This changed everything for me. If you are in pain, pls read:

[Tennis Tom]

FWIW from the internets :

"I am licensed as both a DC and MD (Board certified neurologist, Board certified neuromuscular specialist). Lets settle this debate. The education of a chiropractor is not 1/100 of what I went through to obtain my license to practice medicine. It is not even a shadow of the degree of difficulty. I am not saying DCs do not provide benefit to some people, but honestly, I got through the DC school, passed all the DC boards, and practiced all with very minimal effort. I used to fight very hard that we (chiropractors) were equal but different. Then, I went to medical school. Boy was I wrong. The "internship:" a DC does is part of the 40 month training program. I spent mine in a chiropractic office for 3 months putting on hot packs. The MD internship, performed after medical school, I spent working 100+ hours a week handling difficult ICU cases and chronic illnesses. Then...after....another 4 years of training under very difficult conditions, I could practice. A chiropractor is eligible to practice to become board certified after 40 months of training and nothing more. There are no true residencies in chiropractic. These are, for the most part, 300 hour programs spread out over 3 years (this is how they market they went through and additional 3 year training program) and only didactic. 300 hours to me was 3 weeks. I do not mind chiropactors wanting to keep the label of doctor, but I am not sure why the profession feels so strong to defend itself as equal or even superior on education. Why cant they be proud of who they are? I am sorry to my DC friends, but really, the two worlds are extremely different in education.

P.S, from what I have seen, a PhD is probably harder than any other degree."​

 

[pspa]

Why insurance covers chiropractic treatments, and acupuncture (sometimes anyhow), is beyond me.

 

[Tennis Tom]

Why insurance covers chiropractic treatments, and acupuncture (sometimes anyhow), is beyond me.

Their actuaries probably figured out that a dozen sessions with them is cheaper in the long run then MD's, hospitalization, and the medical/industrial/surgical complex. If and when, they hear of "SARNO", they will first prescribe an evaluation for TMS, and, reading a book, prior to further treatments.

 

[pspa]

I paid a lot of money for acupuncture, of course I was seeing the supposedly best ones with medical degrees from China and not just the guy or gal on the corner who took a few classes.

 

[Betty Boop]

Healing is all about emotional balance and emotional integration. When we are emotionally in a state of well-being, we are comfortable in our body. The body feels like home and we are anchored there and able to receive the messages the body sends via emotions and sensations with ease and maturity.

The rollar-coastering of emotions where we lurch from fear to panic to anger to what-have-you is indicative of being out of balance and disconnected. Distractions are essentially things that maintain alienation from the body and to this end even activities that appear good can be used addictively to distract us from feeling. Meditation is one example if you are using meditation as a way to hide out in your mind and deny your feelings and your body. Other things include exercise, sex, food, drink as well as the usual suspects for many tms'ers dear old Dr. Google and internet forums. Anywhere you escape is a distraction because you are annexing the mind from the body. Healing does not mean that you will never feel anxious or fearful or rageful but rather that you have nurtured the emotional resilience to feel them aka ACCEPTANCE.

Not acceptance of being in pain but a deeper level of understanding of why you are in pain/anxious. The only way out is through and to this end tools like meditation, mindfulness, journalling and movement help you build the courage and fortitude to endure challenging your self-created demons by creating a better relationship between your mind and your body.

To put this another way meditation can be a distraction if you are using it to control your reactions to your body. This results in a shutdown and an emotional neutrality that is anything but balanced and is more akin to dissociation. Healing is not about control and micro-managing every thought, feeling and action. If you are doing this you are keeping your pain/anxiety alive by proxy. Monte Hueftle discusses this day-to-day and often overlooked element in the December 2013 update on this page:

http://www.runningpain.com/important_tms_updates (The TMS Master Practice Program - The New-Sarno TMS Program - Important TMS Updates)

It does require an email sign-up to receive a download link to an hour long audio where Monte desribes this missing aspect.

If you take the same personality traits that have created your problem into healing (into meditation, exercise etc), you sabotage your efforts.

Let be. Let go. Let healing happen.

@plum hi and thank you for this post. I have been looking at old posts on acceptance and sorts.

I didn't quite understand your message where you talk about meditation. Isn't mindfulness meditation helpful to be present with thoughts, emotimal and pain and just let them be?

Do you by any chance have Monte's free video from his site where he explains this as you mention? His site is no longer in use unfortunately and I have looked everywhere for his books and him but with no luck. The only thing I did find are his old YouTube videos but even those are not complete.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

@Betty Boop, You're still looking at old posts, you're still asking questions on really old threads, and you're still on this pointless search for Monte's old work.

This is a distraction.

This is your TMS brain trying to fool you into thinking that you're accomplishing something. I am here to tell you that you are accomplishing NOTHING. This is exactly where your TMS brain wants you.

You need to sit down and just do the work that is available. Monte was great, but there's nothing magical about his work. Stop looking for a magic answer from someone else. Here is a quote from the man himself:
"Two things that I hope you can learn from my story is that there is inner work involved that only you can do and don't make TMS this big huge disorder that is going to take over your life. I read one book on TMS that was written over 25 years ago. Once you know what TMS is you know what TMS is! Now put your work and your energy into treating the cause of your inner tension, stress and anxiety. Do this instead of "feeding" the pain strategy part of this disorder. When you "feed" the pain strategy by focusing on all the different dynamics of this disorder you can easily get stuck in the pain symptoms of this disorder.”
https://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Monte_Hueftle (Monte Hueftle) (Monte Hueftle) (includes a link to all of his 2009 website updates, no longer available anywhere else)

Do the Structured Educational Program.

 

[Betty Boop]

@Betty Boop, You're still looking at old posts, you're still asking questions on really old threads, and you're still on this pointless search for Monte's old work.

This is a distraction.

This is your TMS brain trying to fool you into thinking that you're accomplishing something. I am here to tell you that you are accomplishing NOTHING. This is exactly where your TMS brain wants you.

You need to sit down and just do the work that is available. Monte was great, but there's nothing magical about his work. Stop looking for a magic answer from someone else. Here is a quote from the man himself:
"Two things that I hope you can learn from my story is that there is inner work involved that only you can do and don't make TMS this big huge disorder that is going to take over your life. I read one book on TMS that was written over 25 years ago. Once you know what TMS is you know what TMS is! Now put your work and your energy into treating the cause of your inner tension, stress and anxiety. Do this instead of "feeding" the pain strategy part of this disorder. When you "feed" the pain strategy by focusing on all the different dynamics of this disorder you can easily get stuck in the pain symptoms of this disorder.”
https://www.tmswiki.org/ppd/Monte_Hueftle (Monte Hueftle) (Monte Hueftle) (includes a link to all of his 2009 website updates, no longer available anywhere else)

Do the Structured Educational Program.

OK I guess this was a wake up call. Thank you for this message. You are absolutely right that TMS is distracting me from doing the work.
But I am not saying Monte was someone special but for me watching his videos something clicked in the way he explains things. Maybe I won't find his book but maybe I will. Either way, everything I believe happens for a reason and I know I should start the work.

I know I am TMSing trying too hard but didn't we all at some point.