Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Abundance for Life, Effortless Success low back pain - repressed stress?

Not sure where to post this:

I have the AFL course and a few paraliminals. I've done the main AFL course and have started the accelrtstor CD's ( will do the 2nd one today) I also have the Natural Brilliance course but have not started it yet - probably this summer.

Here is my question: I've been having a lot of low back pain this winter and spring. I go to a really great Chiropractor but the pain is persistant. I even wake in the night with the pain - some days I can hardly move.

Great health is one of my goals with AFL.

My dentist told me last week that I am clinching my teeth so hard in my sleep that I am literally popping bits of enamel off.

This all sounds like repressed stress to me . I don't even know what I'd be stressed about. My life is very busy but not stressful in my opinion.

- any suggestions?

Lisa

Hi Lisa,
I can sympathise - my back seized up completely only 6 weeks ago. It's definitely stress-related in my case. Here are the things that have helped me:

In the immediate term and on a purely practical level:
- Going first of all to a Sports/Manipulative Therapist - after 10 minutes he diagnosed 3 facet joints that had been out of whack in my spine for at least 15 years and manipulated them back into place within minutes (with a few crunching sound-effects!). (I'm now 32 so I must have done something adventurous when I was in my teens and didn't realise the damage!) He then recommended me continuing treatment at home with some simple stretching exercises and the application of heat (ie hot water bottle or one of those wheat bags you put in the microwave). I know that we have a National Health Service and the US doesn't - but I was able to get this treatment privately for £20.

- Following up bone realignment treatment with a soft aromatherapy massage (available in most complementary health clinics) and then a few days later with a Deep Tissue massage - usually available through a Sports Therapist Clinic. This deep tissue treatment was invaluable and was able over 4 weekly sessions to release the ingrained muscle spasms in my back - they really hurt!
- Getting acupuncture and taking Chinese herbal supplements to boost circulation - also taking Omega 3 Fish Oil capsules and Glucosamine in the morning along with my vitamins.

Longer term:
- Have now joined a Tai Chi class - which really focuses on strengthening posture and lower back realignment
- Have just started the Level 1 Spring Forest Qi Gong course and am really feeling the benefits in terms of building up my muscle strength, lessening stress and increasing overall my sense of physical and emotional well-being. The meditations are also particularly effective in helping to build a positive, relaxed and open state of mind (the body usually responds best to this).

If you find that there are some significant emotional issues that arise when you are releasing stress, perhaps you might try EFT to work with the release of these emotions specifically - I find that it works quite effectively. (www.emofree.com)

Anyway, I hope that some of these tips might be of help to you.
Good luck!
best wishes
Ingrid :0)
(By the way, you might want to try chewing gum during the day to counter the rigid clenching of your jaw at night.)

Someone on your back about something?

I would suggest something like Spring Forest Qigong or Tai chi. Although if you have pain Spring Forest Qigong would be easier.

Also do the feeling exercise a lot throughout the day. Ask yourself what are you feeling and go into noticing the feeling. That would also help remove blockages that cause pain.

Alex

This morning I asked myself before arising, as my back was really hurting yesterday and this morning, "what are you stressed about?" and then just let my mind drift. I actually covered my head with the blanket at one point. I almost started crying too. The answer kept being that I miss my dad who passed away in November over Thanksgiving after a long 7 year illness. I'm pretty sure this is it, as I am kinda emotional right now just writing about it. There is guilt too - intellectually I know there was no other option but a nursing home for the last 2 years but he hated that place and used to beg me to take him out of there. He was only 65 when he had to go to a nursing home. We visited several times a week and in the beginning and the end we visited every day so I know I did my best.

Anyway, my mind kept answering "grief and guilt" - then I would self talk myself about why that shouldn't be.

So how do I release this? Emotions are very hard for me. It is like I know why intellectually I should not feel this way but .....

I tried EFT with a practitioner and on my own last fall and didn't feel any results .....

Is there a paraliminal that can help me to release? Either in AFL or the Paraliminal CD Library?

For some reason the Sprin Forest program does not call to me.

Lisa

This is a painful subject for you and it would be impossible for anyone to reply without bringing tears to your eyes. I'm going to offer some suggestions. I have written this with difficulty as loss is always a painful topic and words don't always convey how we want to say it. So forgive me if it sounds harsh it's not intended that way.

From the Abundance For Life course the one you need to do is the Inquiry Process. You're going to cry a bit doing that. You need to let that happen since stopping yourself from crying is going to keep creating blocks that you will physically feel in your body.

Feeling bad about having put your father in a nursing home is still an issue that you need to work through using the Inquiry Process. It is very important that you take it to the turn around. So grab the work sheet in the manual. Find a quiet private corner of the garden or house where you won't be disturbed for an hour or so. You might even want to grab some tissues.

Inquiry might start. I am angry at my father because he didn't understand that the nursing home was the best thing for him. Or I am hurt / hurting because my father died.

You'll know what to write.

Fill in the whole form and I recommend writing your answers for the 4 questions into a journal or pages. Let it flow whatever your answer is. Just focus on the answer to the question don't try to explain it. Focus on one statement at a time right through to the turn around.

Once you have done the Inquiry Process you will probably notice a bit of relief. You then may want to use the Personal Relationship Paraliminal. Your father is always a part of you in your mind and in your heart. Having done the Inquiry Process you will realise what kind of relationship you want with him and the Personal Relationship Paraliminal will be the one that helps you to stay focused on having that kind of relationship whenever you think of him.

The reason I recommend the Inquiry Process, you mentioned your father hated the place and begged you to get him out every time you saw him. And you explained that there really wasn't another alternative. However it seems you still feel guilty about it. You need to work through that guilt and probable anger at your father for making you feel bad about putting him in the nursing home when you didn't have any other option.

Paraliminals can only help so much in this case. You might try the New History Generator to gain a different reaction to your fathers desire not to be in the nursing home. However I think the Inquiry Process will give you the most empowering results under the circumstances.

Be Well
Alex

Hi Lisa,

Many years ago I injured my lower back trying to move a box I thought was empty (but was actually full of books), aside with my leg. After that, I had a wrenching lower back spasm every day, every single day, for a year and a half! That is, until I found a book called,

"Good-bye to bad backs: A proven program of simple stretching and strengthening exercises for better body alignment and freedom from lower back pain" (Paperback)
by Judith Scott

Since the first day of using the exercises I had no more pain or spasms, a miracle. Judith Scott was a dancer who was involved in a serious car accident and was in constant back pain thereafter. She tried many techniques/practioners and eventually came up with this system of simple stretches and abdominal strengthening exercises. I've really never heard of her explanation for what causes back problems discussed by any other book or therapy.

Basically, the muscle (the psoas muscle) that attaches your legs to your torso is never exercised or stretched and it weakens. If you don't do sit-ups or some sort of ab exercises, these muscles become weak as well. The combination leads to something she calls "swingback," and a general weakness in the whole structure, even if it is not compromised by injury.

So by stretching the psoas, which feels incredibly good, and doing some simple ab exercises you put everything back into alignment. It burns off stress as well - some of the exercises are derived from her yoga practice, some dance, etc.

I can only say that this worked for me, and unbelievably well. I was so relieved to have found this book. Here is the isbn, ISBN: 0684187949 for the 1988 edition. And ISBN: 0871271869 for the 1993 edition - not sure which I had as I just photocopied the book at the library. They have these two editions used on Amazon.com for between $2.50 and $8.50, which is surprising as it's a slightly oversized folio. All the exercises are accompanied by large photos. I think it's kind of an unknown gem as it only has one review - five stars by the way. I never needed to go beyond the first of the four levels she outlined.

Chunyi Lin explains that there are many reason why an energy blockage occurs - it could by injury, nutrition, the environment or emotional issues. I think that for emotional issues whoever recommended EFT was probably giving you good advice. I've never been to a practioner, but picked up the technique from Brad Yates website (www.bradyates.net). It was free. It works for me when I'm feeling overwhelmed about something. It's really simple and his approach is easy to learn. His website has a success/abundance flavor to it, but it's the same technique for whatever you choose to use it for. Emofree.com is also good.

Alex's inquiry questions/statements are the questions/statements who would repeat to yourself as you tap, by the way - if you do decide to give eft another try. The tapping seems to release energy - rather than making you more miserable or in despair, as you bring up painful emotions - it brings relief somehow.

I hope one these suggestions from any of us works for you.

[This message has been edited by levitateme (edited May 14, 2006).]

Hello again,

I'm sorry to hear that you are going through so much at the moment. Perhaps it might be worth trying the EFT again as levitateme is suggesting. I have been using EFT recently in relation to work anxiety. Funnily enough when I was tapping away about an anger issue, the feelings transformed into deep sadness and then into a kind of shame. My dad died of cancer when I was very young - but for some reason I have been holding onto a sense of shame and guilt about his death. The EFT is really helping with that (the feeling is lessening, but it usually arises behind another feeling which comes up first in relation to something completely different).

Although in my first e-mail I focused very much on practical back-strengthening advice, I think that Alex's advice is very strong. The more you work with your emotions, the greater the physical release.

If Spring Forest Qi Gong doesn't call you, perhaps you might want to try Reiki? I am a Reiki Master and often find that the Reiki helps release emotional blocks as well as their related physical symptoms. If you were even to get a Level 1 attunement it would help you a great deal - it's such a simple and loving approach to healing. Do you know of anyone in your area who could even give you a treatment?

Another possibility might be to try going to a hypnotherapist. When my mother was close to dying with septicemia a number of years ago, I found that the self-hypnosis techniques I was taught by the hynotherapist really helped me with the fear and guilt at not being able to do anything about the situation. I still use the tapes even now.

Whatever you do, make sure to be gentle with yourself and allow whatever feelings that are coming up at the moment to run their course. As Alex says, it is important for your health and wellbeing to be able to gradually release both the anger and the grief, even if you need to use quite different techniques in dealing with each of them.

I send you much love and healing.

best wishes
Ingrid :0)

I was sure I posted this on Lisa's behalf a few days ago Here it is again.


Alex,

First - good morning! Next I need a big favor. I still cannot post to the forums since they were updated/changed. I had many wonderful responses to my query about low back pain and cannot thank them. I don't want to come across as unappreciative. Could you possibly go to that topic on the AFL forum and let them know I do appreciate their suggestions. By the way I've followed through on some of the suggestions and my back is much better!

Thank you,
Lisa

Hi Lisa,
I'm really glad to hear that we've been able to help you with your back trouble. Keep up what you're doing!
lots of love
Ingrid