Make Pain Your Friend

Eliminate Pain?
So, I was scrolling through Instagram the other day and felt my bp rise when I saw an ad for a special online program offering to “eliminate pain”. It just felt like a cheap shot. Of course we think we want to “eliminate pain” but is that even a thing?
I think we’re asking for the wrong cure. As an active human, we need pain (keep reading). I don’t believe the goal should be to be free from pain, I think it should be to be free from the FEAR of pain. I think we should be working on our relationship with pain. As someone who suffered through chronic pain for over 15 years, I can tell you from experience, that we can absolutely become better friends with pain. Yes, actual friends. This is an important distinction. It is also something that separates my approach from many others that I see.

Suck it up.
For the first half of my life, if I was hurt, or in pain, I’d be annoyed, like, what’s your problem? I’d find myself in an adversarial role… with myself. As though my body was intentionally ruining my good time. Instead of stopping and asking questions or wondering what I could do to help I would just tell myself to suck it up and literally drag my body and the pain along with me to continue doing whatever I was doing in the way that I was doing it. Sound familiar?

Pain is like a good friend, calling us out when we need to be called out.
In my 20+ years of working with movement, the body, and chronic pain, I’ve learned the best thing we can do for ourselves is recognize pain as a friend. But why??? Well because, to put it simply, it is a helper.
Pain is our body’s way of letting us know we’ve hit a physical limit and that we need to do something different. It’s our body’s way of communicating with us, of asking for more help. It lets us know when we’ve gone too far, and when we need to make a change in one of the following: 

• what we’re doing 
• how we’re doing it 
• how much we’re doing it 
• when we’re doing it
• you get the gist 

The point is, pain is the start of a conversation. Just like the good friend that calls you out when you're reaching for that 3rd drink but you're a lightweight and you were drunk at two, it's not the conversation we always want to have but it's the one we need if we want to reach our goals - whether that's not being hungover, or just feeling better in our bodies... we need that voice, we need that friend.

Tissues are emotional.
How many times have you insulted your body? Maybe you call it your "stupid knee", or maybe you say, "my hip is being a jerk today" or maybe you asked Santa for a "new neck" this year? Every time you say something like that, they feel it. Your tissues tighten up the same as if someone was calling you, as a person, stupid. 
Ahhmmm okay, but what if you've spent your whole life trying to avoid pain, ignore pain, push through pain? How do you shift if all you've ever known is sucking it up? 

Fake it til you make it. 
Seriously. The first step to shifting is by changing the conversation you're having with your body. Your knee hurts? Tell it you're sorry. Give it a hug. Like, literally wrap your hands around it and give it a little hug. Let your injuries know you care. It may come off real fake at first which is why I say, fake it til you make it because it's all about breaking the pattern of negativity. Changing this pattern of positioning yourself as an adversary to your own body is key. 

Let that shit go.
Now I’m not saying you can’t be annoyed when you get hurt in the middle of doing something and I’m not saying you can’t be mad when it feels like your body is failing you, but I am saying that holding onto that anger or holding onto that resentment only creates more tension in your body. And that tension in your body becomes an obstacle to ultimately healing your injuries and moving forward to experience just how great your body is designed to feel. 

STOP. LISTEN. BE KIND. 
Next time, if your {insert pain source here} hurts, don’t call it a jerk, don’t drag it along. Avoid the adversarial tone. Stop, listen, if needed, ask for help. I promise this will make a big shift in how you feel in your body, with your body. If you’re not sure what the pain is trying to tell you come in for a session and we’ll figure it out together.
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Our bodies are resilient, they are designed to feel good, they are designed to do great things. To reach its full potential sometimes it needs a little more love, compassion, and support. Never forget that your body is literally your biggest cheerleader. 
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