Your Body & Pain

Words elicit a great deal of emotions, thoughts, and beliefs. For some when we hear the word pain, we can be transported back to a memory of a time pain was experienced. In our society we view some words as ‘good’ and some as ‘bad.’ The words that are deemed as ‘bad’ are the words we try to avoid at all costs, they are the things we don’t want to admit we experience, yet in the denial of their experience we exasperate and prolong the impact these words have on our life.  

Pain has become one of these ‘bad’ words. Think about when someone expresses they are experiencing physical or emotional pain, often the first reaction of others is one of “oh that is not good” or “oh sorry to hear that” when in actuality pain, like all aspects of life, is neither good nor bad, it is simply a message from the body. When we feel physical pain, a sore shoulder for example, the pain is a message or information from the body that we need to pay attention to something that is happening on physical or emotional level. Because emotions are sensations that occur in the body (think of butterflies in your stomach), that we give a name to (we call the butterflies excitement or nerves), when we deny any sensation it becomes stuck and engrained in our very tissues.

When we experience pain it is important to notice and acknowledge the pain, to sit with it, to sit in it, and when we can, learn what we can learn from the pain. Everything in life is a lesson and an opportunity to grow and the experience of pain is no different. Whether you are healing from an injury or a heartache you can learn from the experience of pain when you take the time to sit with it and experience it. We are very quick to want to do away with pain, to rush to be ‘healed’ when the whole point of existence is to heal. The healing never stops unless you choose for it to stop. Life will always present you with opportunities to continue to sit with pain and grow from doing so, you decide what you do with these opportunities.

Often, we can find frustration when pain is present. Frustration can arise because we are not able to do “what we used to do” this way of thinking is attachment to the past and will always invite frustration in. When we notice a pain that is limiting our range of motion or physical capability the important thing to do is to slow down, appreciate your body for all that it has done for you, and notice what your body is asking for in the present moment. Your body is a miracle, a brilliant miracle. When you are physically injured it will create new movement patterns by stimulating different muscle groups so you can still move and function. The more we can slow down the more we can notice the beauty of our bodies. The more we can lean into pain and learn from pain the more potential we create for effectively healing. When we try to avoid pain, or get mad at it, or wish it away it only gets worse, and it begins to dominate our thoughts and our entire lives. Pain is something that you will experience, it is inevitable. What you can control is your relationship to pain and the control you allow pain to have over your life.

The more you can sit with pain, listen to its teachings, and incorporate those teachings into your life the less likely pain is to control your life. Check your ego as you work with pain, your ego is what attaches to what was, your ego is what attaches to labels and societal constructs and shoulds. When working with pain remind yourself that it is not about what you used to be able to, it is about what your body currently has the capacity to do. It is important to love and appreciate your body as it is showing up for you in the current moment because the current moment is all we have. The past is done, and the future does not exist. Pain exists for a reason; it is always a different reason and when you sit with pain you can learn why it is there and how to work with it. Think of pain like a rushing river. If you swim against the current, you will tire yourself out and you will go nowhere. If you swim with the current, you will conserve energy, lessen the likelihood of frustration visiting, and you will get to where you want to go. Pain is not bad. Nothing is bad. Pain is an opportunity to learn and grow. How you use that opportunity is up to you.