Tag: pain

Categories
Goal Development Spiritual Health

4 Ways to Endure the P.A.I.N of Growth

No Pain No Gain

There is no other area in our life where we choose PAIN as much as we do in the form of intense exercise.  Think about it, for those of us that have the real love for exercise, we seem to have some sort of masochistic connection to it.  “It hurts so good” we say!  “No pain, no gain” we shout!

We actually PAY MONEY for classes and trainers that practically torture us and we love it.  (Ok, maybe not ALL of us love it, but I do sincerely believe that every body out there can find one (or two!) forms of exercise that fits just (w)right with your body that you too will love to hate.)

It’s true, to build muscle we must first break muscle.  It is a physiological fact.  A design from God Himself. 

What we get from this truth is a strong life lesson that we must apply to all areas of our True Health. 

In order to “grow” in our MINDSET and in our SPIRITUAL life we must endure some pain and accept change.  We must dig deep and get uncomfortable and persevere through some pretty tough times in order to get the ultimate reward of greater health and a greater life.

How can we do this intentionally?  It IS slightly different than the PAIN you get from exercise, because often the emotional pain we may seek won’t have that wonderful “endorphin” high that exercise has nor will be it be over in the 45-min time frame that every good solid workout should fit.   

Here are 4 ways I think we can intentionally endure some PAIN to get the life GAIN in life of living God’s Greater Purpose for our life: 

P:  Plan—Set. some. goals.   To step out of your comfort zone and grow by taking some risks in life, make some goals that feel BIG and write them down! Then, set out a general plan on how you’re going to get there and #justdoit.  You’ll be surprised in how effectively motivating writing down your goals are, especially with a deadline! 

A goal for your MINDSET might be something like reading a certain # of books in a month or year about _______ thing you are struggling with or just want to learn more.  It might also be to take the risk a seek that guidance counselor or therapist to deal with that thing from your past your been subconsciously avoiding and “numbing” yourself from your whole life.

A SPIRITUAL goal might be to find a church home where you connect with the way the Pastor teaches or the community of the congregation (this usually takes a few “interviews” to find!).  It might also be to seek the answers to the HARD QUESTIONS you have about your Faith or beliefs by committing to reading God’s word or asking someone that knows more. 

“I know I am not yet what God wants me to be.  I haven’t reached that goal, but I keep moving forward to make it mine because Christ made me and saved me for this.” (Philippians 3:12-15 Living Bible)

A:  Adapt— As you write out some goals that allow you to take some risks and branch out of your comfort zone, you will find you might hit some bumps, delays and road blocks in your dream or answers you seek.  You might FAIL a couple (read: hundreds) of times too.  Here is your grand opportunity to really grow by adapting to these changes in your plans.  We have to constantly adapt our plan to God’s plan in order to find the path He has set out before us.    We cannot discount ANY experience we have because there are no accidents in God’s will for our life.   If you take every opportunity to assess and adapt to the trial you are facing, you will learn and grow in Faith!

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

I:  Invest:  To truly experience the life-changing and life-saving things that will transform your MIND and grow your SOUL, you will need to invest in your CHARACTER above all else.  When God guides you through life, He intentionally takes you through some challenging circumstances that make you wait, endure, and persevere. All of these things are designed to build your CHARACTER. 

As Rick Warren always says, “God is not interested in your comfort, He’s interested in your character!”  God is trying to give you the opportunity to grow and be more like His son Jesus.   Our character is ultimately what we take with us to heaven, not our bodies or our circumstances!  When you are being tested, you are given the choice to choose your human, fearful response, or to invest in character and choose the loving and Kingdom response.  Invest in your character by seeking God’s will more and more. 

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last long.  Yet they produce in us a glory that vastly outweighs them all and will last forever!” (2 Corinthians 4:17)

N:  Nurture:   Just as with our bodies, we are not designed to be in PAIN all the time!  Oh no, we are designed to need some rest, some recovery and some nurturing.  This is God’s role when we are branching out in our MINDSET and our SPIRITUAL health.  God is our refuge and is the only thing that we can find real comfort from in times of discomfort and pain.  He does not just abandon us and leave us to figure it out on our own!  No, he is there to give us His fruits of the Spirit and connect us to our God-given courage, strength and power to persevere.   

The purpose of our Greater Purpose pathway is to grow in our relationship with God.  You will find that the beauty of our Pain is that these are the times we feel God the most.  You grow in your Faith and Love with God at these times which allow you to keep going and even love this pain too! 

Just like Paul said, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV)

When you see how much you can GROW from intentionally enduring some pain in life, you will become just a “hardcore” for your  MINDSET and SPIRITUAL growth as you are for your CrossFit, Paleo or Vegan diets!  #imaginethat

Categories
Fitness & Training Spiritual Health

Feeling Pain? How’s your Alignment?

Balanced Body

Frustration was an understatement to what I was feeling when I heard the news. I was in a state of “worry” and obsession about my body and my eating (which was my standard operating procedure in my life at this time). It was compounded by the fact that I had put ON some weight (necessarily) after doing a Bikini Competition the previous June but more worrisome to me was the wedding I was planning for that upcoming October. I wanted to lose some weight and lean up again, but I was afraid of taking things too far in the wrong direction, like I did for the Bikini Competition. It was at this time that I decided it was time to start cranking up my weight training again when I could and try to chill out on my food.

But then the pain started. I thought it was just muscle pain cause by too tight of glutes, but then the excessive pain traveled down my leg giving me horrible sciatica. I finally had to go see a Sports Doctor and found out the injury was pretty bad. A friend of mine did tell me about an alternative way to help pain relief which is now my favorite kratom sellers.

I had a 10mm bulging disc between my L5 and L6 lower lumbar. I was in serious pain and the doctor’s worried that surgery would be my only viable solution.

Needless to say, that idea didn’t really work for me. So instead, I started a marathon of treatments to help the disc including a Spinal Decompression machine 3-4x/week, Corticosteroids, Acupuncture AND what would become a game-changer for me– Egoscue Alignment Exercises.

Pete Egoscue started this clinic in Del Mar, CA but they now have satellite offices all around the nation. His exercises and principles are all based on aligning out joints to help solve and prevent pain. In perfect alignment your ear should be perfectly over your shoulder, your shoulder perfect over your hip, your hip perfectly over your knee, and your knee perfectly over your ankle. Your hips should be aligned and your shoulders too.

Alignment

My body looked like a jagged saw when I first took the 4 poses and they drew the lines on me. But as I committed to doing the non-intensive, but oddly difficult exercises to get my small muscles functioning to allow proper joint alignment, sure enough my alignment started to straighten out and my pain started to go away. I was very lucky that after only 3 months of intensive treatment, my bulging disc ceased hurting and I was considered healed well enough to do some weight training again, but I would always have to be careful and couldn’t do a lot of the things I used to do. It was also recommended to me that I should consider getting a new mattress that could help with any potential pain that I feel in my back or hips. Getting a new mattress can really help ease back pain was what I was told by someone I know, and that I should definitely consider looking into it so that I have a better chance of being pain-free for as long as possible. It may also quicken up the process of me being able to continue doing the things that I once was able to.

The Egoscue Tower
Here I am at Egoscue Clinic in Del Mar, CA doing the “Tower” treatment which helps release the tightness of the psosas (hip flexor) caused by excessive sitting! Game-changer for your hips and back pain!

Well, since I believe in preventative measures to be sure that the bulging disc does not come back, I got into a pretty could ritual of doing my 20-minute menu every morning. About 8 weeks ago, I was able to go in for some pictures and my alignment was drastically improved!

{DISCLAIMER: Please consult your doctor before attempting any of the treatments for your pain or injuries. I am not a doctor and am not qualified to give medial or procedural advice. This was simply my body’s experience.}

I think that news got me a little cocky however, because then as we were traveling a lot I fell out of my morning routine and sure enough, when I went back and got pictures done last week, I was misaligned again! My body could FEEL it too.

Isn’t that the truth that just when we think we have everything aligned and are pain free, we cease doing the daily rituals that help us stay that way and sure enough, pain comes back up to bite us again.

This alignment issue is true for ALL areas of our True Health. Anytime your health is out of alignment with your True Self (a.k.a Kingdom Version), the person God designed you to be, you will experience pain.

Think about it….

MINDSET HEALTH: whenever we get our thoughts out of alignment with the Truth of God, we experience emotional pain and anguish. If our thoughts prey to the devil’s work, we start to believe the lies he tries to tell us like we are not “worthy enough” for God, that God doesn’t care for us, or that we have to do everything on our “own.” It’s painful.

SPIRITUAL HEALTH: Along the same vein, once our thoughts misalign with the Truth of God’s love for us, our Spiritual life suffers and we pull back from God or do what I call the “run and numb” method of numbing our feelings with a whole host of “busy” tactics and addictive habits. As we do this, we start to embody the “worldly” values and characteristics as a non-believer. We lose hope and Faith.

POWER OF ALIGNMENT 2

The SOLUTION!

Just as it was with my body’s alignment, the solution is to do a little bit of work every day to get your mindset and spiritual life back in alignment of which you were designed and called to be.

This is why my #1 LOVE these days is the power of HABITS and RITUALS! “You are what you repeatedly do,” so if you want to get out of the pain you are in, you have to simply set up small habits and rituals for all the areas of your health that you commit to.

Just a reminder for anyone new and not privy to my #RITUALS obsession quite yet, but the difference between habits and rituals are as follows:

–>Habit: A habit is a new repeated behavior pattern that you insert into your life in exchange for a “bad” habit you want to replace. I believe in having purposeful body habits, mindset habits and spiritual habits for a balance of True Health!

–>Ritual: A RITUAL is the little part of *you* that makes that habit more personally rewarding and fun for you to do. Taking the time to set up your new habits in a fun and unique way for you makes you more inclined to truly implement that new habit into your life. Example) Finding that special chair that you sit in, with a fuzzy blanket and favorite mug of coffee to get you to read your Bible every morning is a very useful ritual I enjoy.

So, if you want to get your body, mind and spirit back in alignment with the amazing woman/man that God created you to be here’s some ideas for your game plan!

  1. List 1-2 new habits for your Body, Mind and Spirit you want to replace some old habits with.
  2. Think about how you can #RITUALIZE the above habits in your own unique way.
  3. Write down your Specific Action Plan in how your are going to implement each new Alignment Ritual.

For example) I will do my 20-minute alignment exercise menu every morning while I am reading my morning devotional book. I will reward myself with a cup of coffee right after and I will commit to doing this 4x/week.

Or) I will do buy a Bible Study book and make a goal to do it 3x/week instead of watching the news in the morning. I will sit in the chair facing the window and get a notebook and pen I like while I enjoy my favorite tea.

SOME IDEAS TO GET YOU GOING!

  • BODY:
    –Alignment Exercises, Stretching, Yoga, Meditation, Deep Breathing Exercises, Tai Chi, Functional Training
  • MIND:
    -Prayer Journal, Lesson Journal (writing the lessons you learn on a given day), Calls with Friends, Therapy/Counseling, Reading Self Help/Educational Books, listening to podcasts etc.
  • SOUL:
    -Daily quiet time with God, prayer, online sermons/podcasts, other Spiritual reading, Prayer Partner, Bible Study

Sitting at a desk for a long time, or being sedentary dulls your inspiration and own energy levels too. If you are feeling uninspired, you can inspire action, clarity of thought and your creative expression by doing a few movements, such as the Taoist twisting technique below, often used as a warm-up before t’ ai chi, chi kung, or other martial arts. Among many other healing benefits, it wakes up both body and brain.

Additionally, if you are looking for a way to help ease the symptoms you feel from muscle pains (or dolores musculares for our Spanish readers), knowing that there are topical treatments that help with inflammation could be beneficial and potentially something worth looking into.

Alternatively, nourish both your body and being with a few yoga asanas. Yoga is the ideal antidote to creative block, with the added benefit of banishing any resistance to the process on the yoga mat. It can be difficult to learn the contortion moves that you need to do yoga and can be very uncomfortable for any tight muscles. This is all apart of the learning process but you may be more comfortable learning with the true experts. I’m not saying to find the best yoga instructor course in india (though you’re bound to learn super quickly if you did and get quality instructing) but you could learn online such as Youtube. This is just one of the many ways of becoming realigned but is certainly one of the best!

As your True Health gets realigned, you will find that at the center of your balanced life is this state of contentment and true POWER. This is your God Space, where you operate as the person you were designed to be. This is a fleeting moment, but the daily practices will help ensure we seek this alignment more and more!