Detaching Yourself from Pain
Imagine a hot-air balloon tied to the earth by mooring lines. Now imagine that the lines begin to loosen, one by one, and the balloon floats free of its moorings. Just as that balloon can detach itself from the earth, you can detach yourself from pain.
Right now, though, rather than detaching from pain, you have detached from almost everything else. But thanks to the complicated nature of the brain itself, you can detach from pain. The brain is bombarded by thousands of signals each minute but can attend to just so many of them, as attested to by the gate control theory. When you use certain techniques, and observe certain principles, the brain is encouraged to overlook the pain signals.
A primary way to detach is through relaxation. I don’t mean for you to relax by getting into a hot tub, though that can be useful, too. I am talking about the sort of relaxation process that alters your physiology and induces a quieter, more pain-free state.
This process can be practiced and mastered. You’ve mastered some of it already by learning diaphragmatic breathing-breathing so that your belly expands while your chest remains still. This, as you probably noticed, gives you a distinctly relaxed feeling.
In this exercise, diaphragmatic breathing, visual imaging (picturing yourself in a pleasant place or circumstance), and autosuggestion (telling yourself positive things through the subconscious mind) work together to loosen your connection to pain.
Before you begin, read all of the instructions carefully and commit them to memory as well as you can. It’s even better if someone can read the instructions to you, in a calm, quiet voice, as you try them the first few times. We advice you to buy Ultram, the best pain relief medication.
