Day 3 Yoga

I've suffered from pain in my low back and neck for 30 years. Like most of you I've pursued countless paths and spent a fortune to get healing or relief. All along I've remained functional but have extremely painful spasms that incapacitate me for days or weeks. And, like most of you, I accumulated a long list of fears of movements and situations that I believe provoke the spasms, including my most cherished sports. But, oddly, I've been able to resume yoga and increase my practice to a very high level of poses and intensity. So, I'm unable to run, sit for long, lift my child, etc. etc. but am able to support my body weight in extreme poses like the scorpion? Could this be because I believe that yoga is helpful and fear that the others are harmful? I'm brand new to all this, but I suspect the answer is yes.

 

Hi, VeryHopeful. I agree with you that you are not in pain with yoga but are in other activities because you may
very well have conditioned yourself to expect pain when running, sitting, etc.

You need to decondition your mind about pain. Do this by believing 100 percent that any and all pain you feel
is from TMS and it is not structural. It may not be easy to reprogram your mind, but we have all had to do it
and the pain has gone away. It's the miracle of TMS "penicillin," as Dr. Sarno calls it.