I figured a nice way to close out 2023, was to share some old case studies of two members from the first five years of my practice. They led me to understand the intimate connection between our mind, emotions, and our bodies. I also sprinkled some of my own personal experiences and awarenesses in, which through the years have prompted me to ask my members questions to help them discover that what is going on in their lives, could be at the root of their symptomatology and pains.
These are two cases I never shared before. They came from many hours of recordings and transcriptions by my virtual assistant to create my first book, Infinite Body Wisdom, along with some examples from my second book, Infinite Body Awareness.
Candace
Candace, an 82 year old woman, came in with her daughter. During her initial physical exam and history, her daughter was surprised to find out that her mother had pain in her back for the past five years. I asked Candace, “What happened five years ago?”
“Nothing,” she replied.
I asked, “Are you sure?”
“Yes” she said.
Her daughter then said, “Hey wasn’t that about the time when Dad wasn’t doing too good and both of you went into that care home?”
She thought about it for a moment, “Oh, I guess so…”
The pelvis area is about foundation and change, so when Candace’s entire living situation changed from living in her own house for more than 50 years, to living in a care home, it was new and foreign to her. There were different people, a different environment, a different way of life, plus her husband was not doing well.
Her pain worsened three years ago, which coincidentally started with her husband’s passing.
The sacrum or pelvis is linked with our foundation and sense of self. Lower back pain above the pelvis comes on sometimes when we move or make a shift in our identity. Physically, it usually happens when we pick up something heavy and turn. Mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, it’s when we’re questioning the direction we’re going in, figuring out who we are, or have difficulty truly expressing who we are. This creates a conflict of our sense of self and then we judge what we should be doing versus what we are doing.
There can be mild to severe pain, and doctors usually want to put a person on muscle relaxers or anti-inflammatory drugs. This may take the pain away initially, but over time, if the person can’t feel the pain, they can end up injuring themselves more, creating bigger problems in the future.
Doctors are doing their job diagnosing, based on past cases and ultimately making their best educated guess. They may not be in the practice of taking the time to ask what life stressors are happening, and they end up diagnosing and prescribing medicines to help alleviate symptoms, but they’re not addressing the cause.
Personally, I usually get pelvic or lower back pain if I was judging the choices I made, where I was at in my life, or doubting my intuition and not valuing myself.
The lower back is also linked to financial worries and stress, and challenges in relationships. The right side of the lower back is associated with a male figure in a person’s life (husband, brother, father, coworker, etc.). The left side is associated with a female figure (wife, girlfriend, sister, mother, coworker, etc.).
Phyllis
In my third year, I started to see a pattern with symptoms people were suffering from and made a concerted effort to listen to their stories. One symptom, such as lower back pain, usually has to do with personal relationships and family issues. Phyllis came in with lower back pain, and shared that it began about two years earlier, so I asked, “What happened two years ago?”
Phyllis replied sharply, “My husband cheated on me.”
I asked, “So what’s happening now?”
Phyllis replied, “Oh, I just lifted something heavy and hurt my back.”
I dug deeper and asked, “What’s going on in your life now?”
Phyllis huffed, “Ohhhh, I recently got into a fight with my husband and he made me feel bad about myself. It brought back all the old feelings of what happened two years ago.”
This was the start of my understanding that there was something more than just physical pain – that there’s some stressors going on in the person’s life that could be triggering a particular symptom or pain.
In my fourth year, when I rolled over my ankle from tennis, I painfully realized that I had to walk my talk, and speak my truth. That experience, and healing my ankle, showed me that if I don’t walk my talk, my ankle is going to take me out again. Because of that, I started analyzing my patterns, what I do, and how I react and respond. It took over a year before my ankle started to feel solid, but I do recognize that the unsteadiness of my ankle was a constant reminder for me to move forward in a new way and start taking better care of myself.
Whenever my dad would get into an argument with my mom, he would just watch TV and use it to block out my mom. I realized I was doing the same thing. I’d watch ESPN, where the stories start to repeat itself on a cycle. I would know what’s going to happen, but would keep watching the same thing three or four times like an idiot. Then, the funniest thing happened, the cable went out and I stopped watching TV for a while. When I called to see how much it would cost to get it on later, the cost was so ridiculous, I stopped watching TV.
It forced me to face all the stuff that I didn’t want to deal with – all my old patterns. When you stop watching TV, you have more time to read, study, do other things, or deal with your issues. You realize how much time you spent watching TV.
This took me on a new path, where my vision was to empower people, which meant I had to be empowered myself. How could I teach someone else to be empowered if I couldn’t be? The more congruent we are with ourselves, the more aligned we are in our lives.
