"The power of now." by Eckhart Tolle

[Ania]

Hi,
Have you read "The power of now." book written by Eckhart Tolle? And his other one "The new earth"?
Isn't TMS actally the same as the "pain body" he describes in his books?

 

[JanAtheCPA]

Indeed, many TMSers relate and respond to Eckhart Tolle's vision/version of the pain body. There are many many different ways to approach and embody this work!

 

[plum]

Hi,
Have you read "The power of now." book written by Eckhart Tolle? And his other one "The new earth"?
Isn't TMS actally the same as the "pain body" he describes in his books?

I’d say so. I love his message but I don’t jibe with the man himself. But his words and the truth they express are resonant with TMS healing.

Plum x

 

[Baseball65]

I am an avid reader of Mr. Tolle and have read and re-read both of those books since I became aware of them(2008?). They have helped me profoundly and are certainly an important reason of why my life is filled with so many joys now...

But I think the Pain-Body he is speaking of is a lot bigger than just TMS symptoms. My TMS symptoms resolved simply by being made aware of the subterranean realm of my own action/foible/action/foible. The Pain -body he speaks of is something that can linger long after resolution of physical symptoms, though I would agree that becoming aware of it might be a great way to get an idea of what goes on. Also, the Pain-body proper is something we are born with, have a part of in society and in groups with which we identify.... even TMS sufferers impatience with the medical world (LOL)

So, though perhaps related, they are not 'the same' (idem facere as E. Tolle says)

I got free of TMS in weeks... the painbody has been years and It sneaks in everytime I think... Thank God or I'd still be in pain!!!

 

[Ania]

Hmmm.. I've read those books a year ago, and I thought - ok, sounds good to "live in present moment" - I'd definitely like to work on this, makes sense, but first... I NEED TO GET RID OF MY BACKPAIN. And than I'll be able to work on "enlightenment"as Eckhart Tolle says.
Not funny at all, a year passed, and I am still stuck with my back pain, and additionally developed anxiety and depression because it lasts so long and it limited my life so much.
That is why I though that maybe, at least for me what Sarno and Tolle say is the same. I do not accept what is (the pain), and that is why I am so stuck.

 

[Baseball65]

That's why I personally wouldn't recommend Tolle for anybody suffering from TMS. He has ' no use for the past' and unfortunately you need to review a bit of it to find out about yourself to get insights into WHY you have TMS symptoms. Unlike the traditional medical BS, Sarno wants YOU to be the most informed person in your recovery! That means you might temporarily review your past to see why it's still affecting you NOW.

I would call that BS semantics IF both of them hadn't been very important in my own recovery and personal freedom

. If I look at my financial , relational, employment, athletic, sexual perception of myself and can really see that a lot of the day to day stuff I am 'OK' with is me lying to myself, I can 'PULL' those weeds.... In fact the weeds ARE from the past and are usually out of context with your NOW

It comes through awareness, but that awareness arrives subtly and different for all of us. Your TMS is there to protect you.... what is awry in your life you need protecting from? What Forms and Social contracts have you signed up for that you really don't give a shit about? What really matters to you that you forsook so you could be there for someone else? To curate their reality instead of your own?

 

[Ania]

... a lot of the day to day stuff I am 'OK' with is me lying to myself, I can 'PULL' those weeds.... In fact the weeds ARE from the past and are usually out of context with your NOW

What Forms and Social contracts have you signed up for that you really don't give a shit about? What really matters to you that you forsook so you could be there for someone else? To curate their reality instead of your own?

So much thank you for those words and those questions. It stopped my breath for a moment...
I denied a lot of myself during my life. This is because of my character, which I was born with. As a kid I was well-behaved girl, doing what my parents told me to do (they even now say that it was easy to bring me up).
At work I was always getting great feedback from my supervisors, as I was well-performing, organized, self-reliant etc. As a result I was confident at work, but also I was taking far too much on work my shoulders. In private life was similar, not to go into details.
Finally (around my fortieth birthday) I felt so much overwhelmed and simply tired that I said enough. I grew up!
I changed my work, I put more home-duties to my husband and kids etc.
And than the pain started! In the moment when I put everything into right order, into perfect shape - it seemed so...
... because I forgot what I love, what I want, what is important for me.... or I never asked myself those questions. And now I really do not know.

 

[lowella]

So much thank you for those words and those questions. It stopped my breath for a moment...
Finally (around my fortieth birthday) I felt so much overwhelmed and simply tired that I said enough. I grew up!
I changed my work, I put more home-duties to my husband and kids etc.
And than the pain started! In the moment when I put everything into right order, into perfect shape - it seemed so...
... because I forgot what I love, what I want, what is important for me.... or I never asked myself those questions. And now I really do not know.

This sounds like maybe guilt for giving away some of your duties. If you hadn't, you may have had a different kind of pain (RA etc) - but now you're feeling guilty for it? Just guessing. Guilt is one of my biggies and although mostly healed I still have occasional stuff coming back if I have to get serious with my kids or wife about something that's important to me. Expressing/sitting with the guilt feels more difficult to me than taking out my anger.

PS I read 2/3 of this book last weekend, I couldn't put it down. Until he started talking portals, then I let the language get in the way. And I still can't really sit in the present and feel anything profound happening, but I've been trying it all week anyway, as I understand it is a practice.

 

[Ania]

This sounds like maybe guilt for giving away some of your duties.

Your guess is absolutely right. It was a guilt. Quiting my job I dropped some tasks in a middle, so I made some troubles to my supervisors and colleagues. And also it was sense of failure: I didn't make it, I haven't acomplish some goals, for the first time in my professional life...
But: I know, and I knew from the beginning that this was absolutely right decision! For last two years I was doing job that should be done by 4 persons at least (and I am not exaggerating, really). So saying NO was absolutely right and I wasn't blaming myself. It was right thing to do, I would advice the same to anyone else who were in such circumstances.
It is like councious, reasonable, logical part of me knew what was the right thing to do. But somewhere under I lived through a bunch of emotions: guilt, fear, allowing to be treated unfair, being stupid to handle such a situation for long time, being not able to stand up for myself.
How to convince my unconious mind to those reasonable arguments of conscious me?

 

[lowella]

Well, you could try good ole' repetition (self-hypnotherapy with youtube etc) and journaling. Also, keep in mind what Ozanich taught me, which is that there are multiple ways of onset but one method it uses is to immediately follow the *release* of the stress. My onset came the day after I "finished" my traumatic episode and I got much worse from there (to the point of being diagnosed as M.S.) Just so you know it's normal