Your body is a reflection of your subconscious mind. Your body is the vessel, the ego’s vehicle, that your soul uses to inform you about the quality of your thoughts. This mind-body connection is the key to wellness or dis-ease. If you want to create a different condition in your body, you need to create different thoughts.
Physical pain is linked to emotions through the brain’s limbic center. Suffering, such as anxiety, anger or sadness, is the emotional component of pain. The limbic center is connected to the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is where pain signals arrive and where your body’s repair systems get to work. Dr. R. Kelley Otani pointed out at the California Opioid Summit 2018, “Two people might have the exact same painful stimulus sent by nerve signals to the brain, but one will be able to incorporate that feeling into daily life without too much problem while the other will suffer.”
So, how do you train your mind to control suffering?
First, adopt an attitude of choice. You may not be able to have a choice about when you feel pain, but you can choose how to react to that pain. Sometimes it’s giving your subconscious mind options about how to think about the pain; how to perceive the pain. Maybe it feels cold or numb. Maybe you could imagine that it feels tingly or warm. The more options you have to consider, the less focus on pain. Just choosing to think of pain as a sensation can offer a sense of control and focus on what you want. Using hypnosis, you can allow your mind to adjust the sensation.
Next, relax. Relaxation and deep-breathing can calm the sympathetic nervous system and reduce muscle tension so the body feels at ease. When you are suffering from pain, your breathing becomes rapid and shallow; your muscles tense. Progressive relaxation exercises are very effective in decreasing stress hormone levels, slowing heart rate and altering brain wave activity.
Finally, divert your attention. Because hypnosis, imagery or meditation involves internal concentration and defined focus, it blocks awareness of anything else. Dr. Jose R. Maldonado of Stanford University School of Medicine explains, “There are two components to pain: the physical sensation itself and the amount of attention you pay to it. And you can think of the brain as a kind of an amplifier. It gets turned down when your attention is focused on other competing thoughts.”
If you want to hurt less, you need to reduce the amount of attention you are giving to the stimulus of pain. Consult with a hypnotherapist who can help you achieve a state of hypnosis. Once you have experienced that state, you can be taught self-hypnosis. When you have that ability, you can condition your response to pain. You can learn to relax and create distance from pain.
Unfortunately, pain and suffering can also cause depression. And people who are depressed are frequently more likely to experience chronic pain. When physical pain occurs, it’s essential to address any emotional pain you may be suffering. Your soul wants to tell you a message. Are you listening to your mind-body connection? Hypnosis is a very effective way to hear the message. It’s a way to help you make different choices and improve the quality of your thoughts. Beginning today… you can change your relationship with your physical body and your whole life will change.
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