December 30, 2024 • 20 mins
Chronic pain is a pervasive issue affecting millions and can significantly alter one's quality of life. This episode addresses the multifaceted nature of chronic pain, the various types and their implications, the connection between childhood traumas and chronic pain, and the role of energy bodies and the chakra system in understanding pain.
• Discussion on the definition of chronic pain
• Overview of the prevalence and impact of chronic pain
• Exploration of different types of pain: somatic, visceral, referred, neuropathic, generalized, and rheumatic
• Connection between adverse childhood experiences and chronic pain
• Introduction to the chakra system and its relationship to chronic pain
• Insight into how energy blockages can manifest as chronic pain
• Importance of combining traditional and holistic approaches to pain management
As a thank you for listening, here is free access to one of my favorite energy healing practices:
9 Minute Reiki Session for Mind, Heart and Gut
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hello and thank you so much for joining me for the
latest Art of Healing podcastFor the month of January.
We are going to be discussingchronic pain and this is going
to be over a series of threepodcasts.
So for this first one, I'mgoing to introduce chronic pain
what it is and we're going to doa quick overview of chronic
(00:27):
pain in the energy body.
Next week, if you'll join me,I'll have a special guest, dr
Indejeka Olatunde, who is goingto discuss reflexology,
touchology and chronic pain.
Then we're going to close themonth with a meditative practice
to help us make room fordiscomfort and pain.
(00:49):
So please join me for the firstof these episodes and make sure
you sign up for my newsletterso I can let you know when the
next recordings come out.
And if you check your shownotes, I got a special treat.
I've got a little free surprisefor those of you who listen to
the podcast.
Some a nice little course thenine minute Reiki meditation.
(01:13):
That is going to be free forthose of you that tune in.
Thank you so much For the nextfew minutes.
I wanted to start our meetingout today with discussing the
basics of chronic pain and if wehaven't met, I'm Dr Charlize
and I'm an internal medicinedoctor, also practice Reiki, so
(01:33):
we're going to cover the basicsof pain from both a Western and
Eastern approach, so we're goingto try to catch all of it
during this presentation.
I've done several podcastepisodes that go in depth in
both directions.
As far as pain in general, thechakra system, I was somewhat
trying to anticipate what DrOlatundo is going to be
(01:55):
discussing, so we're going tocover both those during today's
episode and, again, don't feel aneed to take a bunch of notes
or anything, because this willall go live on the podcast.
In addition to that, on mywebsite
healingartshealthandwellnesscom,there will be both a written
form of this and the podcast,and so that'll be going live
either in one or two weeks.
(02:32):
Chronic pain is something thatis really very common and the
estimates are that up to any inat any point in time, 20 of the
world's population one in 10adults, which is probably even
low, that's a low estimate aresuffering from chronic pain of
some kind in their body.
Chronic pain is pain that hasbeen present for at least six
months or longer, and thatdefinition is even questionable
(02:55):
because really any pain wherethe body is speaking to us and
the cause that, whatever cause,the pain is gone is already
becoming a pathology.
But in medicine, whenever I'mevaluating a patient, if they
are discussing a pain that'sbeen there for six months, it's
getting into the chronic painrather than acute pain scenario,
(03:17):
and pain is subjective.
The troubling thing with painwhen we can see someone's pain,
it's easier for us to empathize.
Of course, if we see someonethat suffered from burns or we
see someone that's been in a caraccident, we as humans are
wired very easily that if we cansee what's hurting we can
empathize and sympathize withthe person.
(03:39):
But with chronic pain, morethan likely there's not going to
be a visible reminder.
And this is where some of thedisconnect comes, particularly
in the practice of medicine,where individuals are left to
have pain and suffer in it,because it is hard for doctors
to empathize with what they'retalking about because there
(03:59):
might not be any physical marksor reminders.
But the reason why we need to beaware of chronic pain, we need
to discuss what can happen inchronic pain, is that it changes
us.
It changes our minds, itchanges our body, it impacts the
spirit.
It really does a lot of damagelong-term, including worsening
(04:22):
the memory, increasing the riskof depression or making
depression worse, which is avicious cycle, because as
depression gets worse the paingets worse.
Insomnia, which creates anothervicious cycle.
When you're hurting and itdisrupts you getting to sleep,
then the more that you don'tsleep, the more likely you are
to suffer pain.
When our bodies are in chronicpain, stress hormones and we've
(04:47):
I know some of us who just meetfor the first time, but we've
discussed stress hormones a lotCortisol, cortisone, some of
those adrenals go way up andthey impact the body in all
kinds of awful ways, driving upthe blood sugars, making the
brain more receptive to pain,more sensitive to pain.
And then one of the moredevastating things is chronic
(05:10):
pain leading to heart disease,increasing the risk of a heart
attack or stroke.
So it's not fun to talk about,particularly after the holidays.
But as I first met Dr Olatundeand things were lining up,
something that occurred to mefor this talk was that many of
you may have well, may besuffering from chronic pain or
may have been around familymembers that have chronic pain
(05:34):
and they may not have told you.
So you may notice that they'rechanging over the years.
You may notice that they lookor seem different from last
Christmas or the Christmasbefore that that maybe their
shoulders are hunched and notbreathing as well.
They don't have the sparkle and, depending on what they've been
through particularly if they'reover the age of 50 or 60, it
might be that chronic pain thatthey don't feel should be
(05:58):
discussed, or they may feel likea weakness and they're not
being strong enough, could be atthe root of what's causing them
to change.
So, once again, I'm Dr Charlize.
If you don't know me, if youjust Google at Dr Charlize, it
(06:19):
should take you somewhere.
To me, I'm internal medicine bytraining, and then I practice
Reiki as well.
So I have a Reiki studio whereI see clients, and then my
favorite way to stay in touchwith folks is my email, and then
, of course, with my podcast,the Art of Healing, and then I
also have a blog, and, onceagain, nothing you all need to
do, because you'll get all ofthis in your email a little bit
later.
So I wanted to cover thegeneral types of chronic pain,
(06:46):
and this might be the way that aphysician would see it.
I know Dr Olatun is going todiscuss it from a different
approach, which I'm so excitedabout, but when people go into
the doctor with pain, which it'sas long as I've been in
practice.
It's still fairly frighteningthat the number one reason that
people present to a physician ispain and that pain ends up
being one of the most poorlymanaged and the worst empathy.
(07:09):
But when a person presents withpain, the way that the doctor
is probably going to try toevaluate this is, of course when
did it start?
Do we know what caused it?
If that's obvious, do we knowwhat makes it better?
Do we know what makes it worse?
Do we know what makes it worse?
Do we know if other symptomsoccurred with the pain?
We're trying to dig a littlebit deeper and do that detective
(07:31):
work and then, as far as how wemight try to classify that pain
, especially if we're needing togo after treatment or do more
diagnostics or if we're tryingto decide.
This is a red flag type of pain.
Red flag in that it's a warningsign of something very
dangerous.
Somatic pain is pain that isgoing to be generated from the
(07:55):
musculoskeletal system and thatwould be pain like
osteoarthritis, that's, chronicdamage and inflammation to a
joint, like in a knee or a hip.
Somatic pain a lot of times ismore of an acute pain.
So you stub your toe, that'ssomatic pain.
Or you fell and landed on yourknee and it's hurting that next
(08:18):
several hours, that's somaticpain.
Ours, that's somatic pain, butsomatic pain from the body, the
nerves that send the sensesignals to the brain can be any
part of the body, but weclassify it as like somatic pain
.
Visceral pain is pain that comesfrom an organ.
So viscera means organ andvisceral pain could be from the
(08:42):
stomach, from the liver, thegallbladder that's a common one.
So when someone's having theirfirst or has several gallbladder
attacks, that can cause pain inthe right part of the abdomen
up towards the chest.
Visceral pain can come from thereproductive organs in women,
the uterus or ovaries can be asource of pain during pregnancy
(09:04):
or not during pregnancy, and ithas to be explored.
The lungs can hurt.
Lungs can cause pain after aninfection.
A common cause of pain that canbecome chronic is called
pleuritic pain, and that's whenthe lining of the lung is
inflamed and it causes pain,possibly with breathing.
So visceral pain is one that wetypically really need to find
(09:28):
out because unfortunately thatcan be a warning sign of
something scary, or likesomething's not getting enough
blood flow, like the heart.
That's a visceral pain If it'snot getting enough blood flow.
That causes angina.
Or if there's pain in the liver, could it be something like the
gallbladder, or is there'sbleeding there or a tumor?
So visceral pain pretty muchhas to be determined.
But visceral pain can becomechronic.
(09:51):
It can become a pain that staysand does not go away.
Referred pain is pain that isbeing caused from a pathology in
one part of the body but we aresensing it in another part of
the body.
Sciatica is the one I couldthink of most commonly where a
(10:11):
patient might come in and theyare convinced their knee is
injured.
You just can't tell them thatknee isn't hurt or something's
wrong with it, because it justhurts no matter what they do.
You examine the knee, it'snormal, there's no swelling,
it's functioning fine, they canput weight on it, fine, but it
just hurts, hurts, hurts.
And that's because that pain'snot really in the knee at all.
(10:32):
It's actually being felt in anerve that comes from the lumbar
spine.
But when we start to dig alittle deeper, it's coming from
pain in the lumbar spine andit's maybe sciatica or lumbar
radiculopathy.
So the problem is in the spinebut it's being felt somewhere
else and that's because thatnerve that travels down the leg
(10:54):
is telling the brain pain's inthe knee but it actually comes
from the back.
Neuropathic pain is pain from anerve.
I think of it as, like nervesin the feet typically is where
people will most commonlycomplain of it.
Sometimes we'll know the causevery obviously so diabetics that
(11:16):
sugar or glucose sets in thebloodstream all the time.
It becomes toxic to the nervesand as a consequence can cause
those to hurt and cause pain.
Not unusual that an exam may besomewhat normal, other than
losing sensation or not havingfull sensation for a fine touch
in the toes or the feet.
(11:36):
Exquisitely painful, especiallywhen someone's trying to sleep
at night.
You can have neuropathic painas well from shingles, which is
an inflammation in the nervearound the chest or the belly or
possibly the face, and thatnerve can sometimes hurt after
the rash is gone.
Generalized pain is pain.
(11:56):
I classified it for our talk aspain in the entire body.
It might be just from head totoe and it will fall in the
realm of our conditions such asfibromyalgia or chronic fatigue
syndrome.
Pain that just seems to becoming from nowhere or from
everywhere can occur acutely ifwe're getting sick with like flu
(12:17):
or COVID, but for people withgeneralized pain very difficult
because they don't have any onething to pin it on and they can
find trouble getting comfortableanywhere in their body.
And then the last of those isrheumatic pain and that's pain
from the immune system attackingmaybe one or several parts of
the body.
So like rheumatoid arthritis,where the immune system attacks
(12:40):
the connective tissue in thewrist and causes pain there.
System attacks the connectivetissue in the wrist and causes
pain there.
This comes up quite a bit in myown patients and comes up quite
a bit in the Art of Healingpodcast community is that there
is an unfortunate link betweenadverse childhood experiences
and going on to experiencechronic pain as an adult.
(13:01):
So you've probably heard ofthose adverse childhood
experiences and those aretraumatic experiences in the
childhood that we're discoveringwith scientific research, can
rewire our brains and change ournervous system and change our
hormonal system so that asadults, things that we maybe
would have been able to recoverfrom we don't recover from and
(13:24):
we continue to carry that painfor the rest of our lives.
And then, as we go deeper whichwe're about to as far as our
subtle bodies and our energybodies causes changes there
where it can be so frustratingbecause physically there just is
nothing that looks wrong.
The pain's in the subtle body.
There's nothing that lookswrong.
The pain's in the subtle body,but it's very real and very
(13:46):
debilitating, and this impactsquality of life terribly.
And so something to keep inmind, particularly if you have,
like older relatives that seemto be changing in their 70s or
80s.
They may not be sharing withyou childhood trauma they had.
This is going to take you backsometimes into the 1940s or
1950s and unfortunately they'refeeling that pain now.
(14:09):
This chart and I'm sorry, if Iwere more tech savvy I probably
would put a link so you guyscould download this, but if
you're looking with your cellphone or watching yourself, if
you want to get a screenshot ofthat because that's a good
reference.
So we're going to run through.
We're going to run through thechakra system and then some of
the places we might see and howit shows up with chronic pain.
(14:29):
So the root chakra, which islocated deep in the body, in
front of the spine, in these inthe pelvis, but in front of the
spine and behind the pelvicbones, is our seat of stability,
feeling strong, good immunesystem, our foundation, and
(14:51):
whenever we have some kind ofenergy blockage there, we might
find things like arthritis inthe hips, the knees and lower
back pain.
Also, you might find problemswith the immune system.
Also, you might find problemswith the immune system.
(15:12):
The sacral chakra, which is theenergy center of reproduction,
so it's in the pelvis, it existssomewhere around the uterus,
ovaries and in the pelvis, evenfor men, and it is associated
with our creativity, oursexuality, and it is associated
with our creativity, oursexuality.
And if we have an energyblockager that's managing as
chronic pain, that may show upas pelvic pain, bladder pain,
(15:32):
which is sometimes calledinterstitial cystitis, and
that's when the bladder ischronically painful and spasming
.
It can show up as pain in thesexual organs and also as back
pain I forgot to mention that inthis slide in the sexual organs
and also as back pain.
I forgot to mention that inthis slide.
The solar plexus which islocated, solar plexus chakra,
which is located around wherethe stomach is, in the upper
(15:53):
abdomen, these don't reallyexist.
In a way, the chakras don'texist in a way.
We could find them on an x-rayor an MRI.
It's a subtle body, so it's abundle of energy.
Is how we consider it If youhave an energy blockage there
that is causing pain, that mightshow up as belly pain, stomach
(16:13):
pain, pancreatitis, which is theorgan of digestion becoming
inflamed and causing lots ofpain, and then irritable bowel
syndrome sometimes presents aspain the heart chakra, which of
course is located in the heart.
(16:35):
If there is a blockage therereally disrupts everything,
emotional and spiritual, becauseour heart chakras are actually
our center.
But in terms of chronic pain,what might show up is angina
type pain, so that's pain of theheart, inflammation or pain in
the lungs and the thoracic spine, which is the spine of the
upper back, having pain thereand that could cause back pain
(17:00):
or shoulder pain.
The throat chakra, which existsin the throat, the neck, and if
(17:22):
you're having a blockage that'scausing pain, that may show up
as neck pain, so pain in theback of the neck or neck tension
, so having tense muscles of theneck and the muscles that
operate the jaw, so actuallyhaving jaw pain or TMJ that
might show up there.
And neck pain can be discdegeneration, which you can have
in any part of the spine, butall of those could be
manifestations of chronic pain.
(17:44):
Any part of the spine, but allof those could be manifestations
of chronic pain.
And then the third eye, whichsits in the center of the brain,
inside the head.
If we have blockages there,which is our seat of intuition,
our sight, our perception, soall of our senses.
But I will describe to patientsthat blockages there might show
(18:04):
up as pain in the head,migraine headaches, cluster
headaches, might also show up assome kind of chronically
painful syndrome within the eyesor ears or even the senses.
And the last of these is thecrown chakra, which is the
energy center that exists aboveour bodies, above our heads and
(18:25):
is our connection to higher selfand to our spiritual world.
And if you have a blockagethere, that may show up as
generalized pain all over thebody and decreased energy.
So make sure you tune in fornext week If you would like to
hear more on the integrativeapproach of chronic pain and
(18:45):
hear from reflexologist andtouchologist Dr Olatunda.
If you'd like to be reminded ofnext week's show, make sure you
sign up for my weeklynewsletter because I always send
out a reminder when a new showcomes out.
Make sure you check your shownotes for the free gift from me
as a thank you for being alistener.
Free gift for me as a thank youfor being a listener, and also
(19:07):
check the show notes, becausethere will be a blog form of
this podcast if you'd like toread and get a little bit more
information on chronic pain andchronic pain in the chakras.
Thank you so much for joiningme and I'll see you next week.
Hello and thank you so much for joining me for the
latest Art of Healing podcastFor the month of January.
We are going to be discussingchronic pain and this is going
to be over a series of threepodcasts.
So for this first one, I'mgoing to introduce chronic pain
what it is and we're going to doa quick overview of chronic
(00:27):
pain in the energy body.
Next week, if you'll join me,I'll have a special guest, dr
Indejeka Olatunde, who is goingto discuss reflexology,
touchology and chronic pain.
Then we're going to close themonth with a meditative practice
to help us make room fordiscomfort and pain.
(00:49):
So please join me for the firstof these episodes and make sure
you sign up for my newsletterso I can let you know when the
next recordings come out.
And if you check your shownotes, I got a special treat.
I've got a little free surprisefor those of you who listen to
the podcast.
Some a nice little course thenine minute Reiki meditation.
(01:13):
That is going to be free forthose of you that tune in.
Thank you so much For the nextfew minutes.
I wanted to start our meetingout today with discussing the
basics of chronic pain and if wehaven't met, I'm Dr Charlize
and I'm an internal medicinedoctor, also practice Reiki, so
(01:33):
we're going to cover the basicsof pain from both a Western and
Eastern approach, so we're goingto try to catch all of it
during this presentation.
I've done several podcastepisodes that go in depth in
both directions.
As far as pain in general, thechakra system, I was somewhat
trying to anticipate what DrOlatundo is going to be
(01:55):
discussing, so we're going tocover both those during today's
episode and, again, don't feel aneed to take a bunch of notes
or anything, because this willall go live on the podcast.
In addition to that, on mywebsite
healingartshealthandwellnesscom,there will be both a written
form of this and the podcast,and so that'll be going live
either in one or two weeks.
(02:32):
Chronic pain is something thatis really very common and the
estimates are that up to any inat any point in time, 20 of the
world's population one in 10adults, which is probably even
low, that's a low estimate aresuffering from chronic pain of
some kind in their body.
Chronic pain is pain that hasbeen present for at least six
months or longer, and thatdefinition is even questionable
(02:55):
because really any pain wherethe body is speaking to us and
the cause that, whatever cause,the pain is gone is already
becoming a pathology.
But in medicine, whenever I'mevaluating a patient, if they
are discussing a pain that'sbeen there for six months, it's
getting into the chronic painrather than acute pain scenario,
(03:17):
and pain is subjective.
The troubling thing with painwhen we can see someone's pain,
it's easier for us to empathize.
Of course, if we see someonethat suffered from burns or we
see someone that's been in a caraccident, we as humans are
wired very easily that if we cansee what's hurting we can
empathize and sympathize withthe person.
(03:39):
But with chronic pain, morethan likely there's not going to
be a visible reminder.
And this is where some of thedisconnect comes, particularly
in the practice of medicine,where individuals are left to
have pain and suffer in it,because it is hard for doctors
to empathize with what they'retalking about because there
(03:59):
might not be any physical marksor reminders.
But the reason why we need to beaware of chronic pain, we need
to discuss what can happen inchronic pain, is that it changes
us.
It changes our minds, itchanges our body, it impacts the
spirit.
It really does a lot of damagelong-term, including worsening
(04:22):
the memory, increasing the riskof depression or making
depression worse, which is avicious cycle, because as
depression gets worse the paingets worse.
Insomnia, which creates anothervicious cycle.
When you're hurting and itdisrupts you getting to sleep,
then the more that you don'tsleep, the more likely you are
to suffer pain.
When our bodies are in chronicpain, stress hormones and we've
(04:47):
I know some of us who just meetfor the first time, but we've
discussed stress hormones a lotCortisol, cortisone, some of
those adrenals go way up andthey impact the body in all
kinds of awful ways, driving upthe blood sugars, making the
brain more receptive to pain,more sensitive to pain.
And then one of the moredevastating things is chronic
(05:10):
pain leading to heart disease,increasing the risk of a heart
attack or stroke.
So it's not fun to talk about,particularly after the holidays.
But as I first met Dr Olatundeand things were lining up,
something that occurred to mefor this talk was that many of
you may have well, may besuffering from chronic pain or
may have been around familymembers that have chronic pain
(05:34):
and they may not have told you.
So you may notice that they'rechanging over the years.
You may notice that they lookor seem different from last
Christmas or the Christmasbefore that that maybe their
shoulders are hunched and notbreathing as well.
They don't have the sparkle and, depending on what they've been
through particularly if they'reover the age of 50 or 60, it
might be that chronic pain thatthey don't feel should be
(05:58):
discussed, or they may feel likea weakness and they're not
being strong enough, could be atthe root of what's causing them
to change.
So, once again, I'm Dr Charlize.
If you don't know me, if youjust Google at Dr Charlize, it
(06:19):
should take you somewhere.
To me, I'm internal medicine bytraining, and then I practice
Reiki as well.
So I have a Reiki studio whereI see clients, and then my
favorite way to stay in touchwith folks is my email, and then
, of course, with my podcast,the Art of Healing, and then I
also have a blog, and, onceagain, nothing you all need to
do, because you'll get all ofthis in your email a little bit
later.
So I wanted to cover thegeneral types of chronic pain,
(06:46):
and this might be the way that aphysician would see it.
I know Dr Olatun is going todiscuss it from a different
approach, which I'm so excitedabout, but when people go into
the doctor with pain, which it'sas long as I've been in
practice.
It's still fairly frighteningthat the number one reason that
people present to a physician ispain and that pain ends up
being one of the most poorlymanaged and the worst empathy.
(07:09):
But when a person presents withpain, the way that the doctor
is probably going to try toevaluate this is, of course when
did it start?
Do we know what caused it?
If that's obvious, do we knowwhat makes it better?
Do we know what makes it worse?
Do we know what makes it worse?
Do we know if other symptomsoccurred with the pain?
We're trying to dig a littlebit deeper and do that detective
(07:31):
work and then, as far as how wemight try to classify that pain
, especially if we're needing togo after treatment or do more
diagnostics or if we're tryingto decide.
This is a red flag type of pain.
Red flag in that it's a warningsign of something very
dangerous.
Somatic pain is pain that isgoing to be generated from the
(07:55):
musculoskeletal system and thatwould be pain like
osteoarthritis, that's, chronicdamage and inflammation to a
joint, like in a knee or a hip.
Somatic pain a lot of times ismore of an acute pain.
So you stub your toe, that'ssomatic pain.
Or you fell and landed on yourknee and it's hurting that next
(08:18):
several hours, that's somaticpain.
Ours, that's somatic pain, butsomatic pain from the body, the
nerves that send the sensesignals to the brain can be any
part of the body, but weclassify it as like somatic pain
.
Visceral pain is pain that comesfrom an organ.
So viscera means organ andvisceral pain could be from the
(08:42):
stomach, from the liver, thegallbladder that's a common one.
So when someone's having theirfirst or has several gallbladder
attacks, that can cause pain inthe right part of the abdomen
up towards the chest.
Visceral pain can come from thereproductive organs in women,
the uterus or ovaries can be asource of pain during pregnancy
(09:04):
or not during pregnancy, and ithas to be explored.
The lungs can hurt.
Lungs can cause pain after aninfection.
A common cause of pain that canbecome chronic is called
pleuritic pain, and that's whenthe lining of the lung is
inflamed and it causes pain,possibly with breathing.
So visceral pain is one that wetypically really need to find
(09:28):
out because unfortunately thatcan be a warning sign of
something scary, or likesomething's not getting enough
blood flow, like the heart.
That's a visceral pain If it'snot getting enough blood flow.
That causes angina.
Or if there's pain in the liver, could it be something like the
gallbladder, or is there'sbleeding there or a tumor?
So visceral pain pretty muchhas to be determined.
But visceral pain can becomechronic.
(09:51):
It can become a pain that staysand does not go away.
Referred pain is pain that isbeing caused from a pathology in
one part of the body but we aresensing it in another part of
the body.
Sciatica is the one I couldthink of most commonly where a
(10:11):
patient might come in and theyare convinced their knee is
injured.
You just can't tell them thatknee isn't hurt or something's
wrong with it, because it justhurts no matter what they do.
You examine the knee, it'snormal, there's no swelling,
it's functioning fine, they canput weight on it, fine, but it
just hurts, hurts, hurts.
And that's because that pain'snot really in the knee at all.
(10:32):
It's actually being felt in anerve that comes from the lumbar
spine.
But when we start to dig alittle deeper, it's coming from
pain in the lumbar spine andit's maybe sciatica or lumbar
radiculopathy.
So the problem is in the spinebut it's being felt somewhere
else and that's because thatnerve that travels down the leg
(10:54):
is telling the brain pain's inthe knee but it actually comes
from the back.
Neuropathic pain is pain from anerve.
I think of it as, like nervesin the feet typically is where
people will most commonlycomplain of it.
Sometimes we'll know the causevery obviously so diabetics that
(11:16):
sugar or glucose sets in thebloodstream all the time.
It becomes toxic to the nervesand as a consequence can cause
those to hurt and cause pain.
Not unusual that an exam may besomewhat normal, other than
losing sensation or not havingfull sensation for a fine touch
in the toes or the feet.
(11:36):
Exquisitely painful, especiallywhen someone's trying to sleep
at night.
You can have neuropathic painas well from shingles, which is
an inflammation in the nervearound the chest or the belly or
possibly the face, and thatnerve can sometimes hurt after
the rash is gone.
Generalized pain is pain.
(11:56):
I classified it for our talk aspain in the entire body.
It might be just from head totoe and it will fall in the
realm of our conditions such asfibromyalgia or chronic fatigue
syndrome.
Pain that just seems to becoming from nowhere or from
everywhere can occur acutely ifwe're getting sick with like flu
(12:17):
or COVID, but for people withgeneralized pain very difficult
because they don't have any onething to pin it on and they can
find trouble getting comfortableanywhere in their body.
And then the last of those isrheumatic pain and that's pain
from the immune system attackingmaybe one or several parts of
the body.
So like rheumatoid arthritis,where the immune system attacks
(12:40):
the connective tissue in thewrist and causes pain there.
System attacks the connectivetissue in the wrist and causes
pain there.
This comes up quite a bit in myown patients and comes up quite
a bit in the Art of Healingpodcast community is that there
is an unfortunate link betweenadverse childhood experiences
and going on to experiencechronic pain as an adult.
(13:01):
So you've probably heard ofthose adverse childhood
experiences and those aretraumatic experiences in the
childhood that we're discoveringwith scientific research, can
rewire our brains and change ournervous system and change our
hormonal system so that asadults, things that we maybe
would have been able to recoverfrom we don't recover from and
(13:24):
we continue to carry that painfor the rest of our lives.
And then, as we go deeper whichwe're about to as far as our
subtle bodies and our energybodies causes changes there
where it can be so frustratingbecause physically there just is
nothing that looks wrong.
The pain's in the subtle body.
There's nothing that lookswrong.
The pain's in the subtle body,but it's very real and very
(13:46):
debilitating, and this impactsquality of life terribly.
And so something to keep inmind, particularly if you have,
like older relatives that seemto be changing in their 70s or
80s.
They may not be sharing withyou childhood trauma they had.
This is going to take you backsometimes into the 1940s or
1950s and unfortunately they'refeeling that pain now.
(14:09):
This chart and I'm sorry, if Iwere more tech savvy I probably
would put a link so you guyscould download this, but if
you're looking with your cellphone or watching yourself, if
you want to get a screenshot ofthat because that's a good
reference.
So we're going to run through.
We're going to run through thechakra system and then some of
the places we might see and howit shows up with chronic pain.
(14:29):
So the root chakra, which islocated deep in the body, in
front of the spine, in these inthe pelvis, but in front of the
spine and behind the pelvicbones, is our seat of stability,
feeling strong, good immunesystem, our foundation, and
(14:51):
whenever we have some kind ofenergy blockage there, we might
find things like arthritis inthe hips, the knees and lower
back pain.
Also, you might find problemswith the immune system.
Also, you might find problemswith the immune system.
(15:12):
The sacral chakra, which is theenergy center of reproduction,
so it's in the pelvis, it existssomewhere around the uterus,
ovaries and in the pelvis, evenfor men, and it is associated
with our creativity, oursexuality, and it is associated
with our creativity, oursexuality.
And if we have an energyblockager that's managing as
chronic pain, that may show upas pelvic pain, bladder pain,
(15:32):
which is sometimes calledinterstitial cystitis, and
that's when the bladder ischronically painful and spasming
.
It can show up as pain in thesexual organs and also as back
pain I forgot to mention that inthis slide in the sexual organs
and also as back pain.
I forgot to mention that inthis slide.
The solar plexus which islocated, solar plexus chakra,
which is located around wherethe stomach is, in the upper
(15:53):
abdomen, these don't reallyexist.
In a way, the chakras don'texist in a way.
We could find them on an x-rayor an MRI.
It's a subtle body, so it's abundle of energy.
Is how we consider it If youhave an energy blockage there
that is causing pain, that mightshow up as belly pain, stomach
(16:13):
pain, pancreatitis, which is theorgan of digestion becoming
inflamed and causing lots ofpain, and then irritable bowel
syndrome sometimes presents aspain the heart chakra, which of
course is located in the heart.
(16:35):
If there is a blockage therereally disrupts everything,
emotional and spiritual, becauseour heart chakras are actually
our center.
But in terms of chronic pain,what might show up is angina
type pain, so that's pain of theheart, inflammation or pain in
the lungs and the thoracic spine, which is the spine of the
upper back, having pain thereand that could cause back pain
(17:00):
or shoulder pain.
The throat chakra, which existsin the throat, the neck, and if
(17:22):
you're having a blockage that'scausing pain, that may show up
as neck pain, so pain in theback of the neck or neck tension
, so having tense muscles of theneck and the muscles that
operate the jaw, so actuallyhaving jaw pain or TMJ that
might show up there.
And neck pain can be discdegeneration, which you can have
in any part of the spine, butall of those could be
manifestations of chronic pain.
(17:44):
Any part of the spine, but allof those could be manifestations
of chronic pain.
And then the third eye, whichsits in the center of the brain,
inside the head.
If we have blockages there,which is our seat of intuition,
our sight, our perception, soall of our senses.
But I will describe to patientsthat blockages there might show
(18:04):
up as pain in the head,migraine headaches, cluster
headaches, might also show up assome kind of chronically
painful syndrome within the eyesor ears or even the senses.
And the last of these is thecrown chakra, which is the
energy center that exists aboveour bodies, above our heads and
(18:25):
is our connection to higher selfand to our spiritual world.
And if you have a blockagethere, that may show up as
generalized pain all over thebody and decreased energy.
So make sure you tune in fornext week If you would like to
hear more on the integrativeapproach of chronic pain and
(18:45):
hear from reflexologist andtouchologist Dr Olatunda.
If you'd like to be reminded ofnext week's show, make sure you
sign up for my weeklynewsletter because I always send
out a reminder when a new showcomes out.
Make sure you check your shownotes for the free gift from me
as a thank you for being alistener.
Free gift for me as a thank youfor being a listener, and also
(19:07):
check the show notes, becausethere will be a blog form of
this podcast if you'd like toread and get a little bit more
information on chronic pain andchronic pain in the chakras.
Thank you so much for joiningme and I'll see you next week.
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