24 Jun Releasing Pain Through Visualization
I was working with a client who was experiencing abdominal pain and had been referred to me by her family doctor. Her doctor had run all the normal tests; MRI, CT scan, and blood tests and she had been referred to three other specialists for similar types of testing. Her family doctor concluded that it had to be a stress-related dis-easement in her body and thought that some type of talk therapy would be the answer.
It took some time to get her full story out, but the bottom line was she had been repressing emotions tied to a traumatic childhood experience. At age thirteen, raped by a family member, she was not supported or believed by her family, was pressured to have the child, and then to give him up for adoption. She had been blamed for ‘letting it happen’ and ‘destroying the family’s reputation.’ She had been blocking these memories and the pain of that experience for over thirty years. Through journaling and learning to forgive herself she was able to reframe the experience and find her own strength.
Using visualizations in the present to have ‘conversations’ with her individual family members really helped her to feel her emotional power in the present. She was eventually empowered enough to say all the things she wished she had been able to say when no one was listening. I had her sit facing an empty chair and visualize each person with whom she wished to communicate, some of whom had already passed away. As you might imagine, she was a little uncomfortable, at first, because of the intensity of the original buried emotions. But I always start with a calming, deep breathing exercise and emphasize being an observer to the traumatic situation rather than being immersed in it.
It was one of the most cathartic experiences I have ever witnessed because she started feeling her true voice being expressed. She went through about a dozen family and friends over the course of two months, but after about two weeks, her abdominal pain started to dissipate. She related that she just woke up one day and realized she no longer felt the pain.
It was another good example of how our sub-conscious mind will hold our emotions until we are ready to deal with them. The challenge is that our conscious mind may or may not be aware of what is causing the physical sensations. Once this was identified through talk therapy, my client was able to consciously go through the process of forgiving herself, her family and friends, and proceed with the healing she so well deserved.
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