The 5-R's to reverse chronic pain & the effects of Post Traumatic Stress.
We are as a collective living in overwhelm , uncertainty and our stress levels are at all time high!
Many of us already carry and manage so much on a day to day basis, now to mention the last few years with the pandemic, it does not matter how strong you are, it can take a toll.
Chronic Fear, stress and Its effects on your state, you mode of operation will create:
*hyper-vigilance,
*overwhelm, or freeze state
* Or you just continue to "manage", get through, survive (flight and fight).
These states will weaken your Immunity, create chronic pain and disease and determine your rate of recovery if you do get sick.
I want to share some of the principles of what I teach in my NeuroPath Reset Group Classes and in my one on one sessions and through my programs.
The 5 R’s Principles of NPR METHOD:
- Re-Align – How you hold yourself , your posture , your feet, hips/pelvic , spine and head; can determine and affect your well-being!
Internal factors such as
*emotions,
*thought patterns,
*beliefs
*our diet
*our traumas
Can influence and will affect your posture, sense of balance, coordination and alignment by creating, or triggering chronic patterns.
I always say the story of your life is mapped out in the body, as memories are not just a function of the mind but are stored and managed by the body.
External factors such as:
*our lifestyle,
*our work
*home environments,
*weather,
*accidents
*our relationships
can create, contribute and reinforce our posture/alignment.
The Intelligence of the bodymind moves towards protective postures, which require tremendous Innate resources to maintain often times at the cost of your health.
For example, In many cases of chronic lower back pain that is treatment resistant, the actual cause can be stored and repressed emotions. In my 25 years of clinical experience and research, those emotions can be as a result of stored and unprocessed anger and sadness.
Getting into the bottom of it, or to unearth the roots to the pain can be difficult and not everyone is ready to do that. But one can start to change how they feel through changing how you hold yourself.
2. Reset – A reset in your nervous system occurs after you introduce “Ease” into your nervous system. How do you know you managed to create a reset, or knowing when your body mind is moving into self regulation?
It Is when your bodymind responds, with a sigh, a yawn, a smile and a sense of being present in the wholeness of your bodymind. It’s a consequence of regulating the “Rhythm of Operation” (heart rate, brainwave activity, pulse rate, breath rate) .
This can be achieved with gentle, mindful movements to “manipulate”, or deceive the nervous system. Like turning switches off and on.
These movements require:
- correct assessment,
- sense of safety,
- movement with awareness done with EASE,
- imagination and breath.
- Patience to allow for change
They are taught to be done as a sequence, or troubleshoot an area. When I facilitate the sequence to you in sessions, they are done methodically and with some techniques that have been created by my trainings and exploration In eastern modalities and western techniques. I have to manipulate the nervous system for you
We not only concentrate on the Vagus nerve but address all major nerve pathways.
How does that feel you might ask?
Emotionally You are:
*Calm ,
*relaxed and grounded
*Feel more in your body
*Feel Safe,
When it comes to Physically you experience:
*less pain,
*more range of motion
* You notice that you fall easily into deep restorative sleep.
It is important that those movements and sequences are taught to you as I do in our sessions and group classes.
3. Release – When your nervous system manages to Reset, the guarding mechanism are at rest and there is nothing to manage. Only then your body is ready to release what it has been storing for you.
In particular , the abdomen, the domain of your visceral pain! It's where your gut wrenching experiences, traumas, your chronic stress, emotions and anxieties are stored. In my classes and in my one on one sessions, I teach how to do that safely. These emotions, or memories can be entangles, create knots, pressure, pain, symptoms and disorders both in the abdominal cavity but referred elsewhere in the body.
With empathetic presence, mindful touch and other methods/tools offered one can start to truly let go what has been unprocessed, managed and repressed. At this point allowing emotions to flow, moving them with:
- movement,
- exercise,
- walking,
- yoga ,
- dance ,
- stretching ,
- sound
- Art &Journaling
All of the above mentioned can help to continue the process tremendously. When the body releases there is so much clarity that comes after the process. Realizations are made, more clarity is provided to you within and the pain changes, or disappeared with it. Sometime when more processing is required, talking to counselor, or psychologist can be very helpful.
4. Resiliency – When fear takes a hold of us and we succumb to a state of stress it will weaken us in every level of our being , in every system in the body. As the internal and external input overwhelms us, we become less resilient to triggers, emotional storms and viral pathogens. We start to feel like we have no control, we become chronically anxious and develop behaviours to soothe ourselves and to give us the illusion of control. (eg. addictive patterns, isolation, overindulgence, overwork).
You regain CONTROL when you start to control your breath!
I have been a fan and a practitioner of breathwork and meditation for over 20 years. In my 20’s I chose to experience 8 x 10 day silent retreats, of Vipassana meditation. You are taught how to use the awareness of your breath and body to understand the bodymind. I also studied and experienced many yogic breathwork, Tibetan, kundalini and many others forms of it.
A few years ago trying to change my aversion to the cold and the winter and wanting to become more resilient, I studied with Wim Hof AKA "The IceMan".
His method of breathwork and cold exposure allows you to build strong resilience and has been proven by scientists to boost Immunity and develop extreme resilience. This vast system of blood vessels – arteries, veins, and capillaries – is over 60,000 miles long. That’s long enough to go around the world more than twice!
Blood flows continuously through your body’s blood vessels. Some of those vessels can get atrophied due to chronic states, traumas and ongoing struggle that can leave us fatigued and not moving as much. As a result systemic inflammation is created which is a breeding ground for disease and chronic pain.
Many of us heard exercise is great for your health and vitality and builds strength and good health, but in actuality the right breathwork is just as effective and necessary. Just like exercise consistency is the key for physiological and psychological benefits. Best to start under supervision as it can be very powerful and It's not for everyone and every condition. Finding the one that fits for you and your current needs is the key.
5. Re-Integration – Is the sum of the first 4 R’s and the beginning of a natural innate movement towards homeostasis, healing and change; I call it “Falling back into yourself”. As if you are returning back “home”.
This home is you without the noise, the pain, the identification and distortions of your pain narrative that affects your body, life and future. This is when a an opportunity arises, a path of action is laid in front of you and the seeds of your desires can grow.
This is where your Innate “Power” is felt and you feel empowered, confident and secure. You can see the necessity of your pain journey, your past and everything that you had to go through. You reclaim parts of you that you have lost and grow in other ways that you have desired, or never knew was possible.
Working with these 5 principles in an embodied way, in the way that you experience them through your body, seems so real and tangible it gives you hope, inspiration, renewed will, impetus and most importantly experiential evidence.
This evidence is vital as it proves to that wounded aspect of you that you are, changing and moving towards resolution, purpose and your greatness.
I am honored to be a witness, a guide, to create space, teach, coach and facilitate this daily for myself and those who come to see me.