I was in a chiropractor’s office being worked on, and the doctor, whom I’ve known for years and who helped me rehab from a couple of fractured vertebra, said, “If that was me on the table, I’d be jumping all over from the pain.” I honestly said back to him, “It used to hurt more.” And that got me thinking about how to share with others what to do with pain.

I think the beginning of my path was the Frank Herbert book, Dune, which I read when I was a teenager. It was the first time I encountered the concept of letting pain ‘pass through’. To not be afraid of it. Not hold onto it. Just let it … pass through.

Well, what the heck does that really mean? I had no idea. But I thought it was worth exploring. So I started practicing when the opportunity came along… as it does from time to time when you’re physically active and what they call a ‘risk taker’. At first I was just repeating the Dune words and concept to myself, and the pain was just pain, and there really was absolutely no difference.
(more…)