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Uma
USA
31 Posts |
 Posted - 03/27/2012 : 18:35:52
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I am wondering if anyone else out there has come across the conflict of not only needing to leave physical treatments behind but also needing to leave behind careers or training programs that are in that arena, even if they are somatic or mindbody like feldenkrais, or relaxation-based like restorative yoga?
Like, any bodyworkers or somatic therapists etc. here who had to change paths to overcome their own TMS, or do you know of anyone who had this dilemma?
thanks.
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 03/27/2012 : 19:38:33
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Interesting - not me, but I know several bodyworkers who have left because they had "conditions" that I thought were TMS. It was my impression that they were enraged with having to always be the giver, so their wrists, backs, etc. gave out conveniently.
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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Composer
USA
16 Posts |
Posted - 03/31/2012 : 10:51:35
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Hey Uma,
I've had excruciating pains swell and diminish and swell, etc..over the last 20+ years after teenage years in psychiatric care, suicide attempts, homelessness, etc. I've just found this forum and have been digging into it deeply, read Sarno's first two books, started seeing a therapist who knows Sarno, and started the program in the Schubiner book.
Also I happen to be almost 1 year into in a 4 year Feldenkrais Training Program right now. After seriously considering quitting it, I realized would be attending it even if I had no pain. However, I probably wouldn't have begun it if it weren't for decades of pain. The pain doesn't seem to be directly helped by it, but I don't mind. It's a paradigm for learning that I like. It certainly gives me chances to observe movement and develop a more empirical way of thinking i.e. just observing movement, thoughts, etc. without judgment that I really appreciate. It is similar to meditation in some respects, but has a larger swath of inquiry. I would never suggest it as a means for undoing most chronic pain. To me, it is a means for self inquiry.
I have a sense that finding the perfect means for recovery may be another manifestation of perfectionism that accompanies TMS symptoms. But then again I'm just starting with the TMS diagnosis and I'm not free from pain yet.
When the Feldenkrais trainers and some of the attendees often attribute structural causes to pain while only subtly hinting at those that are also of a psychological origin, I feel worried that the environment will lead me to sense that I need structural change to feel better.
However, the more experienced people get in the program (and the further they are from a physical therapy paradigm) the more they see the structural and psychological as two sides
of the same coin. Even seeing them as two sides is too separate.
And there's diversity of opinion. One of the head trainers respects Sarno's work while another hates it, saying Sarno "blames the sufferers for their pain" and "sets them up for failure."
So these are some thoughts about your question. If fear is significantly connected causally to TMS symptoms then might any fear of not doing the TMS program perfectly cause the pain to persist?
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Uma
USA
31 Posts |
Posted - 04/17/2012 : 01:41:58
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So these are some thoughts about your question. If fear is significantly connected causally to TMS symptoms then might any fear of not doing the TMS program perfectly cause the pain to persist?
I wonder if the answer is double-sided: yes fear/perfectionism triggers TMS in the first place, but at the same time, what if the fear of not doing it perfectly arises from a deeper knowing that something we are doing is off-track? Argh! :P |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2012 : 18:45:28
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Take a breath guys - quantum physics pioneer Niels Bohr said "every great truth is the opposite of another great truth."
But you don't need to torture yourself with the both-and-iness of life!
I studied many interesting systems like Alexander technique, yoga, chi gong, and more and they didn't remove my pain, but had their own inherent value, and sometimes did help my pain by making me more present and conscious and therefore less in need of a distraction. But because they had underlying physical paradigms (even if energetic) rather than emotional, they ultimately don't work.
I know many people who are absolutely on an endless loop of complex yoga and other kinds of practices to get rid of pain. "If I could just balance my lats with my pelvis," and on and on... No harm in physical prowess, but without the TMS knowledge, it's endless.
As for the idea that Sarno is blaming the sufferers - that's what I thought at first, and why I threw the book across the room. And I still think it's something to be very careful about when addressing others - how can we KNOW, really about another's pain? But, of course, he is the MOST compassionate resource.
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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Uma
USA
31 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2012 : 19:49:28
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Thanks Wavy Soul,
So yeah it's going around in circles: there's no one right answer so do what you want and be happy, and don't lose sleep over decisions, blah blah, but at the same time, doing these things will never cure your TMS so watch out! 
I agree that things like the Alexander Technique have many things besides pain relief to offer. I myself had some deep spiritual and emotional experiences with the Alexander work in terms of being present and stopping pushing myself and reacting blindly from habit (which is where the deeper pain relief comes from anyway), but yeah the structural aspect and the goal-orientation of trying to use the modality's form of release (Alexander: release your neck and everything else feels better; Yoga (that I'm doing): release the tailbone and everything else will feel better); Feldenkrais: learn to look after your comfort and move consciously and calm down the nervous system, etc., and everything else feels better!
Anyway, it's ironic that these things are so helpful (temporarily) with the TMS pain because they all focus in some way on presence, but unfortunately they all have those traps you talk about. 
I've read somewhere on here about someone who cured their TMS pain FIRST and THEN continued on to finish a Feldenkrais or Alexander training or something else, and got a lot from it that way. But I'm not sure about being in the training and trying to do Sarno's work at the same time.
Thanks for everyone's perspective.
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Anyone had to quit bodywork career to heal TMS?
