Here’s the story of the best health advice I’ve ever received.
In the thick of my struggle with chronic pain, I searched desperately for answers. I tried every physical solution: corrective exercises, physical therapy, massage, acupuncture, dry needling, steroids, chiropractic, active release, injections, and Botox injections. Finally, I arrived at the source of my pain: nervous system dysregulation! This realization changed the course of my life and finally allowed me to heal.
In the middle of a two-hour consult with Steve Ozanich, a mind-body and chronic pain expert and the author of The Great Pain Deception, Steve said some words that changed my life:
“Kate, as long as you are THINKING, you are REPRESSING emotions.”
He explained that we cannot THINK and FEEL at the same time and that what we don’t feel, we repress!
You may be wondering why this advice was so life changing. Let me explain.
Repressed emotions trigger the body’s “fight or flight” response more so than most things we do. Nervous system dysregulation is the cause of most chronic pain and chronic health issues.
Too much THINKING causes REPRESSION!
Repression causes nervous system dysregulation, which causes physical pain, compromises the immune system, increases inflammation, and leads to most of our health issues. When the nervous system is dysregulated, the body cannot heal.
Unfortunately, we live in a world that encourages us to THINK our way out of our problems. We live in a world that encourages us to escape by THINKING rather than FEELING. For most people, there’s “too much pain” to FEEL, which is why we escape by thinking, avoiding, repressing, and suppressing!
We must be able to FEEL if we want to HEAL! It’s brain science. When we feel our feelings and emotions instead of repressing them, the body moves out of survival mode.
