Dr. Batson's Blog The Journey of TMS/PPD – Blessings Wrapped in Tragedy

Looking back, it is difficult to believe I have come so far in my healing from chronic pain and truly awe-inspiring to be able to view the journey in hindsight with 20/20 vision. I feel like I crossed a great sea or wide abyss with only my mind and body to protect me – and with neither working so well at the time. In reality, I was not alone at all. Even before I knew what was causing my physical pain, so many people came forth to support me, encourage me and sometimes, carry me until I reached the next landing. While I wasn’t sure that I was on a journey that would ultimately lead to a place of healing and peace – I deeply hoped that I was, and that a time would come when I would be telling my story to others who were walking a similar path. I hoped I would one day be the one to reach out and grasp someone else’s hand as their last strand of rope began to fray.

This dream has come true. Now, I find myself at the beginning of a new journey – one which would never have been possible had I not struggled so in the first journey. This striving, this invisible force that moves us through life, through its greatest joys and deepest sorrows, laughter-filled pleasure and anguish-filled pain, teaching us about ourselves and giving us glimpses into the meaning of our lives, is beautifully expressed in a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist (1875 -1926),

The Walk

My eyes already touch the sunny hill,
going far ahead of the road I have begun.
So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp;
it has its inner light, even from a distance –
and changes us, even if we do not reach it,
into something else which, hardly sensing it, we already are;
a gesture waves us on, answering our own wave…
but what we feel is the wind in our faces.​

In speaking about the unresolved emotions that cause chronic pain, Dr. John Sarno says, “It’s a part of life. These things that are going on inside of you that cause this to happen are a part of life. It’s part of everybody’s existence.” So, we are ultimately learning to be human. How simple that sounds, yet how intricate and complex the journey really is.

In this blog, I hope to bring hope to those suffering with a psychophysiologic disorder (or tension myositis syndrome) and to share evidence and research about its cause and treatment. We are just beginning to understand the tremendous power of the human mind and its integral role in both illness and healing.

If you are reading this blog, perhaps you also have an interest in the mind’s effects on the body, perhaps as a sufferer, a healer or both. I look forward to this journey with you. It will be an exciting and fascinating one, filled with hope and discovery.

Anchors Aweigh !