Now more than ever people are looking for ways to control chronic back pain. Stuck at home, can’t get out to see your regular massage therapist, chiropractor, physical therapist or orthopedic doctor? Here are a few ways that you can control your back pain through mind body healing methods. In addition to your regular treatments these methods can help relieve stress in the mind, relax muscles in the body and help you achieve a sense of comfort and ease during your daily activities.
1. Mindful Movement
Motion is lotion. Movement is lotion for the joints, and we control our movements through our thoughts and our brains. Careful attention to our body and how we move through the day can increase the connections between the brain and the body. This helps us become more aware of our body and of the particular movements that are contributing to pain. Moving mindfully as in “with your mind in your muscles”, can also help you figure out what types of movements feel good and how to move about your days with ease. This is as simple as, next time you’re standing at the sink, washing your hands, notice your feet on the floor and begin to bring mindfulness into your body as you wash your hands. Bringing moments of consciousness into our daily movements can help decrease pain and increase enjoyment of daily activities. Movement should feel fun.
2. Aware Breathing
Beware of the breath. The breath is the gateway to understanding our unique inner life. We are breathing all day long but we’re not usually aware of the quality of each breath we take.
When we are in chronic pain there’s a tendency to hold our breath. Holding the breath leads to chronic muscular tension. Tension can be anywhere in the back, around the rib cage and inside of the rib cage. Aware breathing can help address this issue. Breathing is both passive and active, and there are many exercises that can help increase circulation around areas of tightness. Aware breathing can be done anytime and anywhere. Try it now. Begin by taking a deep breath in through your nose while, counting to five, Feel your belly, diaphragm and chest expand as a balloon filling up with air, pause for a moment, then slowly exhale through the nose for a count of five. Feel your chest, diaphragm and belly soften as you exhale. Repeat that 5 to 10 times.
3. Meditation
Meditation has been proven time and time again to help relieve mental stress and physical tension. Meditation is not about sitting and thinking about nothing, although it may look that way from the outside. Meditation is simply focus and anything we focus on can become a form of meditation. How often have you been lost in music? Have you ever been lost in your work? Staring at the stars? How about making love? In the Flow? Meditation comes in many forms and in its purest form concentration with a loving regard is meditation. Mindfulness-based meditation has been proven to help with chronic back pain. Combine that with Mindful Movement and Aware Breathing and you have new tools to hack your back pain.
With love ❤,
Claudia, E-YRT-500 YA (US), Gold E-RYT YA (Australia)
p.s. Join Tenya and I Saturday, May 23, 2020 for our online Self Care Saturday Spa Retreat. We’ll be focusing all on the back, using the techniques mentioned above.
