Neck & Shoulder Pain: Reasons & Holistic Healing Techniques
Greetings from Ubud! I am still trying to enjoy my sabbatical despite the crazy Coronavirus news!
I wanted to write a newsletter about viruses; however, I realized that I am also a bit bored of depressing Coronavirus news all around us and there is so much information about… So I wanted to keep explaining my healing journey and focus on the body parts that I suffered with and of course learned how to heal 😊
Last week I wrote about the throat chakra and my thyroid diseases, it was a disease that I had to face when I was practicing healing. Today, I want to write about my start point and long journey of skeleton issues. For those who do not know me, I actually started my healing journey years ago to heal my never-ending health issues. I was sick of going to doctors and physiotherapy and scared of the fact that I had to get knee and hand surgery. Moreover, I had a hernia on my back; I had scoliosis on my upper back which resulted in neck pain in my left shoulder. In our health care system, less than 10 degrees is not defined as scoliosis - mine is just below the limit, so I had to pay for most of the therapies that I received 🙃
After I started receiving and practicing different energy and self-development work, I managed to get out of knee and hand surgery. However back and shoulder pain was something I learned to live with and learned to ease the pain without taking painkillers. However, when I am stressed or busy, the pain comes back and I use my old friend Cataflam (a muscle relaxant pill), which has a special place in my purse, I carry it with me for emergencies all the time.
During my healing journey in Bali, I want to focus on some parts of my body; my spine, my digestive (solar chakra) and my reproductive systems (sacral chakra). I only have serious issues that I mentioned on my spine; the rest is to experience the full potential of my chakras.
To be honest I am also surprised to see the results of taking a holistic approach, I do healing on myself almost 3 hours a day and then get help from different modalities/healers almost 3 times a week! I know it is not easy for everyone to take a sabbatical break and jump to an intense healing journey, so I wanted to share what worked on me and my clients (special thanks to Pia, Sara, Brian, Julianda and Selina for letting me experiment what I’ve learned here in our sessions last week, I am sending virtual hugs to you)
This week I will start with SHOULDER and NECK pain!
Our spine is a part of our skeletal system. In spirituality, some believe that it is our strongest connection to God, Creator, the Energy, the Mother Earth or the Spirit (whatever you believe in your belief system). It is the life force, maybe this is why the blood cells are produced in bones. In some cultures there is a phrase when someone or something hurts us, when we feel so much emotional pain, we say “I felt it in my bones”, maybe our ancestors knew the connection to Crown chakra better than us 😊
4 Steps to Release Neck & Shoulder Pain
I believe that a healthy body comes through a combination of activities that nurtures your mind, body and soul together as a whole. Focusing on only one part may improve the situation however for a permanent and long-term recovery we need to combine all of them.
1. Finding the core limiting beliefs, childhood traumas and facing your reality
All parts of the skeletal system have different root causes, even lower back and upper back issues have diverse beliefs, here is the most common belief systems of NECK and SHOULDERS.
What does NECK pain tell us?
Neck pain usually comes from ‘being right all the time’. We have a need to be right all the time and unfortunately most cultures, business raises and rewards teach us this way.
Especially if you have an issue that you are trying to ignore, fear of CONFRONTATION and assuming that your perception is right, your neck starts to send you pain signals to look at the situation deeper.
What does SHOULDER pain tell us?
As you might guess, the shoulders are all about responsibility. We have different responsibilities; family, being a mom or dad, or taking care of your mom and dad; work responsibilities, social responsibilities… Usually shoulder pain arises when you feel a lack of support, if your new boss is not as supportive as your old boss or your partner is not helping you to raise your kids as much as you want = welcome shoulder pain or tenderness.
If those are familiar to you, than you can use any kind of support to face the reality deeper. As I mentioned above, I have spent and am still spending a good time on shifting my core beliefs.
2. Using Affirmations to ground the BELIEF work
We cannot spend all of our time, energy and money on healing sessions; it is not sustainable and not healthy. It is nice to give healing breaks; however, we have to find a way to deal with our stress in daily life, without hiding in Ashrams 😉
When you realize the root cause after doing the deep work, work on positive affirmations that tell you the reality. It is important to touch your reality rather than looking for generic phrases, remember your subconscious mind will react to words that you feel in your bones.
You can use common affirmations to help you create yours. To give an example, you realize that you are feeling lack of support and feel lonely. ‘I am supported by the universe’ is a good general affirmation, but maybe in your case ‘I am supported by my family’ is the key subject. Here I am adding affirmations for neck & shoulders to inspire you…
3. Choosing a body exercise you can commit to regularly
I know you all know importance of exercise! The more we work out, the happier and healthier we are. Saying it is easy, however keeping it as a regular habit is not that easy for so many of us.
I see the impact of Yoga on my body; the times I do it regularly, I have less pain. So far, I have been to many studios and have never been able to keep any sport regularly in my life; either the time slots do not work or I keep saying I don’t have time.
Here in Ubud, I wanted to change this habit and went to a Yoga studio, as usual only for once 🙃 I realized that committing fixed hours is not working for me and wanted to set a realistic target. Then, I check what is my reality and what I can commit to: I started a daily home practice of 20-30 minutes, my initial reaction was to commit everyday but I tuned in and decided 5 days a week. I have done this on and off for the last 2 years. This time I am committing for 2020 and writing that here definitely helps me to be accountable 😊
There are tons of free videos on YouTube to practice at home. Here is the one I am practicing now, it is a challenge for 30 days, as I mentioned it is important to decide on your reality rather than pushing unrealistic targets, so my journey will be longer than 30 days.
If you decide to commit to any affirmation or exercise, feel free to share on my Social Media for accountability 😀 I know it will also inspire me and others to add our daily practice 🙏🏼
4. Choosing a body work technique that can release the actual pain
I have tried various body massage techniques to release the tension on my left shoulder/neck area. Chakra massages, cupping therapy, chiropractor. Most of them were nice during the session; however, chronic pain was coming back and finally I found the one that is working, Reflexology!
I started to take small videos of my sessions to show the progress and I realized this topic deserves a complete newsletter and this time with video 😉 Taking a video is totally out of my comfort zone, so I am also taking accountability to record more and share the experience with you next week!
And on that note, stay tuned next week to see my Reflexology journey!
With love,
Gul
p.s. If you know anyone with neck or shoulder issues, please feel free to forward them this blog post and let them know they can sign up for themselves here!
