neck pain

For many years now, I have been relatively free of the neck pain that used to plague me. The first time I remember having neck trouble was in high school. I went home in the middle of a history exam, when my wry neck prevented me from writing it. The pain was so bad that I was in tears. I could not bend my head enough to read the exam. I remember then feeling like some of my classmates were saying "oh sure.." under their breath, even though they probably weren't.

I attribute these last few years of relatively little pain to my yoga practice. However, during the last two or three days, the neck pain has come back. As I was asking myself "why?", I happened upon Louise Hay's list of emotional issues that may be behind neck pain and headaches. I found it fascinating that Luise associates neck problems with being stubborn about our own concept of a situation, shutting out all the other options out there.

You see, I visited the gas station I tend to frequent and the attendant that is there most often at the time of day I am there, gave me a booklet to read on Islam, addressed to Christians and Jews. I could tell quickly that the tone of the booklet was one I would disagree with, but I started to freak out on how to react, how to tell the attendant, who no doubt means well, bless his heart! That's where my tension went into orbit! I'm not in the habit of confrontations and I don't know how to say I totally disagree with the pamphlet! But, as Louise says, there are more than 250 different ways to wash dishes, so there must be at least that many ways to "confront" my friendly gas station attendant.

Now, I came to that conclusion after actually considering that maybe I was being rigid in my thinking about the pamphlet. But no. While I am quite open to considering the beauty of much in Islam, I have actually read enough to see many problems in Islam that this pamphlet most certainly did not redress--rather it emphasized them to me.

Headaches, Louise goes on to say, come from invalidating the self. So, I'm forgiving myself and going on. Migraines are created by people who want to be perfect and who create a lot of pressure on themselves. While I would not say my headache had progressed to the point of migraine, I have recently been very guilty of trying to be perfect and putting myself under a lot of pressure. So, the solution? Imagine! I giggled to find that migraine can often be relieved by masturbation as soon as you feel a migraine coming on.

So, I went to sleep last night, my last deliberate thought being:

"I relax into the flow of life and let life provide all that I need easily
and comfortably. Life is for me."

I was smiling about the thought that the sexual fears and the resistance to the flow of life that may bring on migraines could be relieved by masturbation. How delightful! As a result, I had the most marvelous dreams last night.

My neck is still quite sore today, but, I'll admit it! It is much less sore than it was... Could it be that the dreams helped? I had not even acted on Louise's suggestion!