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“Pain brings us back to a deeper truth by forcing us to concentrate in order to be able to bear, to be able to face this thing that crushes us … the secret is to emerge from the ego, out of its prison, unite ourselves with the Divine, merge into Him, not to allow anything to separate us from Him. Then, once one has discovered this secret and realises it in one’s being, pain loses its justification and suffering disappears. It is an all-powerful remedy, not only in the deeper parts of the being, in the soul, in the spiritual consciousness, but also in life and in the body.

There is no illness, no disorder that can resist the discovery of this secret and the putting of it into practice not only in the higher parts of the being but in the cells of the body (1).”

New discoveries and insights into healing -

Working with patients and managing pain through consciousness approach has completely changed my understanding and approach towards pain. With each patient has emerged a new insight into healing and discovery of new methods of working on the body. Alka, one of my earlier patients, had chronic intractable headache for over a decade, ever since she was 15-years-old. She had chronic pain in her legs too and felt that her “legs are like logs of wood”.

During the healing session, the first thing I instructed her was to, “Stand on your feet…feel the feet… consciously relax each part of the body … allow the entire weight of the body to flow through the feet … connect to Mother Earth”. A simple instruction that helped to bring awareness back to the body, helped to relax the body and connect it to the Earth. As she was following these instructions, she revealed that she could visualise a dark sticky fluid flowing out of her body into the earth. It was tenaciously stuck to her muscles, and with much effort flowed out. After the session, she was surprised to feel her legs so light and free from pain after so many years. She touched her legs, “They are so soft, I have never felt them so soft, they used to be like logs of wood”. This was, for me, the very first experience where I saw pain represented in the form of energy flowing out of the body.

Working with Alka patiently over the next few weeks revealed a complex play of emotional and childhood memories that had created the dark webs of emotions and trauma in her entire being — represented as dark sticky energies in some parts and pitch dark forces in other areas. However, once she was able to withdraw from the outer being to some inner space, she was able to let these energies go out of her body. The experience of these energies was a vivid one for her, and so was the experience of relief from the pain equally real and tangible.

She had also a serious problem with her digestion and for the last few years had been on a liquid diet as she was not able to tolerate any solid food. During one of our sessions, while we were working on her abdominal region, she could visualise dark tunnel-like areas, which made her feel very sick. She was feeling nauseous and twice or thrice she wanted to stop the session to go and vomit. For some reason, I requested her to hold on and made her believe that this vomiting sensation too would go once we had worked on the energies creating this sensation. Fortunately the nauseous sensation left her soon. However, another layer of energies crept up, which made her cramp up. We tried many ways, but somehow nothing seemed to work and she was getting restless. I asked her if she believed in God and she replied, “Yes”. I suggested, “Why don’t you offer these energies to God?” After a few minutes, I could perceive the change. Later, she narrated that she actually visualised a being taking away the darkness from her abdomen.

A remarkable transformation -

After a couple of weeks another patient came, a middle-aged lady with post-traumatic headache. She had suffered from a road traffic accident a couple of years back, wherein she had sustained head injuries and even lost consciousness for a few minutes. Ever since the accident she had been suffering from unbearable headaches which were not responding to any drugs. The accident had a serious impact on her psychologically; she developed a phobia for travelling in a car, and even a simple act of crossing the road became a huge task for her. All this was affecting her everyday life; she was not able to go out alone, could not pick up her children from school and was largely confined to her home. When I met her the first time, she was accompanied by her brother, who did most of the talking on her behalf. She was shy, a bundle of nerves and a bit difficult to communicate with. She did not understand English, nor could I understand her language. I found it difficult to counsel her regarding her fears. I decided it would be best to work directly with the body than through the mind. I taught her a few simple exercises of bringing in the prana from different parts of the body, and instructed her to do these exercises twice a day for the next few days. In a couple of weeks, I was surprised to see her come to my home with a box of sweets. She announced that she had no more headaches, and even if it tried to come once in a while she was able to work it out. Significantly, her fears of travelling too had left her and now she was able to pick up her children from school. Her transformation was remarkable, a lady who a couple of weeks back was so fearful and shy of even sharing her case-history, now coming independently and full of confidence. I was pleasantly surprised, that even a simple practice of breathing in prāṇa could be so effective!

Power of prāṇa -

Simultaneously, I was working with a yoga teacher who had been having back pain for the past few months. He had been trying various physiotherapy exercises but without much benefit. I instructed him to become conscious of his body and sit in a way which caused least discomfort. “Become aware of the two hip bones on which you sit, feel the space in between the two bones, become aware of the breath in that space”, I instructed him. He was feeling the pain in his lower and mid-back and I told him, “Feel the breath in that region, and just allow the pain to flow out into the earth”. To my surprise, he replied, “I can feel the pain moving down”. Not only did he get relief from the pain, there was a deep sense of quietness and silence in him. He was a qualified yoga teacher from a reputed school, but this was certainly out of the books for him. He had read about prāṇa in the books, but had never experienced it so concretely and never saw it being used in this manner for healing. This was a novel experience for me. It felt so amazing and simple, that the pain simply moves out of the body, if we allow it to do so. “Pain is not something rigid or fixed” — this was indeed a revelation.

Old memories of the body -

Mrs T, a yoga teacher from Mumbai, had been suffering from upper-back pain since her childhood. She had largely been able to contain the pain with the help of yoga. But this time, the pain was overwhelming, not allowing her to even move out of bed. She had called in distress, and requested if something could be done. We had the session over the phone. As the awareness shifted from outer suffering to the pain inside the body, she began to see certain images from her past. Layers of images and memories came and went. As the memories from the muscles surfaced, the muscles relaxed and regained confidence. It was akin to a detailed inner work on her past emotions, memories, patterns — painstakingly each element was addressed. The session lasted for a couple of hours, at the end of which she emerged free of pain and in a deep meditative state. This was a remarkable transformation, in a couple of hours the entire state of being transformed from a state of acute suffering to one of deep inner quietude and joy, years of memories and habitual patterns were resolved. She was able to resume her normal work the next day itself. Here, chronic pain was connected to old memories in the body, and only by relieving the body of these memories could the pain be resolved.

Invoking the Divine Light -

Mrs D had been suffering from acute lower-back pain for a few days. She was unable to move out of bed, the slightest movement caused excruciating pain. Even to make a phone call was a big task. We started the healing session over the phone. With her eyes closed and awareness turned towards the body, I helped her to move to inner spaces behind the heart, and to invoke the Divine Light. The moment the journey inside began, she could feel the anxiety leaving, the body relaxing and soon she found herself in a painless state surrounded by joy and deep peace. This was an amazing experience; within a few minutes, the entire being moving from a state of unbearable pain, suffering and anxiety to a completely different state of being, not just one without pain, but one full of joy and peace. This state lasted for a few hours. However, the next day when she woke up, the pain recurred and the struggles too. But something had changed within, a confidence came that this pain could be managed.

This experience revealed that there is another state of consciousness within us, a space which is self-existent and is imbued with joy and peace. This part of our being is free from the afflictions of our body and mind, it apparently does not suffer with the suffering of the outer being. An experience of this space gives a perception of vastness and joy. This part of our being is normally veiled from the surface consciousness; however with a little effort it can be accessed. Even a brief journey into this space gives a decisive belief, creating a deep inner change in our attitude towards body and healing. Pain and disease no longer appear so fixed and dreaded; rather they appear to be temporary minor aberrations of the different parts of the being which can be easily managed.

Difficulties of doubts and fears -

In some patients, the pain tends to return after the healing session. The healing happens when the consciousness is turned within, and the body gets in touch with a different consciousness which heals. For many this is a supranormal state of consciousness which they achieve during moments of aspiration or prayer, and the moment they come down to waking consciousness, it appears as if they were in a dream state. In the waking state, doubts and fears recur thus recreating the circumstances which had in fact created the problem. In some, the anxiety to heal themselves acts as a barrier to the healing process. Fear is another factor which prevents healing and brings back the pain.

All the patients described above were of different ages and came from different educational and social backgrounds, spiritual affiliations and experience. They had tried various traditional approaches to heal themselves, including yoga and complementary systems of medicine. They had been suffering for months or years together with the same problem and yet, the moment they worked consciously on their body from within, the body always responded positively. Though many may not have understood the deeper philosophical/spiritual aspects of healing, yet they were able to work on their body effectively. They learnt to use a few inner methods to control or remove the pain. In some instances, a single healing session is enough to relieve the pain, while in others it may take multiple sessions to heal. It is as if there are multiple layers of the being which need to be healed. Fear and doubt emerge as the major barriers to inner healing, while faith and openness facilitate the healing process.

Why do we suffer?

A question arises, ‘Is pain real? Is suffering real?’ Why did these people have to suffer for so long, when in fact the pain could have been so easily moved out of the body? Are we living in pain and suffering unnecessarily? Have we gone so far from our body that we look at it like a stranger? We need to change our relationship with our body. Our body is not a machine, but a conscious instrument in which each part is conscious and alive. Each part of the body demands attention and care. It responds to our beliefs, our emotions. We need to develop a relationship of love and trust with our body, and handle it with care and compassion. With love and faith, the miracle happens.

Dr. Yogesh Mohan

Dr. Yogesh Mohan is CEO, Saveetha Medical College & Hospital, Chennai.

Reference

1. The Mother. Collected Works of the Mother, Volume 9. Cent ed. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust; 1977, pp. 40-1.