Category: Mind, Healing, Happiness

“ There cannot be a healing in our bodies unless we have healing in our minds and hearts” – Dr. Joe Dispenza

In September, I participated in a week long Meditation Retreat by Dr. Joe Dispenza, which was held in a beautiful area around Niagara Falls. There were 1600 participants, with this particular event sold out within an hour of opening its registration process.

” This is a very, very exciting time for us to live as we are entering an expanded paradigm of mind-body medicine”

Most of you on this email list know me, possibly read a few of my BLOGs, and have benefited from my understanding of the mind-body connection during therapy. Those of you who have embraced mindfulness have commonly reduced your pain and rejected suffering.

“YOU ARE THE CEO OF YOUR LIFE, NOT YOUR PAIN. WHAT YOU FOCUS ON EXPANDS. LET GO OF PAIN AND START LIVING AGAIN”

The issue of coping with and healing chronic pain can be very tricky, especially if we have been suffering from it for years. Perhaps we went to many different practitioners, hearing conflicting and sometimes scary predictions or opinions of how to deal with or simply accept our own pain.

It has been quite a while since I was initially trained in myofascial release and learned hands-on about the mind-body connection that can work for or against us in healing what ails us. In fact, it took me 2 years to get comfortable with letting go of my thoughts and staying in touch with my feelings by focusing on and listening to my body.

So much in attempting to relax could be associated with monitoring your breathing, deep breath in through your nose, longer and slower exhale through your mouth. Many people use thinking to try to trick themselves into a state of better being. They will count to 100 or every part of their body and get caught up in thinking their way through meditation instead of focusing on their feelings and what their body is telling them.

I had the opportunity recently to see an old friend and share a nice, Turkish lunch. As we became comfortable and relaxed, we connected with each other, and started sharing our past, including a few not so pleasant life experiences . . . things that were disappointing, hurtful, painful, scary and some you might even call devastating.

As our stories were embraced with undivided attention, empathy, non-judgmental openness, curiosity and care – there was a sense of flow and easiness. As a result, I personally felt lighter in my heart, and in my being, as I realized that I gave my story room to breathe, to be, to flow, I did not hide it inside of my being. I felt SEEN and HEARD. It is a beautiful feeling. I realized that we all have those hard and painful stories and sharing them makes our human experience easier and lighter as we realize that we are not the only ones that have gone though challenging times.

The short answer is yes, Mindfulness and Myofascial Release (MFR) can reduce pain, and sometimes significantly. Consider your fascia as a netting that connects your entire body. Over time, or due to certain medical or physical conditions, poor posture, physical or emotional trauma your fascia can tighten creating chronic pain and discomfort.

When left untreated, the compounding effect of time, tissue adaptation, emotional stress or ineffective treatments create even more tightness, limited mobility and pain.