Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will. - James Stephens (Irish poet)
Stay curious.
When it comes to relationships, including your relationship with your body, these are wise words.
One reason this is true is that it is rarely the case that where we feel pain in our body is actually the origin of the pain.
When Brian and I were first married, the dishes were a regularly occurring topic of conversation, let’s say. Usually, a conversation neither of us enjoyed. Ninety-nine percent of the time the conversation was not actually about the dishes.
Similarly, the pain you feel in your hip, for example, might actually be more about something happening in your abs or your shoulder.
If you keep your focus only on the hip, your pain will not go away.
Trigger points are just one way our amazing body illustrates this truth, keeping us on our toes, not unlike that annoying pile of dishes. I previously wrote about my experience as a new massage therapist working harder not smarter, and how I learned my wrist pain actually originated in my side-body.
Pain, no matter its origin, is a call to be inquisitive. Pain is sometimes not as difficult, or as simple, as we might think. It requires curiosity to get the root.
Your body offers you endless opportunities to practice curiosity, for no one’s sake but your own.
Thanks to how incredibly the body is designed, there is always more to uncover and learn.
There are myriad ways the body presents pain in one area that actually originates in another, simply because it is all connected.
One common pain path is experiencing pain in the back of the body that actually originates in the front.
A shortened chest muscle from sitting at a computer all day, for example, can make our necks and upper backs feel tight and angry.
A slouched posture from breastfeeding a baby 40 hours a week, for example, can make our low backs and hips feel tight and angry.
A forward neck posture from scrolling on our phones, for example, can make our heads ache and the back of our necks feel tight and angry.
What happens on the front leads to pain in the back.
In other words, it’s not always about the dishes.
While the path of your pain may not be immediately clear, a curious mindset coupled with a good massage therapist and/or bodyworker can help reveal the path to your relief.
After all, who doesn’t love a clean, empty sink?
In the spirit of curiosity, here’s an old favorite song of mine by Jack Johnson (with a video my kids love to watch, too).
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