Pain = Stagnation

I was a serious dancer when I was young, and one of the ways I used to practice was by visualizing my performances in my mind. It turns out that a lot of athletes and performers use motor imagery to hone their skills. The mind is a really powerful machine, and when we imagine that we are doing something, it actually activates the muscles we would use to perform that task. This is why motor imagery is used in therapeutic rehab to help people who have had neurological injuries like brain injuries and strokes relearn how to perform motor tasks. When I was recovering from my nerve injury I used visualization to imagine I was performing painful tasks without pain, and it made a big difference in my functional recovery.

We can harness the power of our attention to calm the nervous system and reduce pain, too. Pain is a form of energy stagnation, and when energy isn't able to flow, that stresses out the nervous system and amplifies the pain. One way to relieve pain is to get energy flowing again. Since prana follows citta, or energy flows where attention goes, when we spread our attention through our whole bodies in a yoga nidra or body scan practice, it can guide the energy to move out of stagnation and can significantly reduce pain.

During the height of my nerve injury, there were times when I was in so much pain that all I could do was lie on my back and be still. In those moments, I turned to yoga nidra to help me turn down the volume of the pain. Yoga nidra has helped me take my own pain from 10/10 to 0/10, which is why it is one of my favorite practices to share with others.

Want to try it? Listen to this FREE PRACTICE.