LET’S LOVE
LOVE YOUR BODY, MIND, AND SOUL.
LOVE THE WORLD.
Releasing pain is about bringing an expanded awareness beyond just that localized area, and simply opening. It is about noticing the subtlest ways that we are still holding on to the pain. We are actually the ones that create the pain and tension by remaining tight, fighting and resisting against the core of the pain which is actually, nothing. It began as an energy that we fought to resist against, and then we continue feeding it energy through the resistance, which builds the pain into a bigger and bigger reality. We can follow the pain to a deeper connection with our body, our whole self, to realizations, insights, and clarity. The pain takes us back to the center of our being. We can follow it as the body offers it to us as a guide leading us home when we've lost our way. It's here to remind us. It's screaming its loud messages at us, 'look at me!' 'come here!' It's an unmistakable, blaring sign that does not go away. Pain is your body's most intelligent way to communicate with you and bring your attention to something it wants you to notice. It's actually quite beautiful, miraculous and useful. If we truly learn this concept and know how to apply it, pain can become our greatest ally in this life..and that is a major shift in your entire life experience if you no longer see pain as a problem. It's a gift if we choose to see it that way and listen. When we're feeling heavy, negative and tired, it's a sign our body needs energy to be moved and cleared. It's just time to take out the garbage. We know we have to clean our house and take out the garbage periodically so why don't we honor our bodies in the same we we do our home? Our bodies are even more precious than our home-we can move houses but we can't move bodies, so we should treat it well! When doing my daily yoga practice, I noticed I had a habit of tightening and tensing around the pain in my lower back. I would try to force a manipulation that would provide relief. Actively and a bit aggressively trying to change it to my liking, to get rid of what I don't want (the pain that bothers me), and change it to what I do want (ease and freedom). I caught myself doing this and realized I needed to stop and do something different. To breathe into the pain and expand. Relief from the pain and a whole orgasmic wave of relaxation comes over my whole body. I realized so clearly, I'm dealing with everything the same way--with the body, with life, with other people and obstacles that may seem bothersome and difficult. Instead of distancing ourselves from the issue, pushing it away, tightening up against it in a 'I don't want you. I reject this' attitude, if we can conversely meet it head on, give it our breath, our attention, our love, then it brings in an expansion of acceptance that allows it the very freedom and ease we were searching for. Freedom to be just as it is, which then in turn leads to a natural progression of change as the old pattern is released. The tension and pain is only a direct reflection of the inner tension we have around not wanting this tension, a comical catch-22 scenario which can only be freed when we allow space and give our loving attention, without any forceful attempt to change it. Often now a lot of people are saying, 'just let go,' and this can be confusing as we don't actually know how. You can only know how to let go if you know how you are holding on. And most of our pain and tension is being held onto subconsciously without our knowing it. If we knew we were holding on, we could easily just let go. Since we don't, the 'let go' advice is a nice theoretical concept that has no use for us in the practical application. Practically speaking, there isn't anything we actually do to 'let go', the letting go happens naturally when we put our awareness towards the tension. Trying to figure out what to do is still creating the tension, our simple attention and trust will take care of it. Let's say we were squeezing a ball in our hand but we couldn't see our hand and had no idea we were doing it, that somehow our hand was covered from sight and we had no connection to seeing or feeling it anymore. We would continue complaining that we have so much tension in our wrist, arms, shoulders, even our back. But if we were able to put our awareness to the areas of tension, instead of racking our brains to figure out what is going on, there would be a natural release of the tension in all those areas and our hand would just open and the ball would release. We still wouldn't know anything about how it came to be in the first place and how it released...but it did. Because we relaxed and trusted. Most likely this is the exact opposite approach of what we did that created the tension in the first place. We tensed up and cut off trust. Simple awareness shines through all tensions and it all melts away immediately. So we bring our attention not to the story of 'there is pain,' 'I don’t like it,' 'it hurts,' 'I have to let go,' 'how do i do this?'...but we expand our awareness to where and how are we holding on to this pain. Where in my body do I feel I am tensing up in denial of this pain? Usually we can bring our attention to a specific part of the body, we can then breathe into and relax into an acceptance of this tight spot, and we then notice a miraculous melting away of tension in the localized pain are and everywhere else. We fall deeper into peace, relaxation, the greater awareness that we just are. When we close our eyes and feel the pain, directing our full attention to the area of pain, we feel it as fully as possible. We take a breath and notice if our mind is producing any thoughts about it, every single thought is a distraction from allowing the pain to exist. We breathe again, and allow ourselves to fall deeper into the pain. We can then ask ourselves, "how am I resisting the pain?" Just this question alone will bring attention to the way we tense ourselves in order to avoid it. It's important to be aware of everything we're doing with the entirety of our being as we bring our attention to the pain spot. It can be so subtle the ways in which we're still resisting the pain, so we have to notice, 'what are the thoughts i'm thinking around this pain right now? Am i still forcing and pushing, even in the effort to release, is it still a forced energy?' Or 'am i truly relaxing and allowing the pain to just be there, be free and take over my whole being? Am i tensing up in other areas of my body and still resisting? Often times we are tightening without realizing, and it is not just in the pain area, it can be anywhere else in the body that we've formed a habit of tensing up as a way to 'protect' from a painful experience. Of course it does not protect at all, it only creates more tension and pain, so it's funny that we've learned this counterproductive behavior. It comes from the fact that whenever we thought we were in danger, we had to immediate engage our muscles and bodies in order to prepare for fight or flight. The sympathetic nervous system is activated, which creates contraction in our bodies. So whenever we experience any type of stress or pain--whether it be physical or emotional-- we go into a state of fear and resistance, basically as if this stress or pain is an enemy that's come to attack us. So the sympathetic nervous system kicks in as we prepare to deal with this perceived threat. This is all happening because our body/mind mechanism is still trained from the days when we had to fend for our survival in the wild, when there were actual imminent threats and danger lurking. Now we do not need these habits anymore, they've become a bit ridiculous. If somebody just says a comment that we don't agree with, we can go into fight or flight mode, tensing our bodies, creating stress hormone release and basically making our bodies sick from this minor trigger. This is why we need to retrain our nervous system, and this comes with us being conscious as it's happening and making a new choice. To consciously send our attention to our body where we're experiencing pain (the accumulation of all the moments we responded with tension), and breathe into it so it can relax and release. To also do the same with our mental habits that are holding onto the tension mentally and then physiologically it follows suit. As for any new habit that we're trying to create or change, we must repeat it again and again until new neural pathways in the brain are formed to make this the new way of functioning. So we just need to keep staying aware in moments when we feel pain, tension, or negative thoughts. To make the new normal habit breathing through and allowing uncomfortable sensations and experiences, rather than fighting against them. When we finally allow ourselves to feel pain, we can then fall deeper and deeper into our being, as this pain is only there as a signal that we are in discord with our own natural state of being. We have built up so many layers of protection on top of our natural state of pure peace, awareness, and love. Then we got used to living only from the surface level of these manufactured layers, instead of from the core of our being. The pain is an invitation, a friendly reminder, that we must go deeper into our core, beyond these surface protective layers. And in most cases the pain will only be experienced very briefly, and then quickly dissolved into very peaceful, blissful states of relaxation, as you finally allow yourself to relax into the ground of your being. Our natural state is relaxation, not tension. We've learned to the reverse the two, where we mostly live in a state of stress and then have to do things that snap us briefly out of our stress and into brief periods of relaxation, if we even do that. When we constantly live in a fearful state of stress and perceived threats (either external or internal), we are always functioning from a more surface level, heightened alert state, which is quite unhealthy. If we still have pain and we're unsure about if we're tightening and in resistance somewhere in our body, a good place to check first is our anus and perineum. This is usually the first place we create tension when we are experiencing something uncomfortable, and the last place we check to release tension. As the anus/perineum is our root, it is associated with all our primal fears around survival. Whenever we feel threatened, this will be where we tighten as a way to protect ourselves. It's as if we unconsciously feel if we squeeze nothing can come in and nothing can be taken from us. Most of us area actually walking around all day everyday unconsciously tightening in this area. Hence the term, 'tight ass.' You literally create a tight ass which makes you more tense and uptight, simply because you are squeezing your muscles without ever taking a deep breath to relax your anal/perineum muscles. Relaxing these muscles automatically makes you feel more safe, open, peaceful and it can allow more joy and ease into your life. It's also helpful to add a laugh to your pain! This is like bringing breath, but laughter is a series of exhales without the inhale, so it is a concentrated energy of release. The inhale breath is bringing in and the exhale is letting go. Laughter has been shown to stimulate the same areas of the brain responsible for fear, but it has the opposite effect. It inhibits the sympathetic nervous system response and decreases cortisol, the stress hormone, relieving tension. It is used as a technique for therapy as well as even curing illness. I've discovered that if I hold my attention on an area of pain or tension, and then start laughing (it's okay to just fake laugh), it will immediately release the tension. It will also blast through any negative thinking loop, and immediately lift the spirit and bring in a light, joyful ease. It's fantastic for any moment when things are stuck, dark, or heavy, to instantly provide relief. People think stress is caused by external circumstances. Like working too much, not taking breaks, busy with kids, etc. Yes, that is part of it, but most likely if you quit your job and every other stress factor, you would still create a stressful life for yourself, because your internal mental and emotional habits are still wired to produce tense behavior and reactions to life. So this conscious retraining and reprogramming is essential to effectively and permanently remove pain, stress, tension, illness and disease (caused by an accumulation of stress and tension). Meeting it head on with simple awareness, breath and/or laughter is the quickest, simplest, gentlest and most effective way to make it happen!
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MICHAELA CLARA I'm here to share what I've learned through my journey of self exploration-traveling around the outer world and within the inner world-learning about how to live a healthy life, in alignment with the body, heart and soul. Every day I'm discovering how to live more in health, connection and truth. Through joy, passion & self love, creating the life I want, and sharing this love with others. Join me for the ride! Read More |