Relief from Pain, Mind fullness Meditation ,Acupuncture, Without Drugs, andJoseph Campbell

"You will not find poetry anywhere unless you bring some of it with you."– Joseph Joubert

Additional information from last week’s blog follows about the brain and pain, per the Wall Street Journal article on November 15.  While teaching subjects mind fullness meditation, under a condition of being probed by painful stimuli, the subjects in this study reported feeling 40% less pain intensity and 57% less unpleasantness while meditating.  Brain scan data showed they had less activity in the primary Somatasensory Cortex, the part of the brain that registers where pain is coming from and greater activity in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex, which plays a role in handling feelings of unpleasantness.  These subjects looked at pain differently and benefited without medication.  How about that?

Anticipating relief also seems to allow subjects to deal with pain differently, especially with the use of acupuncture.  In another study called” love,” the subjects either looked at photos of their beloved or of a dear friend, while receiving a hot probe.  On average, the subjects who were focusing on photos of their loved ones reported feeling 44% less pain, than those who focused on a photo of their friend.  Having a loved one and having a loved one’s picture might be helpful to you to.  Make sure to get a good photo.

These techniques are not going to be applied by your primary care physician.  Your primary care physician is going to give you a prescription and likely nothing more.  You may like him or her. So far, I do not know of any data that supports liking your primary care doctor and pain relief.  However, if that works for you, super deluxe.  I think the word “care” could be taken out of the description of primary care physician. I know a number of people that have been treated by drugs and surgery.  Before drugs or surgery, I would explore alternate therapies. How about you?

I took a seminar from the Center for Story and Symbol taught by Jonathan Young, PhD, and Anne Bach, MS. This class is based on the personality theory of Carl Jung. Some terms, from his theory include: the ego, the self, persona, shadow, anima/animus, conscious and unconscious, etc. However, you may be more familiar with Joseph Campbell’s teachings .Bill Moyers did a detailed TV program about Dr. Campbell a few years ago.

Dr. Campbell was probably the greatest expert on mythology in this century.  Dr. Young was his assistant and later, following Campbell’s death his Archivist.  Jonathan has spent years absorbing Campbell’s teachings and now seems to be living out Campbell’s legacy of following your bliss and living for the moment.

I would like to integrate some of the material learned in class and relate it to my book as well as another project titled, for the moment, mental toughness. Stay tuned.

A Reminder: Book signing this Saturday, the 26^Th from 12:00 – 2:00 PM at Placer Farm Supply,Newcastle,Ca.-916-663-3741;placerfs@foothill.net. See you there.