“Minding” Physical Pain

Posted by Ron Ball

Jan 05, 07

One of the benefits of traveling — especially on long flights — is that I get to catch up on my reading. On a recent flight from Washington, DC to San Francisco, California I read Dr. John Sarno’s book, The Mindbody Prescription. If you’re experiencing any physical pain, I highly recommend that you read this book. It could save you unnecessary suffering and financial costs, especially when you combine it with EFT.

Gary Craig, founder of EFT, says that physical conditions, including pain and serious dis-eases are often because of lingering, unresolved emotional issues at the core. In Dr. Sarno’s book, The Mindbody Prescription, he says that physical pain is the mind’s defense mechanism for diverting attention from strong, suppressed emotions such as rage from internal conflicts, the stresses and strains of daily life, and leftover anger from infancy and childhood.

To release and relieve physical pain, start with the mind and emotions instead of the body. It’s the mind’s “fear” of having strong feelings exploding into consciousness that creates the need for the mind to create body pain. To the mind, it’s “better” to have the pain than to consciously experience these repressed feelings. If you want to alleviate physical pain, start by shifting your focus from the physical arena to the psychological. Again, I’m just giving you the essence of his book. I highly recommend getting this book. I’ll be reading Dr. Sarno’s latest book, The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders, on my return flight.

It struck me to combine what Dr. Sarno is saying with EFT. Here are some examples of EFT setup phrases you may want to do. Use these ideas to come up with your own “custom” EFT setup phrases or affirmations:

Even though I have this unconscious rage that manifests in my body as physical pain, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I have these strong unconscious feelings that manifest as pain in my [area of body], I choose to release these emotions gently and instantly.

Even though I have this pain in my [area of body], I now choose to release the unconscious emotions that contribute to it.

Again, take the seed of what I’m saying and use your intuition as you see fit to discover ways you can use EFT to relieve any physical pain. Also, visit the EFT Universe Website for the section on EFT for Pain Management. If you have the book, Freedom at Your Fingertips: Get Rapid Physical and Emotional Relief with the Breakthrough System of Tapping, read Dr. Alexander R. Lees’ chapter, Health: Exploring the Mind/Body Connection on page 109 and Gwenn Bonnell’s chapter, Pain Management: Relieving Physical and Emotional Pain starting on page 123.

Oh, you can also see some free video clips from Dr. Sarno here.