New Program Day 21: Paving Your Own Path

Ahhh, Sitting here with my beloved dog, stroking her, speaking softly, what a perfect way of loving her, of loving ourselves. Thanks for posting this delightful tale.
Lainey

 

Hi Alan,
I’ve been working on my TMS symptoms for two years now. In the last week I was absolutely stuck. My leg/knee pain was the worst. It’s been bothering me for a year on and off. Just in the last two weeks, it’s been unbearable. I’m always thinking about it and trying to ignore it and praying it will go away. I just reread this whole series and realized how to work with my brain to alleviate my leg pain. I can’t thank you enough for putting this together and posting it for anyone to read. I have zero pain today while yesterday I was limping and almost fell down the stairs cause my knee would not bend. I cannot believe my brain can bring on these messages to my body. I used to be so angry when I got pain, now I give myself the love and compassion that I never learned ever in my childhood or early adulthood- it’s what always trips me up....Anyway, thank you again..if I wasn’t in my 50’s, I’d go back to school/training and practice this and help others. There are no TMS practitioners in my neck of the woods!

 

Alan you're amazing and I repeat what I said before- I'm in love with you for this and for all the work you have done and shared with us all. A million times thank you for all your hard work and impassioned devotion to changing lives!!!

 

A big thank you to Alan, Christie, Christie's husband, and everyone else involved in this amazing program! I will be going through it a few more times at minimum to help get over my TMS / CPPS symptoms.

 

Hello, Plum -- and to anyone else who has done TRE:

The somatic tracking part of this program has been the best thing for me in terms of seeing a glimpse of a difference. I was curious about TRE and looked it up. I'm interested in trying it, but I wonder -- is my desire to try something physical just another way of chasing a (sort of) structural cause for the pain? A big part of TMS work is not engaging in your desire to get rid of the pain. To try something like TRE -- is this more of engaging in the desire to get rid of the pain? (Like, "I need to do these physical exercises in order to move the emotions/trauma out of my body!") Or, can it be a way to complement the somatic tracking that we've learned about here?

 

Angel, rest easy for you do not need to play these mindgames with yourself. True and deep healing comes with a generous embrace and acceptance of those ways and means that work for you. To this end healing is fertile, creative and organic...and it includes and involves the body.

Read this post I made a while ago:

http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/dystonia.14448/#post-97945 (Dystonia)

TRE is a truly beautiful method and if you are drawn to it there may be good reason for that. Always listen to your intuition.

(Quick link to a piece on TRE)

http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/summit-day-1.18692/#post-99135 (Summit Day 1)

I'd also suggest easing up on notions surrounding the ousting of repressed emotions. While release is a crucial part of healing, it is best served through learning to feel and process your emotions in the moment since it is this funneling down and shutting off that is the actual issue. The more responsive and authentic we become, the less armoured and protected we feel the need to be. This makes us relax to the core of our being. With time this becomes natural and happily the old brain finally gets the message. We are safe. We are loved. All is well.

Plum x

 

Thank you, Plum! I really appreciate your quick response -- and I feel virtually hugged and soothed! Also, many thanks for all your contributions on this site. I have loved your input throughout this program.

What has been missing for me through the many years that I read Sarno (over and over and over again...) was linking it all back to the body. I started a water tai-chi class recently, and being back in the water was so incredibly soothing. It felt so good to move when I have been so stiff and in pain (on land). After seeing your links on TRE, I decided to try it this afternoon. I watched a few basic how-to videos on YouTube and did only 3 of the positions. I am completely and utterly AMAZED. While I really wanted to experience it, part of me doubted that I would feel the tremors at all. And then it just whipped through me. I completely let go to it and watched where it went. When it was finished, I decided it felt right to do some meditation. There were periods of calmness where I sensed utter joy and relief, and then deep grief. I'm really astounded.

I think I will try it again in a few days. While I'm still quite aware of my back pain (and the fear of movement), what intrigues me the most right now is that feeling of completely letting go and watching where it went... I understand the connection with somatic tracking now, and I want to chase that experience. There's a sense of feeling fearless about it!

If anything, it also helped me add another line to my evidence list: There is no way I could have moved like that if there was something structurally wrong with my back! Yay!

 

I only became aware of this program about three weeks ago, and have now just completed it. First of all, thank you, Alan, for giving us this wonderful program. Not many people would make things like this FOC (free of charge). The fact that you gave so much of your time, knowledge and experience to those of us who needed it is truly appreciated.

I've taken notes to remind myself of things to remember and to let the information sink in. I find that writing out each day's session has already reinforced my brain because by writing on paper the brain has a chance to review things a second time (first I read the session and then I wrote it out). I now have a notebook full of information, which I will be referring to on a daily basis. And of course, I can come back to any session online too.

I am watching this thread now and hope to hear how all TMSers out there progress. In the meantime, I wish a big joyful smile to all and much love and healing light! Big hugs from the island at the bottom of the world!

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Great program Alan. My sincerest thanks.

 

Just finished going through Alan's program for the second time in a row. But this time I literally rewrote each section in my own words. (Nah... I don't obsess much). Actually, I'm very glad I did. My skull is thick and re-writing it in my own words really made the concepts sink in.

On day 21 Alan tells us to just pick the parts that resonate with us. But I have to say, nearly every section resonated with me in a powerful way, (once I dug into them). Somatic tracking was the newest and most foreign concept to me (I went through the program with Dr. Sarno's books about 12 years ago and somatic tracking wasn't really a thing then).

But again... nearly every day, every technique of Alan's program was extraordinarily helpful and meaningful. I echo all the glowing reviews. Alan has given us a tremendous gift!

 

Thank you so so much for this resource!! I've enjoyed every day of it. It has helped me to drastically reduce my pain level, confront many long-held fears, and has really just given me a new perspective on my life. It's been invaluable and has hit me harder and deeper than Dr. Sarno's work that I had been looking at previously. It really feels like it gets to the root of the problem and the heart of the matter. I'm so encouraged by what I feel now and definitely plan to go through the program a second time. I have no doubt there are additional insights to be found. Please do whatever you can to help ensure that this resource remains available far into the future. I fully plan to send it to friends and family who are dealing with similar issues and may find hope in its words.

 

It's awesome that Alan's program has helped you so much. Congratulations! It's helped me tremendously, too.

A word of caution about telling friends and family. Some folks may not be terribly open to the idea of psychosomatic pain. In fact, sometimes people get very offended ... sadly. It's a touchy issue with some.

 

Thank you Alan for sharing this program, it has really changed my life!


After suffering from debilitating on and off pain for a year, I was diagnosed with Trigeminal neuralgia in 2020.

I was filled with severe anxiety ever since then regarding the pain, my future, the quality of my life going forward.


I started reading everything available on the internet on this condition and that further worsened my state.

I was struggling to carry on working. I was anxious about how I would support myself and my ever growing medical bills.

I thought I would have to cut off from the outside world.


This program made me realise what I was doing wrong and changed my attitude towards physical pain.

It’s still early days, but I’ve seen a tremendous improvement already. I believe I can completely overcome the pain one day.

 

This link does not seem to work. Also the link to Day 22 is not available. Please advise

 

this program is now called the Pain Recovery Program: https://www.tmswiki.org/forum/painrecovery/ (Pain Recovery Program) the thread you are commenting on here is very old
The Day 22 reading is here: https://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Q%26A:_Explaining_TMS_to_friends_and_family (Q&A: Explaining TMS to friends and family)

 

Thank you for your quick reply. It is much appreciated

 

Doing this program a good 6 years after almost all of you on here, and finished yesterday. I am now about to spend the next two evenings making the program my own, mapping out for myself how to use the tools on a daily basis (without going crazy and making it a source of pressure!). Without going into my own story (22 years of chronic pain and finally addiction to pain meds), I can say that since I began the program new pain showed up, just especially for me to have something critical to work on rather than more amorphous TMS symptoms, and that's given me additional focus - and I'm beginning to see improvement already!
I can't imagine that I could thank Alan and all of you here more articulately than was done at the end of the original program, so please know simply that my gratitude really knows no bounds. There's hardly a word here in each and every thread that hasn't helped me, and I can tell that rereading the lessons and your responses will continue to help me on my healing journey. I so wish that I could have done this when you all did; my one regret is that I am lonely doing this, there are no TMS people where I am, and no TMS doctors or practitioners.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

Thank you for responding, Jan! I was sure no one watched this forum anymore...
Has this program continued somewhere else on the TmsWiki, or some new program has appeared? It would be helpful for me to interact with people who are now at the stage of making the tools into a workable daily program; I'm floundering with a lot of trial and error!

 

Thank you, Alan!