Back on Your Feet

𝟕 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧

I couldn’t feel my legs for the first 15 years of my life.

There wasn’t anything “wrong“ with them.

I was just that disconnected from my body.

I even had many out-of-body experiences as a child.

You see, it wasn’t safe for me to be present in my body because of the abuse that was happening to me.

Then when I was 15, I was in 3 separate car accidents.

About six months later, my wrists started hurting.

Then the pain started to spread to other areas of my body.

It remained at a level ~8 every day for the next 20+ years.

At first, I didn’t know what was causing it. It didn’t seem to be connected to the accidents.

Later, through a series of events, I came to realize that there was a mind-body connection contributing to my pain.

It was, in part, related to the trauma that I had survived as a child.

I worked for years trying to figure out how to work through all of that and make the pain go away. I also uncovered other things that were contributing to my pain, both from a mind-body perspective and also physiologically.

I was then able to piece together a method that I used to heal my pain, and bring it down to a 0-2.

I then shared my method with my clients, who started getting incredible results! I even witnessed people getting rid of their pain in just minutes!

For example, Rachel Morris called me one day with intense lower back pain.

For months, she had been planning and looking forward to a week-long solo backpacking trip. She was really worried that she wouldn't be able to go due to the pain.

It had seemed to come out of nowhere, and she wasn’t sure why.

“𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘥; 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 ‘𝘰𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥!’

𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘥, 𝘐’𝘥 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 9 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

𝘔𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵 – 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦.

𝘑𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘨𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘢, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘢.
𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘧𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮.
𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯.

𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 50% 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯.

𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬."

One month later, Rachel went on her backpacking trip, pain-free!

The missing piece to Rachel’s pain was solving her mind-body connection.

When I first found out about this concept, I was like “Uhh no I don’t think so…” I didn't think that it applied to me.

Unfortunately, this belief kept me in pain for years!

This is a common mistake that many people in pain make--they don’t think that this applies to them.

Or they simply aren’t aware of the mind-body connection and how it relates to their pain.

However, as I observed myself and my body over time, I recognized that there were certain patterns to my pain. Patterns that would occur in direct correlation with what was going on in my mind.

So I invite you to really reflect upon this question:

--> Could it be possible that there is a mind-body connection keeping your pain in place?

So how do you actually know if this is causing or contributing to your pain?
Here are 7 questions to ask yourself:
1. Did the pain seem to come out of nowhere?
2. Does your pain not go away completely with physical treatments like chiropractic, massage, pain meds, etc?
3. Does the pain come and go? Or fluctuate in intensity? Or move around in your body?
4. When you’re stressed or upset, does your pain level go up?
5. Do you feel like you’ve tried everything but it still hasn’t gone away?
6. Did the pain begin during or after a stressful or challenging time in your life?
7. Do you experience frustration, discouragement, irritation, anxiety, depression, or a similar feeling about your pain?

If you answered Yes to any of these questions, it’s quite likely that there is a mind-body connection behind your pain....
..Which is possible to solve!

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐦𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝟏 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 “𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝-𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲” 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐃𝐌 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨.

𝟒 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧

I woke up in pain every day for over 20 years. 😩

Even before I opened my eyes, one part of my body or another would loudly announce that it was hurting.

Going back to sleep usually made it worse.

So then I would have to get out of bed, even when I didn’t feel like it (which was most of the time!) Then I would start my day, not feeling good–yet again. Grrrr!

And the pain would continue for the rest of the day until I went back to sleep.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

In the last few years, though, I've been experimenting with different ways to get better sleep, even with chronic pain. I’ll tell you, it’s been a journey!

Sometimes I felt like I kept hitting my head against the same wall over and over again. 🤕

But I have been able to boil it down to several key actions (I'll be sharing them here in my new FB group "Solving Chronic Pain Together"--check them out here: www.facebook.com/groups/solvingchronicpain/)

These actions have allowed me to get a full night of sleep and even wake up with little to no pain!

→ 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝟒 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞:

𝟏. 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬. Sometimes my mind can be so active during the day that it's hard to wind down. Then I’ll find myself lying awake for hours trying to get my brain to shut up already!

I found that I need to intentionally relax both my body and my mind. I use meditation, gentle yoga / stretching, or reading. (I prefer a page or two of a spiritual book instead of a mystery or drama. Or a boring book can put me right to sleep!) Journaling can also be helpful to process any issues from the day, and let go of them.

𝟐. 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. I used to get a second wind around 8 or 9pm and I would start doing projects or tasks. But when I would do that, my brain would get into gear and the ideas would come flying. Or I simply would want to keep working on it until it was done, which could be 11pm or 4am. Best to save it for tomorrow--it's a good reason to get up in the morning!

𝟑. 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬. Keep a pen and a notepad next to your bed for any brilliant ideas or new projects that come to you as you drift off. I find that if I don't write them down, my brain will get way too excited about the ideas. That will keep me up until I write them down.

𝟒. 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬. It’s not a great idea to have any digital devices in the bedroom (more about that in another post in this Better Sleep, Less Pain series.) But in the worst case scenario, if you can’t sleep, and nothing else is working, try sleep music. You can do a search on Youtube for "healing sleep music," "relaxing sleep music," or "sleep music for pain." There are a ton of great options!

I also love the "Nothing Much Happens" podcast--bedtime stories for adults where, well, nothing much happens.

👉 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧. I invite you to test out which of these strategies work the best and make the most difference for you. It may take some experimentation. Then make a checklist and put it somewhere visible in your house to remind yourself.

We all know how essential sleep is, especially when you don’t get it!

Getting better sleep was one of the last things that I focused on to heal myself.

Doing this helped me to finally bring my pain level down from a 8 to a 0-2 on a daily basis. (I wish I had done it sooner!)

𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭?

(P.S. This post is #1 of 4 from my Better Sleep, Less Pain series that I’m sharing in the group. If you want to read the others, join my new FB group "Solving Chronic Pain Together" -- www.facebook.com/groups/solvingchronicpain/ )

𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟐𝟓 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞.

While some health issues are visibly obvious, chronic pain remains hidden behind the scenes.

Even with 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝟖, I was able to function somewhat. But I often felt like I was 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭.
I felt grumpy, irritable, or just plain cranky because of the pain.

Sometimes I found myself in my car, screaming in a meltdown of despair.

𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲.
For a long time, I lost hope.

After 22+ years, I finally made the decision that 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡.

𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫.

Because 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭.
I had a mission–to live a good life & to help people with their pain, too.
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞.

So I began a journey to figure out how to heal my body. It took a long time to solve my pain, because I didn't have anyone guiding me.
Over the course of several years, I 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝟖 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝟎-𝟐!
I'm a lot better now. I feel fit & healthy, & more energetic than ever!

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 ‘𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤’ 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧,
𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭,
𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧,
𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐩!
Seriously.
(I almost did.)

If you haven’t yet, I invite you to 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲: “𝐄𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡. 𝐈’𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫.”

“If it's possible for someone else, it’s possible for me.” 💙 -Les Brown

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧, 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 "𝐦𝐞" 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞.