Recent content by James59

Bodhigirl, the news is driving me bonkers, too. Every time some new frightening absurdity happens (a daily occurrence now) my body gets a little more tense. One thing that helps me put it in perspective is a middle-of-the-night news program on ABC called World News Now. They summarize the main...

I'm on my third trip through these lessons, and I'm picking up something new each time. I'm also seeing how they all tie together. Now a question. Can somatic tracking be done retroactively? Sometimes I'll experience new or aggravated symptoms that alarm me enough that I either forget to do...

When I first started putting these lessons into practice my physical symptoms didn't change much, but I was sleeping better and my disposition improved considerably. But then some recent developments in the news upset me greatly and quickly undid the modest progress I had made. That was over a...

That's reassuring to know others are having similar experiences.

I'm finding somatic tracking to be fairly easy with pains that I'm used to. But it's more difficult when pain pops up in a new place. Specifically, in the last few days a new pain has popped up on my left side. It feels muscular, but it's just unusual enough to make me wonder if it means there's...

Thanks, Alan, for providing such simple guidelines to follow, and to Christie for providing some added depth when needed, and to Forest for organizing the whole shebang. I'm glad I don't have to try it all. For now the somatic tracking, cognitive soothing (which took me a little while to...

As I watched the baby GIF it helped me smile and feel a sense of joy, but my body still felt like it was being squeezed in a vise. FWIW, looking back on my life the times I felt safest were not necessarily those when I felt the most joy, but rather the times I felt the most loved regardless of...

For the first couple of days after I started putting the somatic tracking lesson into practice my physical symptoms didn't change beyond normal variations, but I noticed my overall disposition improved significantly. Specifically, I found I was less prone to being angry with my symptoms and with...

John's clip hit home, and I was feeling the anger right along with him. My wife often sends me subtle, and sometimes explicit, messages that expressing anger is inappropriate or uncivilized. I don't know how to deal with that because I have to live in peace with her somehow. It certainly doesn't...

Yeah, I did all the stuff to confront suppressed emotions, and it felt emotionally satisfying to bring them out and face them. But the process only provided some temporary, marginal relief of my physical symptoms which, by the time I first heard of TMS were already entrenched for several years...

I had the exact same thought when I read that. Often the most difficult decisions we have involve two equally good options, but we can only choose one. Like chocolate or vanilla, Mercedes or Cadillac, Yosemite or the Grand Canyon..... These kinds of decisions can be very stressful. When I was...

I'm not clear on how to apply the concept of cognitive soothing. This lesson was rather sparse on details compared to the somatic tracking instructions. The audio clip with Mandi gave an example of the adult self comforting the child self, and I tried that last night, but I couldn't think of any...

I can't speak for Alan, but I don't think it is possible to observe every sensation every second. But as I go about my activities my mind will periodically become more consciously aware of my symptoms than usual. At those moments one can just say "Oh, that's what is happening now. OK, that's...

From what you described, this pain doctor strikes me as an example of what is wrong with the medical industrial complex. IMHO, I think that implanting a gadget isn't going to solve the root problem, it'll just put a mask over it. The underlying psychological cause of the pain will still be...

That sounds like me. I've tried observing my sensations, namely feeling like my whole body is being squeezed in a vise, but usually with the intent to complain or to figure out the why of it all, never to just observe for observations' sake. As I watched the video I followed instructions to...