Shiatsu Shin Tai in Chester County PA

Entries in fibromyalgia (3)

Monday

03Aug2009

When Touch Hurts- Fibromyalgia

Monday, August 3, 2009 at 07:21PM

I am in the beginning stages of a personal research project.

Maybe I'm reinventing the wheel here, but in regards to understanding how to deal with something like fibromyalgia from a shiatsu perspective, I'm finding less specific info out there that is helpful as a practitioner, beyond the advice that 'shiatsu can help'.

But why? And how? Well, 'support' and 'balance'. Okay, and so, what the heck does that mean?

I'm in the process of posing questions to fibro sufferers, other shiatsu practitioners, as well as working with a few clients myself who deal with this mysterious malady, in an attempt to get a more clear picture of how I can possibly help. Part of the challenge I'm finding, is how to offer the right kind of touch when even the slightest pressure can cause excruciating pain.

So, risking audacity, here are some very initial observations I've made and hope to follow up on to determine if they're relevant:

*Fibromyalgia is a 'syndrome'... a collection of typical symptoms, which include pain, chronic fatigue, metal fogginess and digestive issues.

*Shiatsu can help in one basic way in that it releases endorphins, helping with pain relief.

*What I have noticed under my hands as a practitioner is: really obvious disparity in how different body parts feel... upper back being hot and rigid, arms soft and doughy, legs and feet thick and cold. And also, regarding the upper back and shoulders, it's like something hot and bubbling just under the skin surface.

*At this time, there is no actual traceable 'cause' of fibro, but my suspicion is that is has at least some roots in repressed emotions or emotional trauma .

*There may be a common personality profile among sufferers that include people (mostly women), who "absorb" and take on the responsibility of others' emotions, at the expense of expressing their own needs.

*Also, there may be a degree of lacking love and respect for one's own body... self-hate turned inward.... though this could also be a result of contracting these symptoms.

Some connections I've made:

*Fibromyalgia could be a connective tissue/fascia disorder.

*Current research is showing that it may be in the connective tissue that emotional trauma and memory is stored. (ah ha!)

*Research in Japan is also indicating that the meridians... the pathways by which 'chi' travels... is bioelectric energy that is conducted through the connective tissue. (oo another ah ha!)

*One book says the three main meridians found to be typically imbalanced in fibromyalgia are Gall Bladder, Triple Heater and Spleen. Psychologically, Gall Bladder imbalances figure into unhealthy expressions of anger, Triple Heater deals with relationships - in particular, the health of one's emotional boundaries - and Spleen is about nurturing and self-care.

*Physiologically, the GB meridian has to do with delegation of energy resources.. so an imbalance here can cause fatigue as well as stiffness, especially in the upper back, shoulders and neck. The Triple Heater regulates how the chi flows through all of the other meridians, and the Spleen meridian is adversely affected by damp and cold... conditions which seem to exacerbate fibro symptoms.

*And, I don't know if this is typical of all fibro sufferers - I hope my research bears this out-but there seems to be a high degree of sensitivity at play in the person dealing with fibro.

If you have some comments or information you'd like to offer, I welcome your contributions.

Stay tuned..

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Gina Loree' Marks |

The Incredible Shrinking Hospital

Monday, March 30, 2009 at 07:59AM

I was asked recently by a client of mine with fibromyalgia if shiatsu could have psychological effects.

(Quick background note: she's an occupational therapist that works in several area hospitals..)

I said sure, it can. She went on to say that she was getting this perception that the hospital where she was working seemed smaller. And quieter. Emphasizing that she knew in reality it wasn't doing either of those things, but it just seemed like it. And not just the one where she was that day, but all of them.

Also, the hallways in the hospital felt more ... (and here she took a minute to find the right word)... "accomplishable". In other words, where before when one end of the hallway appeared to stretch out impossibly before her, it now seemed far less so.

(Another side note: I have come to really appreciate this woman's degree of sensitivity and her description of things going on around her.)

I, of course, was excited to hear this... this is the sort of thing we were told about in school, but I had never heard anyone articulate their experience in this way.

Keeping it simple (as she gets overwhelmed by any lengthy explanations) I said that how we feel in her bodies affects how we perceive the world around us. She was quite satisfied with that, and I went on to ponder the greater meaning and implication of what was happening for her.

At its most basic level, we could say that she just has more of her core energy available to her. When we're tired or drained, the simplest of tasks.. forget about the big stuff.. can seem monumental.

There's a theory about fibro which suggests that it's a condition caused by long-term exposure to stress.... the body becoming so overloaded with stress hormones, that it can't even make its own natural analgesics to relieve even the simplest pain. To live in this state continually requires huge amounts of energy, and daily living is an effort.

This woman has been noticing, in the four months that I've been working with her, small decreases in discomfort in different parts of her body, and slighter increases in her range of motion. This new observation, to me, was really exciting, because it suggested that overall, her whole body is starting relax. Her inner resources are again becoming available to her to live her life, rather than siphoned off to maintain the high degree of tension in her muscles. And where I had noticed at her first visit that her body felt like it was made up of several different people, there is now a growing sense of uniformity, pliabilty and flexibility with each week that goes by.

Plus, she's smiling every day when she walks in my door.... (was not initially the case!)

It's great stuff...!

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More stuff to read:

When Touch Hurts - Fibromyalgia

Garden of the Soul (in this interview with author, Lynn Serafinn, she describes her own bout with fibromyalgia, the connections she made with her repressed emotions, and how she came out the other side. A lengthy post, but well worth the time to read, if this is your experience..)

Gina Loree' Marks |

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Wednesday

28Jan2009

Discomfort Creates Awareness

Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 01:06PM

Last night, I was working on a client with some intense fibromyalgia symptomology.

She's been coming every week for about two months, and it has been an amazing learning experience for me (and I hope, for her as well).

For people who suffer from this condition, everything just hurts, all the time. With pressure, without pressure. And even though it's been documented that massage and other touch therapies tend to bring relief... eventually.. this still presents a challenge to the practitioner.

To backtrack a bit, to when I was starting out in school, I quickly realized that besides my intuition-handicaps, I had a fear of hurting people. This fear created a sense of hesitation... a holding back that I could actually sense in my shallower breathing and the rigidity of my shoulders. Shiatsu can feel good, but it is not like spa-type massage... there is an intention to seek out and bring awareness and energy to places that are stuck... and this can be uncomfortable.

What I came to learn was that my hesitation in this area was indicative of the way I interacted with people in general. Under the guise of 'politeness', or 'niceness', I rarely put my self, my feelings, or my opinions out there. Never asked prying or personal or heavy questions... never wanted people to feel on the spot, or uncomfortable or challenged in their interactions with me. I don't even maintain eye contact for very long if I believe that the person might misunderstand my intention and get weirded out.

Sure, this had the effect of maintaining my 'nice person' image. But it also made me somewhat easily forgettable, inconsequential, and kept my relationships pretty superficial, unsatisfying, and somewhat dishonest.

Funny I should choose an occupation that requires I get into people's space and cause a little pain in order to be effective.

But here's what I've learned about discomforting situations. They force us to be aware. To pay attention. They often demand a response. Of course we can choose avoidance, or numbing. But we can also choose learning and growth. We often have to rally otherwise unused resources to work through it. To be in a comfortable place for too long encourages dozing off, and missing untapped opportunities for being alive and engaging with the world.

I think I have been so worried about taking responsibility for other people's experiences. Not that I want to adapt a callous, 'screw you if you can't take a joke attitude'. I've had to (and continue to) work on myself to become grounded, trustworthy and compassionately detached, both personally and professionally. This allows me to trust my own intentions, knowing that if I'm pushing someone's buttons, I'm doing it, I don't want to say 'for their own good.' .. (well, with a desire that it will lead to greater good).. but because it's my truth, and I have to remember that it is their responsibility to receive it however they want.

The shiatsu clients that I have the most connection and mutual trust with are the ones that I can really lay into with all my power and strength. They experience some ouches, sure.. but they don't blame or resent me, or stop coming. And they receive the greatest benefit. I do as well, because I can be fully present without worrying what they'll do if I inadvertently hurt them.

As for my fibro client... the trust was a little slower to build than with others. In her first couple visits, she let me know in no uncertain terms that if I hurt her, she'll stop coming. And since then, I know that some of the sessions had been rough for her, lasting even days beyond her appointment, but she is seeing results. And she keeps coming back. We are both widening our comfort zones, and letting ourselves be pushed along a little further than we thought possible.

What a gift...

So, let me ask you....

What are your responses to discomfort?

Where you look first to deal with pain? Inside or outside yourself?

What do you reach for? Distraction? Tranquilizers? Insight? Blame? Guilt? Understanding? Compassion? Awareness?

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Gina Loree' Marks |

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