If you have read my entire Healing Story, good for you. If not, you might want to revisit that blog first. I am going to go a little deeper and here is a list of some things I think are important to understand. When I first started reading about this, I immediately thought I knew what TMS was about and I was skeptical. Here are some things that I think are important to consider and that I did not fully understand before Sarno straightened everything out for me.
- This Mind-Body technique is not a technique that teaches your mind to overcome its reaction to a real physical pain. The knowledge, once integrated, eliminates the root source of the pain which was not what you thought or were told. The cure is knowledge based, not treatment based and not even belief based. In fact, there is no actual technique. Knowledge IS the cure and Sarno is the professor. The books are assigned reading.
- My degenerative disc conditions as well as the physical results of past injuries are real, and they still exist and can still be seen on an X Ray. They just are not, and never were, the source of my ongoing and at times schizophrenic chronic pain. My mind naturally linked them, and the doctor strengthened that mental link with a bad diagnosis. Family history also fuels the deception. Numerous studies on patients that have no pain have proven that things like degenerative disk disease, herniated disc, tendinitis, torn meniscus, and arthritic joints are common for just about everyone of a certain age whether they that have pain to report and whether or not they have a family history of it. In other words, if you are over 30 and you show up at the doctor complaining of chronic pain, they are not going to have too much trouble finding a physical issue or past injury to link it to. It’s part of their job, but unfortunately, this is also a big part of the problem. The book explains how.
- Our bodies are simply not as fragile as we believe and are told! They are extremely good at physical healing and have been for generations.
- Just because the pain is not being generated from the physical place that it resides, that does not mean that it is not real pain. It was real and the worst pain in my life. Far worse than the pain associated with breaking a leg, breaking an arm, a deep cut, or being knocked senseless by a windshield in a car accident. My pain was not fake pain, and it was due to a real physical condition which was TMS. The book explains how.
- Although the root of my chronic pain is the repressing of emotions, fully dealing with past repressed emotions is not necessarily a requirement in order for them to stop the pain in my body. The book explains how, but in short, learning to think psychologically and presently instead of physically and historically is the key for me and others I know that have success. Instead of thinking about what you did to yourself physically in the past to cause your pain you have to learn to think about what you are doing emotionally in the present that is causing the symptoms right now. Lots of people that I know journal and do other formal things to get to the bottom of the repressed emotions but that has never been required for my results. I simply acknowledge that deep things like childhood trauma and past unresolved emotional issues can be the source of my symptoms or that they can be simple day to day stresses. Then I move on with my life in the present moment and without any fear of a larger physical issue.
- Just because I tend to subconsciously repress emotions causing pain, it does not mean I have some sort of psychiatric disorder requiring psychotherapy and it doesn’t mean I am crazy! The repression of emotions that causes pain can be very simple things and the same sort of everyday anger, fear, or frustration that every human experiences to some degree whether they are aware of it in their conscious mind or not. In fact, some of us that outwardly and consciously are very fearless have subconscious fears and emotions that find their way into other areas. For me it was back and shoulder pain. The book explains how.
- Yes, stress plays a part in chronic pain but solving stress does not solve chronic pain! This is the biggest error I see people make when they learn about TMS but don’t get better. They simply trade a bad mattress for a bad day at work as the known source of their pain, but they don’t improve the root type of thinking. You cannot eliminate stress from your life and even if you try, you will only stress yourself out! You can eliminate chronic pain from your life independent of stress! Recognizing the role that our completely subconscious mind plays and changing your mindset based on that knowledge is what solves chronic pain. Period.
- Not only was exercise, stretching, core strengthening and medical care not helping, these endeavors were feeding the flames of my pain by reinforcing to my conscious mind that the source of the pain was physically related when it wasn’t and never was. All physical treatment must stop for this cure to work completely. You can still exercise, strengthen, and stretch. I certainly do. I just never, ever link that activity to chronic pain management. That work is emotional/psychological and separate for me.
- Most people simply cannot accept that their beloved healthcare provider is not only not helping them, but they are also making them worse in the long term. Although not tough for me, I see this as a huge roadblock to so many. Being addicted to medical treatment is the same as being addicted to anything; you can’t accept the bigger picture of what it is doing to you because the treatment feels so good. Even when the treatment results in poor long-term outcomes that are measurable, obvious, and impossible to deny, they keep getting repeated over and over and the people getting the treatments and having the bad results swear by them. We have both prescription drug and medical treatment addiction problems in this country, and both are contributing to the epidemic of chronic pain.
- In addition to stopping physical treatment, you must resume physical activity and stop protecting the fragile back or joints that aren’t that fragile. This was key to me early on. Sarno gave me permission and freedom to play all the golf I wanted without fear of doing additional damage to my body! He gave me back the exact freedom the chiropractor took from me years before. When I did what I was told I shouldn’t do and I didn’t get worse, it strengthened my knowledge about the root cause of my pain. As my knowledge increased so did my confidence. Then, bye, bye pain.
- The biggest error that modern medicine is making is not recognizing what Sarno calls the “Symptom Imperative”. You may have surgically or otherwise solved your perceived physical problem in one place and you might even have a far better functioning joint or fused spine, but if you are not knowledgeable about the root emotional source of the chronic pain, your symptom will simply reappear in another location. You will be on that ride the rest of your life swearing by your new body parts and cursing the old ones. The medical community has no incentive to recognize this reality. The customer is happy with the services and back for repeat business. The book explains how and after you understand the link you can also see it play out with those you know that continue to look at only physical solutions to pain problems. Just watch.
- Chronic pain is contagious in society. The more time you spend listening to people talking about chronic pain the more chance you have of being afflicted by the same. In other words, your inherited genetic physical conditions are likely going to get worse the more you hang around talking to your family. Or watching them hang upside down on an inversion chair. The book explains how.
- People that physically treat chronic pain and report positive results are likely reporting a temporary Placebo effect. The easiest way to identify this effect is when the treatment wears off and the chronic pain returns and craves more treatment. For example, there is no realistic physiological way to un-pinch a nerve using massage or manipulation. If you feel relief from a “pinched nerve” with these techniques, you are simply experiencing a temporary placebo effect. No one fixed your nerve pinch by rubbing your muscles. But the problem is bigger than that. There is no actual physiological explanation for a pinched nerve that causes a person back or neck pain on and off for years. It also isn’t observable despite what you are being told by a guy in a white coat with giant gaudy framed degrees surrounding him. An MRI is not going to be different on days you have back or neck spasms versus days you aren’t. Even if a nerve was repeatedly being pinched and rubbed by bones, the nerve would become deadened in a relatively short amount of time. It would not continue to hurt for years.This is the reality and why what we are being told about pinched nerves and rubbing bones is just flat BS.
- If you are reading this and thinking it isn’t scientific enough I get it. But trust me, a lot of what you are hearing and what is being done at the traditional institutions is far from scientific either. Need further proof? Sarno devotes a great deal of his books to proving this.
These are just a few thoughts that I think might be useful to someone reading this blog and hearing about John Sarno for the very first time. Ultimately, I hope that people will just read the Sarno books like I did. Although there is no doubt in my mind that the writing and teaching of John E. Sarno could be a fountain of youth for many others, I am also aware of how few will ever be able accept the premises of mind body medicine or the work of this brilliant healer. Simply sharing my own experience will likely put me in the same category as an anti-vaxer, or flat earther to more than a few people.
THIS IS BIGGER THAN JUST BACK PAIN
There are almost no limits to what can be achieved with mind-body medicine from someone trained and knowledgeable about it. There are millions of us living a pain free reality even if most don’t talk about it due to stigma, and even if most others don’t believe what we are doing is possible. In addition to my experience with chronic pain, I have successfully treated everything from IBS digestive symptoms to food sensitivities, to cold and flu susceptibility to allergic reactions using mind body medicine. I have gotten results most people do not believe when I tell them.
There are also numerous testimonials that you can find online from people that have treated all kinds of conditions from auto-immune disorders to things like endometriosis, shingles, and countless other disorders and syndromes. Try it yourself. Google “Sarno TMS [insert your chronic condition here]”. There is a good chance you will find testimonials from people successfully treating themselves for that condition using Sarno. It’s the least kept secret in alternative medicine these days.
It is frustrating when you can see both how easy and successful this stuff can be but also exactly how and why no one else around you can. I can’t imagine how Sarno must have felt his entire career. Regardless, there is comfort in the fact that the results I get from mind-body medicine are independent of what anyone thinks – but me. I don’t have to worry about whether my insurance company covers my condition or how to pay for it if they don’t. Unlike most people I am looking forward to getting older when I will have even more mind body knowledge and practice and fully expect to feel even better and to be even healthier. Quite possibly even a better golfer but I am not going to put too much money on it.
Although book cures are perfect for someone like me, I realize that many more will never be able to accept a self-diagnosis like this. Sadly, Sarno passed away in 2017 and too few inside the medical establishment seem willing to pick up the torch or take the hard and less lucrative path of practicing conservative, practical medicine and educating their patients the way he did. Thankfully more and more people outside of that medical establishment are, and the information is getting out slowly but steadily. Mostly through blogs and personal testimonials like this one.
It is not my intention to convince people that mind body techniques will heal their pain, it is just my intention and hope to make sure people know that the alternative information does exist and that more than a few people like me are experiencing seemingly unreal “miracles” doing exactly the opposite of everything the paid experts told us to do. Until we change to a system where healers are compensated based on results they get and not based on the amount of treatment they provide, we are in for a long, expensive, painful, and sickening battle where mind body medicine will remain non-traditional and discredited. Regardless, by reading Sarno, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that solving chronic pain comes down to one thing.
KNOWLEDGE IS THE CURE!
If you are interested in gaining the knowledge and associated mindset required to heal your chronic pain permanently keep reading this blog! If anyone has any questions for me about my experience or what I know, I would be more than happy to talk and share. Click the Facebook or email links below.