*Acute versus chronic muscle spasm pains
*The emotional side of the equation
*Suppressed grief and muscular tension
*How to help ourselves with acute muscle spasm episodes
*I would like to come back to emotions
*Meditational exercise – how to relieve pain and tensions
Introduction
I often go on about metabolic syndromes and how they are behind 95 % of human and pet illnesses (because they feed them the same manufactured products the humans eat).
But there is another source of suffering in human beings that for most doesn’t rise to the level of disease. This form of suffering in the relatively affluent West has reached epidemic proportions. I am referring to acute as well as chronic muscle spasms, for which, in desperation we invariably reach out to masseurs, osteopaths, chiropractors, acupuncturists, etc., hoping to be ‘fixed’ from our ailments.
Unfortunately, some will go to their doctors for painkillers, steroids, muscle relaxants, and, if truly unlucky a surgeon.
The Western approach to muscle tension is invariably pharmaceutical even the Eastern approach doesn’t fare much better. Because the underlying problem with tensions is that they are the result of emotional suppression and what is suppressed doesn’t go away just because it is out of sight.
It is my aim in this article to offer you both an understanding of the process and to empower you to apply an effective remedy.
Acute versus chronic muscle spasm pains
Emotions need to flow through us, we all have a few emotions that were considered unacceptable as we grew up, and we became adept at suppressing them. Those suppressed emotions begin to distort our anatomy because our skeletons are only upright and mechanically balanced due to opposing muscular forces.
The subsequent slow yet increasing distortions have meant that our skeleton bones have rearranged around the structural instabilities.
All muscles are surrounded by fascia, this tissue is sponge-like, flexible, elastic, and as a result of regular muscle movement -well-hydrated. When a muscle stays in spasm for any length of time, the fascia, due to lack of movement dries up, and even though the muscle spasm might release, this bunched-up dehydrated fascia maintains the structural misalignment.
So our primary focus in this article will be on Acute pains because for chronically seized fascia you will need a bodyworker who understands myofascial release or, be extremely adept with yoga asanas.
The emotional side of the equation
All muscle spasms begin with an unexpressed emotion. Something or (someone) in our environment will trigger the emotion, it could even be an association that generates an image for even a fraction of a second within our brains. There will be a well-trodden path from childhood to the present whereby specific emotions are blocked as soon as they arise triggering spasms in specific parts of the body
The suppressed emotion will start to express itself in us, invariably this will be so quick that as it begins to activate our hormonal system, our minds will suppress the image and contain the muscular expression that would have been associated with that emotion.
Other times it might be a slow progression like say you are in debt and the bills come through the door, you have that moment of panic, and anxiety, gradually over a little period the accumulated muscular suppression leads to your back quickly debilitating your movements, as people say “my back has gone”.
By its very nature, we can only put the dots back together when the muscular pain or tension begins to impinge in our awareness. As soon as this happens we need to sit down and think back over the preceding few days and sleuth down that primary emotion.
It will take a few events like this before you truly accept the relationship between your emotions and physical pain. It is really important to connect the dots and to realize that, muscular pains not related to food or injury, are always the after-effect of a strong emotion that has been suppressed inside us.
Suppressed grief and muscular tension
Apart from my own numerous experiences, I have one particularly poignant one from my wife that occurred many years back, about a good friend of hers (B) who loved her like a daughter and died quite unexpectedly.
My wife is a complete and utter animal lover and we are only together because I occasionally `woof’ and she forgets I am human. `J’s` grief and sadness has haunted her for most of her formative years, due in part to her numerous and varied pets having relatively short lives.
After the death of her mother-like figure `B’, I experienced my wife going from bad to worse with excruciating muscular symptoms and lack of energy. After about 3 weeks of this, whilst walking, I shared my concerns and observations. Namely, she couldn’t accept her loss of ‘B’s’ death, this meant she was avoiding the intensity of her grief and her muscles were seizing up.
‘B’ had in her time, been a wonderful surrogate mother to my wife. Now in her old age those closest to her had died. and she hoped to soon be reunited with them. ‘B’s’ health was not good and was racked in physical pain. Unexpectedly, a fire at her home had given her a quick, merciful, unconscious, and suffocating death.
The ((((((remedy)))))) for my wife included being grateful for her friendship and mothering whilst ‘B’ was alive and now to “let her go” and be pleased for her. Her time was done and she had been spared further pain and misery. By focusing on what was good for ‘B’ rather than her egocentric loss she was finally able to fully release her grief. Her pains miraculously disappeared and her energy returned.
What we can take away from that story is that most of our pains are self-induced, due to internal ego conflicts. And the resolution is invariably detaching from our egos by connecting with our hearts. Yea, I know, easier said than done!
How to help ourselves with acute muscle spasm episodes
Unless you have been trained to be in your body you may not have full access to it, but that is ok, so long as you have at least partial access, for example, look at either of your hands. Now place your awareness inside it and sense the sensations in each finger and thumb. You might notice it is not easy to stay there, that, is the pull of your mind trying to be in control.
There will be parts of your body easily accessible and others that are out of bounds. In theory, since nerves and fascia reach most parts of your anatomy then the majority of your body should be accessible. Many of the accessible parts of the anatomy are not, because emotions are stashed away there.
I will be providing an active meditational exercise at the end but for now, I would like to share with you how the process of liberating yourself from acute muscle spasms works.
All the muscles in our bodies operate in opposing pairs which send signals to our brains saying “I am contracting/ relaxing”. The impulse to contract the opposing muscles to regain muscular balance originates in the brain and are transmitted via nerve impulses.
If you put something smelly in front of your nose you will lose the scent after about 10 seconds. What happened? The brain switched off the signal. The smell is now part of the background noise.
Something similar happens with muscle spasms. on the one hand, your emotions activate a muscle sequence to contract, Your mind at the level of the subconscious interferes, you disconnect from the emotion and go off all wordy into your head. The hormonal release continues but is going nowhere, the brain sends a signal for the opposing muscle to contract to release the initial muscular contraction.
The out-of-awareness emotion continues to trigger muscular contraction. After a little while the signal telling the brain “I am contracting” becomes background noise, and we are left with a muscle in a state of spasm, a brain that has stopped listening or sending signals to the opposing muscles. and a dawning awareness that we are in pain in our bodies.
In the following active meditation I will be encouraging you to connect fully with your acute pain, this will send a signal to your brain that the muscle(s) in spasm is/are foreground action rather than background static.
As you succeed in connecting fully with your physical pain you are telling your brain which stopped listening sometime back “This muscle is contracted” Your brain will then send a signal to the opposing muscle(s) to reinstate balance between them. It is quite common to go into a bit of a daydream as the process begins, and when done the muscle tension will have gone.
That’s the theory, of course, and with practice it will become a reality. There was a time when I lived a stressful life and I could turn acute muscular tension around within a couple of hours.
In practice, you will need to do the (below) active meditation quite a few times till you become adept at placing your consciousness in your body.
I would like to come back to emotions.
The reason why you are in pain is due to the emotional conflict with your mind. It will attempt to distract you from completing your task. As you focus on the pain you will need to open up to the emotions that may be there, or, linking there from your lower abdomen.
Most of us learned when young to tighten our belly muscles when emotionally stressed, and this became our default position, so, as you connect with your physical pain and open to your underlying emotions, remember to support yourself by relaxing your tummy muscles down to your lower abdomen. This in turn will allow you to breathe fully and deeply and more easily connect with any emotions that may arise.
Lastly, emotions are like rain, and tensions are like a large rainwater butt We are so used to suppressing emotions that we are unaware until the water butt is about half full, and a large % of the population live their lives with a water butt at least ¾ full! – That’s a lot of emotional/ physical tension under the bonnet!
Practice the meditation assiduously, and keep going until you have emptied that water butt which of itself could take a few years Remember you may have many sunny days but the rain is sure to come, so keep the rainwater butt as empty as possible.
Meditational exercise – how to relieve pain and tensions
Bonus section for headaches
Here is some bonus information that I have not included in the meditation
Headaches tend to be the result of fascia and structural misalignment/ attempted re-alignment (by fascia) of the cranial bones. you can apply the above meditation to headaches by adding the following:
Lie down and focus on the pain/ache sensations on your head, and permit yourself to connect with any underlying emotions that will be based in your lower abdomen.
When you are satisfied that you are accepting of your physical pain and relaxed, stay intently focussed on the center of the discomfort, take a deep breath, and hold it for as long as you can, whilst simultaneously, with your legs straight, stretch your feet so that both feet are pulling and stretching towards your head. You may wish to repeat this action a few times.
This action has the purpose of stretching the Dura matter that runs up your spine and separates your cranial bones enough to allow a re-alignment if that is what is required.
