Dear Students:
Over the years several students have observed that during a vacation their pain goes away and to their dismay it comes back when they return to their normal routine. If you have noticed this in yourself I congratulate you on having good awareness.
Often, people don’t remember “not feeling pain” because for many it is their first perception of body awareness. Your brain will send you a pain signal to make you become conscious of your injured body part. Pain is a warning sign telling you to move differently to protect your spinal cord.
Let’s take a look at my student, John. On a fishing vacation his nagging shoulder pain vanished. He even forgot that he had been dealing with it until he started packing to go home. He described it as a “wake up call” when he boarded the plane the next morning with his pain in full force.
After talking him through these events he came to realize that the night before his departure he started dreading his return to work. When I asked John how he physically embodied “dread”, he couldn’t answer my question. This combined with his belief that he had no control over his situation made him feel hopeless. When I let him know that a great learning opportunity lay before him, his spirits lifted.
For homework, I gave him “awareness building questions” to ask himself during his day. This taught him how to become aware of the different ways he moved according to his emotional & mental state of mind. Through his curiosity and better awareness his chronic shoulder pain steadily diminished.
It won’t require any extra time in your day to search for awareness like John did with the questions he asked himself. All you need to do is stay in the present moment during your exploration. In the beginning you might only last for a little while but if you keep practicing your concentration will develop 
beyond your wildest dreams.
To start this awareness exploration, pick an activity that is relatively easy to do such as washing the dishes or mowing the lawn. Witness yourself in action and don’t do any correcting or judging of yourself. The awareness is all you need to change.
My favorite question to ask myself is “how do I do that?” If I am sincerely curious I always discover something new about myself and become tickled with satisfaction. This is the kind of satisfaction John learned how to attain! Start right now and learn how to make every day feel like a vacation day!
~Donna
P.S. To schedule a Functional Integration® session with me for yourself or your child call me at 717.285.0399.