The Self-Care Guide to Surgery

A BodyMindCORE Approach to Prevention, Preparation and Recovery

Noah Karrasch

• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781787751675
• eBook ISBN: 9781787751682
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Alternative & Complementary Medicine

· What should we do in preparation for an upcoming surgery?
· What is the best way to recover after surgery?
· How can we be proactive and prevent the need for surgery in the first place?

Written for those who have undergone or who are about to have surgery, this guide will help readers find their way through the difficult maze of emotions, physical pain and fear. By including advice on what to do to aid recovery and reduce negative long-term effects, Karrasch teaches the reader how to take charge of the body, whether before or after surgery.

The book also includes useful information about what we can do to take care of our bodies and avoid having surgery in the first place, such as nutritional advice and gentle movement tips drawing on BodyMindCORE techniques. It is the perfect guide for those not only facing surgery and those wanting to stay healthy, but also for those who want to love and support them.

Part I

BALANCE IN
ALL THINGS

1

The Head: Healthy Thoughts
Shape a Healthy World

First: Get your head on straight!

We often hear someone suggest “Her illness is all in her head.” There may be more truth to that sentiment than we’re ready to accept. In the past I’ve thought about two words: psychosomatic and somatopsychic (or a word bodyworker, author and educator Stanley Rosenberg used in Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve,1 somatopsychological). To me, psychosomatic suggests that, in fact, the head does affect how we feel, but somatopsychic suggests that, when we’re in pain, it’s hard to remain a rational being. Either condition contributes to feelings of illness and poor health.

How do we keep a “good head on our shoulders”? How do we find, develop and maintain a healthy life without overthinking the world or trying to avoid it? How does our brain create a life that’s supportive, enthusiastic and affirms us and our worth, instead of knocking us down at every opportunity? It’s so easy to spin our wheels, like a hamster in its cage, churning through life and its challenges instead of riding along as the wheel turns!

The brain is a marvelous organ, controlling both the nervous system which allows the body to function, but also the endocrine system: that mechanism which tells the body how much of any chemical to release to keep balance throughout the being. While it can be argued (I believe correctly) that the brain is actually in every cell of the body, I see the head and its brain as the control panel of the body.

Many leaders in the alternative health community suggested illness is a form of meditation. That’s rather a radical idea for some of us, but think of it: Have you ever found yourself with a cold just as you’ve come through a very trying and busy time? Can you see how your body might have been telling you it was tired and ready for the rest? Do you get sick when you feel overwhelmed? I remember the old joke: “As soon as the rush is over, I’m having a nervous breakdown…I’ve earned it and nobody can take it away from me!”

Let’s visit the work of Dr. John Sarno. His book The Divided Mind suggests many of us suffer from what he calls tension myositis syndrome or TMS.2 He believes most of us are in physical pain due to unexamined mental/emotional trauma; we’d rather let that pain manifest as body pain than sort through the emotional strain. His work gets people better if and when they realize that, in fact, they do stifle and don’t process their emotions, and this self-censoring causes or contributes to their physical pain. Patients who can’t understand or have faith in this model don’t seem to get better from his work. Their pain is in their head, because they won’t feel it in their bodies!

And let’s introduce Peter Levine, author of Waking the Tiger3 and founder of Somatic Experiencing technique, which encourages clients to revisit their traumas while paying attention to body sensations instead of focusing on their traumatized feelings. He’s found that those who can stay anchored in exploring what the body tells them as they visit their trauma get well.

It’s true the practitioner can push too hard and too fast, thus causing that trauma to get buried deeper. But the therapist titrates (as in chemistry, we simply don’t add too much stimulus at any one time to avoid the explosion or meltdown) the amount of work being done so clients can stay with their sensations. The therapist also pendulates and moves back and forth between the traumatic experience and a happier one that allows the body to return to calm. With a trained and compassionate therapist who follows these rules, keeping clients in their trauma space but focusing them on body sensations, they can get well. Levine and his followers are having great success dealing with clients who suffer with post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD—a mental condition brought on by a mental or physical trauma.

So physical medicine doctor Sarno tells us we need to be more in touch with our emotions to release physical pain, while psychologist Levine suggests we tune into body sensations to release the emotional pain. I think both are right. And I’m reminded that John Pierrakos, developer of CORE Energetics and author of the book by the same name,4 suggests we’re three-layered beings. Pierrakos tells us our core is the Center Of Right Energy; our essence. He calls the body (the fascial network, which we’ll discuss later) the second layer of our being, and our environment is the third layer. It’s his contention that most of us use our brains to tighten our bodies to protect our cores from our environment. Does this idea ring true for you? Can you relax your body and enjoy your environment as you reach out to it? Or do you stay in protective mode, calling TMS to yourself?

Levine, Sarno and Pierrakos suggest we become healthier when we’re able to allow the world and its traumas to move through us. Fear and anger seem most to slow this breeze of energy down in our bodymindcores. Can we allow ourselves to look our fear in the eye, to rise above it and grow anew? Can we find, face, feel and forget our fears and traumas which tighten our bodies all through our connective tissue network so arms and legs can’t “express”?

I’ll bring in another resource: Michael Harner studied shamanism around the world and realized that most shamanic cultures practice “soul retrieval.” If this idea interests you, see Sandra Ingerman’s book Soul Retrieval: Healing the Fragmented Self,5 in which she describes Harner’s work. The shaman or spirit-led healer goes into an altered state and finds and restores pieces of the ill person’s soul; pieces that have been left in the past due to injuries or traumas. As s/he brings those soul’s parts back together, the person often heals. It’s an interesting thought which again invites us to do the work of facing the past and letting go of the hurts.

Henry Ford is reputed to have said “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” I agree…good health begins with a healthy head, a healthy mind. When our brain is too full of all the “what if” and “I should” and “if they really knew me” thoughts, how can we find time to enjoy our environment, as we work ever harder to protect our core? We’ve got to give our brains a rest!

I’ve thought about this for some time…there seems to be a new universal condition among too many of us. I’d name the condition “overwhelmed.” I’ve watched television programs about hoarders and had a few among my family and friends. I’ve seen friends and clients depressed after the loss of a loved one or a special pet, or a major change in their circumstances that keeps them from their joy. I’ve witnessed people who feel financially buried, as if they’re getting further behind every day. I’ve seen people who want to lose weight, quit smoking or drinking, or reconnect with loved ones from whom they’ve become estranged. In each case many of these folks can’t get that first step made…or the second, or the third. I feel most of these conditions point to the feeling of being “overwhelmed” by something outside of ourselves. Ultimately, however, that which is overwhelming us seems to be coming from inside instead. Truly, it is “all in our head.”

Others can motivate us, but the best motivation is that which comes from inside us and whispers (sometimes shouts) to us that it’s time to make changes. Most of us hear this voice, but many of us do everything we can to ignore and discount it. So, the first step towards deciding to be healthier and happier is simply, take any step. Then give yourself credit for even the smallest effort. Retrain your brain. Even if overwhelmed, one can set small goals and take small steps, celebrating tiny victories.

Many years ago I began my bodywork practice in a new town, freshly divorced, estranged from the community I’d built. Remember Dr. Shealy’s stress test from the Prologue? Add depression to overstress, and you have a picture of me. Many days I’d go to my office with few or no clients on the books, lie down for a “quick” nap, and wake up an hour or two later, only to get up, use the toilet, then go back for another quick nap. It wasn’t working, and I could tell because people were staying away in droves. I decided something had to change.

I began making short lists for each day. The list might be this simple:

• Go to the office.

• Wait for the mail.

• Make one or two phone calls to connect with past clients or reach out to a new one.

• Go out to lunch to be seen and possibly make a connection.

Creating smaller, more accomplishable goals instead of getting bogged down by that which was too hard worked for me; it helped to have a simple, achievable list. I didn’t always complete all the two to four things on the list; sometimes one or even none was accomplished. But I tried to celebrate the few small victories I made. I didn’t set huge unattainable goals, but I so enjoyed scratching off insignificant items. I didn’t ask myself to overachieve; I just took tiny steps every day. And it worked. After a time, the few seeds I’d sown came to grow and clients began to come. I began to think and feel better about myself, which translated to a positive energy I could share with others, and they were attracted to me instead of wanting to get away from my depressed energy.

So how do you take those first tiny steps? The word that continues to come into my mind is “motivation.” Take an action; any action that propels you towards something instead of away from the world and further into self and self-pity. Reprogram your brain. Create tiny achievable goals that allow you to feel a bit successful instead of constantly feeling like a failure. And don’t expect someone else can do this work for you. We all look for that magic pill, that perfect panacea that will make things right in our world. ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Disclaimer
• Prologue: Three Books in One
• Part I: Balance in All Things
• Part II: Surgery!
• Final Thoughts
• Quick Reference Guide to Mindful Movements
• Further Resources
• Index
• Join Our Mailing List
• Acknowledgments
• Epigraph
• Copyright
• By The Same Author
• Endorsements