chronic pain — Blog — Dr. Stephanie Carter Kelley

What does it mean to be Mindful?

Mindfulness is taking time to really notice all that is going on around you and to really feel all of the emotions of the season. Put aside worry and regret for just a few moments (or longer if you dare!). Pause, Take a Breath, and each time you Fully Exhale use each sense one by one:

See the Beauty of the Holiday Lights and Decorations.

Watch peoples’ Expressions as they open gifts or greet you.

Smell the Aromas of the season: Evergreen, Cookies baking, Spices of Clove and Cinnamon.

Hear how people connect to one another with warmth in their voices as they say, “Happy Holidays!” or “Merry Christmas!”

Taste all of the delicious food and know that it was prepared with Love.

Feel the warmth of each hug. Feel the gratitude of gifts both given and received.

Remember with both Joy and Sadness those loved ones that are not with you this year. Feel Joy in each memory of times you spent together. Feel the Sadness in missing them.

When you take time to be mindful, you Experience and Feel More! In being mindful, you can understand abundance, not of the material, but of the sensations you experience in each moment.

Namaste,

Stephanie

P.S. If you need some guidance on taking a few breaths, WATCH my video on EASING TENSION. I ask for your email so that you can update your information or sign-up for my weekly emails which usually include videos.

I started reading Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav last week. It is the 25th Anniversary Edition and in his new introduction he promotes connecting with him on his website and through his online course. In the introduction he states,

“The Internet is a reflection in the domain of the five-senses of our emerging awareness of our connectedness. It does not create, or even increase, our connectedness. It is not possible for us to be more or less connected than we are with one another and Life. Can a flower be more or less connected to its color? Let us enjoy this beautiful reflection together and also what it reflects.”

I feel connected to the community that I have built either by way of this newsletter or with those that attend my class. I want to connect with more people that are in pain and I have felt for a while that technology is one way to do that. The internet can be used to make authentic connections. It can extend our reach in order to learn something new. I believe that it is here to stay and we get to choose how to use it.

So I have chosen to extend my reach. I have had a YouTube channel for a while, but now I am going to use it weekly to engage with you. In my years of working with people in pain and now in teaching yoga classes to people in pain, I have many lessons of how to move, how the body and mind are linked together and therefore pain is NEVER JUST an experience of the body, and how the body and mind are leading you to go deeper and explore your spirit. I now know from these last few years in yoga that all these lessons can help people work toward getting OUT of PAIN.

Our understanding of pain needs to follow current research and it needs to CHANGE. We need to shift our understanding from that as the BODY of the primary SOURCE of PHYSICAL pain that can be “FIXED” with a pill or injection or surgery. Pain starts and ends in the BRAIN. The brain determines what you feel, not the MRI images shown to you by a physician. We need to realize that each and every individual can alter their own experience of pain WITHOUT the use of narcotics. We need to understand that EMOTIONAL pain can be felt as PHYSICAL pain because the brain is not very good at being able to tell the difference. We need to understand that if we ONLY treat the PHYSICAL symptoms, then the pain will PERSIST and even SPREAD. I believe that the epidemic of PERSISTENT pain in our society is a symptom of FEAR. We are bombarded every day by the media inducing fear. We live in our heads with our own anxieties based in FEAR.

So I could spend time on Facebook connecting with people in a half-ass way by clicking on “like”, or I could get OFF of my ass and create meaningful educational content that has the potential to change our understanding of pain and get YOU OUT OF PAIN. So that’s what I have decided to do. EXTEND my reach and CONNECT with as many people as possible. Will everyone like me? I am sure as the sun rises each day that the answer to that is NO. Especially when this education will CHALLENGE your long held ASSUMPTIONS and BELIEFS about your pain.

So come on over to YouTube and watch a few of my videos. Join me each week as I teach and share my story of overcoming chronic persistent pain. For me, it has been an exploration of “why I hurt” all the way down to my soul. And if you REALLY want to get out of pain, I believe that is the route that you need to take.

Here’s a link to my channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv4k58vI2ewHJaCpeK_apPA

Here’s my Facebook business page where I post articles: @yoga physical therapist

Namaste,

Stephanie