as for those who had a true "book cure". For born skeptics like me, it is taking a bit longer. My problem is not so much physical activity. I am very good at exercising in spite of pain. My fear and anxiety about my pain is brought on more by social events and work. I let how I'm feeling trick me into thinking that I am unfit to hold an intelligent conversation or be at ease or whatever. It has taken me so long to realize that if I'm not "at ease", then I'm tense. Tension = pain, as the good doctor has postulated. It's not just a concept to intellectualize. I've really begun to feel it deep in my being.
What has been working for me lately is encapsulated in all of your points. Being confident in the diagnosis and talking back to the pain has been helpful. I feel more sure now that I know all that I need to know about TMS/anxiety, although it's sometimes helpful to come back to this forum for reassurance. The most difficult step has been to apply this confidence in taking steps to expand my social network and feel comfortable about people. I've been having a lot of breakthroughs lately and feel buoyed by that, which helps in how confident I am when talking to my pain. In addition, I've found the writings of Claire Weekes very helpful for accepting and floating through weird feelings and pain during high-stress situations (at least high stress for me!)
As far as being mindful goes, I think that it has been so helpful to catch myself in unconscious moments when I start the pain wheel to spinning-- before it gains too much momentum. That means not being surprised by moments when an increase in pain catches me off guard and being able to talk to it if it starts increasing.
Just some thoughts on how things are going lately. Good luck to everyone! |
| Wavy Soul |
Posted - 12/15/2010 : 10:37:37
I appreciate this a lot.
I've found Monte's tapes and program to be very helpful and I think he is very worthy of our full support.
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
|
|
