July/August 2008 Alternative Health
Pain Relief Without Drugs

by Jan Sadler

Jan_SadlerThe power of our thoughts can affect both our bodies and our feelings. Imagine the healing that can take place with the right thoughts. Yes, we can encourage self-healing, with all the cells of our bodies functioning more efficiently and producing those wonderful pain-reducing endorphins for us. With positive, strengthening thoughts we can also choose to enhance the way we feel, encouraging a more serene and uplifted spirit within ourselves.

A situation may be a challenge, but no situation is "bad" in itself. It is our attitude toward the situation and our interpretation of it that is important. We may not be able to change the situation, but we can change the way we view it. We may not be able to wish away the pain but we can change how we feel about it.

We can learn to befriend the part of our body that is troubling us, respect it and be patient with it. We can learn how to help it to function more efficiently by not forcing it to do what it now finds difficult. We can learn how to relax, to pace our activities and to take advantage of all the many other wonderful ways in which we can use our own natural powers to help ourselves. We can learn how to keep our thoughts positive and supportive. We can grow to understand that we are more than our pain and have deeper parts of our being that can be content and happy despite our physical difficulties. Being positive means focusing on the positive aspects of life and on what we can do to help ourselves. Remember: positive thoughts are not a luxury - they are essential to our well-being.

Be Positive to Your Pain

Within us there is a powerful healing force striving continually to repair our body. This force operates most efficiently when we are relaxed and feeling good. Knowing this, we can appreciate that in addition to developing our self-esteem and general confidence, we best support ourselves by developing a positive, caring attitude toward our pain. We do this by trying to help our body in whatever ways we can, being patient with ourselves and the hurting part, and respecting our body for what it can and cannot do at the moment. We can learn to get in contact with our pain, not cursing or fighting it but caring for it, befriending it. We can speak with compassion and understanding directly to the part of our body concerned and thank it for everything it has done in the past. We can tell the area that we understand it is hurt at the moment, and we are doing the best we can to help it.

For example, a positive conversation with a hurt back could go something like this:

"Thank you for everything you have done for me in the past. I'm so sorry if I have mistreated you. I know you are hurting now and I'm doing my best to help you and care for you. Please let me know if there is anything you need: I am listening."

If you take all your attention into the hurt area and speak to it in your own way, you may very well receive a message. It could be a feeling, a thought or a picture that comes to your mind. Be open and take notice of the very first sensations that come to you - this is how your wise inner self communicates with you. If there is no feedback from your body at this time, just spend a few minutes breathing warmth and relaxation into the part that hurts. This will also let the area know you are caring for it. Try to contact the part again on another occasion very soon. Continue to use this technique to foster a caring relationship with your body.

As the relationship grows, our respect for our body increases and we are less likely to mistreat it. In caring for our body in this positive way, we gain further opportunities for pain-reducing endorphins to flow and for healing to take place.

The more we use these techniques, the more our confidence will grow. The more our confidence increases, the more we feel in charge of our pain and are able to look to the future again. The pain will begin to take its place in our lives at the side of the stage instead of in the limelight.

Excerpted from Jan Sadler's Pain Relief Without Drugs. Jan Sadler is the creator of the highly successful PainSupport website at www.painsupport.co.uk and the author of Peaceful Sleep and The Five Feel-Good Factors. Her pain management programs have been adopted by pain and stress management clinics in hospitals and by support groups worldwide.