Inner Healer

Just wanted to share. 

I'm taking progesterone medication (fibroids - another story). It's doing it's job, apart from giving me random headaches. The way I deal with these headaches, depends really on what time of the day it is and where I am. If I'm home, I'll walk down into my studio and do some yoga postures, If i'm out and about to teach, I'll take something. 

Last night, or should I say this morning, I woke with a headache. I was so tired I couldn't will myself to get up, so I imagined I was getting a massage. I seriously imagined someone's thumbs pressing into my shoulders over and over. I felt their hands massaging my neck, I felt the pressure and the heat. My pain went away. I shit you not, my headache went. 

This got me thinking about pain. About different types of pain. I'm not saying to those of you who experience pain "get over it, it's all in your head", because it's real. PAIN IS REAL. But could it be that there are pains which do need medical treatment (either natural or pharmaceuticals, i would never judge you), and pain which simply needs that inner healer in all of us?

In yoga, we try to teach our students how to identify different pains. How to discriminate between pains. There are pains where we've clearly taken a posture too far and we could injure ourselves, and there are pains which are taking us to our edge, which we can breathe through. It's about developing the wisdom to know the difference. 

Could we then take this off our mat, into our lives? Last night I didn't need a pain killer. I killed the pain. I literally imagined my pain away! So freaking cool! 

Something to think about. 

Will I now substitute my massage therapist with an imaginary one? Hells no! 

(again, this post is in no way judging anyone who takes medication daily for pain management. I respect you and would never judge you).