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Freedom from Pain: Discover Your Body's Power to Overcome Physical Pain Hot

Editor rating

4.0

User rating

3.7 (1)

January 13, 2012 524 0Add

Freedom from Pain: Discover Your Body's Power to Overcome Physical Pain

Format

Paperback

Number Of Pages, Discs, Etc.

240

Publisher

Sounds True

Date Published

March 28, 2012

ISBN-10

1604076631

ISBN-13

9781604076639

ASIN

1604076631

For those suffering chronic pain, even after years of surgery, rehabilitation and medication, only one question matters: How do I find lasting relief? With Freedom from Pain, two pioneers in the field reveal a crucial missing piece for millions in need - the unresolved emotional trauma held within the body. The path our of pain is unique for each person. It's a labyrinth shaped by physical injury, genetics, learned responses, and - crucially - prior traumatic events. When all of these elements are successfully addressed, complete recovery begins. This book teaches readers how.

Editor reviews

Freedom from Pain: Discover Your Body's Power to Overcome Physical Pain 2012-05-21 21:30:04 Miriam Knight

Overall rating		4.0
Style		4.0
Content		4.0
Consciousness		4.0

Reviewed by Miriam Knight May 21, 2012
Last updated: May 21, 2012
Top 10 Reviewer - View all my reviews

Chronic pain is all too common in Western society. Whether it is back pain, frozen shoulder or fibromyalgia, Dr. Maggie Phillips and her co-author Dr. Peter Levine, offer a real solution. Pain starts from some kind of trauma, which can be physical and/or emotional. In an animal, the natural responses to a threat are fight, flight or freeze. If it survives, a trembling response enables it to shake off the residue of fright, and then continue on its way. In humans, however, we are more likely to hold onto the freeze response as our subconscious relives the trauma repeatedly. Since the memory and emotion of a trauma trigger the same stress hormones as the original event, the fear often becomes locked in our tissues, resulting in chronic pain that arises or lingers after the physical body should have healed.

The approach of Drs. Phillips and Levine, greatly simplified, is to use guided imagery to gently guide the patient to the original source of the trauma and help their body release the pent-up trauma through the somatic release technique they developed. This is not a quick fix, but rather a process to reconnect the individual with his or her body. Many sufferers of chronic pain understandably dissociate from it, feeling it has let them down.

There are some interesting lessons for all of us in this approach. One is that it seems that we need to express our fear and pain openly to literally get it out of our system – a cautionary note to all those of the stiff-upper-lip persuasion. Also that anger and crying can be healthy and useful emotions – crying being known to stimulate the release of endorphins, the body’s natural opiates. The other big lesson is that our thoughts are so incredibly powerful that they can change our physiology, so it behooves us to reflect carefully on whether we are keeping ourselves mired in thoughts of pain and negativity. What you focus on manifests and grows, so it behooves us to keep it positive, and focus on the bright side.

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Overall rating		3.7
Style		3.0 (1)
Content		4.0 (1)
Consciousness		4.0 (1)

Freedom from Pain: Discover Your Body's Power to Overcome Physical Pain 2012-02-26 21:19:06 Corinna Underwood

Overall rating		3.7
Style		3.0
Content		4.0
Consciousness		4.0

Reviewed by Corinna Underwood February 26, 2012
Top 50 Reviewer - View all my reviews

If you suffer from chronic pain and you feel you have tried everything but still cannot find relief, or you are caring for someone who knows the agonies of prolonged pain;
this book is for you. Maggie Phillips is a psychologist and author, and Peter Levine is the creator of a body-based approach to recovering from trauma. In this book, they have combined their talents to teach readers how to find complete recovery.

The book starts out with an explanation of what exactly pain is and how important it is for our natural survival system. Initial chapters also examine how and why the pathway out of pain is significantly different for each person and how to choose your own route. From there, the authors guide readers through a range of exercises that help to distinguish physical and emotional pain. Along with the exercises, each chapter also contains personal accounts from pain sufferers who are already on the path to freedom. These genuine insights help to remind us that we are not alone in our pain, and also to emphasize that we all have the ability within us to find relief.

Subsequent chapters encourage exploration and mindfulness of the body to help sufferers find pain free moments during which they can reinforce their energy. There are also exercises to help ease anger and irritability and for finding relief through the practice of gratitude. Sections discussing specific pain conditions such as chronic back pain, fibromyalgia, migraines, chronic depression and medical trauma are beneficial for the thousands of Americans who feel the pain of these conditions every day.

The authors present an excellent workbook that maintains a gentle pace so that readers - whether they are carers or sufferers themselves - will not become overwhelmed by the books claims. They remind us that the key to release from the prison of pain is to resolve the emotional trauma that traps it inside our bodies. This is not a journey to be taken alone. The authors encourage sufferers to develop a pain plan with their doctors, therapists and family members. With the help of Freedom From Pain there is hope for the relief for even sufferers of long-term chronic pain.

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