Saturday, December 18, 2010

Fibromyalgia - body, mind and spirit

Our speaker for the December's Fibromyalgia Support Group meeting in Mishawaka, IN was Therese Harmon (see Contact Information below). A remarkable lady who has been working in the healing profession for many years, starting out as a pharmacist in France, her first home country. But she began asking herself what is health? What is wellness? Surely not just the absence of illness. She married and came to the U.S. where she decided she wanted more – more learning, more growing, more of helping others in a more hands on way – a more natural way. She began taking classes. She learned about nutrition; she learned about massage therapy and became a Master Massage Therapist; she learned about Reiki, energy healing and healing touch therapy, collecting certificates along the way, spending many hours with each discipline – all new and effective healing energies.

She began using kinesiology, a form of muscle-strength testing, which provides feedback to the practitioner as to the functional status of the body, in order to tell what needs to be addressed. Many chiropractors have used this diagnostic tool since the 1960’s here in the U.S., but it has been used in natural medicine much longer than that throughout the rest of the world. Therese finds it to be very helpful because the body itself tells her what its needs are for her clients.

She has helped many people with Fibromyalgia over the past 20 years and has concluded that Fibromyalgia is a condition, or dis-ease, of the 21st century. It is a condition which encompasses the body, the mind and the spirit. And thus, all three must be addresses for any healing to occur…which is probably one of the reasons why Fibromyalgia will not be “cured” by taking a pill – a prescription.

Those of us with Fibromyalgia tend to be over-achievers and people-pleasers.In other words, we have a hard time saying “no” to requests and we tend to want to do things ourselves because we know it will be done right. We are always doing, going, getting, and tend to do for others so much and so often, that we forget to take care of ourselves. The point is that if you DON’T take care of yourself, soon you will not be ABLE to take care of others. This is when Fibromyalgia flares to its most intense pain and weakness and shares it’s most vile symptoms! You must learn to BREATHE! Take care of yourself. Give yourself a moment. This is when Therese generously guided us in a light meditation of being present in the moment.

We sat straight in our chairs, feet resting flat on the floor, hands resting comfortably in our laps, and closed our eyes. We breathed three long slow deep breaths to get comfortable. Then she told us to become aware of our breathing - in and out – listen to it, feel how our lungs fill and how the air flows out. Then feel how your clothes are resting on your skin – your collar on your neck, your aleeves on your arms, your pants on your knees and your ankles. Feel the socks on your feet and your shoes as they sit on the floor. Breathe. Slowly in and slowly out. Feel your hands resting in your lap. Breathe.

This is taking care of your mind. Centering and bringing yourself peace! In the middle of a harried day, or a time of stress, you can break away – into another room or the bathroom and do this simple meditation to give yourself a special MOMENT. Just for you. For your peace of mind. You can do it for one minute, two or ten or twenty. But to do a meditation of this sort, or even to take the time to say a prayer, alone in your own space, addresses the busy mind – the monkey mind that often takes over, and creates stress and aggravates many of our symptoms.

Then she told us about helping our body. She told us about the best and most important invention of the century to take care of our bodies. Juice Plus+ . Yes, she is a distributor. But even if she wasn’t, she would recommend it as one of the best ways to help heal a body. The fruits and veggies with their antioxidants, enzymes, and probiotics have helped all of her clients with Fibromyalgia, she says. I, personally, use it and find it to be extremely important to give my body a fighting chance against free radicals and to help keep it more alkaline, and to boost my immune system.

Addressing the spirit, she went to the blackboard (which is white). She began explaining a bit about meridians such as those that are used in acupuncture and acupressure. Describing that when there are blockages in those meridians, we have pain. Our thoughts often put up blockages - negative thoughts that run around in our head, saying things like, ”My body is screwed up,” “I’m afraid I can do that because it will hurt,” “I can’t go to work because I’ll forget stuff and get confused.” These thoughts create blockages and things don’t move smoothly in our systems. Our Creator, The Source, whatever form that takes for each of us, wants us to be happy, wants us to be healthy, wants us to have all that we desire, because He loves us beyond measure. With every negative thought we have about ourselves, we are putting up blocks to that love, blocks to our own health, joy, and love. We must replase those negative thoughts with positive, uplifting thoughts, even if we have to push ourselves. But we can replace those negative thoughts with positive thoughts using EFT.

We can release those blocks with Emotional Freedom Technique, EFT, and Therese showed us how. She led us in a light stress relief tapping session on the stresses of the Holiday Season – trying to be all things to all people, and get everything done all by yourself all at once, that is so indicative of we as Fibromyalgics.

Therese took to the board again and drew an iceberg, describing our conscious thoughts as being above the waterline and our subconscious thoughts being the massive amount hidden below. EFT can get below the waterline at our subconscious thoughts from where nearly all of the negative self talk arises. With EFT, you can reach down below the waterline and “tap away” old outmoded reruns of past negatives that keep arising. This helps the present negatives in ways that you can hardly imagine. Most of our current “stuff” is based firmly in the past or under the waterline. With EFT we can ferret these out and finally release them and so help ourselves in the present.

Often called “tapping,” EFT is used effectively to help relieve stress, anxiety, body aches, stomach and back aches, headaches, pain of all kinds, in fact. For a complete description of EFT, or to have Therese guide you in a session, or to learn how to do it yourself, please visit Therese’s website and/or make an appointment. Also see my website, www.managingfibromyalgia.com, and the page called "Helpful Support."
Note: Therese helps out by teaching and leading sessions of EFT at the Homeless Shelter in South Bend. How better to boost spirits and calm stress, especially at this Holiday Season.

I’d personally like to thank Therese for a very important learning experience this evening for everyone. She is a valuable member of the healing community and cares enough to share that information and more with our group. Please avail yourself of her services, her care and her teaching abilities. She is a wonderful EFT coach and this can help in so many ways. (I have found EFT to be extremely helpful for years – for anxiety, panic attacks, backaches and much more. )
Contact Information:
Therese Harmon, Life & Wellness Coach, Master Massage Therapist, Juice Plus Representative, www.YourPathToWholeness.com