Originally Posted by Llynnyia

wow this Is an amazing idea and beautiful as well! Meditation is beyond me at this point but cognitive dreaming may not be I will have to try this.

Originally Posted by visioniosiv

Hey guys,

I just wanted to throw something out here for the group that really, really, really helped me in my journey through this. More than any other single thing.

Every night in bed, the last thing I would do before mercifully passing out (if it was in the cards for that night) was close my eyes, breathe deeply, and pick a specific scene in my life BEFORE RSD when I was in full health.

I would recreate this scene in my mind with as much detail as I could muster up, and LIVE IT all over again.

Example: A morning walk through the woods in the fall.

I would place myself in the middle of the woods by my childhood home. As vividly as possible, I would:

Feel the wind I am creating on my face and hands as I pick my way around trees and logs and rocks. Hear the sound of my footsteps crackling through the leaves on the ground. Watch my bare feet step one in front of the other. Feel where they meet and leave the earth on each and every step. I look up and see the sunlight trickling through the canopy of bright red and orange and gold leaves above me, feel it warm my face and smile, and look back down to see it make beautiful criss-crossing light patterns and shadows on the ground. I listen to the birds singing back and forth to one another. I feel the temperature, the density of the morning hanging in the air, and breathe in that crispy smoky smell of autumn into my nostrils. I walk to a small stream and step into it toes first with bare feet, and lean down to bring a double cupful of the crystal clear refreshing water to my lips for a drink. Feel the rivulets of cold water run down my cheeks and neck. See the droplets hit the water and break up my shimmering pooled reflection with tiny waves meshing into the current moving downstream.

And so on and so forth

I would recreate the entire scene using every one of my senses as much as I possibly could. I found that a focus on my affected limb being whole and healthy and functional within the scene brought even more positive effects.


If you want to try this --- Whatever scene/memory you choose is obviously personal to you, but I would recommend that you pick one that's got MOVEMENT in it. Specifically motion that involves your affected limb(s).

Don't worry if you find that your memory of the scene you've chosen is filled with gaps (mine was). I would fill in any gaps in the scene with my own imagination. It didn't matter - my mind made it real. Same thing goes if you have full body spread, or other non-RSD ailments, and/or the pain is so great that past memories are too hazy to access. Even if you don't have any memories of full health - create your own personal scene of beautiful, full health from scratch.

It was very difficult at first, with pain always trying to pull me right back out of the moment I was creating. At first I couple barely focus, so I chose much more abbreviated scenes (like doing the triple jump in high school - fifteen steps plus a hop, skip, and a jump - had to have a strong right leg to do THAT!)

There was still that sense of despair in the background that my REALITY sucked, but I gradually got better and better and better at it.

I just did 5-10 minutes every night at first. You might prefer less, or more. The key is repetition - like everything else. Frequency.

Anyways, just putting this out there in the loving hope that this helps someone break on through to the other side.

Originally Posted by krow46

Hello Vision, I love your approach to submerging your pain at sleep time. I took and became pretty good with hypnosis and it is very close to what you do each night. One time at a session I was so deep that I told my pain to stop and it did. This is no hokey pokey, is was/is the real thing. Our mind is a very powerful thing as you have discovered. Good luck with your pain Vision and may your days go well. This is one great group of supporters.

Originally Posted by krow46

Hello again all.
How do you reply to somebodies post and not send their whole post with your reply?

Thank you very much.

Originally Posted by krow46

Now I have it Visionoisiv <----- spelled correctly ( : I am glad you liked the post but I forgot to say that it isn't easy when the pain is at the 10's level for me. One thing they teach you in hypnosis is to "not" go to the happy place in your memory every time. That limits me because my childhood was not something to boast about either Vision. I could only remember one safe place to go and I still go there. You must have a very positive attitude to surpass all disturbances around and inside you before you go to that "happy" place in your mind and think "happy" things Vision, it's wonderful.

If you had a vehicle hit your home or someone knock on your door and yell FIRE ! I would guess for a few short moments your mind would be on your own safety or others safety or on something you want to save. Where was the pain Vision? Same place but your mind rose above it. If your mind can do it and you don't know it then you have the power to train your mind to do it when you desire it to do so. It takes training but it worked for me. I am surprised no one else has used it in here. It seems as we all have pain that rumble and rumble and thoughts that tumble and tumble and dreams that crumble and crumble but we still fight on. RSD has won the battle but it won't win the WAR !!