Before we get into this post, I want you to take this moment to do a quick body scan. Close your eyes, take 3 deep breaths and slowly scan yourself from head to toe.
Notice any pain, tension and discomfort you feel in your body.
Are you feeling anxious and stressed? Calm and grounded? Somewhere in between?
Everything you feel is a sign that your body is communicating with you.
If you’re feeling pain or discomfort somewhere right now…good! Wait, why is that good?
- By bringing awareness to your body, you are now hearing the messages it’s trying to get across.
- Pain and discomfort is a sign that this is a place requires your attention. Think of it as your check engine light.
- Now that you know it’s there, ask yourself “why am I feeling this discomfort?”
- If you know that answer, ask yourself “what can I do to resolve the reason for this discomfort?”
Spoiler alert: the answer isn’t to pop an ibuprofen. Pain medication is made to simply hide our pain – mask them from us so that we think things are fine, but we’ve actually not solved the issue at hand: why am I feeling discomfort?
The danger that comes with masking our pain is that we fall into the false belief that our body is okay and oftentimes continue to do the same actions or habits that aggravate the cause of our pain. Over and over until your body won’t take it anymore and the pain becomes much less manageable and more overbearing.
When you experience pain, that pain is not “normal” simply because many others you know experience it. It’s your body’s smoke signal to let you know that something isn’t quite right and needs to be adjusted before things get worse. Whether you have back, neck, shoulder, knee or even abdominal pain from habits, trauma or inflammation, I help folks figure out the root of their pain and support the body in healing and recovery.
