Healing the body mind and spirit

Healing the body mind and spirit
M

Mike Church

Registrant
My fellow Survivors. Well I am not entirely sure that that is the right greeting but I think it should be ok

Personally I think that Healing the mind is a life long persuit. It is like relationships and learning; a life long work. I could be wrong but that is my take on it. If I do not continually work on it I regress. I do think that I must be forever vigilant of any regression.

One thing that has helped me a great deal is healing and keeping healthy the body. I work out a lot and excercise. Especially at times when issues start to pile up. Additionally I like to take long walks when I am down. I find that this helps to keep me level.

Another thing is my morality. I do not mean being morally correct with society. I mean morally honest with myself and my attitudes and how I relate to and behave with others. I find that if I am honest with myself I can be true to my own morality. The problem is that sometimes I am not honest with myself ( god and then I belive the lie) and everything goes haywire. This to me is one of the hardest things I face. Because of that I try to be open and honest with everyone and it sort of makes it easier to be that way with myself. I no longer hide that I am a recovered heroin addict, a once male prostitute, the fact that I enjoyed my SA and prostitution to a certain extent, that I physically re-encacted my sa to reconfirm my sense of self worth or lack thereof. I am a member of AA and have chosen never to be annonymous. If I am stay annnonymous the internal lying starts again.

I was wondering how others cope in dealing with the body mind and soul.
 
I also try to get a fair amount of exercise, which really seems to keep me steady. And I try to meditate every day for half hour or so. I've found the meditation gives me a good clear place inside where there is silence and deep peace. I've even tried a sort of constant silent meditation, where I just exist without inner thinking. It's a great way to be, just me and the world, no interference. This daily quiet is hard to remember to do, but it's pretty interesting. I find if I'm in the middle of it and someone says something to me, I'm muchmore likely to respond from the deepest, most open part of myself....a very relaxed and in touch self that I'm normally a little distant from. And things that would normally bother me are hardly even noticed.

I'm not always on schedule with these things... ;) , but I really enjoy them. I'm teaching a class now on opening doors to creative work (mostly for artists, but also for anyone interested in allowing the creative channels to open), and the meditation practice seems to help most others as well. I do zen style work, but visualization, etc. also helps a lot.

Danny
 
"42 hours without a smoke !"

Dave :eek: :eek: :eek:

( I think I'll go and kick the neighbours cat, I just NEED to kill something !! ) ;)
 
Dave,

If you're quitting tobacco, here are some things that helped me.

Drink lots (and lots) of water.
Chew stick cinnamon. It keeps your hands and mouth busy.
Chew gum.
Sleep. :) Seriously, I went to bed as early as I thought I could get to sleep, and rolled over as many times as I could on non-working mornings.

Take it from the expert (I quit smoking hundreds of times! :D ). Seriously, I did quit about 17 years ago, and though I smoked a couple times in pubs during that time, I never smoked in any of the homes Susie and I have shared and I haven't even smoked in the bar the last several years. They say that exercise helps, too, but all I ever did was walk on a Frisbee golf course.

Joe
 
I believe greatly that the body and mind are connected with healing. I am seeing that more and more within myself. Because of my occupation, I do much athletic training, always have since I am little kid. But recently, in the months I start to deal of all this, I see now how my mind works with it. I often feel I deserve to hurt, I do not deserve to be healthy or feel good, even physically. Many times, I will overtrain myself, because to put my body into pain feels good to me. I have struggled to keep eating at all, I lost so much weight with being sick when all this first hit at me. And I am struggling to gain it back, because it would be to be healthy, and what I think of myself is more bad, not deserving of being good or healthy.

I am not sure how to fix it. I know it is not quick or easy thing, that to fix how we feel of ourselves and our deservedness of things takes time. I just try to keep faith that it is possible, and it will be worth what work I do for it. I hope same is true of you.

leosha
 
Exercise seems really crucial to me. I feel much diffrently after I swim. I even feel more like a man, because I got off my butt and did something for myself.

I try meditation, listening to a tape. That works when I use it. I don't use it enough. I feel good after therapy and I am still seeing a therapist once a week.

Diet is a huge problem for me. I feel badly in mind and body and in a sense in my soul when I over eat, eat surgar or salty things. I feel too lazy to prepare a decent meal for myseelf. If I don't have a decent meal I eat all night long.

Reading gets my mind off my problems. So does music and a happy kind of movie. I love watching the students from my school perform in whatever--and fortunately for me, there are more of those events than I can get to.

The simple point is--I am not very wholistic, even though I preach that. I still work hard at saving the world. You can't imagine how tired that makes me! I do not eat like I should. And, I do not take as much quiet time as I need. I also take way to little time to be with friends. When I do the things I know that work for me I feel great. When I don't, I not only do not feel well, I feel guilty, stupid, worthless.

I'm happy you posted this Mike! I was just about to go get a little ice cream when I found this post. I think I'll get through the night without it now.

Bob
 
I love to think about the ways the body and the mind go together (it's part of my job to teach about these things, so they're often on my mind).

Diet intrigues me...all those subliminal easy to satisfy urges. Why do I want to eat a whole box of cookies, then feel very bad (physically) when I do? Then still want more....

A while ago I was lifting weights regularly and found a diet in men's health that really worked for me. It gave suggested meals on a schedule. So I made a grocery list and bought everything then ate on schedule five times a day. I felt great. Then I moved, and fell off the wagon and remember the great feeling with longing. Weird, hunh? So hard to control or even regulate ourselves.

Danny
 
Bob:

The simple point is--I am not very wholistic, even though I preach that. I still work hard at saving the world. You can't imagine how tired that makes me! I do not eat like I should. And, I do not take as much quiet time as I need. I also take way to little time to be with friends. When I do the things I know that work for me I feel great. When I don't, I not only do not feel well, I feel guilty, stupid, worthless.
Click to expand...
A wise person once told me: If you do not take time to stay healthy in body and spirit YOU WILL HAVE TO TAKE TIME TO BE SICK. I keep that front and centre in my mind.

Danny:
So hard to control or even regulate ourselves.
Click to expand...
Maybe a suggestion. Make a bet with yourself that you will stay at it and make it big enough that you will stick to it. Maybe with your partner. If the bet is big enough from both sides you will both do it.

Love you guys
:p
 
I struggle with the same things Bob and Mikey do. I think for right now (since I've learned that substance abuse is a HUGE temptation that must be avoided by me....:-) I watch a LOT of movies. usually good dramatic films, actions or comedies. My boss told me that I have a tendancy to lean toward my "dark side," so I'm trying to de-emphasize that. It seems to help.

Diet is hard, because it's part of the "immediate gratification" thing of comfort. Snacks, the unhealthy ones, tend to do it for me. I'm going to work on it more. I actually enjoyed some of the fresh produce I'm fitting into my diet...:-)

Exercise - does stress count? Seriously, I am trying to work that in as well. It is more of a chore for me than pleasure, but I do so love a long walk on a fall day!

Meditation helps. Those who haven't tried it should. So does mental stimulation. Namely reading, news, and documentaries for me.

The point is that you need to face the realities of life with a healthy helping of "good" pleasure. It's working for me. One day at a time!

Peace and love,

Scot :D

P.S. Another reason I do NOT want to become an alcoholic (apart from the mess it made my Dad's life): My unscheduled indulgence in Guinness. I can't tell you the last time I had one, but I enjoy the flavor and THAT would be the only alcoholic substance I'd miss!
 
Well the no smoking is going ok, I haven't smoked since the weekend, and that was an odd one or two.
Luckily I didn't smoke heavily so nicotine craving isn't a big deal.
I was an "ocassion" smoker, and would light up because I met someone or something like that.

I've been told that the best help to overcome nicotine craving is fresh orange juice, apparently it scrubs the chemicals involved out of the system.

But it doesn't stop me raiding the cookie jar !

Dave
 
Hi Guize,
This thread has got me to thinking again about WHAT I do to take care of myself. I do meditate a bit, but find that it is easy for the intrusive negative thoughts to crawl in while I am relaxing. Mostly I concentrate on just taking some cleansing breaths and slowing my breathing down and talk to my body as I do this. What I found for me is that if I focus on talking to my body (telling it to use the oxygen I breath in to heal itself) the less the intrusive thoughts are able to get in and become more overwhelming.
I too walk a WHOLE bunch, mostly at night and then I still try to take a "buddy" with me. During these times I know I try to get my buddy to talk more about themselves it keeps me from focusing on myself and my ails or complaints.
Music has always been really helpful. My norm has been mostly to take a HUGE stack of my favorite music, and if really in the poops I try to choose what I call my "Happy Music" - stuff to sing along too (my chicken soup for the soul CD's or Jimmy Buffet) and then go driving with the tunes loud. Recently I have been incorporating making sure I put on CD's or the radio for a bit before I go to sleep, and leaving the stereo on in the living room a bit low while I sleep. This latter part seems to help me not wander before or during my sleep if I wake, and grounds me quicker first thing in the AM as I wake.( i still wake not really knowing exactly WHERE i am or if the dreams are real or memorex).
Maybe for me mostly it's the intrusive thoughts that are more exhausting & physically damaging than anything.
I haven't been very successful at attacking the quitting smoking yet :mad: ... I WANT to quit, I KNOW it's bad really bad for me, IT SUCKS BIG TIME!, yet I like having the ability to grab that stick and suck on it -- getting the buzz to distract WHAT EVER is happening :(
Peace, Sammy
PS Dave Good FOR YOU on no smokes!
 
Sammy
Mostly I concentrate on just taking some cleansing breaths and slowing my breathing down and talk to my body as I do this. What I found for me is that if I focus on talking to my body (telling it to use the oxygen I breath in to heal itself) the less the intrusive thoughts are able to get in and become more overwhelming.
Click to expand...
I've just replied to 'Sinking' who's having problems with sleeping and nightmares, and in my reply I mentioned that some time back I tried to mask severe pain with the power of thought.
I had some minor success, but I was dealing with chronic migraneous neuralgia. I had it for about 15 years and had about two attacks a day.
The pain was very severe and came on suddenly, from the first sensation to banging my head on the floor took about 3 mins. So the technique wasn't fast enough to be effective before I was in too much pain to concentrate on the technique.

But I tried, and the deep breathing was central to it.
I would focus absolutely 100% on something, usually my feet and tunnel that vision and thought until there was nothing else. And all the time I would be repeating in my mind "now I breath in....., now I breath out....."

If the attack was mild it worked to a degree, although for me it doesn't completly mask pain.
But the guy who told me about it, and showed me the method he used, claimed that the intermitent pains from a once broken spine was completly masked.

My recent use has been to try and use it when I have been stressed, and it's a good quick fix.
Very effective ( for me ) with panic attacks.

I suppose it's the flood of oxygen or something like that, but who cares ? It's free and doesn't involve doctors or drugs.

And I'm beginning to appreciate oxygen now, another day without a smoke :D

Dave
 
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