If you have not yet read part 1 of this series, STOP, do not read part 2, until you have read part 1. Part 1 can be found in the bulletin board archives, under skilled relaxation(SR), with the title, Richard J's experiences with SR (part 1).
WEEK 1
As I mentioned in part 1, I am going to start my skilled relaxation using the tape, sound healing. Brain Sync lists this tape as an one hour tape, however, I found it to be 45 minutes per side. I will start out my skilled relaxation playing both sides of the tape for a 1.5 hour session. Again I would like to make a cautionary note here, IF YOU HAVE A CHRONIC CONDITION THAT IS GIVING YOU, A LOT, OR CONSTANT PAIN, DO NOT START WITH THE SOUND HEALING TAPE. Start with a tape in the 4-7 or 7-12 CPS range, this is the CPS range DR Stoll recommends for skilled relaxation.
The first somatic I noticed was what felt like pressure on the front of my face. It only lasted for about 30 seconds. This was followed by both my eye balls having a dull low volume pain. Then I sarted to feel what was like pin pricks on the surface of my skin. Now these somatics didn't come one right after the other. I would feel one, and then I would feel nothing for a period of time, then I would feel a somatic again etc. I was both fascinated and curious about this phenomenon. I quickly abandon picturing my body emersed in a cocoon of white energy, and started concentrating on the somatics I was feeling. As I was feeling a pin prick I did something I did not plan to do, in fact one second befor I did it, I didn't know I was going to do it. I mentally asked myself what's happening? I accepted the first thing that came into my mind as the answer to my question. And the answer came to me not as words, but as a complete thought. And the answer was that I had placed small balls of static energy on my skin. Why I did that, did not come as part of the answer, just that I had done it. My mind was eliminating or erasing those small balls of energy. As it eliminated them they literally exploded. That's what I was feeling as pin pricks. This was followed by my feet and legs feeling, heavy, that's the only way I can describe the feeling. This heavy feeling went from my toes to my hips. I mentally asked myself what's happening? The answer came back, aligning energy flows. Then my hands and arms felt very heavy, right up to my shoulders. As I describe these feelings keep in mind that I may feel a somatic, and then I feel nothing for a period of time. And there is a jumping around from somatic to somatic. By that I mean I might feel a pin prick, then a dull pain in my eye balls, then my feet and legs feel heavy, then another pin prick etc. After about five days I had the sensation in my legs of a vibration. I think the frequency of the vibration I felt was roughly the same as that of the tape, in the 0-4 CPS range. Now I've got to tell you about a sharp pain I would get about once a month. On my left foot right where my big toe meets my foot I would get a sharp pain when I would bend my toe like gets done when walking. This pain would last for a minute or two. While the pain lasted it was difficult to walk. Well, after I felt the vibration in my feet and legs, I felt a tingling sensation, not unlike when a foot or leg falls asleep. This tingling sensation only occurred on my left foot, where my big toe meets my foot. Just that narrow little area. I mentally asked myself what's happening? This time the answer came as one word, fixing.
WEEK 2
Its time to tell you of another problem I have. Because of basically walking barefoot for an extended period of time, on concrete with gravel on it, and managing to not avoid stepping on the gravel, I developed heel spurs. Also, I believe from being on the computer so much of the time, I developed tennis elbow on my left elbow. I went to the doctor and he gave me cortison shots. The shots reduced the pain in the elbow about 50%, eliminated the pain on my left foot, and reduced the pain in the right foot about 85%. Because it didn't completely clear up the situation, about six weeks later I went back for second shots. The shot in the left elbow reduced the pain level to about 10% of what it was at its worst. The shot in the right foot didn't seem to reduce the pain any more than it was before the second shot. All this occurred about four months before I started skilled relaxation. During the sessions I had this week I got a tingling sensation on my right foot exactly where I was still having some problem with the heel spur. Now for another problem, about seven years ago we were getting ready to demonstrate an airplane, we were developing, at the EAA fly in at Oshkosh, and wanted some video footage of the airplane in action. I had the video camera and was riding in the back of the pickup truck. We were driving around the taxi ways trying to get the best shots we could get. We were going around a corner to fast and I slid from one side of the truck to the other. I hit the inside of the truck pretty hard, not enough to knock me out, but enough to cause me to faint a minute later. The net result was I cracked a couple of ribs, and I couldn't raise my left arm above horizontal without having a lot of shoulder pain. Ever since then my left shoulder has been a little tender. During one of my sessions this week a sharp high volume pain turned on, exactly where the arm connects to the shoulder. I mean a big hurt. It was hard to lay still it hurt so much. Dr. Stoll talks about listening to your body, well let me tell you Dr. Stoll, listening to my body was no problem, it was screaming at me at the top of its lungs. In time the pain diminished and actually went away. But when it finally stopped, another pain took its place about an inch over, by that I mean an inch closer to the center line of my body. While this was a high volume pain also, it wasn't as high a volume as the first shoulder pain. The rest of the week I was experiencing somatics all over the body. At one point all my teeth had a dull pain. And again remember I'm not feeling somatics all the time, there are long time periods when I feel no somatics. Another thing I noticed this week is that after listening to the tape for a while, I felt very warm.
WEEK 3
In week 3 my right foot was tingling. Sometimes it was where my toe connected to the foot, sometimes at the heel spur location, and sometimes my whole foot tingled. This right foot tingling started almost as soon as I started listening to the tape. Also on occasion my left foot would tingle. My left shoulder was hurting, but not the high volume pain I had last week. Also for the first time my right shoulder was hurting, but the pain level was much less than my left shoulder pain. The interesting thing was the pain pattern was the same as for the left shoulder. I had never had a problem with my right shoulder, so I was surprised at this event. It seems that there is some kind of mirror action here. Now both my shoulder and feet were in some fashion mirroring the pain on the opposite side of the body. The pain or tingling was much less, and occurred less often, but defintely a mirror action of some kind was taking place. During the cold weather, I would tighten my muscles that were located on my back between my shoulder blades, when I would get chilled. What is called bracing on this BB. Well this week I got a pain at this location. Something that seemed to happen on a constant basis now, is that I get warm during these sessions.
WEEK 4
Week 4 I ran pretty much the same somatics as I had during week 3. The only thing different this week is I ran a lot of twitching on different parts of my body. When I mentally asked myself what's happening, the answer that came back was, aligning nerves.
WEEK 5
In week 5 I started out running pretty much the same smatics as I ran during week 3 and 4. But then this week dramatically changed. But first I've got to give you some additional background information. As I described in week 2, I got shots for my tennis elbow and heel spurs. Now something that was bothering me was that it almost seemed like the body was repairing itself by working the most recent injuries first and then the injuries I had earlier in my life next. What was bothering me is that the tennis elbow I had on my left arm was feeling no somatic. Yet I got the shots for my tennis elbow and heel spurs at the same time, and I started having the problems with the tennis elbow and heel spurs about the same time, why was there no action on my left elbow and plenty of action on my feet? In fact my tennis elbow was slowly getting worse even though I was doing skilled relaxation. Then towards the end of the week I got a tingling and a pain in my left elbow. Wow, then it hit me like a ton of bricks, the pain I got in my elbow was an exact duplicate of a pain I had forgotten all about. Several years before I had the tennis elbow, I had a pain that I would get in my left elbow, only when I had my arm in a certain position. At the time I thought possibly that it was due to my pinching a nerve. In any event that pain brought that memory back to me. My elbow problem started long before I had tennis elbow. Everything fell in place, the body was repairing itself by working on those injuries I had most recently in my life first, then repairing those injuries I had had earlier in my life, secondly. Now I must take time here to go over the significance of what's happening. That method of repairing the body is so logical. To do otherwise, would at best make the body sick, or at worst make the body very,very sick. Let's make an analogy here. Suppose there was a pile of rocks that you had to move by hand. You would start by picking up the rocks on the top of the pile first. The rocks that were put there most recently. Then you would pick up the rocks in the next layer down. The rocks that were placed on the pile earlier than the rocks you had just picked up. You wouldn't go to the middle of the bottom of the pile of rocks, and pick up that rock. If somehow you had the strength to pick up the rock, in the middle of the bottom of the pile, you sure would make a mess of the pile of rocks. There would be rocks strewn all over. It would look like an explosion hit the rock pile. Well, I didn't sit down and devise a strategy as to how the body should repair itself. I didn't even think about it. I just laid down on the couch, put on the headphones, turned on the tape deck, and like a big blob, listened to the tape. Then where did this intelligence to devise such a logical plan come from. It could only have come from one place, me. Or more likely my mind. Gee, I devised that plan, and didn't know I devised it. Which leads to the next profound question, what else do I know, that I don't know I know? What do you people out there know, that you don't know you know? I have read several times that we are only using 5% of our brains. Well, I think we are using a lot higher percentage of our brains, but I believe we could only be using 5% of our minds. What I believe I have seen here is a tiny peek at the other 95% of my mind. If we could only get to the other 95% of our minds, I believe there would be a lot less illness, or no illness at all. And a lot less crime and war, or no crime and war at all. We would be too smart to indulge in those things. If we could only! You know this is like the guy who says I've got good news, and Iv'e got bad news, the good news is that if we can get to the other 95% of our minds we could live in a utopian environment. The bad news is we don't know how to get to the other 95% of our minds, but it's each individuals responsibility to get to the other 95% of their minds. Well enough philosophy for now. What I believe this doe
WEEK6
WEEK 6 went back to being a routine week. For the most part I was running the somatics that I ran in the previous 4 weeks. The right foot would start tingling almost as soon as I started listening to the tape. There would be periods of time when I would feel no somatic. I would feel the somatics jumping from one spot on the body to another. I now felt tingling in my left elbow on a regular basis. The only thing I did different this week is, get frustrated with the constant action I was feeling on my right foot and left shoulder. So I asked three mental questions to myself, at the time I felt a somatic at the appropriate location on my body. I asked how long to fix the foot? The answer came back, weeks. I asked how long to fix the shoulder? The answer came back, weeks. I asked how long to fix the left elbow? The answer came back, months. MONTHS! That long, and with that answer, I wish I hadn't asked the question.
WEEK 7
Week 7 was pretty much like week 6. For the most part I ran the same somatics I ran in week 6.
WEEK 8
Week 8 was pretty much like week 7. For the most part I ran the same somatics I ran in week 7. I should explain that I am writing about the main or persistent somatics. Through all these weeks I would run short term somatics that I don't bother to write about. These short term somatics are light or low volume pain. They usually don't last more than a minute, and they only occur in one session. When I started skilled relaxation in week 1, I might encounter a dozen or more of these little fellows in one session. Here in week 7 and 8, I am encountering less and less of them. And even the persistent somatics are much weaker than when I first encountered them, except for my left elbow, which is the most recent persistent somatic.
WEEK 1 THROUGH 8 WRAP UP
Well, a most interesting 8 weeks. I believe that I have gained a most profound understanding about the mind, body connection during these 8 weeks. It is my intention to continue my skilled relaxation using the sound healing tape. It is my theory, and hope, that at some point I will no longer feel any somatics. And when that occurs, I will no longer have the annoying aches and pains that I have been discussing in this posting. When that occurs I will then go to a tape with a frequency of 4-7 CPS. If that doesn't happen I will be looking for something that will indicate to me that it's time to go to the 4-7 CPS tape. What is that something? I have no idea at this point. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to resolve my foot and left shoulder problem. And compare that to how long it takes to resolve my left elbow problem. In other words how accurate were the answers to the questions I asked myself regarding times to cure.
Follow Ups:
Asking Questions and Getting Answers
Posted by RocketHealer Jim++ on March 03, 1999 at 17:12:58:
In Reply to: SKILLED RELAXATION PART-2 WEEKS 1 THROUGH 8 posted by Richard J on March 03, 1999 at 16:21:55:
What you said about asking your inner self Questions and getting Answers was very interesting. I've not experienced it quite that way.
If I ask a specific question, and listen for an answer, then I don't get any answer at all. Nothing!
But during some meditations, I get answers to important questions that have been running around in my mind, usually just 1-3 word answers. And at the exact same instant that I get the answer, I KNOW what the question was. So I've learned to be sure to think about my important questions occasionally before meditating, in case the answers are nearby.
Thanks for sharing your understanding how we heal backwards. It makes a lot of sense. I was aware of that sequence happening in recovering from colds. If I take an antibiotic, it seems that I move backwards thru the symptoms of the cold, even if I did not have those particular symptoms at all during this particular cold.
Thanks for sharing this SR installment. I'm looking forward to your future installments.
RocketHealer Jim++
Follow Ups:
Re: Healing Backwards
Posted by vickieb on March 04, 1999 at 01:50:15:
In Reply to: Asking Questions and Getting Answers posted by RocketHealer Jim++ on March 03, 1999 at 17:12:58:
I just had talked to someone last week about going exactly backwards in my healing process. I hadn't really thought about it working that way for everybody, just thought it was me. That's interesting.
I liked your comments on the skilled relaxation.
Follow Ups:
Re: SKILLED RELAXATION PART-2 WEEKS 1 THROUGH 8
Posted by Walt Stoll on March 04, 1999 at 11:53:18:
In Reply to: SKILLED RELAXATION PART-2 WEEKS 1 THROUGH 8 posted by Richard J on March 03, 1999 at 16:21:55:
Bless you, Richard!
Namaste` Walt
Re: Healing Backwards
Posted by wendy gorst on March 06, 1999 at 11:37:01:
In Reply to: Re: Healing Backwards posted by vickieb on March 04, 1999 at 01:50:15:
Richard, that is all so interesting: thanks for rekindling my intentions; having just finished reading parts I and II. "Healing Backwards" is startlingly like "peeling the layers of the onion", the image I have of how homeopathy works.
Wow, who would have expected to find a 'similar'(pun intended) phenomenon with biofeedback! I am now more than ever intrigued to start my S-R (again). I appear to put obstacles in my way; borrowed a walkman which tends to switch itself on by itself, so that it is always ON (annoyng) gave it back; job has changed so the journey time I was planning on using is no longer available. Now plan to buy good headphones (did look at CD players) and try for early a.m. on arising (H_E_L_P!!!) . I am annoyed that I seem to need to do all this preparation, keep thinking I should be able to JUST DO IT. But I know I need this preparation in a way too.
Healing backwards - if I have to heal all those sore throats over the past 54 years - I will be a basket case!! And back pain? sheesh.