Your Words Can Harm You Or Heal You

"You bad foot, I hate you. Why are you doing this to me?" My lovely client shouted these words loudly as she slapped her painful foot in frustration.  Her strong reaction stopped me in my tracks. This wasn't the first time she had been so harsh about her own body. It's understandable when you are experiencing chronic pain to feel your body is betraying you. but berating and scolding yourself won't achieve anything and will worsen the situation.  Pilates is a mind-body connection so let's look at the effects of positive and negative self-talk on our health and well-being and how we can use positive self-talk to assist in healing from pain.

Why Is Positive Self-Talk So Important?

If we understood the power of our thoughts, we would guard them more closely. If we understood the awesome power of our words, we would prefer silence to almost anything negative. In our thoughts and words, we create our own weaknesses and our own strengths. Our limitations and joys begin in our hearts. We can always replace negative with positive.” -Betty Eadie

 As humans, our brains are wired to register negative stimuli more readily than positive stimuli and then hold on to this negativity. This also means we register a negative comment more strongly than we do positive praise. Can you remember being harshly rebuked by a parent or teacher during your childhood? Most of us can and these comments have likely stayed with you throughout your adult life.  For the majority of people, it is much harder to recall the times you were praised and celebrated. Therefore the more we actively focus on the positive the more beneficial it is for our minds and also our bodies as we heal from chronic pain.

My Advice To My Client

As her negative self-talk was starting to become a pattern for my client, I knew it was time for a heart to heart.  I gently explained that scolding her injured foot in this way wasn't helping her recovery. Instead, I encouraged her to speak to her foot as lovingly and kindly as she would to a baby. and reminded her to focus on the progress she had made so far with her dedication to Pilates.  Even though her foot wasn't fully recovered yet I reminded her the healing process was underway and she would become pain-free soon.
She was surprised at first that her words could have such an impact on her body but agreed to speak and think kindly about her injured foot from now on. I suggested she think of nurturing this injured part of her body as much as possible to keep it happy and comfortable.  She had been having issues with cold feet so she wore comfortable, fluffy slippers around the house instead of going without shoes. Something remarkable happened - positive self-talk combined with keeping her feet warm and comfortable produced results and around 2 weeks later she was delighted to be pain-free.  In addition to her Pilates training, she had learned how to care for and nurture her foot both physically and mentally.

How Do You Ensure You Use Words To Heal?

If, like my client, you mentally or verbally express frustration about painful areas in your body you can change this negative habit immediately and replace the negativity with positivity from now on. One of my clients regularly pauses during her session. She is talking gently to her body whenever she senses resistance to encourage it to do what she would like it to do. She never scolds or threatens her body Interestingly with this gentle approach, her body always obliges. Our bodies don't usually respond to being forced, pushed or threatened into doing what we want them to do, especially with chronic pain and they usually shut down, switch off, and tighten up. However, by nurturing, coaxing, encouraging and gently persuading our bodies to release old movement patterns we can take control of our bodies with our minds, create positive change, and overcome pain. 

If you are ready to begin your Pilates training and make positive change to overcome pain, email me at [email protected] to get started.  Alternatively, you can book an Initial Assessment with me here or  take the free 10 day trial of JS Mind Body Pilates, my online studio, and start straight away.  It would be my pleasure to assist you on your Pilates journey to positive, pain-free living!