You Are Already Whole

You are already whole - your true nature is free and blissful. The yoga practice (sādhāna) is simply about removing the impediments that prevent us from seeing this.

This teaching becomes even more potent when we apply it to pain.

Often when we experience pain we get a diagnosis or scan that leaves us feeling like we are broken, weak, misaligned, unstable, that our body is failing us, that we are a failure.

But this is so far from the truth.

Your body is incredibly resilient and adaptable. If we change our view of pain and instead see it as sensation and a message from the body that we perhaps need to pay more attention, move a little more or in a different way in order to adapt, then pain does not mean that we are broken but rather we are adapting and becoming more resilient.

Pain is actually an output from our brain - it does not always mean there is tissue damage. When I was hit by a car 18 years ago, the pain that I experienced was actually out of proportion to the tissue damage that had been done.

Yes, my knee was swollen and I was a bit bruised and battered, but nothing was broken, ruptured or in need of repair. I was two weeks away from flying to London to chase my dream of becoming a dancer. So naturally I was incredibly worried about whether I would be able to dance, or even walk. Added to this was the stress of not being able to work, being a broke student and not having the financial means to support myself (and I had been riding my brother’s extremely expensive triathlon bike which cost way more than the money I had in the bank).

All of these factors influenced the level of pain I experienced. The lady in the emergency department also told me she knew of a famous one legged dancer, which did not help!

“Pain is an opinion” - Ramachandran

Pain is multifactorial and is affected by biopsychosocial factors such as money, support, prior experience, sleep, diet and so much more. It is subjective and dependent on each situation. For instance, if you are needing to outrun a bear when you sprain your ankle you will experience very little pain as your nervous system will deem getting out of danger more important than feeling the ankle sprain. The drug cabinet in your brain will release your endogenous cannabinoids and opioids to dull the pain.

Pain can be an unreliable measure of how things are. We can experience pain long after the tissue has healed, due to the nervous system being on high alert and having a memory of the injury: that niggle that always flares up when you do a certain movement. And yes, you guessed it, breathing has a huge influence on this too as it can ramp up the sympathetic nervous system response, increasing inflammation and pain.

The brain will also start to magnify nociceptive input from the body if we are not providing enough proprioceptive feedback through movement. Nociceptors are the receptors that measure things like mechanical stress, chemical stress, and tissue damage and relay this to the brain. When we are not moving enough the brain will magnify any of the nociceptive input, meaning our experience of pain will be greater.

So when you experience pain, rather than thinking you are broken, damaged, weak or that the movement is wrong, see it as a sign from the body to adapt. Explore what this pain might be telling you: maybe it's a sign to slow down, to let go of a job or relationship that is not serving you, to breathe better, or is it simply a sign that your body needs to move more and your brain is thirsty for proprioceptive input.

Painkillers obviously have their place, however they can prevent the body from producing its own endogenous pain relief so over time become a crutch, and lead to increased levels of pain which is why the opioid epidemic has become so prevalent in today's society.

“Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional” - Buddhist Proverb.

We will all experience pain in our life. If we can reframe our relationship to it and see it as simply a message from the nervous system rather than a life sentence then we can reduce our suffering.

There is no one right way to move or posture yourself to prevent pain. What every rehab modality has in common is getting you moving, trusting your body and instilling a sense of safety back to the nervous system.

You are not broken, you are already whole and your body does an incredible job at healing, adapting and becoming more resilient. Let go of the diagnosis and the fear of moving and you will be surprised how your body will respond.

Your cells love load - it is the language they speak. So move more, not less. Find novel ways to move your body: take up a new sport, hobby or movement practice. And remember to pay attention to how you are breathing as it not only helps with stabilising the body but also calming the nervous system and reducing the experience of pain.

Enjoy this gentle movement practice that helps to build proprioception, interoception, breath awareness and a sense of safety for the nervous system.