Hi. I didn’t have anything specific in mind. I’m interested in all mindbody experiences, and yours definitely qualifies. Thanks for sharing!
Until recently, I always approached physical pain/discomfort from a physical perspective (treated with massage, chiropractic, ice/heat, yoga/stretching, exercise/strengthening, etc.) And those techniques have always helped….until this year. I started getting strange symptoms that were immune to all the above forms of treatment (sore wrists & a swollen knee – neither of which was the result of injury). My husband recommended a book called the Mindbody Prescription by John E. Sarno, MD. He read it a few years ago when he had plantar fasciatis that wouldn’t go away, no matter what he tried. After reading the book, his pain disappeared and never returned. So, this year, I read the book. I don’t agree with everything the author says: it’s both radical and Freudian, but it had some ideas that intrigued me. One was the idea that the mind can create pain where there is no problem. Another was the idea that a physical problem does not have to result in pain. They’ve done research studies on people who feel great – no pain at all in their bodies, yet when they do MRI’s on them, they find herniated discs, meniscus tears, severe arthritis, etc. So the question arises, why do some people with physical problems have pain and others don’t? Dr. Sarno believes it’s all in the mind. His technique’s pretty simple. You just tell your mind you know that it’s making up the pain and tell it to stop. This technique didn’t help my knee, but it did make my wrist pain go away. (Which was a huge relief, since as a massage therapist, I obviously can’t have wrist pain & still work.)
So, that’s been my experience, and I’m curious about other people’s experience with mindbody connections.
Does anyone else out there have a story to share?