When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.
-Alexander Den Heijer
Every couple of years, I like to hole up in a yoga ashram for a week or so, to take a break from my normal routine and recharge. The focus at the ashram is to purify the mind and body through a series of ritualistic daily exercises consisting of Pranayama (breathing exercises), asana (postures), meditation, Kirtan (devotional singing), and lectures on Vedic philosophy. The days are full, but nourishing.
Like osteopathy, yoga aims to treat the triune of man: mind, body, spirit. There are many similarities in the philosophy of both sciences, which is why the regular practise of yoga can enhance the osteopathic practitioners skill set. Mastery of the mind and body in order to enhance health are the object of both philosophies.
Todays lecture was on the nature of mortality; a ripe topic for any body worker. We considered the phenomenon of time as it relates to health and healing. Time is a man-made concept, brought about by the mind’s attempt to control and pace our ever changing and shifting external environment. The example of greying hair was used to illustrate the impact of time passing. People tend to complain about their greys popping up, when in reality, they’re just a symptom of aging. The hair itself is not the problem. The same can be said for degenerative conditions such as osteoarthritis; we tend to complain about a specific symptom of a deeper issue.
“The body is falling apart in every moment, it’s just doing it slowly enough that it doesn’t shock you,” The Swami reminded us cheerfully this morning. Symptoms such as grey hair and creaky joints are hints to systemic processes unfolding slowly under the surface. If the body aged too fast, it would be difficult for the mind to accept it, and thus it unfolds slowly and deliberately, all in the present moment. I hate to break it to you, but you’re developing grey hair and joint pain as you read this, even if it hasn’t presented itself yet.
Yoga says, there is nothing but the present moment. The present is defined as the interval between our past and our future. The future is merely a projection living at the level of the mind, while the past is a series of impressions, or ‘scars on the mind’ left behind from experiences.
I love this explanation of the past. Just as the body wears scars as reminders of past experiences, so does the mind. Just because we don’t see these scars doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
So how do you treat a scar on your mind? First, you accept that it is likely here to stay, in one capacity or another. Just like you can’t magically rid yourself of your appendectomy scar, you cannot just pluck out your mental scars. But you can work them…you can soften them.
In bodywork, we approach scars by applying gentle and progressive stretching to the hard collagen tissue in order to realign the fibres. When we achieve this, we find that the scars are more pliable, causing less pain and disruption to the surrounding tissues. It doesn’t pull anymore.
Similarly, if we examine our mental scars with compassion and acceptance, we can realign these scars with the greater whole. So that even though they’re still present, they don’t hurt anymore. So that they’re no longer impacting our present moment.
Conventional therapy including psychology/psychiatry can help us to understand how our minds work the way they do. Although we can’t change the events in the past, we can alter the way we look at them and shift our perspective from one of suffering to one of acceptance. Mindfulness practises such as yoga, tai chi, and chi gong are gentle ways to soften tension in both the physical and the mental realms.
Managing pain is one topic; but transcending it altogether? Now that’s a good topic for a future post 😉
Amanda is a Halifax-based Manual Osteopathic practitioner who has trained with the College d’Etudes Osteopathique as well as the British College of Osteopathic Medicine. Amanda practises a heart-centred approach to Osteopathy and enjoys working with humans of all kinds.
Well done. You are amazing in writing. Looking forward to read your piece on transcending pain