Fibromyalgia – Trauma – Fight, Flight or Freeze

Fibromyalgia – Trauma – Fight, Flight or Freeze

Trauma and the Nervous System

When you have experienced a trauma, your nervous system changes.

A healthy nervous system regulates our experience.  Our body can gear up for activity and gear down for rest and relaxation.  And we can easily switch from being geared up to gearing down.  In a healthy, balanced nervous system, we experience a sense of inner calm, clarity, compassion and confidence.

When we experience a trauma, our nervous system gears up to protect us.  It prepares us to either fight the threat  or to run to safety.    Until the body can express and release these energies the nervous system stays in fight or flight mode.  You become locked in to a hyper state of awareness.  If your sympathetic nervous system is engaged, you will feel anxious, angry or both. Panic attacks are a result of the sympathetic nervous system being activated.

If the threat is ongoing or so strong that you become overwhelmed, the body puts you into a state of freeze.  You are immobilized.   You shut down.  You are locked into a hypo arousal state.  You become locked up and fearful of everything with an inability to respond or react.  If your parasympathetic nervous system is engaged you will feel lethargic, exhausted, no energy, overwhelmed, dead, sleepy, disengaged, spacy, ungrounded. 

Many who survive a trauma may move back and forth between the hyper arousal state and the hypo arousal state.  And may or may not have the ability to access or stay in the “normal” state which can move between gearing up and gearing down as the situation required.

The trauma could be an accident or traumatic experience as an adult. Or abuse, neglect, loss or co-dependency as a child. It can be a seemingly harmless negative life experience at any age. What determines whether it is a trauma is how it impacts us. Given what we as a planet have gone through in the past three year, many many people have been traumatized. And that builds upon what trauma existed prior to that. Not a pretty picture.

From what I am learning is that fibromyalgia, is one of the illnesses that studies connect with trauma. This validates my experience in working with fibromyalgia. Trauma is almost always involved.

 

How to release trauma?

This is the million dollar question.

The trauma is created when the body is unable to release the physical energies that were engaged when the trauma happened. If your body geared up to run or fight and it doesn’t get to release those energies, then the energies stay trapped in the body. Or if your body was in a freeze state, those energies stay trapped until they can move out of the body.

In future emails, I’ll be sharing simple tips to help release these energies from the body.

I’ll also be including what I am learning in my upcoming programs in a more in depth way. Being in a community of people with the same focus can be very helpful in healing trauma.

  • Connect to Your Calm Inner Presence
  • An Introduction to the Integrative Wholeness Experience

I have a few pieces to put in to place before I can launch. But stay tuned. Coming soon.

 

Tip number one

We want to start by calming the nervous system. Begin by watching your breath. Then make the exhalation twice as long as the inhalation. So, you might inhale for 2 counts and exhale for 4 counts. That is it. This is said to help the nervous system move towards balance.

Give this a try this week and let me know how it works. You can reply to this email or message me in Facebook.

 

May you heal, 💗Bindu

Coming Soon

The Fibromyalgia Matrix

The Fibromyalgia Matrix

When I first learned about fibromyalgia, I was excited . . . and then disappointed.

After 20 years of suffering, there was a name for what was going on with me. I thought that meant that it could be cured. I was sorely disappointed. I found that just because there was a name for what was wrong with me, didn’t mean that anyone knew how to heal it. 

I wanted to be healthy.

So, I pulled up my bootstraps and began applying what I had learned in my explorations of holistic health and consulted with holistic practitioners. By that time, I had given up on medical doctors as they had nothing to offer me that made any significant difference. In pulling it all together, I came to a place where I could manage my symptoms, but not make any real progress on completely eliminating them.  I wanted more. I wanted to be healthy and not live within the limitations of having fibromyalgia. I felt like I was living in a box and had to carefully manage my life to maintain a manageable level of pain and fatigue.  

 

Managing my symptoms wasn’t enough.

My search continued. I slowly began unraveling the underlying causes of my dis-ease.  Piece by piece, I began to resolve physical, mental, emotional, expression and spiritual imbalances that were keeping my stuck, unhappy and sick.   Realizing that there was not one thing that would fix or heal what was wrong with me, I coined the term the Fibromyalgia Matrix. 

 

Fibromyalgia Matrixtm

The Fibromyalgia Matrix is the interweaving and interconnected physical, emotional, mental, energetic and spiritual imbalances that underlies the experience of fibromyalgia. Each person’s matrix is unique to them, just like a fingerprint is unique. The Fibromyalgia Matrix creates chaos physically, emotionally, mentally, energetically. No foundation, no stability, impaired function, chaos, nothing to stand or build on. Sound familiar? 

 

Recovery from fibromyalgia! 

Recovery from fibromyalgia is a process of identifying and resolving these imbalances. It is quite like putting a puzzle together. You find the right pieces and put them together in the right sequence. Out of chaos comes order and improved function. As the pieces of the puzzle are found and put together, symptoms go away, health emerges, and peace is restored.  

Rather than chase symptoms, we find and resolve the underlying imbalances. That is the path to creating true health on all levels. 

 

The 8 fold process 

By moving through the 8-fold process I spoke about last week, we can unravel the Fibromyalgia Matrix, and progressively rebuild our health, reclaim our life, rediscover our joy and align with our purpose.   True health is much more than the elimination of physical symptoms. It is embracing the totality of who we are, body, mind, emotions, energy and spirit with love and compassion and reclaiming our uniqueness and our gifts and living successfully, powerfully and joyfully in the world. 

 

An Introduction to the Integrative Wholeness Experience to the Rescue!

That my friends, is what I am about. Are you ready to join me in this grand adventure? I hope so. That is why I am launching the Introduction to the Integrative Wholeness Experience next month. In this program, we can come together to heal individually and collectively. I’m excited about this. I hope you are too.  

Stay tuned, look for more information about the Integrative Wholeness Experience. 

May you be whole, 💕Bindu 


Coming Soon!  Stay tuned for details.

What if?  A new perspective on Fibromyalgia

What if? A new perspective on Fibromyalgia

Consider, for a moment, the possibility that fibromyalgia is a phase or stage in your life that you can move beyond. What if fibromyalgia is a wake up call; your spirit’s way of getting your attention to move you beyond all that holds you back in life to become the person you were destined to be?

What if life is a process of Integrative Wholeness™, that it is time for you to move into the highest expression of who you really are step by step?

What if true healing deals with more than just alleviating the physical symptoms, but that you are composed of separate dimensions – physical, emotional, mental, expression, spiritual and energetic – and your mission is to balance and integrate each of these dimensions back into a whole? What then?

The Integrative Wholeness™ Experience is an 8 fold process designed to empower you in this process of healing, transformation and evolution. In the Integrative Wholeness™ Experience, each dimension of your being is addressed, balanced and integrated into the whole. The result is improved physical health, greater emotional stability, improved mental clarity and focus, an internal sense of well-being, increased ability to manifest your dreams and desires, a greater sense of purpose, and a highly tuned internal compass to guide you in your life. 

  • Heal the Heart (emotional)
  • Balance the Body (physical)
  • Harness the Mind (mental)
  • Enhance Your Expression (relationships, career, finances, and passions/hobbies)
  • Reconnect to Spirit (spiritual)
  • Strengthen Your Energy (energetic)
  • Reawaken Your Innate Intelligence
  • Align with Your Core Values

My Experience

My experience with fibromyalgia, led me on a journey to heal my body. In the process, I discovered healing my physical body, included much more that I expected. I discovered traumas that I wasn’t even aware of. The impact of which were not only undermining my physical health, but my emotional health.

I spent many years walking a fine line between sanity and insanity. Dealing with panic attacks, ongoing anxiety, being easily triggered into rage or terror. I was severely depressed as well. My self esteem was non-existent. I was a people pleaser and felt like nothing I ever did was good enough. I became a work-a-holic and a perfectionist to cover up my deep sense of unworthiness.

I began with taking care of my body. Eating better, exercising, getting rest.

I worked with healing my imbalanced emotions and gradually unwound my traumas.

I had to harness and retrain my mind out of a persistent negative view of life to a healthy and optimistic perspective.

I discovered a spiritual perspective that helped me to accept life as it was, harvest the lessons it had for me and discover a sense of calmness, deep within.

I learned to listen to and trust my body and my intuition and allowed it to guide me in my life.

I learned how to interact with others in a harmonious way. I identified my core values and began to live more in alignment with them. I had to forge my own path in the world, that was unique to me.

I recreated myself. It was worth the effort.

 

The Integrative Wholeness Experience.

Out of my experience, I have created a course call The Introduction to the Integrative Wholeness Experience. I will be launching it in the next month or so.

I look forward to sharing this with you. Stay tuned for more information.

 

May you find health and inner peace, ❤️Bindu

5 Types of Stress that Cause Dis-ease

5 Types of Stress that Cause Dis-ease

What kinds of stresses cause disease?

Underlying all dis-ease is stress. Identifying a resolving the stress in our life and body is necessary to rebuilding our health. Most stress is that which lies in our subconscious and impacts us on a level below our conscious awareness. Yet, we can bring these things into awareness to resolve and transform our health and our lives.

Here is a brief summary of the top 5 areas of stress.

1. Basic care of the body is essential for improved health. The basic needs of the body includes healthy food, water, exercise and rest. You might be eating “healthy” foods, but it is also important to eat foods needed by your unique body type. Same thing with exercise. It is important to chose exercise that is in harmony with your unique body type and with the limitations of your physical condition.

2.  Our lifestyle choices is another area of consideration. Sometimes the person needs improved communication in home, work and social relationships. The individual might need greater balance between work, home, rest, and play.  Perhaps they need companionship, self-love, or community. Perhaps they have a loss of purpose and focus for their lives.

3.There may be biochemical imbalances happening in the body such as gut dysbiosis, Ph imbalances, hormonal imbalances, adrenal fatigue, etc. In these situations, a skilled practitioner would ask the question, “Why are the biochemical imbalances happening? What is the underlying cause?” Biochemical imbalances are usually secondary to a deeper underlying cause.

4. Trauma, abuse and other negative life experiences can be a major factor in someone’s health. Traumas leave a negative signature or vibration in the body. If that isn’t resolved, it can undermine out health and happiness. Identifying and neutralizing these energy signatures frees us from their influence, enhances our energy and opens the mind and heart to new possibilities.

5. The mindset and emotional balance are a factor in health.  If an individual is angry and resentful, they are compromising their body’s ability to heal itself. If a person is chronically sad and depressed, that will impact their health. Then the question that must be asked is why the individual is angry, resentful, sad or depressed. That often lead us back to trauma, abuse and negative life experiences. It can also be caused by lifestyle and relationship challenges as mentioned above.

These areas are interconnected.

Understanding the underlying matrix between the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and energetic bodies can be complex. In order rebuild our health, it is important to look at all dimensions, the imbalances in each dimension and the interrelationship between them. We can progressively identify and resolve the imbalances and unweave the Fibromyalgia Matrix™.

An Introduction to the Integrative Wholeness Experience

In the coming month or two, I’ll be launching an online course for women with fibromyalgia. This will be an opportunity for us to come together and support each other in identifying and resolving stress in our lives. Discovering, healing, honoring, sharing and growing together in health and fulfillment as a community.

Stay tuned for more information. I hope you will join us.

Wishing you health and inner peace. 💕Bindu

Healing from the Inside Out

Healing from the Inside Out

I often use the phrase ‘healing from the inside out’. The first time I heard it, I wondered what it really meant. I suspect that you also wonder that same thing.

 

Let’s start by looking at different health care models:

Allopathic Medicine.

Per the National Cancer Institute, allopathic medicine is a system in which medical doctors and other health care professionals (such as nurses, pharmacists, and therapists) treat symptoms and diseases using drugs, radiation, or surgery. Also called bio-medicine, conventional medicine, mainstream medicine, orthodox medicine, and Western medicine.

Green Health Care

A system of health care in which natural, alternative, and holistic practitioners address symptoms using natural herbs, supplements and other holistic modalities, which could include acupuncture, massage, aromatherapy, and many others.

Many of these practitioners work to alleviate symptoms while also exploring and addressing the deeper causes the the illness. It depends on the practitioner, their approach, perspective, training and expertise.

Healing from the inside out. 

A system of wellness care that uses detective work to identify underlying cause of symptoms and then supports the body in healing itself. This is based on the understanding that the body heals itself. Your entire body was built from 2 cells joining together. Every function in your body was created from those two cells. If the human body is capable of that, then it is also capable of healing almost anything that goes wrong in the body.

It is also important to alleviate symptoms along the way. This is called smart or holistic symptom relief.

All three approaches have their place.

The patient or client needs to work with their practitioners to find the right balance of the three models. They each have their own pros and cons.

 

Let’s explore the Healing from the Inside Out model.

From my perspective, the body is designed to heal itself. When the body is exposed to stresses, it is designed to meet and resolve the stress and return to homeostasis. When the body is not healthy, it means that the body is not able to meet and resolve the stresses. This can be caused by many factors and in the case of chronic illness, it is that there are more stresses that the body can handle, and the dis-ease process has been initiated.

A common mis-understanding is the symptoms themselves.

Our society commonly see symptoms as something bad that needs to be gotten rid of. From the inside out perspective, symptoms are either a sign that the body is healing or a message from the body that something has gone wrong and we need to grab our detective hats and get to the investigation.

A symptom can be a sign that the body is healing itself.

When the body is healing itself, there will almost always be a symptom. You cut your finger and it become red, inflamed and sore. That is the body sending energy and healing chemicals to the cut. If you wash the cut, and keep it from getting infected, the finger will heal. Nothing else needs to be done.  This is a very simple example, and yet often our symptoms are just that, the body in the process of healing itself.

Our symptoms may be the body telling us that something is wrong.

Imagine that the oil light came on in your car. Rather than putting more oil in the car, you snipped the connection to the light so that the oil light didn’t come on. Without the simple act of adding oil, you might very well burn out or freeze the engine.

Maybe your fatigue is because you aren’t getting enough sleep. Your heartburn is caused by eating too much of the wrong foods. Sure, you can take a medication or supplement to make the symptom go away, but without addressing and resolving the underlying cause, the health of the body may decline, the symptoms may reappear or show up in a different and perhaps a more serious problem.

From my understanding, this is what happens in our body when we use drugs, supplements and other tools to ‘stop’ the symptoms. Sometimes intelligent symptom alleviation is appropriate, but it is best used along with a deeper look and resolution of the underlying cause.

Finding a practitioner who is seasoned in supporting the body in healing itself

A practitioner who is skilled in assisting an individual to heal from the inside out will have many ways to inquire, identify and resolve the underlying causes of symptoms. As the underlying causes are identified and resolved, then the problematic symptoms simply go away.

 

Supporting the body to heal from the inside out.

I spent a lot of years chasing symptoms with both allopathic medicine and green medicine. In order to fulfill my desire to completely heal myself, I needed to go deeper. I could manage my symptoms with supplements, but I couldn’t make them completely go away. My intention was to be symptom free. So I continued searching.

I studied wholistic health from many angles, including physical, emotional, mental, energetic and spiritual aspects. I am also very intuitive. By blending my studies with my intuition, I was able to identify and resolve the underlying causes of my symptoms and they began falling away.

Now talking with an individual, listening, and asking for questionnaires to be completed I can have a pretty good idea of the areas of stress.  Then comes the work of identifying specifics and using the right tools to neutralize the stresses.

Healing from the inside out can seem to take longer and be more expensive than the allopathic approach, but in my experience the opposite is true. It embraces the whole being and becomes an experience of tapping into and neutralizing stresses that you never knew were lurking under the surface. These stresses impact you on all levels, robbing you of your vitality, inner peace and satisfaction in life.

The result of healing from the inside out is that you discover a new you that may be well beyond what you ever imagined possible.  That is true healing. 

Stayed tuned.  Next week, we will look at the kinds of stresses that underlie the experience of fibromyalgia. 

May you heal, 💕Bindu

The Most Important Nutrient

The Most Important Nutrient

Breath is Life

The most important nutrient that we take in every minute of every day is air.  Breath is life.  You life begins with the first breath in and ends with your last breath out.  Without breath/air, you would cease to be alive in 3-4 minutes.  You can live for up to 3-4 months without food and up to a week without water, but you cannot even live 5 minutes without air.  

Breathing and Life Energy

In all ancient traditions, the breath and management of the breath was highly valued.  Ancient yogis knew the power of breath.  They created an entire science of breath called pranayama.  Prana means life force; Yama means control.  Their philosophy held that control of vital breath is the key to good physical health and calm, clear thinking. 

Modern research also shows that by slowing down and deepening our breath shifts us from the stress response to the relaxation response.  Slowing the breath down slows the heart, normalizes blood pressure, increases blood flow to the digestive system, deepens sleep, increases energy, focus, concentration, and memory

Breath as a Tool for Self Awareness

Practicing being aware of the breath for a few minutes each day is a wonderful tool for self awareness.   Simply by closing your eyes and watching your breath for a few minutes will begin to bring your awareness to your inner experience.  That creates balance in the body, mind and emotions. 

Breathing Techniques

Breathing techniques have been developed for attaining peak performance, managing stress and improving overall health.  They are easy to master and have profound effects.  In just minutes a day, you can feel increased vitality, strength and peace.

Conscious movement of breath can be applied to achieve a state of relaxed vitality so that optimum health is reached and maintained.  The breath is one of the few body systems that is both voluntary and involuntary.   We can use the training of breath as a tool to achieve heightened energy and awareness and to resolve specific problems such as lowering blood pressure, stop smoking, and lower stress.

The Natural Breath

Have you ever watched a sleeping baby?  Its little tummy moves outward easily and fully as it breaths in air.  This is how we all breathed as a child, fully and deeply.  A full deep breath will bring in as much as 2 quarts of air with each breath, which includes energy, oxygen and other nutrients for the body. 

For a minute place your hands on your belly and inhale slowly, and deeply letting your abdomen expand like a balloon.  Let the abdomen fall as you exhale slowly; you are releasing old stale air.  Inhale easily; feel your abdomen expand again.  Press the air out as you contract, as you pull your abdomen in while exhaling.   How do you feel?

Awareness Practice

This week, take 5 minutes each day to practice the Natural Breath.  Somply place your hands on your abdomen and expand the belly like a balloon and then release the breath.  How do you feel after breathing into the abdomen? What do you notice? Is it difficult or hard to breath deeply? Do any emotions come up? Are you wondering if you are doing it right? Does your mind get quiet or not? Take some time to reflect on or journal about your experience.  

Share your experience or questions if you would like.  I am here to support you.  

May you enjoy the benefits of full breathing,  💕Bindu