Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Masking your Pain Pt. 4

“By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. He hath cast me into the mine, and I am become like dust and ashes” (Job 30: 18,19).

“We don’t have pain, we do pain” –Dr. Alex Cahana

Pain may only stay in our bodies if we let it. By setting our faith, changing our perception of pain and removing barriers from our bodies that prevent natural healing, then we are able to have a pain free life. By including simple exercises into our everyday routine we can also maintain our healing and restore quality of life. As we learned in our previous article, Pillow Talk, pain can cause stress in the body and chronic stress can cause pain. This constant stimulation of your sympathetic nervous system causes damage to all body organs.

I found that using a mixture of deep breathing and mediation during my prayer time have done wonders for relaxing my muscles, relieving my pain and controlling my stress. This has also helped with my prayer life and gives me a deeper connection with God. I know that many Christians are against mediation, because it comes from Buddhist origin and of course if Christianity did not come up with it then it MUST be bad, right??? Let me explain to you what meditation is. Mediation involves concentrating your thoughts on a specific object  or thought, and slowing down your current process, in order to give your mind a break from the extra thoughts and stresses that run through your mind during the day. Meditation does not need to be done with chanting and alters. Meditation can be done concentrating on the meal you are eating, or the shower you are taking, or a bible verse that you have read. Many of us rush through our daily prayers; we say what we are thankful for, give God our prayer requests and AMEN. Back to living life after that. Prayer time is meant to be quality time with the Lord and not just one way conversation. My own routine, I slow down and break up my prayers into sections. I will take pauses and deep breathe fully inflating and deflating my lungs while focusing on the Holy Spirit. Not only does this allow the Holy Spirit to work on me and give time for communication but the breathing exercises help to reduce anxiety, alter heart function, lower blood pressure, sleep better, increase mental clarity and energy and relieve pain. Meditation also has these same qualities. My prayers could last for hours if I let them, God always places more on my heart to pray for when I give him more time to talk to me, and my prayers are so relaxing. I’m not just telling God everything that I need and want while trying to rush to get back to my life. I am spending quality time with the Father. We have conversations and I always awake still feeling the Spirit with me.

“And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).
Relaxation techniques can work wonders in controlling our response and experience to pain. When I go to bed each night I use autogenic training to relax my muscles to promote a more quality rest, and help to ensure that I will wake up pain free. I find a comfortable position to lie in and I use short phrases to tell my muscles to relax. I work from my neck down to my toes. “My neck is relaxed, my shoulders are relaxed, etc.”. With training you will start to feel as your tension leaves your body and you start to relax.

I encourage you to do your research on breathing techniques, relaxation techniques and meditation to see which exercises your body will work best with. Since we are all different, and our pain comes from different parts of the body and from different causes, the same treatment will not work for everyone.

Train your body to restore good habits:
·        
·         Stop smoking!
      Get enough sleep each night
·         Get up and exercise, walking is good for everyone
·         Laugh!

Good habits must be learned, just like bad habits were.

“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” (James 1:6).

“And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10).

 Job lost everything! His children, his livestock and his body was failing before his own eyes. He was only left with a wife that told him to curse God and die, and friends that provided no encouragement. But he did not lose faith in the one who could restore him. And God did just that. His family was restored, he was given more livestock than he previously owned and Job lived a long and prosperous life. Job came through his season victorious and pain free because when God restores you he will give you more than what you previously had plus return your time lost!


The amazing book that I used for my research on holistic healing, and helped to bring my own healing, Holistic Pain Relief, by Heather Tick, MD. 

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