exercises for your "tms"

when dr. sarno says to stop all forms of treatment. does that mean to also stop exercises that are suppose to stretch, and rehabilitate tears, ruptures, tendonitis, capsulitis, plantar fasciitis, shin splints, and all aches and pains that come with tms?

 

It is a very good question. I myself wonder where is a line between Sarno's recommendation to stop exercises to stretch and rehabilitate, and, on the other hand, his other recommendation to resume exercise immediately, ignoring the pain. Is the difference in how you VIEW the exercise, not in what you actually do for the exercise? There is an ongoing debate on this forum about yoga: is it a treatment, a form of exercise, or a meditative practice? I have seen many opposing posts here but was never convinced.

 

Yes you're right you stretch to exercise or warm up . Because it feels good. Not because it will" heal you". ,
I got rid of all foams pads pillows stopped the chiro and massage. I did yoga but not for me. I like meditation but that's just me. Knowledge is the key because it takes away the fear . Reading and doing the work .

 

I do a bit of yoga, and one of the principles we are taught is that, when we want to relax a muscle, to breathe into that muscle. Likewise, when you want to work a particular muscle, often the best thing to do is to imagine you are working the exact muscle you want to work.

I would not stop any exercises that are specifically designed to rehabilitate an area that has genuinely been injured. But, when you do them, imagine your body delivering healing energy to the injured tissue, and ignore the TMS pain that may be going on at the same time. I've found since I caught onto my TMS, when I do stretches and yoga and whatnot (for the purposes of feeling good) I can sometimes feel the TMS pain acting up and vying for my attention, but I just do the poses for their own benefit, and pretend the TMS pain isn't there. Previously, I would align every stretch so as to specifically target the TMS affected areas. I think that's what Dr Sarno means when he says stop all forms of 'treatment'.

 

That's a personal call and only you can determine your intention behind the exercise. I believe one reason Sarno told people to stop rehabilitative exercise is because of the tendency to focus on them and on the physical at the cost of doing the necessary emotional work.

With tms healing a lot of time is typically spent spinning one's wheels. We are confused, we are (understandably) preoccupied with our physical pain, then we are preoccupied with our emotional pain, then we flip flap between these two, then we decide we are 'doing it wrong' and re-enter the disfunctional circle at any point above...and the wheels continue to spin.

We have to find and then whole-heartedly embrace the healing path that works for us.

Some people, myself included, fare best with body-oriented methods, others prefer mindfulness and yet others do well with psychotherapy. Whichever approach works for you is the one to take.

The only thing you *need* to do is find a place of expansion within yourself where you are able to put the pain into context. Give yourself time needed to find this, to orient, to shift your focus from all-consuming attention-giving-to-pain to the wider awareness of your body and consciousness in this room, in this situation, in this life.

Only you can loosen the grip. When pain is overwhelming, break it down into parts and deal with them moment-by-moment. You can do this with physical sensations, negative thoughts, difficult emotions, limiting beliefs...pretty much everything benefits from unthreading. It's the resistance that leads to suffering, it's the trying to deal with it all at once and now that leads to overwhelm and wheel-spin.

Read some of @Ellen for a heap of good ways to take your focus off yourself. The more you can expand your awareness beyond yourself the easier it is for pieces to fall into place.

I know tms healing feels like a jumble of jigsaw pieces with no picture to work from. You can approach it with anxiety or with curiosity. I recommend the latter.