You Keep It All In

I started out by telling my brain to perform what specialists--including my physical therapist, Dr Tim Flynn, who specializes in chronic pain--call descending inhibition, which is basically this: If the brain concludes that the spinal cord is overestimating the danger, it can tell the spinal cord to chillax, which is a good thing (but the brain can also say: spinal cord, dude, you're underestimating the danger, which is called descending facilitation, which sends more messages to the spinal cord to excite it). So the trick for me has always been to remember that it's my brain that creates pain, and that it might be overestimating the danger, and thus the next trick is to match up perception and truth. So, even though my eye hurts, and my face hurts, and my head hurts, and that makes me want to crawl up into a ball and moan and curse my fate, I have to reconsider. Would going for a walk really be a danger? Would stretching or laughing or watching a funny movie cause additional damage to my eye or face? As in, I start telling my brain that although I'm feeling pain--which I am--I am not in danger. Knowing this can help me on a very basic level. I'm in pain, but I'm not in danger, I can tell myself, and somehow, that calms me. Type in the address of your destination. The smartphone will talk you through every turn. There is no need to hold the phone while using these apps either. Just swipe after you've reached your destination. Restaurant Dining (Tips 355-359) Small containers of butter, creamers, jelly, and sugar can be tricky. Ask for assistance from a server in a restaurant. Place them within easy reach on your unaffected side so you can see them. Don't forget to leave a nice tip for this added service. Restaurants will provide this service for you and you will feel more independent. This all grows out of the Yolk Sac. The lungs are also unique in that once they start growing they will carry on growing on their own.

You can remove the early lung bud and it will keep dividing and growing oblivious to its detachment from the rest of the body. Most organs require constant induction from other parts of the body - not the lungs. This is very important when we consider the lung channel. Although the lungs are intimately associated with the blood from the heart, there is a strong fascial barrier between them both, which prevents blood and air mixing - the Blood-Air Barrier. The Qi connection with the voice box is one reason why, in so much of Chinese medicine, the state of the voice is intimately linked to the quality of Lung Qi. The reason why people who have had a bereavement or loss have a change in the quality and quantity of their voice is because of this connection. Grief affects our lungs because grief is about loss. Whilst our lungs delicately hold on to the spiritual aspect of our existence, loss reminds us of the impermanence of our lives and the lungs struggle to cope with this. I know what grooming is. Grooming is. My thoughts stick together in clumps in my mind and I can't make sense of them. Whatever grooming is, it didn't happen to me. I realise, suddenly, that I don't actually, really, know what grooming is. It's just a word I've heard of. Its meaning is vague, academic, irrelevant to me and to my experience. Grooming is what dirty men in macs do to get children into their car, isn't it? I realise I've never stopped to ask what it is. It's a word devoid of fleshed-out reality, mere jargon. We realize that caregivers other than the biological parents may play parenting roles in some children's lives. We don't mean to imply that parents are more important than these other care providers -- each family is different.

Although schemas begin to develop in childhood, they continue to grow and adapt to life happenings through adolescence into adulthood. Types of schemas Although numerous different schemas exist, most of them involve questioning yourself, others, and the world around you and are characterized accordingly: Self-concept schemas: Who am I? Am I capable? What am I worth? Relationship schemas: Can I trust others or should I avoid them? How do I deserve to be treated, and how should I treat others? This meant admonishment and verbal punishment. I was always getting yelled at. My ears got red hot, too. However, the suggestion about my eyes burning manifested in such excruciating eye pain that I often fell where I stood and cried out from the agony of my eyes burning out of their sockets. This strange and painful physical reaction persisted into my teen years. My sisters never reacted traumatically this way, but I always did. Besides my mother, some of the other Hungarian adults used this same phrase, with the same disastrous results of my falling down and holding my eyes and rocking back and forth. Anything I did that required discipline resulted in a knee-jerk reaction to being scolded. I cringed when adults raised their voices at me. By trial and error, I realized that I had better be careful, or the next time, my eyesight might never return. Hurry up or miss it! Employers give false time limits to prospective employees to allow them to join:

You have 48 hours to allow this offer; People use the wrong time limit for a reason: because salespeople know time kills a deal, and you have to think clearly and weigh all options. The longer you take, the less likely you will do what they want and buy Their products or services. The sneaky tricks of manipulators everywhere are to provide you with free gifts or services, or other things you don't want, and then ask for something in return: Free Evaluation No strings attached. Debt Free Offer But know: there is no such thing as a free lunch. She'd close her eyes and discover internal cues conveying threat (eg, a clenched stomach) but her external world didn't line up with what she was experiencing inside. In my work with Gina, the key to resolving this dynamic was to help her develop dual awareness--a concept I covered in article 2. Dual awareness means we can maintain multiple perspectives at the same time, including being able to balance awareness between our internal and external reality. One time I did this, she looked up at me, surprised. This is exactly what I wasn't doing in meditation, she said. I was just continuing to focus on the threat inside, and eventually I'd just check out. In the initial stages of trauma recovery, survivors often require direct coaching and guidance to work with interoceptive and exteroceptive sensations. Trying to navigate them alone is an exceptionally difficult task. In the next article, I'll talk about the benefit--even the necessity--of working with trained trauma professionals in the context of mindfulness. At the very least, survivors require trauma-sensitive tools and modifications in mindfulness practice to ensure they are practicing safely. I kept looking over at the man and thinking: The poor guy is having to pound away at his laptop now. With Yogan, we no longer need to fight with others - instead, we can interact with them!

USING THE article This article is designed for people who find themselves in strained situations: those who are experiencing problems with their family, their partner, their children, or in their job. Once you've read this article and integrated Yogan into your life, things will become easier. In my seminars I always say, provocatively: `Life will then become boring. Because you'll be free of stress and will learn to realign your life on a higher level. However, this article isn't merely about grasping the Yogan Method on an intellectual level; This knowledge will pass into the consciousness of your cells. Yes, our cells have consciousness and possess their own intelligence. One strange balancing act I've learned is this: I must accept that I'm in pain because denying that you're in pain can just make it worse, and your body decides that it has to send you even stronger signals to get your attention. I must also be with the pain. Simultaneously, I have to avoid negative pain beliefs that contribute to pain, such as catastrophic thoughts (Oh my god, I can't live this way! Simultaneously, there's a focus on breath because it can literally reset the nervous system. Breathing well decreases blood pressure, lowers heart rate, and decreases stress chemicals, which is why yoga and meditation are part of the plan for reducing pain. All of this put together reinforces the fact that thoughts are brain chemistry--that is, thoughts inform brain chemistry--and I can change my pain signature. The best way to think of this is to imagine pain as a particular song that's stuck in your head, and you have to replace it with another song. This was my particular path, and I recommend the MBSR program or something like it for anyone who might benefit. I tried taking pain as a companion, rather than something to fight--just like I have done with regard to death. In the end, though, I knew only I was in charge of my nervous system, just like I was responsible for my relationship with death. Invisible Disability (Tips 360-365) Some stroke survivors may indicate only slight spasticity or other viewable difficulties after stroke.