"It's most unlikely you will ever regain full use of your arm", the orthopedic specialist said in a bored tone. As if he'd pronounced this diagnosis thousands of times and it was of no emotional consequence. I had broken my hand, arm and elbow in 6 places in a car accident, and also sustained substantial nerve and soft tissue injuries into my neck. The bones healed quickly and cleanly and did not require surgery, the rest not. "If you still have bad pain in 3 months, maybe we make operation to repair some nerve damage."
That was never an option.
FFWD to yesterday, when I took my first yoga class in the 11 months since his prognosis on the day the cast came off.
Sunday morning yoga with Kru Jaew at Amaravati Wellness Center, Chiang Mai, Thailand. Reaching for full alignment.
I have worked HARD on my arm rehabilitation, and it has been painful, to say the least. I have carried full buckets of water with that arm until I have, after 7 months, finally been able to straighten my arm and open my elbow fully. I participated in phase one of an INCREDIBLE natural healing clinical trial with Dr Zulia Frost, using Near Infra Red Light and FlexBeam, and have made incredible progress, to being almost pain free. More about that when the trial is completed and I'm allowed to tell - Phase 2 starting soon.
I have self-massaged my hand, arm, neck and shoulder several times per day with Magnesium Chloride Spray and my own essential oil blend, and soaked my feet DAILY in magnesium sulfate to soften the spikes of nerve pain. The magnesium has been incredibly helpful over time, and enabled me to find a much deeper level of restful sleep, which is when the body best works its own healing magic.
I have envisaged my arm strong, straight and functioning fully with mindfulness and clear intention.
But yesterday, I started on the next level of natural healing towards full function - I returned to yoga class with a clear focus and purpose to work on my alignment.
Injury manifests imbalance. In the quest for a return to full function and wholeness, it is not always easy to spot one's own imbalance. The beauty of a regular yoga class, as opposed to personal mat time at home, is the gentle correction towards alignment - feeling how off real alignment felt yesterday, make me realize I have quite some muscle training on my "weak" side to do, before I can sustain that new alignment without discomfort. Kru Jaew gently gave correction through the class to all of us, so we could feel where real balance is, and begin finding that ourselves.
Mindful use of language is important too, in the journey of injury recovery. Today I decided to no longer talk about "pain" in my arm. Today I have some discomfort the following day (in some unexpected places!) after stretching and really working my whole body hard.
So how did I do? Khun Ritthee, the owner at Amaravati, snapped some pictures of me in the class so I can send them to Dr Zulia, along with my profound gratitude.
But this last picture? I'm not sure I quite believed I'd be able to do this so quickly, but I did! And I breathed into the discomfort. And smiled. And allowed everything to settle around my breath.
The flow of energy - equally and steadily - in the basis of all natural health and natural healing. The practice of yoga is so much more than physical movement - it's a mindfulness and harmonization of breath, life, light, energy and body. At its very core it is the practice of alignment.
Funnily enough, as I left Amaravati Wellness Centre for the 5 minute drive home, I saw something that I had never noticed before. They have a replica of a famous Chedi at their entrance:
Yesterday, I noticed that the spire rises straight, towards light and wholeness, from a completely lop-sided and lumpy base!! I understood that Chedi for the first time ever. And I found myself laughing and feeling better, knowing that one can achieve alignment and wholeness from anywhere without the requirement of perfection, and even from an injured, unbalanced beginning.
Originally published on my own blog Natural Thai Life - an unapologetic, personal view of natural life & natural health in Thailand after 16 years living here as a solo mama and the owner of a natural products business.
Thanks for sharing your great experiences, darling.
A huge hug 🤗
Huge hugs back to you @amico - are you planning to come to steemfest?? I think it's time!
I'll decide at the last minute whether to come or not... I'd love to meet you! 🙏
Well done! You give me hope if you can come so far from so much damage. I've been having issues with my upper arm and shoulder muscles. Do the wrong thing and I have pain shooting through that region and sometimes down my whole arm and it's been getting worse. I've started applying magnesium oil and I'm wondering if posture might have anything to do with it, so I need to work on that.
Thank you for such an inspirational post.
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Poor postural habit has EVERYthing to do with it!! The poor alignment and muscle/nerve pain is the accumulation of YEARS of poor movement patterns. A great Feldenkrais practitioner can help, as can yoga and chi quong. If that's all too woo-woo or your budget doesn't stretch that far, get down to your local pool and swim gentle laps of BACKstroke - aiming with each stroke to enter the water exactly at the mid point over your head. Be amazed at how effective that simple technique can be too!
Magnesium relaxes muscles and eases nerve pain and promotes better sleep - which ALL help A LOT. But without improved movement pattern, strength training and better alignment, it's not enough.
Having a good therapist come to your home and evaluate you in your daily life - how you sit, walk, carry laundry, sleep etc can be eye opening.
Woo-woo it's not, but at the moment many things are certainly beyond my budget. The university of YouTube is calling.
Thank you for your feedback.
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Finally... sigh... someone who gets it. It's so hard to get that message across :0)
I've been struggling with my back for 2 years now. All doctors want me to have that 3rd surgery, and call me crazy because I refuse. I have to find that balance inside myself again, first, or I'll be right back where I started afterwards.
Thanks for this post. Good to know I'm not crazy, lol
You are more sane than most. Hang in there. It's about creating enough muscle relaxation (magnesium, heat, acupuncture, massage) to ALLOW the realignment. And then to strengthen the weak spots to allow you to HOLD that realignment. You got this!! x
Thanks! I do hope so 😉
very good post!
Thank you - and sweet of you to pause and say so. :)
@artemislives beautiful post. It is true the Yoga is the answer to good life and good health. I have been going trough major neck & shoulder muscle spasm for the past 16 months and doctors have no solution for it. All they have to say is “it’s all in your mind”. I have given up on doctors and I plan to take up yoga for sure. And after reading this post it makes me even more confident. Thank you for sharing 😌😇
Glad to have been able to inspire you and give you some sense of hope and a way forward. Muscles spasm is a PRIMARY symptom of magnesium deficiency, and can be VERY painful when nerve endings are caught in contracted, tight muscle. I'd highly recommend a more magnesium rich diet (whole organic foods, not pills!), regular use of a topical magnesium spray and regular magnesium (epsom salts) baths or foot soaks. And yes, yoga. Mindful breathing into the spasm and alignment. :) Wishing you health and freedom from pain.
I had the same! It was torture! Relaxing and acupuncture cured me in 10 days.. xx
Look at u go! I remeber last year u could barely use your hand at allll!! I were the one handed wonder! Well done for ignoring stupid doctors and staying so positive and working so hard! Now u really got the results!! Xxx
Appreciating your practical support and guidance sooo much - you teaching Ploi to make dahl has meant that we OFTEN have the luxury now of her taking care of us. I will be doing handstands by the time I see you at steemfest! #sf4
You've been visited by @minismallholding from Homesteaders Co-op.
Once again, thank you for sharing your healing journey. I’ve featured your post in the Homesteaders – Living Naturally newsletter
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Appreciating the resteem LURVE @kalemandra and @amico - almost like old @smg days!! Appreciating you both. x And @kenistyles who taught us all so well.
My pleasure, darling! 🙏
I miss @kenistyles! Who knows if with #newsteem he'll want to come back? 🙄
I have read about this somewhere earlier. Great to see that you find a very useful way to get rid of your pain.
good practice & a good use of both natural tags! ;)
namaste ॐ
Ah! Arising from a lumpy base! As funny as that sounds, this post is such a beautifully hopeful one! I'm going to take that lumpy metaphor into the rest of my week that I'm struggling through. Lumpy base, light, yep, got it!! xx That yoga studio looks lovely - far removed from our heated studios in freezing Victoria. Glad to see you are back at yoga - a few moments without all the other things that life demands. xx
I wonder what does it feel being in a yoga. I hope your arm will be fine not for long, I think stretching will help you in healing that.
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Dear @artemislives Our country (Venezuela) by tradition does not know much about YOGA, we know the benefits it can bring to health, but we congratulate you because in addition to yoga and the energy it involves, we are sure that your willpower made the difference, this good mood and the desire to recover your life made it possible for everything to be fine and that you were filled with good health, we send you a hug from my country, we hope to continue learning beautiful things from you and your experiences.
That's a wonderful approach you have taken towards healing. Yoga is one of the best way to heal anything in your body. For years I had a frozen shoulder, I have not done any other treatment except for Yoga and I am healed completely.
Also you may want to try some Energy Medicines like you can check on Donna Eden Energy Medicine routines, they are very helpful as they cover the Acupressure points and work wonderfully.
The good thing I see is that you are doing the good old traditional Yoga and not those power yoga practices which is the new trend but I do not find that very beneficial.
Wishing you complete speedy recovery my dear 💗💗
Oh @artemislives! That must have been horrible to have such an injury in your arm! Good for you for not listening to the orthopedic specialist and going the surgery route! Love how you take your healing into your own hands and that you are doing remarkably well! Another showing of what an incredibly strong woman you are!
Keep well and thank you for sharing your healing story!
Inspiring and beautiful! Hopefully the doctor is open to learning about true healing, the healing a body knows how to do for itself if the mind listens to its messages and helps it along the path. I had no idea you have been going through all this! Excellent work. Gonna make better use of magnesium for my son, who lives in severe discomfort.