Friday, February 10, 2006

on confronting pain

Jean continues to use a pain confrontation technique to alleviate migraines. I've actually done this technique as well, but hadn't read about, just stumbled upon it after years of various pressure point seminars. Getting rid of the pain by going into the pain and allowing the body to "feel" it.

It was something that finally made sense when my teacher said, "I'm not the one causing the pain" even though he was the one with gripping our hands and arms. That the pain we experience is somehow from our inability to allow ourselves to experience it, the pressure, the throbbing, from a blockage that's creating pressure, creating pain. This technique pops the blockage in a way by giving the pain a channel to escape.

It's ironic, that we feel more pain, because we are afraid of feeling pain.

I must say it's not an easy technique to practice. There's so much fear of the pain. But there's is also both a bodily experience and an emotional experience to it. And for me the fear of breaking down. It causes you to face and experience your fear going against the instinct of flight.

With practice it becomes easier and faster to alleviate certain levels of pain. The human body endures and accommodates more than we can ever imagine.

Looks like I'm going to have to find a section for "pain" in the chapter I'm writing, Leny and Jean.

1 comment:

Jean Vengua said...

Michelle

I'm really looking forward to reading your chapter, and also what you write about pain...

Can't remember if I directed you to Shinzen Young's website, but it's here: http://www.shinzen.org/
Click on "Articles" then scroll to "Break Through Pain."

I notice that the technique also changes how I react to strong emotions, as a secondary effect.

J

Jean