Just in everyday life we can come across physical pain – some thats comes on very quickly and goes just as quick, some which lingers. As someone who is very physically active, pain is something I am very familiar with. Thankfully I have never broken a bone, a few fractures here and there, but have had many injuries and experienced pain of varying levels through my many years as a professional dancer and as a teacher.
But how do we think about pain?
How we think about pain can affect how we perceive pain. Because pain is our brain’s opinion of how important the pain is we receive.
Because I have never let pain really rule my life, yes for a short periods of time, this next thought is perhaps how I deal with pain …
If we magnify pain like a thunderstorm – if we make it into a big drama – a big epic film then we feel the pain more. If we make it more subdued, more tranquil, more relaxed about it – we decatastrophise it, tranquilise it and make it more tolerable. Often then we can then decrease the amount of pain we feel.