MonteH:TMS Day to Day

TMSers tend to focus and worry about things that either have happened or are going to happen instead of paying attention to what is going on. Here Monte gives some great advice on how to learn to pay attention to the present. There are several questions that I thought of while reading this. Primarily has anyone had success practicing guided imagery, and what are some pointers on how to do it? Monte also says that people need to “forget about tension myositis syndrome.” Is it possible for people to become obsessed with TMS? Can the personality traits (perfectionist, goodist) hamper a person’s ability to be healed, i.e. they want to have the perfect success story, the quick book cure.

Monte Hueftle Update – August 4th

Hello Everyone,

How does a person who accepts the TMS diagnosis and the psychological causes operate on a daily basis? How do we think clean, think psychological, be mindful, practice root lock, listen to our chronic thought patterns and investigate our feelings in the course of our daily life routine, in a way that reverses this pain disorder? I hope to share this with you today in a way that you can immediately begin to implement with successful results.

Keep at top of mind that we are always, always, always communicating to the pain disorder and the distraction strategy. Some of this communication is conscious (we are aware) and much of it is subconscious.Our subconscious mind is the mind of our body—Do you get that?We are breathing without thinking about it, our food is digesting without our conscious control and our autonomic nervous system is dilating or restricting blood vessels, (process of oxygen deprivation), which is generating our tms symptoms of pain automatically.

How we choose to communicate to this pain disorder and to our subconscious mind via the quality of our thoughts, behavior patterns and other mindful practices throughout the day isbig, huge! I mean really big, huge!This daily in the moment communication, both conscious and subconscious, is how we can reverse this disorder and stop the tms symptoms or itis how we continue a life of chronic pain!

Let’s start at the beginning of our day. We awake in the morning and within seconds begin our first conscious thoughts. I know that for many, the first thing we do ischeck-outour symptom and ask ourselves,“how am I going to feel today, is my pain still with me”etc. This is the type of habitual conditioning that we do not want to start our day with. If you go into any form of checking yourself out, you are focusing on the symptom (you are distracted) and you are inviting the disorder to stay with you. Instead, really fight the urge to go there. Talk to yourself, “I know what is going on here and I am choosing to begin my day in a mindful, balanced and psychological way”--put this in your own words, now continue on…“I am going to bring the best of me to everything that I do today”. Now start moving, get going, be mindful of yourbreathing or walking or taking your shower or eating your breakfast and stay out of the pain or symptom thoughts. You are talking to yourself as a reminder not to get distracted in the symptoms and because it is great practice at consciously, deliberately choosing your thought focus. When you do this you are being mindful at a very elementary level. As practice yes, but more importantly, when you are laser focused on what is right before you, you are not in your chronic patterns generating tension or being distracted by pain.

1. When you awaken,immediately take deliberate,conscious control of your thinking.
2. Begin being mindful or highly focused on the thing/person/activity before you and not on your symptoms.

Early morning is the time of day that I believe is very valuable to inserta practice that will communicate with your subconscious mind, the mind of your body! Choose one of the following.

1. Journal –in the morning is a great time to set your intentions for the day.Affirm and reaffirm how you intend to think, behave and respond during the day. Make a list of one or two of your dominant chronic patterns that you want to begin to change and have it your intention to be aware of when you are in those patterns. You will be amazed or frightened at how well this works!
2. Practice root lock – this is mindful, focused practice that keeps you out of the old chronic patterns and communicates directly with your subconscious autonomic nervous system.
3. Engage in a guided imagery practice – again this is amindful, focused practice that communicates deeply with the subconscious while keeping you out of old chronic patterns.

If you are engaging in any of these practices make sure you have time and do not feel rushed. Also do not use this time or these practices as a treatment that you are expecting an immediate result from. These are open and allowing practices that are communicating back to this disorder that you accept the psychological cause and are not being distracted. When you communicateopenandallowingto your subconscious mind,your subconscious mind simultaneously communicates this to your body!

Now you are getting into your day – driving to work or getting the kids off to school or maybe you work in some capacity from home. Here is where you want to pay special attention to where your focus is directed.This is where your dominant chronic patterns will begin to really kick in(worry, pleasing, striving, controlling, being self conscious, perfection).You must pay attention and be aware of what you are saying/thinking to yourself and what behaviors you are engaged in.For example, you are on your way to work and in your“car driving trance”.While in this trance you are not really paying attention to the act of driving. Your thoughts are in worry about the big meeting, you might already be in strive mode figuring out how you are going to please certain people today or you are in perfection and control mode figuring out who and how to arrange things. Pay attention to what is going on here. When you are in this trance and in these chronic thoughts/patterns, you are directly communicating to the subconscious and the autonomic nervous system the energy of tension and anxiety. The result is that your pain syndrome is in full force.

The example above could be happening when you are in your car driving trance, house cleaning trance or exercise trance! Pay attention when you are engaged in these type of activities that allow you to go into auto pilot mode. This is where your old patterns take over and you communicate tension directly to your subconscious. What do you do instead? Have it your intention to pay attention and be more mindful.Begin to listen in on your conversations.When you catch yourself in one of your chronic patterns, interrupt those thoughts. Treat the old pattern just as you would a pain symptom. It is aSignalfor you to pay attention and redirect into a new more open and allowing thought or pattern, one that is not generating tension. Since these old conditioned patterns are going on pretty much all day long, this is going to be a big part of your practice. This is Think Psychological and Think Clean in action!

- If you notice some issue or pattern that continues to reoccur, make a special note to yourself to investigate that when you have quiet time available to do that.

What are you doing with pain or other symptoms?

1. Always acknowledge the symptom – They are nothing more than a signal that directs you to Think Psychological or Think Clean
2. Now ignore the symptom – get out of any distraction of thoughts in the symptom--what is wrong, who is going to fix me, how am I going to do this, will I ever do this, etc.
3. Refocus or resume your activity or redirect into a new more open and allowing thought. Again, this is communication back to the strategy that you know what is going on within this disorder and you are not being distracted or getting stuck.

In the middle of your day take a break. If you have been blowing and going take a quiet break where you can get balanced: journaling or root lock or a deep mindful breathing session will help. If things have been quiet and you have been sitting or thinking a lot, take a more active break where you can get balanced: mindful walking, yoga or stretching with mindful breathing will help.The key is to release tension through these types of practices and not engage in activities that stir up more tension!

Throughout your day remind yourself that you want to be mindful of what you are doing/being. You want to put yourself in the present moment or flow as much as you can.Remember, when you are in flow, in the moment, you are not in your chronic patterns creating tension.

Many of us use some form of exercise in the late afternoon or evening to burn off the stress that has accumulated. In some cases we use this time to hash out, re-think and critically review the events of the day. As mentioned earlier you may go into your exercise trance here. If so, this is an open gateway for your mental tensions to flow perfectly into your subconscious, where your autonomic nervous system will take hold and begin creating or maintaining pain symptoms. Try the following to avoid having this review turn up as a pain symptom during the workout.

1. If this is a 45-minute workout, tell yourself that the first 10 minutes are free and open game. You get to complain, be frustrated, judge, feel depressed etc for the first 10 minutes. That’s the deal, let it rip, no worries about any consequences.
2. For the remaining 35 minutes it is your intention to be as mindful, focused and into the flow of what you are doing as much as possible.
3. When your mind wanders back to work or back to a personal relationship matter your intention is to catch it. You acknowledge it and then you tell it that you are not going there anymore during this workout. Now redirect back into being in the flow of your workout. You can always make a mental note to investigate this in your evening review. Be persistent in staying focused in the flow and out of the old chronic patterns. This gets easier and easier with practice.
4. Some of you treat this workout time as a way to demonstrate back to the disorder that you are not afraid and that you know this is not a physical injury and you are not being distracted. In most cases this is fine and it is good communication back to the strategy that is trying to distract you away from the psychological. However, if you are having a significant pain day and really struggling to keep your focus on anything but the pain and everything that goes with that! I highly suggest that you change your activity to one that allows you to remain mindful or psychological focused and not physically focused. If you were running you can walk instead. If you can’t do anything physical don’t make a big deal about it. Journal or practice root lock instead. This is also big communication back to the strategy that you do know what is going on and you are addressing it and you are not being distracted.

Having an evening reflection time to journal or investigate the stuff you didn’t have a chance to really get into earlier is important. This can also be the place where you throw all the stuff you ignored throughout the day. Ignoring symptoms, old habits and memories is an important strategy to implement at times. We choose to ignore stuff during the day so that we don’t become bogged down or distracted. If something continually keeps popping up over a few days though it is probably worth looking at and now is a perfect time to investigate it and work with it. This is a session of open, honest communication with your self. Be genuine here and not too analytical. What worked well for you today and what didn’t? How could you have responded in a more open or allowing way? What were you feeling in stress-filled situations that made you react a certain way. You are gathering this information to help you understand yourself better and do help you respond in a more open and allowing way the next time this situation occurs. The end of day can also be an ideal time to engage in a guided imagery or root lock practice. Root lock will usually invigorate you when done in the evening. On the other hand a guided imagery or hypnosis type practice could lead you to fall asleep. One of the objectives in guided imagery is for you to be highly focused emotionally while allowing your body to be relaxed. The worst that can happen is that you fall asleep. If you find yourself falling asleep in these sessions try picking a time of day that you are more alert to receive the maximum benefit.

As you get ready to drift into sleep, tell your body, mind and emotions to just relax, be balanced and aligned. There is nothing more today to think about. Nothing more that needs to be done. Sleeping is about rejuvenating and it is now time for the mind and emotions to be quiet and peaceful, allowing the body to just relax and recharge. Repeat to your self,“With each and every breath I take throughout the night I become more and more relaxed…with every exhale I release all my tensions…I just let them float away…and with each beat of my heart I become more open and allowing and more balanced…with every beat of my heart my entire being becomes more open and allowing...and with each breath I become more and more relaxed…sleeping peacefully through the night…and waking up in the morning energized and ready to begin my day…”repeat this over and over again as you drift off to sleep.

I think it is important to forget tension myositis syndrome. There is no need to make such a big, huge deal about all of this that so many of you do. This is simply a chronic inner stress disorder that is caused by our daily chronic behaviors and thoughts.Your work in reversing this disorder is to focus on the cause and not on the symptoms.Focus on the psychological cause by being mindful or in flow. Thinkpsychological instead of focusing on the physical aspect of your symptom.Thinkclean to reverse how you are causing tension.Befearless and experience your emotions by going into the unknown.Engagein practices like journaling, guided imagery, power-yoga, and root lock to bring balance, alignment and integration into your whole being.Be or do all of this stuff throughout your day as a way of healing and not as a treatment for something that is wrong.All of these practices are ways for you to more efficiently and effectively communicate to your subconscious. Your intent is always to be open, allowing and honest with your communication. While you are genuinely engaged in this communication, the mind of your body, your subconscious mind, is communicating openness and allowing throughout your entire autonomic system of muscles, nerves, cells, organs and tissue.

There is no need to get stuck. Call me, email me, or schedule a personal consultation.Nothing is more important in life than how you feel and life is suppose to feel good!

Stay the course,

Monte Hueftle