When it comes to chronic pain, most people either try to ignore it, numb it with drugs or push through it with sheer will-power. Whether they’re using pain-killers or alternative methods their goal is the same: Get rid of the “annoyance” and keep on doing what they want to do.
Do you know anybody like this?
Biologically however, pain’s job is to get you to do two things:
- Pay attention
- Change your behavior
If you wanted to invest in a company you’d study their financials and look for symptoms of growth or failure to thrive. You wouldn’t invest if you knew they were on a course to certain bankruptcy.
Chronic pain is your body’s way of letting you know that you’re failing to thrive. You’re not adapting to life effectively, not balancing stress or not taking appropriate actions to change an unhealthy situation. In this case you should have pain! Your body is screaming at you to “Pay attention!”
Unfortunately most people invest more time, money and energy into trying to get rid of their pain than they do assessing the course they’re on and asking what behaviors their symptoms are signaling them to change.
What if chronic pain was really your body’s attempt to get you to pay attention and change what you’re doing because the path you’re on isn’t working? If that were the case, would you approach your pain differently?
If you’ve had enough chronic pain and you’re ready to turn the pain into gain, here’s a 3-Step formula inspired by Dr. Donny Epstein’s Formula for Somatic Awareness. This simple process can literally change your life in an instant.
The 3-Steps For Turning Pain To Gain:
Step 1. Awareness
Before you can change anything you’ve got to become aware of what needs changing. In your body you do this by paying attention to the physical sensations you’re having (This is called “somatic awareness”) without any judgment of them, story about them or even any understanding of them.
To do this, place both your hands on the precise area where you’re experiencing pain (If you can’t reach with both hands, place one hand on the area) and put your attention on the physical sensations of that area. Notice how that part moves and if it feels tight, hot, cold, contracted, full of energy, lacking in energy etc.
Seek to experience every sensation including discomfort, throbbing, aching, burning or pounding without immediately jumping to pre-conditioned mental chatter like “There’s something wrong here. I refuse to let this pain stop me. I won’t be weak. This is never going to end. Why does this always happen to me? Why can’t I overcome this?” and so on.
Just put your hands on your body and “be” with the area.
Step 2: Acknowledgement.
The next step is to acknowledge what you are discovering.
To do this, keep your hands directly on the area of your body that is hurting and give a voice to your experience. You might say, “Right here I feel tight, contracted and wound up.” You might say, “Right here my breath is restricted.”, or “My ribs feel stuck.”, or “My knee is pulsing.”
In this process it is common to notice emotions arise. They need your acknowledgement too. You might say “Right here I feel frustrated.”, or “This part feels scared.” You might say, “Right here I’m pissed off.” or “Here I feel sad.” You can also make a sound instead of a declaration, like a growl, a sigh or even a whimper. Don’t just go through the motions. Be real and authentic with yourself.
There’s no right or wrong way to do this. Just acknowledge what you feel. If you don’t feel an emotion, focus on the physical sensation under your hands. If the whole area feels numb, say “Right here I am numb.” Your task is to acknowledge the exact sensations in the moment.
Step 3: Acceptance.
The final step is to accept what has been acknowledged without trying to change it, transform it, fix it, end it or have something else happen.
To do this, keep your hands on the area. Let go of what you’d prefer to or think you should be experiencing. Dismiss the desire to jump right to a solution or a “fix”. Just accept that what you’re feeling is real right now in this moment.
As you go through the steps breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth the whole time, keeping your hands on that part of your body. Pay attention to the sensations, emotions, energy, breathing and movement. Notice what happens.
Did the intensity of the pain change? Did it start to dissipate? Did you feel any emotion come up? Did the pain intensify?
If it intensified, go back through the steps. Did you really become aware of the sensations? Did you really acknowledge where you were at? Did you really accept where you were at? When all 3 steps are completed you will instantly notice a change.
What if every time you were in pain you stopped what you were doing, put your hands on the part of your body that was hurting and gave it your full attention, acknowledgement and acceptance instead of trying to get rid of “IT”?
There really is no “IT”, there’s just you. When we say, “I’m fine expect for my back pain…IT is the problem.” what we’re really saying is “I can’t be aware of, acknowledge or accept this part of my body right now, so I’m creating a story that IT is somehow separate and the cause. Then you can treat the IT without changing your behavior.
The 3-Step process above will help you discover what you’ve been avoiding and connect to the wisdom within your pain rather than run from it. That connection is where you’ll regain the power to change the course of your life.
About the Author:
Dr. John Amaral DC has helped thousands of people, including celebrities like Tony Robbins, turn pain into gain. Request his FREE Report: How To Turn Pain Into Gain: 5 Breakthrough Ways To Make Back Pain Disappear, Without Harmful Drugs by emailing him at drjohnamaral@yahoo.com, subject line: Free Report.
