It’s official: I have danced away the deep, unrelenting pain afflicting me the entire past week. I was homebound for six full days, save for two not-so-successful attempts at going out into the big bad world. Here’s the breakdown of how I responded to the pain and transcended it, follwed by two videos where you can witness my process of dancing out the pain.

1. I hunkered down, accepting the setback — not a damn thing I could do, so why fight it?
2. I cancelled or modified appointments — either skipping them altogether or doing them over the phone.
3. I danced as much as I could, with whatever body parts were not in pain.
4. When I started getting whack-job nerve pain flying everywhere, I focused on resting, taking herbal remedies for pain, doing energy healing on myself, and receiving energy healing from my mom.
5. I alternated icing and heating the part in pain.
6. I took scalding hot showers.
7. I ordered food through a local grocery store that delivers.
8. I asked for a friend to pick up goods from an East-West pharmacy and from another store with products not in aforementioned store.
9. I stayed focused on the positive — feeling gratitude for my windows and patio, the internet and telephone, Napster and Netflix, people who helped me, the fact that I’m my own boss (so I can take off whenever), and the opportunity the situation presented for sharing with others how I haul my ass out of pain.
10. I remembered other times I was in terrible pain and pulled myself out of it — thus transcending the fear and anxiety I felt about how long the condition would last and how big an impact it would have.

In the first video, “Return to Dance,” I danced for the first time in two days. You can see how I initially tried taking some steps, but it was hurting, so I stopped. But then the dance made it safe for me to move that way, ie, without pain, and so I did.

In the second video, “Transcend Pain through Dance,” you can see the music permeating my body, uplifting my soul, and transporting me out of pain. This video captures the “switch” moment where I stepped out of the disabling pain that was plaguing me all week. It occurred just about 30-45 minutes into my dance session, ie, since the ”Return to Dance” video above – where I started off with pain just from taking little steps. Check out the difference!

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Sound the trumpets: I’m in setback mode! I have barely left the house in one week. First time, I drove to a restaurant and hobbled my way in and out. Second time, I drove to meet a friend. I had electric shots of nerve pain every time I pressed the accelerator.

I turned around without even meeting my friend, and I was pretty anxious about making it back home safely; because my body was out of whack and behaving unpredictably. As my Central and Eastern European Jewish counterparts would say: OY.

Sometimes my body just needs to rest, lay low, not engage in movement. During these times, the “dance” with my pain takes on a more metaphoric quality. For the past two days, I have turned to energy healing, icing, heating, and loading up on herbal remedies.

Regarding the latter, here’s what I am now taking:

1. Zyflamend — basically buttloads of anti-inflammatory tumeric in a capsule
2. MSM — sulfur compound naturally found in our bodies, less so in the bodies of people with wicked pain
3. Omega 3 fish oil — another anti-inflammatory compound
4. Kaprex — purportedly a natural version of Cox inhibitors (like the beloved Vioxx pharmaceutical, RIP)
5. Willow Meadowsweet — a blend of natural herbs that purportedly work on anesthetizing nerve pain. I’m using it for the first time. The key ingredient here is Jamaican Dogwood.
6. Traumeel — an ointment that works like Arnica or Tiger Balm. Arnica doesn’t do shit for me, and Tiger Balm is a bad idea for the more, shall we say, genteel parts of the body. I do, however, feel a difference with Traumeel.

Honestly, I don’t know which remedy is responsible for what particular change, but I kinda don’t care. Like, at all. Becuase my pain levels have gone down significantly. Three days ago, moving felt like engaging an electric circus performance in my body. Over the past two days, however, I have not had the crazy nerve pain, and the pain in my thigh/groin region has gone down significantly.

Score.

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In this video, I share five things you need to get started on the Dancing with Pain® Method:

1. Space to dance around
2. Easy-breezy clothing
3. Big jug of water
4. Rockin’ music
5. Incense (optional — adds aromatherapy dimension)

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In this video, I share my own second segment of the Dancing with Pain® method journey –movement. Here are some of the basics of this segment:

Begin to let the music permeate through your body and influence the internal vibrations and flow of energy. Become receptive to the music and let it begin to fill you up in the space of your pain-free zone.

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In this video, I share my own first segment of the Dancing with Pain® journey — taking inventory.

Here are the basics of this segment:  How does your body feel? Scan it from the inside. Where do you feel comfort and ease? Where do you feel pain? What emotions are floating around in there?

This is the time to begin noticing your breath and bringing awareness to your inner landscape. Take note of your pain-free zones (where it’s safe for you to dance) and your pain zones (where it’s unsafe for you to dance).

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