My work approved 5 sessions of pain management as part of Workcover, because my back injury has been persisting for over a year now. Last Friday, I visited a lovely lady called Susie Rotch, who is a Psychologist and one of her specialties is pain management via self hypnosis. We had a great hour long session and I went through the process of explaining how the injury happened, what has taken place over the course of the year, my sustainable lifestyle and family, and some other personal stuff that I won’t go into.
Well, today was my first real session of hypnotherapy. I was pretty excited to get going, and Susie had asked me to bring a blank audio cassette to record the session on, so that I could play it back every day for a week. Luckily, I have an old tape player in the shed, which has a headphone outlet. I should be able to connect it to my PC and convert the session to an MP3 to transfer to my iPod. This way, I can listen to is anywhere I like, instead of carrying a huge boom box around on my shoulder, just like back in the late 70’s!
The session kind of felt like this. I was asked to sit in a comfy chair, and get comfortable straight away, which worried me a little because I only have a sitting tolerance of about 10-15 minutes before pain starts travelling down my legs. I was specifically told to put a pillow behind my head in case I got into a deep trance-like state, and thank goodness I did (more on that later).
Susie started the session by asking me to close my eyes, and began to guide me through to a hypnotic state by describing the calmness of sitting on a river bank or the sea shore, and listening to the water moving back and forth on the shore. I could feel the sand sift through my fingers when she described it, and I began to become so relaxed, but was fully aware of where I was and what I was doing. I was so relaxed that my head fell back and hit the pillow instead of the wall. Great suggestion, and obviously one she had experienced before.
She told me to touch the area that hurt the most, which I did with my hand and began to rub the area where the injury was. There was a suggestion that the simple act of rubbing the painful area would help change the feeling of pain into something else. Would you believe that my back and legs, where most of the pain usually is started to get really warm. I kept thinking that this is fantastic, and I was experiencing an different sensation that was good and not bad, as it previously had been when I walked into her office!
As I began to go deeper, she talked about a boy, who being unaware how, could control the pain in his body by imagining a door in his mind that led to a hallway. In the hallway there were switches that coincided with various parts of the body. I walked down the hallway and actually saw the switches to areas that I feel nearly constant pain in, and nearly reached up physically and turned them off. I think that boy might have been me! When I turned off the switch marked L5/S1 disc bulge (there was actually a switch in my mind with that label on it!), that area started to get warmer still and the pain faded even more. I then turned off the switches to the buttocks and both upper parts of my legs, and they too became warmer and pain faded.
Susie brought me to an awakening state with my eyes open, but then told me to close them again and put me back deep under again with her calming words. She said that with practice I could achieve this sensation simply by closing my eyes and concentrating on the painful area, and that the warm sensation would return for as long as I liked. She also mentioned something about healing, but I will have to listen again tomorrow because my mind was so excited with the fact that the pain was different, I think I missed what she suggested. I was then brought to a full awakened state slowly, and the session was over.
I thanked her for a most extraordinary experience that I had never encountered in my life, and upon that I quick glanced at the clock. 35 minutes had gone by, and here was I thinking that I had only spent about 10 minutes under hypnosis. Bloody amazing that the concept of time is very skewed when in a deep trance.
On the way home on the train, I tried to practice by going over what she said in my head, and managed to sit down for part of the way relatively pain free. I did keep getting interrupted by some old drunk sitting across to me talking crap to the bloke next to him, but better he be on the train than attempting to drive home from the city! At least when I listen to the tape again tomorrow, I will be in the peace and quite of my wonderful garden.
I have 3 more sessions, which I am so looking forward to. I can’t wait to see what happens next Tuesday, and will be practicing throwing those switches in my mind every day until then. The power of the mind is an amazing thing, especially the suggestive and subconscious parts of it. I thought that meditation was cool, but for an experience, this takes simple relaxation techniques to a whole new level. Susie mentioned that the two techniques kind of overlapped in their methods but meditation was mainly for relaxation, and hypnosis can be used to heal, change behaviours, and reduce or eliminate pain. Both techniques apparently tap similar parts of the mind.
Anyway, I will tell you all about my next vision quest/healing session next week. I believe it will be as wacky as this one, but hey, it worked for me! Here is something that I think is equally funny on the subject to finish off the post today. I found it in an old newspaper. Click on the image to enlarge. Enjoy, and may your mind be clear when you need it most!
Gavin
Mate , this is really good news !!!
The fact that you actually managed to sit down on the train is a good sign as I know for you this was previously an impossability’
Well done..
Your Friend
Phil
it sounds very much like what was done to me after car accident in 87 to make me relax when cars came in the opposite direction
Thanks guys,
It was a great feeling walking out of her office without a care in the world. I will still have to be careful with posture and not sit for too long, because I got caught out last time with the nerve block.
Gav you are an absolute inspitation, this is my first time reading this blog, it took me nearly 3 hours from go to whoa, I knew there was a reason I followed you around like a lost puppy as a child. Congrats on the blog and your green lifestyle. Can I just mention that Just because you dont own your own home doesnt mean you cant go green! I’m a renter and also do my bit, I have a worm farm, who eat better than my kids, and their left overs feed my new potted garden of fruit trees and potted vegies that I grow on my deck (vegies feed our guinea pigs & us) I have made enquiries to local council and my landlord about keeping chickens and am saving frantically to get materials to make a chook pen, I have many potted plants inside the house as well hoping to offset carbon and improve air quality. I rarely drive as the kids school is just down the road and the local church I volunteer at once a week is opposite the school so I dont drive there either. Just because Im renting doesnt mean I cant do my bit, I have also made a compost heap last weekend and had a massive harvest of the mulberry tree, kids loved it, they climbed & ate more than we collected but still the thought was there. Being in queensland and our very strict water restrictions I had backed off from the garden for many years as water was tight and I havent a water tank, but have learned how much now that my potted fruit trees and vegies love the recycled water from my fish tanks, (I am a fish breeder for extra pocket money) which I do water changes once a week, the plants love all that fishy poo and have flowered early this year. I replaced my old washer that use to use near swimming pool amount of water with a brand new front loader and was amazed at the rebates I recieved, ended up paying only $250 for an $800 washer, the little amount of water used was amazing and cleaned the clothes so much better than the swimming pool washer I use to have! I am single as you know and money is very tight, but money and renting doesnt mean you cant do your bit for our kids future and involving them in going as green as possible has generated a new relationship in my home. Well done Gav & Kim…..
What an inspiration you are to me, always have been.
Teena xoxox
Thanks Sis! Great to see you are on the green wagon. It must be something in our genes!
Gav
I’m so glad you found this helpful, Gavin.
Five years or so ago I was dying. Once I’d recovered enough for the doctors to be sure I’d live, they told me that my positive attitude had been as much part of my recovery as anything they’d done. Since then I’ve always kept that in mind whenever I’ve had a bout of serious illness and although I came close to dying once again earlier this year, I pulled through so I guess there must be something in it 🙂
Wow, that is *so* cool – both the hypnosis session and the fact that you are now beginning to be able to manage your pain. The power of the mind is pretty amazing, huh? here’s to being pain-free (or close to anyway) ASAP.
Cheers, Julie
Hi Gavin,
Its so great to hear that you seem to have found something that is working for you. Good luck with your future sessions.. nothing out there quite as exciting as hope for a reduction in chronic pain.
Kind Regards
Belinda
Gav it’s wonderful that you are learning to manage your pain look out world here he comes I wait with bated breath for the next installment Love ellie [Mum]
Thanks to everyone for the encouraging words and thoughts. I have practiced every day since Tuesday with some success. I have a little pain tonight, but I suppose that Rome wasn’t built in a day!
Gav