The following is a list of resources that may help nudge your body along on its path to healing.
Some tips are short term, some require more long-term and consistent commitment and effort. Please read through (or watch) the brief explanations of why you will want to explore each resource.
1. miHealth Rental
If I have worked with you in person, it is likely that I used the bioelectric device known as the NES miHealth on you. You can learn more about how it works here. There are a couple of videos for quick reference.
Renting the device for your own daily use at home can be extremely effective at helping you advance the healing of affected parts of the body. My own husband was able to cancel his appointment for cortizone injections in his back when we started using the miHealth on him daily for 2 weeks leading up to his appointment. When the occassional flare-up arises, the miHealth knocks down his pain in within a 2 to 3 days.
Recommendation: Rent the device from me for 2 weeks and use at least once a day over the affected area. I will provide a 15 minute consultation on how to use it. It is very simple and anyone you live with can also help you use it. Rental fee for 2 weeks: $87 or $10/day for a week or less.
Investing in a miHealth of your own is possible! When you fall in love with it and you are ready to have one handy for all of the health variables life throughs at you, you can purchase a new device through me. Retail: $4,2000
2. Dive into the mind-body connection
When pain persists and outside help only brings short term relief, it might be time to explore the inner workings of your mind's role in getting your body back. I like the approach taken by Dr. Sarno in the 90's has a clinical rehab doctor. The book in the link below is just one of a few books by him. You will not find a very direct, step by step approach as to what to do in his book, as his treatment is based on knowledge. You will gain the knowledge needed in the book and try to put it into practice within your own mind. If that is too abstract, below you will can find tangible tasks to do upon completing the book. Purchase the book, or you can listen to it as well:
The following is based on the work of Dr. John Sarno and others who have dedicated their work and research to the mind-body connection involved in healing the body. The information here is a brief summary of how to put some of their ideas into practice.
First and foremost, it is important to acknowledge the role of suppressed and subconscious emotions in generating tension, stiffness, and pain in the body. Acknowledging that rage, anger, shame, guilt, and fear exist deep within, and that they are largely responsible for the pain, is necessary for the pain to begin to subside. The mind uses the pain to distract from dealing with or acknowledging the suppressed emotion. It is, in effect, a defense mechanism.
It might feel silly, but begin a conversation between yourself, and the parts of your body that are in pain. Simply acknowledge that the onset of the pain is a result of rage, or anger, etc, and not so much as a result if any abnormalities. Let the pain know that it no longer needs to serve the purpose of distracting you now that you are aware of the underlying issue, emotions. This holds true even if you have had a diagnosis of a physical issue, such as a pinched nerve, or degenerative disc disease. The conversation will need to happen daily and can be done out loud or in your mind, but can be even more effective if you journal it.
You might be aware of your anger when being cut off in traffic. But the anger/rage that really needs to be acknowledged when healing the body is that which you have suppressed. For example, not being able to express your true feelings during an interaction with someone you love may have left you feeling cut off. Anger from not being able to address your feelings, perhaps because you didn’t feel safe, can lead to suppressing them. Journaling and dialoguing with the pain offers the safe place those suppressed emotions need. When they are given, time, space and attention, the brain no longer needs to use pain to distract you as you have effectively lifted the veil and exposed the emotions for what they truly are.
Begin this process by taking time to start talking to the pain as described above. Then, you can use the tips below to go deeper with journaling in the suggested parts:
PART 1:
-Write about the circumstances surrounding the moment your pain began. Move from the circumstances (people, place, etc) to the emotions you can actually remember feeling and write those down. Now, go deeper to sense the rage and anger that was there that you didn’t even realize. How did those circumstances cut you off from what you really wanted or needed at the time. What did you have to suppress in order to keep the peace or keep yourself emotionally safe?
While you can converse with your body throughout the day, writing at least a few times a week is helpful towards your progress as well. Visiting both past and present circumstances with the intention of exposing the suppressed emotions is the goal. You do not need to use your energy to dwell or get stuck in the feelings. Again, you want to expose suppressed emotions. It is important to know too that dwelling on the pain itself will not be helpful. You are trying to let go of the resistance and tension that is holding the pain in place, so getting angry about the pain only creates more resistance.
PART 2:
-Visualize the future “you.” Spend time writing about what you would do and who you would be if your pain was resolved. As you write, really begin to FEEL in your body what it would actually feel like to be doing the things you want to do, or being the person you want to be. What emotions arise from being able to do what you want to do and being who you want to be? “Try these emotions on” as you write. This can also be done in the mind only without journaling, but if writing helps bring about the feelings then, write-on! At least once, write out a complete picture of your future and pain free self and visit what you write often.
PART 3:
-List at least 3 things you are grateful for and truly feel your body fill with gratitude, appreciation, and love! Doing this daily or several times a week is best.
*One last tip:
This process is effective because it helps you process suppressed emotions that keep the autonomic nervous system (ANS) from fully down regulating. The ANS doesn’t know the difference between a real physical threat and an emotional threat. A constant “emotional threat” has not been processed and released regularly enough. This leads to the ANS’s response of chronic muscle contraction, inflammation, and pain.
So, managing your daily emotions that come up, as well as acknowledging older, suppressed emotions, in combination with visualization and feeling the new you, can help rewire the brain and its attachment to the pain in your body.
*This process is not meant to replace the need for counseling or therapy. But, even if you have been in therapy and it hasn’t relieved the pain, perhaps you have not addressed the truly suppressed emotions.
3. Keep Moving
Movement should not be done only from a therapeutic perspective, i.e., "I have to do 10 reps 3 x/day pf this 1 exercise in order to heal." Rather, look at movement as a nutrient needed to nourish your body just as food does. You can still target your "problem areas" with specific movements, but with the intention that you are feeding your body with what it needs, and movement is always good for the mind too! If you have prescribed exercises, you can still do those as long as they do not induce pain. Just keep your whole body moving more!
4. Addressing your Nutrition
It is important to gain the knowledge that many foods can be inflammatory and changing your diet can be a long-term commitment that has great benefits both in the short and the long run. Here is a litany of what to avoid and what to focus on when you are ready to nourish your body better and decrease pain-inducing inflammation all around.
Any processed/packaged foods containing chemically altered trans fat or hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats
-When manufactured, these unsaturated fats (usually vegetable oils) are heated to a high temperature under extreme pressure mixed with toxic metallic solvents to saturate the carbon bonds with hydrogen to make the fat solid at room temperature but able to melt upon baking or consumption.
-Hydrogenation can damage cell membranes, causing an inflammatory process that leads to heart disease and other problems
-Canola, cottonseed, corn, soybean, safflower, sunflower, grapeseed, peanut oil
-These oils are often used in fast food and sit-down restaurants
Fried Foods, fast food, vegetable shortening, Crisco, imitation butter, frozen meals and food stuffs
All grain/flour products including bread, pizza, crackers, oatmeal, grits, pancakes, muffins, tortillas, etc.
Pastas
White and brown rice; Wild rice is ok. If you can’t find it, sparingly use a wild rice blend as a garnish to dishes
Puffed snacks such as popcorn, rice cakes, Goldfish, etc)
Chips
Cereals, granola, pancakes, granola/sports bars
Cooking grains such as barley, couscous, millet, amaranth, bulgur
BAKING INGREDIENTS: corn meal, flours, sweeteners, yeast, vegetable oils, syrup sweeteners
BEVERAGES: sweet drinks, fruit juices, soda, milk, Gatorade, Vitamin Water, coffee-mate, soymilk, almond milk (use unsweetened sparingly), sweet tea, lattes
DRESSINGS (due to oils and sugar content): ketchup, jelly/jam, mayo, honey mustard, salad dressing
DAIRY: processed cheese, ice cream, frozen yogurt, non-fat, low-fat milk and non-fat, low-fat yogurt
LEGUMES (stimulate excessive insulin production - use sparingly and only as garnish) beans, peanuts, peanut butter, lentils, dried peas, soybeans
PROCESSED MEATS: deli meat, packaged meats, etc
________________________________________________________________
FOODS to PURSUE
Vegetables should make up the bulk of your diet, along with small amounts of fruit and unprocessed meats. Excellent vegetable choices:
Artichoke Kohlrabi
Asparagus Leeks
Avocados Mushrooms
Beets Onions
Bell Peppers Olives
Bok Choy Parsnips
Broccoli Peppers
Brussels sprouts Radish
Cabbage Tomato
Carrots
Cauliflower In moderation: sweet potatoes, cassava, squash
Celery
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Garlic
FRUITS to FOCUS ON:
Blackberries Blueberries
Boysenberries Raspberries
Strawberries Kiwi
Other fruits are approved but may have higher sugar content so consume in moderation.
NUTS & SEEDS (not legumes such as peanut or cashew); nut-butters
APPROVED OILS:
Avocado Oil
Butter
Ghee
Coconut
Unprocessed Palm Oil
Olive Oil
Sesame Oil
Walnut Oil
Hazelnut Oil
Macadamia Nut Oil
DAIRY: full-fat yogurt, butter, kefir (unflavored), unpasteurized cheese, cream cheese, cottage cheese
GRAINS: quinoa and wild rice
UNPROCESSED MEATS
*Beef and other jerkies without sugar or many other additives is ok
All varieties
There is a hierarchy of healthier and less healthy meats. Look for grass-fed or organic, as well as local, as often as possible. Avoid processed meats with additives and preservatives.
Prioritize fish that are wild caught and AVOID fish from Asia.
5. Supplementation
Given the state of much of our food intake, there is a time and a place for supplements. With 65 years research, integrity, and purity behind their products, I recommend and distribute Shaklee supplements. They test for over 350 contaminates in every batch they produce and have been 3rd party tested and reviewed. When it comes to persistent pain, these are some go-to's that are foundational to strong bio-chemical function within the body. The better things function, the less stress there is on the body and less stress equals less pain. Supplements are another long-term commitment to give your body time to see a difference. At the same time, you might not feel differently in your affected area, but the essentials within this list of supplements are all things the body needs for greater health-span.
I have seen people not be able to heal from injuries, or a chronic issue, until they up their Vitamin D levels. Winter is a critical time of year to consider doing so with supplementation. It is measurable too, so if you want to see your levels change, order blood work that includes Vit D before taking the supplement, then draw blood again in 3 to 6 months of taking it consistently. You can read about each supplement by clicking on it. Contact me if you are interested in ordering any of the supplements at a discount, otherwise, use my distributor email where needed: bsrkrier@gmail.com
6. Finally, if you have not gotten the results you desire with me in person...
but you want to try keep trying alternative approaches, I recommend working with Christi Sullivan and her P-DTR technique. You can read all about how it works here, and then give her a call! 970.690.4917
I hold onto hope for you! If you would like to deepen your understanding of your health and create a whole-body transformation, let's talk about if my health coaching program is right for you.
303-550-8026
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