On Friday night I finally tried the 'Journey Into Relaxation' exercise required by my class. I ended up restarting the audio feed 3 times before I was actually able to settle into a mindset that could accept all of the instructions as they were meant to be used. A big part of it for me was that I wanted to treat it the same way I treat meditation; that is, although I could quiet most of my external distractions, I needed to make sure my internal ones were silent as well. All week my lower back has been in pretty bad pain. I can't help but think about the film '50/50' where it turns out the character experiencing a lower backache actually has neurofibrosarcoma (cancer). I'm sure I'm just being a hypochondriac, but I'll make it a point to get it checked out. Anyways, so as I managed to lay back and relax even though my lower back relentlessly demanded attention and I visualized my sternum as a warm cauldron of blood waiting to be distributed anywhere it was needed. Although the exercise directed me to focus on my arms, the word 'back' repeated itself in my head, so I naturally focused my attention there. I thought the voice was a little distracting but necessary for a first time user to be guided to the intended end state. I was skeptical at first but once I got my breathing under control everything else came pretty easily. The areas that I focused blood flow to became warmer and aside from the relaxation that followed, a sense of well-being came over me as well. Afterwards, I couldn't help but wonder if the warmth I experienced was imagined or if my body had actually responded to my commands. Didn't I read something on Buddhist monks changing their body temperature through meditation? After searching Google I found this site that confirmed that it was possible to make this happen. Interesting. I've decided to try again later on this week without audio guidance to get better at this.
Hi Danny,
ReplyDeleteI can totally sympathize with you about back pain. I experienced a skiing accident that left me in terrible agony of back pain. I was miserable and did seek medical advise. I was told that I had a herniated disc (S1, L5) and pinchened nerve that was causing shooting pain on my left leg (sciatica nerve). I wish that I had been more knowlegable about the different alternative methods that would have aided me to cope with the pain.
~ Ana
Danny,
ReplyDeleteBack pain is the worst. I have severe back pain and have seen a Chiropractor in the past, but nothing really helps. It's hard to focus sometimes because the pain is so intense!
Sam
I find that I respond best to the guided meditations when I can put them on my ipod/iphone and just listen to them while going to sleep or lying in bed. This way, I'm not surfing the internet or looking at a magazine, but I'm actually using the guiding meditation as a healing tool. Meditations at first, feel really foreign and silly.. but after you become comfortable, you will see that it is something you will crave. Think of your backpain as a blockage of energy. Do we only have pain because we resist it? What if we let go and just let the body focus it's swirling energy on that body part. Think of it as intense healing sensations and allow the former pain to flow instead of being static to cause a blockage. I find this really helps me when coping with pain. If we give in to the pain, then we realize we are causing our own strain by holding on to it.
ReplyDelete-Christan T.