FEELING Pain Through, and Out, by Breathing and Staying Present

My husband came home from work at the hospital yesterday, exhausted, overwhelmed, and with a pain in his ear that wouldn't let up. The energies of consciousness were tough yesterday. I was feeling them, too--physically, emotionally and mentally--and the more I get into this self-mastery stuff, the more I've become aware of the connection between the weather and mass consciousness.

The weather and pressure systems match the energetic moods of human consciousness and emotions. It started out as a beautiful, mild and sunny morning yesterday, and then suddenly, I could hardly function enough to find my cats in the yard and bring them in, so I could close my eyes and put my throbbing hip and back to rest. It was hard to mentally hold a train of thought. Self-doubt permeated everything.

I found myself second-guessing my every little deed, feeling like that little girl again with the questionable sense of humor who wanted so much to be included in the fun, but didn't feel like she measured up. Usually, she just managed to embarrass herself enough to where she wished the floor would magically open up and swallow her. That old aspect of myself has been probably one of the most challenging personalities for me to deal with. She's a nuisance, and I find myself telling her, "NO MORE! We're more than this...so much more. And when you distract me with this yammering, you're keeping us both from experiencing something better. So shut up already! Stop it! We're done!" (Go ahead and laugh at me talking to my many selves--but I'll have the last laugh, because you have a whole bunch of tantrum-throwing aspects, too).

Sure enough, it clouded over in the evening, and we got a bit of rain--we listened to it pitter-patter while in bed. It was a relief having that water gently wash the consciousness clear.

After my bath last night, I was sitting here with my left hand feeling the muscles along my spine, pressing and kneading the tender spots in order to give myself some relief. I had massaged my feet in my bath, using my thumbs to press and find the tender spots in order to work them more deeply, smoothing the pain through and out. I learned how to do foot reflexology years ago that I practiced on my dad and my husband and a few friends here and there. It's only recently that I've thought to simply use it on myself. But, boy, has it made a difference!

While massaging out my own aches last night, I realized something very important about pain--it's a mental trap. We have mentally become so accustomed to trying to avoid and not feel pain, that our bodies now automatically brace themselves for the "believed" onslaught of pain. It's another belief system box--how about popping that lid off with me?

The moment humans sense a potential incoming painful sensation, the body TENSES UP and BRACES for having to FEEL it. That bracing tension STOPS the BREATH and actually WORSENS and INTENSIFIES the experience of the pain.

Pain is simply an energy, and as I've written about before, I discovered I can BREATHE it through, coaching myself to FEEL it through and out of my body. When I massage myself (or ask Kelly to help me with the spots that are hard to reach) I press whatever I have on hand as deeply as I can into the sore muscle area--I locate those areas by laying down, closing my eyes and doing a body scan by feeling out the sore and tense spots, sometimes using my fingers to help, too.

When I've located the source and center of the pain, I focus my attention on that spot.

I consciously BREATHE: inhaling through my nose, deep into my belly (I lay my hand on my tummy to feel my breath pushing it up); then exhaling out of my mouth (the hand on my tummy falls).

and I ALLOW MYSELF TO FEEL and EXPLORE and IMMERSE myself in the SENSATION of PAIN   (I describe the feeling to myself--sharp, throbbing, achy, can't pinpoint it, white-hot, etc.) 

If I cry, so much the better, because the tears are a release, but I don't seem to cry much anymore from pain.

When I shifted my viewpoint from pain being something to avoid at all costs, to it just being an experience to immerse myself in, and to explore and describe--it took the fear and, gradually, the tension and long-lasting misery out of it...

I realized my SOUL was simply having an experience, nothing more.

Last night my husband's ear pain was still present as we were laying in bed, so together we located the sore muscle areas in his back that connected to that pain. He's an ultra-sound technician, and his right shoulder, arm and hand gets over-used from straining over the bodies of patients in order to get the best diagnostic images. He told me he thought the ear pain was connected to a spot somewhere in the musculature around his shoulder blade--and it was. Once we located it, he asked me to press my elbow into it--I can apply more pressure that way (DO NOT USE this technique on the kidneys!!!). After reminding him to BREATHE DEEPLY a few times first, I lowered my weight on my elbow, all the while reminding him, "BREATHE and FEEL it through. FEEL it through..." It relieved him enough to fall asleep.

Humans are afraid to IMMERSE themselves in an experience, for FEAR OF GETTING STUCK in it and not surviving it. When you invite your SOUL into IMMERSING with your HUMAN self into an experience, it helps you go beyond the pain. Humans feel pain but, thankfully, our souls don't--each, in its own capabilities is a gift to the other. This whole transition into the new consciousness energy is simply uniting the divine SOUL with its HUMAN counterpart so the experiences can be even greater and more fulfilling for one's entire Body of Consciousness. The All-Alone Little Human Drama/Traumas will be a thing of the past.

Helping Others Help You:

I realize that my past experiences have been such that massaging myself is second nature to me. I know my body, and I've accumulated a lot of ways (many of them self-taught) to help myself flow energies through more easily--mainly because I'm passionate about it. I know my anatomy pretty well. But some of you reading this may not. In that case, I would recommend letting yourself experience body work like foot reflexology (if you're really shy) and massage therapy or any other modality that helps you get more aware of your body.

One thing though, when asking another to facilitate in you healing yourself--CHOOSE to BE a PRESENT PARTICIPANT. Take full responsibility for ALL OF YOU!

I've experienced trying to care for people unwilling to take responsibility for their life and well-being and self-loving acceptance. And I've observed my husband and others in the healthcare profession (I include the maintenance people cleaning those toilets and keeping things sterile in those hospitals and clinics, along with the doctors, nurses and technicians) putting up with people who abuse themselves through alcohol, food, drug (prescription and non-), sex abuse, etc. all because they don't take ownership of their own lives. Hospitals are SUCKY, ENERGY-FEEDING frenzies!

If you're going in to have an exam done, or have a body or foot massage--whatever--BATHE YOURSELF FIRST. Walk into those places with GRATITUDE for your own life and for the people who've placed themselves there to facilitate your well-being.

And don't expect SOMEBODY ELSE to create a MIRACLE FOR YOU! Do it yourself--anything less is called energy sucking. People go to healthcare professionals expecting them to make them feel happy and healthy and loved--all the while, refusing to do it for themselves! (I feel my eyes roll into the back of my head a lot when I'm around such sick-acting attention-seekers). 

GRATITUDE! GRATITUDE! GRATITUDE!--it goes so much further than a poor, pitiful, misunderstood-me attitude.

The energies you carry into a place will make or break your experience there.

Some people have a tendency to be "sue-happy"--if they have a bad experience they want to blame someone else for it, and they get a lawyer to file a lawsuit. Then, not only do you have laws put in place that mercilessly, stupidly, and severely shackle health facilitators (most of whom are well-meaning individuals), you have astronomical insurance and healthcare rates and costs to match. And you have one big effing trauma-drama. I'm so sick of hearing about the healthcare debate and listening to businesses using it as an excuse to not hire full-time employees (a practice I experienced for years while working for various businesses long before "Obama-care" was even a thought). Just step out of the game--the belief system. The sleepers can fight to their content, but it need not affect you at all, if you so choose.

If it's in your life, you put there. If you have a disease--you chose to have the experience. Immerse yourself in it--explore the pain of it, BE FULLY PRESENT in the EXPERIENCING! It's the quickest way to not get stuck.

If you're obese (it just recently earned itself a place in the "DISEASE"category, which basically is the equivalent of saying, "You poor, POWERLESS, pitiful thing..."), you created that. And beating on yourself, going on guilt-trips over what you eat, indulging in cockamamie diets and brutal exercise routines, and blaming others for treating you insensitively because YOU BELIEVE YOU'RE NOT WORTHY changes absolutely nothing. And if you have someone treating you insensitively, it's merely someone kindly playing the betrayer role for you so you can SEE HOW YOU ARE TREATING YOURSELF!

Do you view your life as a GIFT to you from an unconditionally-loving Source?--or as a BURDEN, where you have to prove yourself worthy of it by taking on the woes you've been taught are in the world? The answer will determine your experiences, and what kind of joy you get from them. (See: Life is a Gift, Not a Test).

You gave yourself the experience and if you're still struggling in that experience, then you're deriving some benefit from it. What is the benefit for you? No--don't shy away from the question. Running away from yourself heals nothing. Have the guts to answer the question honestly and self-compassionately, and you'll feel yourself taking a step out of that miserable prison. You are the only one who KNOWS WHAT the BENEFIT is! And the benefit doesn't have to have some altruistic reason or purpose behind it. You just simply chose to have an experience--that's what we're all doing here.

To sum up all of the above ranting:

PAIN--CHOOSE to IMMERSE YOURSELF in the experience of it, BE PRESENT in your body in it, and BREATHE it through and out of your being...so you can make room for the new. 

My sovereign friends--that is what an embodied self-master (Soul and Human integrated together in one) does, because we have new potentials to experience, but we have to get ourselves opened up so we can gracefully receive them...

Related Posts:
Discerning the Pity Trap