One of the more interesting events that happened to me while I was in the hospital last week was going through what’s called guided imagery. Basically, you are put into a state of relaxation and given a scene in which you take whatever is paining you and send it away. For Christina and I the scene was our 10-year anniversary trip to Turks Caicos. Our guide asked some questoins, took some notes, then took us both back there. After a few deep breaths there we were - sun, sand, margaritas, clear water, a cool breeze - then a ship anchored itself close to the shore. I took the pain from my abdomen, put it into a box, closed it, put it on the ship, and watched as it sailed away.
Since that initial session, I have successfully used this technique myself twice to essentially think away the pain. It’s amazing really. I short cutted the method last Saturday morning. When I felt a spasm coming on instead of taking my deep breaths and going to the Caribbean, I just said “No motherf*cker,” and that worked just fine. Of course, severe spams will not be overcome by this method, and that may be due to my own inexperience, but for low-level ones, this technique can work. Now this doesn’t mean I should stop taking my medication, but it does mean I have another tool to deal with all of this, and I’m free to apply it to other situations as well.
