SBIA- Awesome!

Today I shared Yoga for Chronic Pain with survivors of brain injuries and their carers, and talk about a fun time!  I've often heard people speak with gracious disbelief about their good fortune of enjoying the work they do...and today I could totally relate.  From what I've learned about flow state, I felt like I was in the ZONE: fully immersed in the present moment, calling on the my skills and strengths in a meaningful and fully engaged way; time stood still and I was smiling from inside to outside, top to bottom! 

Of course, in the midst of the joyful frenzy, I received a valuable lesson; although it is useful and good to talk and share myself, it is just as essential to listen and receive from others: if I am their teacher I am also their student; inhale AND exhale.  Upon reflection I've come to recognize that this is the heart of validation.  We are all lights, shinning our brightest (even if we sometimes appear a little layered, covered or muffled, we are still living, pulsing our truth).  When we give ourselves, it feels painful to not be received, to not feel validated, valued or seen.  Of course, the fact that we aren't received might have a bit to do with the delivery of our message, our gifts, ourselves, but it also might have a bit to do with the other's inability to receive and acknowledge us.  Something might be blocked from our end, and something might be blocked on the receiving end....a failed connection.

So, as I was dancing (figuratively) around the room sharing my gifts and my talents, every now and then someone would speak up and contribute.  For some hallelujah reason in a split moment I realized "I need to listen.  Pay full attention to their message, to their light, their gift, them".  Of course, once I focused on LOOKING for them as teacher I suddenly received their lesson, their gift, their message!  Each contribution or comment people made was folded into the repertoire, which was our shared experience, and made all the more.  It was richer, deeper, more loving and fully alive: for me it felt like art work, a creation between everyone who was there.  This was amazing, truly awesome!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to the survivors and their carers for giving and taking; inhaling and exhaling. 

One last point, this experience helped me to REALY embody Namaste (I see the light in you, and in me, we are both the light). 

For those of you who were at the workshop, I've included below a list of the tools and topics we covered, to help you reconnect and recall information that I shared.

Sincerely, with love, Jenelle


NEWS FLASH: Chronic Pain is a HABIT:

-See resource handout for research and changing pain literature

-Believing is seeing/being: You find what you are looking for

CONNECT: Connect with your breath and body: embodied relaxation.

Tool: Feel your breath: how does it feel? Where can you feel it in your body? How could you describe it as feeling?

Tool: Heart Breath: smooth, soft, slow breath.  Hand over your heart, connect, feel as if you are breathing in and out of your heart.

GROW THE GOOD:  If your recipe is bitter with pain, then you can sweeten it with a lot of JOY!

Tool: Do things that you feel good doing: smiles, hugs, warm baths, music you like, games you like, movies you like, places you like, food you like, people you like, positive experiences.

MOVEMENT: Moving is good for you, the more ways you can move (without pain) the better.

Tool: Joint Circles: feel relaxed, with relaxed breathing, move with ease.  It’s ok and healthy to move gently towards the edge of your pain, but don’t push yourself deep into your pain: listen to your body/mind whisper so it doesn’t have to scream (paraphrased from Neil Pearson).

Tool: Visualization: First, relaxed breathing; second, feel your feet/bottom connecting to the earth/ground below you; third, sequentially imagine your body parts become lighter, creating space in the joints below them, as you move from your head, through each body part all the way to your shin/calves and ankle joints.  Remember to continually feel your feet grounding you to the earth.

PLAN: Make a realistic, achievable plan to support you in changing your chronic pain habits.  It takes deliberate, compassionate practice to change pain.  In order to “grow the good” (Dr. Rick Hanson) you have to get on your own side and create healthy, new habits:

“We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”- Aristotle