The Great Pain Teacher- Injuries, Setbacks and New Opportunities for Growth
The Pain Teacher is one of the oldest teachers of the Human Race. It has been with us, teaching us from trial and error since the beginning. Whether it is communicating to one person on a micro scale, or getting the attention of an entire nation; the Pain Teacher will always be heard. It’s lessons however, don’t always get remembered for long; and that is why it stays just around the corner, waiting for the next opportunity to infuse us with its knowledge. Sometimes The Pain Teacher beckons us with little whispers; that little flare of yellow or orange sensation in your awareness as we go through our daily rounds, move in a certain way, or perhaps hours after a hard workout. It lies quietly until we make that one, very exact movement, deciding then to let us know that things are not right. We rub it or perhaps try to move our limb through its range of motion, hoping it will go away. Sometimes it does, but sometimes it doesn’t.
-The Pain Teacher
The Pain Teacher sometimes comes like a thief in the night; striking without warning despite all the precautions you’ve taken. Maybe everything was fine with your body; until it wasn’t. Maybe you failed to heed its quiet, softer warnings for a time, until it forced you to take notice by crippling you. Now you’re hurt, pissed off, in a mental funk and your physio has made a few more dollars from your negligence.
The Pain teacher tells us when we are out of alignment or balance with ourselves. It warns us that something is wrong, and demands our attention before it ceases its warnings. Even then, its warnings will continue for minutes or even days afterwards; almost as if searing itself into your memory lest you forget what was communicated to you.
Once you’ve had a lesson from the pain teacher, the way you approach similar situations again is never the same. In the gym setting, you move much more cautiously. Every ounce of attention is paid to the body and the affected areas and movements are conducted with the utmost precision. Go ahead and try jumping back into things all willy-nilly; lest you wake the sleeping dragon and receive a second or third failing grade. The amateur repeats the lessons and grades time and time again until it clicks.The smart person receives the catalyst, works with or around it until they learn the lesson and grow from the opportunity. The Master learns from others and the self and never has to experience the lessons at all.
-You if you don’t listen to The Pain Teacher
Yes, the Pain Teacher provides opportunities; and opportunities abound. When the Pain Teacher strikes, it opens a unique window for you the student to slow down, re-evaluate what you’re doing and approach life in a different way for the time being. Maybe your leg is broken, but there is nothing stopping you from getting a massively stronger upper body or forging a set of abs made out of adamantium (shout out Wolverine). Maybe you’ve got a bummed shoulder. Your cardio has been a little slack these past few months, maybe it’s time you got on the bike or hit the road a bit more. Maybe the Pain Teacher is telling you that you’re really tired and worn out so much that everything hurts all the time. In this sense, maybe the Pain Teacher is telling you that you need to just chill for a few weeks or months and work on your relationships and lifestyle habits a bit. When you sit down and commune with the Pain Teacher, you will see a road that branches out in many directions; each one taking you not from your goals, but towards it from a different angle.
The Pain Teacher in relationships stirs the environment so that one or both parties can learn something about the nature of their relationship. If the student is introspective, it can clear the glass of the window allowing you to peer into yourself to see what role you play in contributing pain to the situation. The Pain Teacher not only teaches you, but teaches through you.
The Pain Teacher’s number one lesson is: Pay Attention Integrate Now. It’s second lesson is always: You’re doing something wrong, cut that sh*t out. Don’t make the Pain Teacher work any harder, learn your lessons early on.