A little trick my Mom showed me

Well I want to pass a little story in the hopes that it could help someone else.

As a little background I want to clarify visualization in this context. A mechanic uses this kind of visualization when his hands are out of sight fixing an item "blind" or in the minds eye. Imagination put to work I guess would be another easy analogy.

Surprisingly the mechanics of this idea are not new to science it is just not made public knowledge. Ok that said.


When I was a child I had a very unfortunate habit of getting up to mischief, and this particular day was no different. I was whittling on a branch with a very large knife and slipped and cut a large portion of the end of my finger off. I don't know if you have experienced this but due to the amount of nerve endings there the throbbing pain can be relentless, shooting pain all the way up the arm.

I was frantic and could not be consoled. My Mom having been a RN had cleaned and dressed the wound expertly but still no relief, this was 40 years ago now mind and things were different, as to the lack of pain medication etc ....and well Aspirin wasn't going to cut it.

So now into the what she showed me and what she did.

She propped me up in my bed and started to slowly rub the arm from the elbow down the arm to the hand to the finger. She explained the pain was caused by the blood pumping and throbbing towards the finger. She drew my attention to the fact that the pain was radiating and felt like it was moving through my arm.

She told me to concentrate on the pulses themselves, to "feel" and see them in my mind and move them towards the injured finger and out of my body. While she was stoking my arm in a fashion that started above the elbow and out then from the elbow and out from the wrist and out. A pattern of drawing down.

As I concentrated and "pushed" the pain down my arm, I noticed an almost immediate lessening of pain in my arm which brought about renewed interest and hope that my pain would go. The start I believe of triggering the sensation.

She kept talking me through this step by step as the pain was moved to my wrist, hand and fingers, down to the injured finger.

Effectively she reduced my pain down to reality, just a missing end of a finger.

She looked at me right in the eyes at that point, and said " be here with me right now, here's the secret I have for you", She held my hand in hers and continued, " Now take the pain, it's right there on the end of your finger...push it all the way out".

I believed her and I tried, it worked. I fell into a fast sleep only to awaken without pain the next day.


Background.

Mom was a VON RN who worked in a child palliative cancer care ward, but she was much more throughout her life

This is placebo at work, or maybe how to access it. I have seen papers and journals on this which can be easily found online. Not a lot of how to manuals out there though.


I found this useful to reduce pain during headache, broken bones, sickness, and well just about every area of my physical life. To be clear it doesn't heal, just lessens the pain so the healing can start and be effective. I am currently holding out on remission of my own metabolic disorder using this as well as stress reducing regiments.



That's one of my little tricks, free to you and off my chest, thank you for the opportunity.

What a wise and loving mother head. Thanks for the deeply felt memory.

a reply to: Treespeaker

Beautiful story. Thank you for sharing.

Our mothers must have been kindred. Mine taught me about my "minds eye", my 3rd eye and how it oversees what the body is up to at all times. When the body does injury, it sends healing injury to the area to begin healing the body instantly. She would lay my head in her lap and, with her thumb, she would use feather like bush strokes on my 3rd eye and speak to it in low whisper....pretty much as your mother did.

Worked every time.

a reply to: Treespeaker

your mother was wise as hell. I cant even describe how true this is for ALL pain. Beware the detractors. They will be along shortly to tell you this is BS. LOL, they can just enjoy the pain they were born to.

Have a good one.

That is not a placebo effect. That is using your minds power to control pain. It is real. It has had scientific proof to show it is real. There are real discovered pathways this uses. It is real medicine.

The placebo effect actually uses a part of this system, but you do not need to take a pill at all. You just have to believe you can some times. Like the little train that said I think I can it needs to change to I know it can.

Now this does not replace some needed medical interventions. The mind can help to promote healing but you have to deal with some medical issues too. The finger needed to be cleaned and bandaged and your mother knew how to help you with the rest. She gained experience, experience that is not taught in the medical field usually but some people have learned it.

Belief can help you a lot, you do not always need pain meds. But sometimes you do. Proper diet can help to build chemicals to create proper neurochemicals that help ease pain. Deficiencies in some of the necessary elements of these pathways can make pain become a problem. I am trying to learn more about these pathways but there are problems that can occur if stimulating or overbuilding them also. Also there seems to be personal genetics involved that cause problems with proper amounts of these chemistries from working.

The USA uses more antipsychotics, antidepressants, and pain relievers total than the rest of the world I read. Most of the other countries paid attention to their parents and grandparents and they do not need the meds nearly as much. Stuff is passed on from generation to generation and this stuff is usually genetic specific to groups of people. We just mixed things all up and people are getting delusional and believing only pharmaceutical companies can supply what they need. All medications have side effects, some can be severe. But sometimes we have to evaluate the risk factor and find the benefit outweighs the side effects. If it is short term use, no problem usually. Long term medications most often cause problems for some people. Some can take them without hardly any side effects, but that number is actually pretty low, that is why people wind up needing more and more medicines to combat the side effects.

Your mother sounds like a very special woman. I'm sure she was a blessing to all the children in her care.

Thanks for sharing.

a reply to: Treespeaker
My mother was also a nurse. My sister had asthma. Back in those days, we didn't have the medicines and inhalers, they have today. If they had been available back then, we never would have been able to afford them. When my sister had an asthma attack, my Mom would "talk" my sister out of her attacks.

It was amazing to see, and being the oldest, of course, I wanted so much to learn how to do it. It took a long time, but I finally was able to learn the technique, it may have been one of the reason why I became a Nurse later in life.

Fast forward to over a year ago. I was visited by a pain from spinal degenerative joint disease, and spinal sequestration. A pain which is a constant and unmanageable with narcotics. I spent over 3 months bed bound, when I decided I wasn't ready to give up. I tried the bio feedback technique. It didn't work for me. I tried the embracing your pain technique, it only worked for the mild pain. I have learned to make my pain my friend. On some days the relationship becomes a bit more intense. The love that one feels for a child, can give a person the power to walk on fire. Some days my relationship to the pain, actually become that intense.

I know it is just a mind game. But it is the only way I can keep going. Your mother proved to you that it works. The power of the mind is much greater than we realize.


It is only way I can function some days is to

a reply to: Justso

Thank you, I just felt the need to say it and share it in my own words.

a reply to: rickymouse

Thanks for the reply.

I definitely don't think this replaces medicine.

I am very glad to see there are more than a few people that have had a similar experience, it makes me happy.

My old martial arts instructor used to teach me this as part of meditation to get rid of stresses, strains, aches and other 'negative energies'. We recognised the method to be "all in your mind", but it really does help.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

Thank you for your thoughtful reply.

I understand the embrace your pain technique, and I suppose I did have to make it my friend as well. You opened my eyes further to a habit I formed without giving it a name.

I remember telling a Doctor once that it wouldn't be a problem because I had come to understand the point where pain was pleasure. Honestly it was a time of some of my most intense art as well as some very turbulent times mentally/physically.

Trapped in a box I found myself searching for a way from that feeling and sensation. I could see how long I could keep up the pretense and endure the stress. And yes the nagging feeling from my past that I was playing in magic didn't help at all.

The Knack

When I was young I suffered from dissociation, It was like every situation had a mental box with which I would assign a picture. It seemed to allow me to understand my situation and have a mental "recording" of well whatever I was focused on. Almost trapped within my own head.

I woke myself from the fog.

Remembering the how I did it is where I found the basis of where I am now with pain management. I had to use a new reference point.

Using what I previously learned, I visualized the box again and a picture to reference it that I tell myself to forget. I hide from myself in only this way mentally.

The deep enduring pain that sits on the cross road of having to bear it goes in there. And then disassociation with the said visualized box.

I suppose this could be considered internalizing the pain, and would be without the visualized box. Pain focused on or in the body is obviously going to cause more harm.

The box has to be outside the thought of the body, a trigger to shut the blaring horn of the pain sensation off but the damage remains. And a moment to again allow the body to go as far as it can.

Physical pain goes in the box not emotional pain. Emotional pain is healthy at times and will only cause more stress if disassociated.

That's where I have found a balance to it, I hope it helps on your journey.

a reply to: SlowNail

I'm glad people see this as helpful information, it is almost a shock to me honestly.

I learned to meditate through Karate, it definitely help me focus. I knew how mentally but it took discipline to really reap the benefits.

Thanks for bringing that up, you stirred some cool memories.

a reply to: Treespeaker

More than happy to do so. It is a fond memory for me too. So, thank you also.

We used similar visualisations to produce a more 'explosive' impact too. I still use the breathing/meditation techniques now, in everyday life. There's a lot to be said about being able to 'let go' of what ails ya'.

Most useful to me nowadays is being able to visualise positive energy entering through the nose and see that energy travel round your body, expelling the negative through the mouth, particularly anger.

I guess my instructor gifted me a coping mechanism, which will sound silly to some, but it works and I stand by it.

a reply to: Treespeaker

In a few retreats I have been, one of the main exercises was observing pain objectively. At first the physical pain was great, sitting knees down on a hard mat for one hour without moving, but as you sit with the pain and accepting the reality, and not rejecting reality, the pain seems to fade away or getting much lesser to a point it feels like just a strong sensation, but doesn't really bother you anymore.

It seems like the mind is creating the pain, that's probably why we don't feel pain while we sleep... Pain is definitely a mystery.

Thanks for sharing your story.

a reply to: SlowNail

That's almost scary how similar on a base level and completely how I day to day.

I use it also as a way to take in information, gave me a thirst for understanding.

I guess I see it in a way as a very good motivator for me mentally that seems to really play out with how the flow of my life goes.

You had a very cool instructor

a reply to: [post=20464889]Treespeaker[/pos
I love your story and strongly believe all pain and sicknesses are directly linked to the mind

Sounds like hypnosis to me. And the power of suggestion

a reply to: dashen

Yes I can see how that could be the perception.

Self hypnosis while being aware and awake. Or a state of mind. It's neither of these.

Definitively it's learning to control your body with your mind and vise versus.

No it's not magical. It's not a way to garner political influence in groups. Although it is something I see abused quite a bit when a person is content to manipulate others for sport or gain. It CAN be used to send more blood to extremities when they are cold.

It's good that the push and pull of this gets limited to just that when abused, like a natural limiter.

It's practice and focus, constant repetition. Instead of other distractions.

Simplicity, it's not a puzzle.

My personal definition of magic ....or magical thinking is : manipulation of the perceptions of others for self gain.

I'm not a practitioner.

a reply to: Treespeaker

The way our minds can control out physiology is amazing.

I have heard of operations being performed without anesthetic (which can have nasty effects, especially in older people), under hypnosis or even just strong suggestion.

a reply to: chr0naut

Thanks for the reply,

They had to do them that way in the past as well I`m sure before there was some kind of medicine.

I think the knowledge is still valid when used to this purpose.

(The stuff is mostly cloistered because it can be dangerous. And I refuse to disseminate on any how to of a negative nature, it damages too many cycles.)

And that I guess is another little `Trick`, the less I use my understanding to manipulate negatively. The more I find the rock to the next step.