12 minute read
Moving from Pain to Progress with Structural Integration
By Cara Ernest
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Step One.
Thank Yourself for Seeking Help
That’s right. Take a moment to thank yourself for seeking help. Not everyone does this. It seems counterintuitive but it is very common for people to find ways to ignore and work around the pain messages they are receiving. This simply leads to continued or increased pain. Maybe you’ve tried this path; I know I did for far too long. Just by being curious enough to read this, you have taken the first step toward progress and for that, you should give yourself kudos.
Step Two. Honor the Messenger
Pain messages are meant to interrupt your life. They are intended to demand attention and encourage movement. Think about the following scenario: You touch a hot pan. What happens? That’s right; you move. The presence of pain messages, whether they are physical or emotional/ mental, suggests that it is time for you to move something that needs to be moved: maybe you need movement in parts of your body, in your actions or choices, in your life energy expenditures, or in your perception of or interaction with the world around you. The longer you wait, the more demanding your pain message will become. Imagine if you took your time moving your hand from the hot pan.
Step Three. Explore Your Experience:
OPQRST —So, how do you start?
Progress starts when you shift awareness to your experience and explore what you are feeling. Here is a general set of questions to help you begin using the mnemonic: OPQRST.
Write down your answers to these questions:
Onset
When did this pain begin? How often do you feel it? Is there an event you can point to as the cause?
Provocation/Palliation
What brings it on? What makes it better? What makes it worse?
Quality
Can you describe it? Is it sharp, dull, crushing, burning, tearing, or some other feeling? Does it have a pattern, such as intermittent, constant, or throbbing?
Region/Radiation
Where do you feel it? Can you point to it with one finger? Does it radiate to any other part of your body?
Severity
Using a scale of 0 to 10, where zero is no pain and ten is the worst possible pain you have experienced, what is your experience of this pain most of the time?
Time (History)
How long have you been experiencing it? How has it changed since onset (better, worse, different symptoms)? Has anything helped in the past?
This kind of detailed information is critical to the people whom you employ to help you, and it is equally critical to your own process of personal awareness and progress.
Step Four. Get Curious About Your
Experience of Your Experience
You’ve come so far already. Now it’s time to explore your experience of your experience using your own curious nature. Write down your answers to the following two questions:
What do you think is causing this pain?
Ask the question and then be open to whatever answer comes in. We are often much more in touch with ourselves than we allow ourselves to be. Perhaps your pain is the clear result of a pattern of body posture like sitting at a desk all day, or from compensating for an injury. Maybe you have terrible headaches or jaw pain from grinding your teeth from stress. Maybe your chest hurts because you breathe shallowly. The answer can come from recent events or long-past events. It can show up in the form of mental or emotional trauma manifesting in the body, or a once-easy activity that is now limited.
How is this experience affecting your life?
This can be one large thing or a cascade of things, so it is important to evaluate, with great care and honesty, how your life feels in the present. If your back hurts, that might cause you to not exercise which in turn causes unwanted weight gain and igniting feelings of unlovability or depression. If your feet hurt all day, dealing with that pain might deplete your energy or patience for the activities and people that bring you joy. A chronically stiff neck could make it hard to focus on work, making you feel like a failure. Or, maybe the chain goes the opposite direction. Maybe your life is overwhelming so you feel chronically worn down which leads to more nights on the couch escaping into great shows
rather than finishing projects you enjoy. Perhaps you can’t sleep well because of anxious thoughts, so your body feels perpetually sluggish even as your mind is racing. Maybe a fear of failure is causing you to overtrain or push through pain messages that should be heeded. Whatever your experience is, getting clear on it is a big part of what comes next.
Step Five. How Structural Integration
Can Help You Move Forward
The pain message alerted you that something needs to move, you heeded it, you explored it and now you are ready to move forward. Here is how Structural Integration can help. Classic Structural Integration (sometimes referred to as “Rolfing”) is performed in a standardized format called the 10-Series. This series of ten sessions systematically invites balance and optimization of both the structure (shape) and function (movement) of your entire body.
The 10-series has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
The Beginning
We begin by discussing what you have identified about your current experience of life. That is why the above steps are so important; your answers give us a starting place and also a destination. The first three sessions address the surface (outside) structures of the body. The general goals are to enliven the body, allow you to get accustomed to the work, and make room for the highly focused work coming in the middle sessions.
The Middle
The next four sessions address the core structures that comprise the inner (inside) structures of the body. The general goals are to release any stuckness found within the deeper layers of the body, find a balance between the inside and outside of the body, and align the body in gravity to maximize efficiency and ease.
The End
The final three sessions integrate all the work of the first seven sessions into a new experience of the whole. We take everything learned in the previous sessions and bring them together to a place of cohesion, stability, and wholebody balance. We also revisit where you started in session one and compare it to how you feel after session ten. Each session focuses on freeing restrictions in specific areas of the body while maintaining a holistic view of your entire body. The work is very slow and deliberate; it is a meditation, an exploration, an education, and a movement practice together. What has needed to move, has been begging to move, will finally start moving in a way that is comfortable and harmonious for you.
Your journey forward from pain to progress is buoyed by your awareness and participation. In the end, you are the key to transformational progress and a new path in front of you that is full of promise.
For more information contact at 530-588-0177 or visit Chico-SI.com
CHICO S.I.
STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION · Improve posture · Relieve pain · Improve balance · Increase energy · Enhance performance · Reduce stress · · LoLookok anand d f feeeel l y yo ou un ngeger r
One-on-One, Groups & Workshops
www.Reconnect2U.com
ReconnectTwoYou@gmail.com (925) 230-2697 By appointment in Chico
Cara Ernest, BCSI
Board-certified Structural Integration practitioner
Your Guide to Health: BUSINESS DIRECTORY
ACUPUNCTURE Heavenly Herbs & Acupunture - Shery Sanchez....31 Touch of Light - Loreen (Grass Valley)...................28
ARTS Love’s Art - Marianna Love (Paradise)........Back Cover
AYURVEDA Ambika’s Ayurveda (Chico)..........................................12
BOOKS/CDs/DVDs Creating the New World (DVD) - Jack Allis...........23 Dhara’s Guided Meditation...........................................14 Inner Traditions Books...................................................2 Mt. Shasta Light Publishing..........................................22 Peace Ananda Music - Pamela Jamian....................15 To Believe or Not to Believe - Rahasya Poe..............27
CENTERS, RETREATS & CLINICS Center for Spiritual Living (Paradise).......................28 Lotus Guide Center for Healing & Info (Paradise)...16 Paradise Stronger Wellness Center..........Back Cover Sacramento River Watershed Project.......................31 The LYME Center (Chico)...............................................25
COACHING Balance - Lynn Tosello (Chico)...............................13 Resonance Repatterning - Leigh Ann Lipscomb...20 Soul Improvement - Elizabeth....................................30
COUNSLERS Resonance Repatterning - Leigh Ann Lipscomb...20
DOCTORS
Dr. Pruett - Nutritional Health....................................16 NAET - Dr. Mark Light & Vicki Van Scyoc (Chico)...11 Vital Functional Medicine - Dr. Ashley (Chico).......29
EVENTS, CLASSES & WORKSHOPS
Dr. Terry Cole-Whittaker (Mt. Shasta).....................21 Healing Arts Festival & Psychic Fair.............................2 KVMR Radio (Nevada City)...........................................20 KZFR Radio 90.1 (Chico)...............................................15 Paradise Stronger Wellness Center..........Back Cover Sacramento River Watershed Project......................31 Sound & Touch Therapy - Pia (Chico)........................5
ENERGY HEALING Full Circle Spiritual Healing - Annie...........................11 NAET - Dr. Mark Light & Vicki Van Scyoc (Chico)...11 Quantum Healing Podcast - Ty & Nora....................30 Sound & Touch Therapy - Pia (Chico).......................5 Soul Improvement - Elizabeth...................................30
FITNESS & YOGA Create Joy - Healthy Steps - Mary Brown (Chico)....31 In Motion Fitness (Chico)...............................................2 Yoga Center of Chico - Rex Stromness....................9
REIKI Angels Among Us/Gold Exchange - (Red Bluff)....18 Rooted Life Reiki - Jane Miners (Chico)................10
HEALTH & BEAUTY / SPA Hair, Body & Soul - Teresa (Paradise)........................10
INTUITIVE READINGS Age of Aquarius - Margaret (Chico).............................13
MASSAGE
REFLEXOLOGY
Happy Feet Reflexology - Elizabeth (Chico)..........18
ROLFING
Chico Structural Integration...........................................4 Rolf Practitioner - Jean Louise (Chico).....................22
MEDITATION Alpha Healing & Meditation - Dhara (Paradise)...14 Create Joy - Healthy Steps - Mary Brown (Chico)...31 Dhara’s Guided Meditation...........................................14 Dr. Terry Cole-Whittaker (Mount Shasta)..............21
SERVICES BBS Radio Station Stream............................................24 Chico Sky Watch...............................................................24 Cold Creek Inn (Mt. Shasta)...........................................2 KVMR Radio (Nevada City)...........................................20 KZFR Radio 90.1 (Chico)...............................................15 Lynn's Gluten Free Bakery (Chico)............................26 Quantum Healing Podcast - Ty & Nora....................30 Respectful Revolution - Gerard & Stacy..................12 Sacramento River Watershed Project......................31 Spiritual Activist Radio - Rahasya.............................26
SHAMANISM Full Circle Spiritual Healing - Annie...........................11
SHOPS & PRODUCTS Ambika’s Ayurveda (Chico)..........................................12 Angels Among Us/Gold Exchange (Red Bluff)....18 Calirub - Xena (Chico)....................................Back Cover Dhara’s Guided Meditation...........................................14 Hair, Body & Soul - Teresa (Paradise)........................10 Quantum Healing Podcast - Ty & Nora....................30 Sanare Smart Natural Relief - Darrell (Chico)......25 Soul Connections (Mt. Shasta).....................................2
LotusGuide.com
Special Interest
by Cara Ernest Questions for Dr. Gayle Kimball 17
…This is where taking responsibility for our lives comes into play because we look at our lives and see that we are the victim and there's many reasons for this being true, some of which comes from the reality outside of us.
So, the first step is to realize that a large part of the reality that we find ourselves in is a creation of our own programming. So, the danger here is that we don't recognize that it's not the outside world that has put us in this position, it's our programming that has allowed it to happen.
Body & Mind
Lotus Reviews 18-19 Take Your Stand Now & Liberate Yourself 20 with Structural Integration The Views of Yoga 9
by Tom Hess
by Dr. Terry Cole-Whittaker
Rahasya Uncensored
Living a Sane Life, In an Insane World 22
by Jack Allis
Unity Begins Within 10
by Annie Fuller 5 Easy Tips for Life Balance
by Lynn Tosello
12
In Perfect Harmony 14 Unifying Elements of Life
by Pamela Jamian
Mass Psychosis aka Collective Insanity 24
by Rahasya Poe
Treat the Cause or the Symptom 16
by Dr. Pruett
Lotus Guide Magazine
P.O. Box 135 Chico, CA 95927 Lotus Center in Paradise -6268 Skyway www.LotusGuide.com (530) 894-8433 • Info@LotusGuide.com
Walking the talk With Love & Compassion
You may notice that the focus of this issue is primarily about taking our power back and making a choice; do we want to keep playing the victim role or do we want to step into the dangerous mystery called LIFE and become creators? CAUTION: If you choose the latter you are agreeing to be responsible which means quitting the “Blame Game” because blaming others is what feeds the victim mentality. Many of us are waking up to the insanity that surrounds us. This is not comfortable for those who are still caught in the role of victim, but how can anyone find comfort in what’s happening in our world? We feel most alive when challenged and to embrace it is the very essence of human evolution. Obviously, this is not for everyone because it requires us to surrender to something greater than us and in the end becoming the very thing we surrendered to; our higher eternal self. We hope this issue will inspire some of our readers to join the millions of people on planet Earth who are waking up to the “Collective Insanity” that holds so many people in its grip. The past year or so has been financially challenging for the Lotus Guide because so many of our advertisers went into lockdown and have ended up losing their businesses. This is why it’s so important to support those who have insisted on finding ways to continue helping people and keeping the Lotus Guide in print. Final Thought: In the end there’s only one thing that will save us from what’s coming. We need to stop blaming and take an active role in breaking down the divisive agendas that separate us into racial groups, political parties, and religious beliefs. How to do this is rather simple…Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Walking the Talk with love and compassion is always the challenge.
— Rahasya & Dhara, Lotus Guide
As a reader, if you feel compelled to help support our magazine, we set up a website where you can make a donation, large or small, it’s all appreciated. We set up a secure server through PayPal at www.LotusGuide.com/donations. We can also accept donations through our 501c3 if you contact us.
PUBLISHERS, EDITORS, & OWNERS Dhara Lemos & Rahasya Poe
SALES REPRESENTATIVE Aline Green
COPY EDITOR
Pamela Jamian
DISTRIBUTION
Bill Unger
CREATIVE CONSULTANT
Dhara Lemos
GRAPHIC ARTIST
Craig Perry
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dr. Gayle Kimball Dr. Mark Light
