Tag: Pain

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C.S. Lewis: The Signature Classics Audio Collection: The Problem of Pain, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, Mere Christianity

Using allegoric narrative, stinging satire, reasoned insight, and his signature wealth of compassion, C.S. Lewis wrote highly entertaining and deeply illuminating essays and books of popular theology that revealed the shared beliefs of Christianity and explored the nature of good and evil. This collection of four of his most imaginative and intelligent works displays a scintillating brilliance that remains strikingly fresh and confirms C.S. Lewis’s reputation as one of the leading writers and thinkers of our or any age.

Collection includes:

The Problem of Pain Read by James Simmons
The Screwtape Letters Read by Joss Ackland
The Great Divorce Read by Robert Whitfield
Mere Christianity Read by Geoffrey Howard

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Getting Through What You Can’t Get Over: Stories, Tips, and Inspiration to Help You Move Past Your Pain into Lasting Freedom

There are some things in life people never get over. No matter how much they want to. Many experience abuse, financial disaster, serious illness, death of loved ones, and other common traumas making them believe they’ll never move past the pain, but through research and true story compilations, author Anita Agers-Brooks offers emotional, practical, and spiritual insights from experts and people who have survived intense trauma—and have made it through seemingly impossible situations.
 

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Beyond Pleasure and Pain: How Motivation Works

How does motivation work? The classic answer is that people are motivated to approach pleasure and avoid pain, that they are motivated by “carrots and sticks.” But to understand human motivation, it is necessary to go beyond pleasure and pain. What people want is to be effective in their life pursuits, and there are three distinct ways that people want to be effective. They want to be effective in having desired results (value), which includes having pleasure but is not limited to pleasure. They want to be effective in managing what happens (control) and in establishing what’s real (truth), even if the process of managing what happens or establishing what’s real is painful. These three distinct ways of wanting to be effective go beyond just wanting pleasure, but there is even more to the story of how motivation works. These ways of wanting to be effective do not function in isolation. Rather, they work together. Indeed, the ways that value, truth, and control work together is the central story of motivation. By understanding how motivation works as an organization of value, truth, and control motives, we can re-think basic motivational issues, such as the nature of personality and culture, how the motives of others can be managed effectively, and what is “the good life.”

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Beyond Pleasure and Pain: How Motivation Works (Oxford Series in Social Cognition and Social Neuroscience)

How does motivation work? The classic answer is that people are motivated to approach pleasure and avoid pain, that they are motivated by “carrots and sticks.” But to understand human motivation, it is necessary to go beyond pleasure and pain. What people want is to be effective in their life pursuits, and there are three distinct ways that people want to be effective. They want to be effective in having desired results (value), which includes having pleasure but is not limited to pleasure. They want to be effective in managing what happens (control) and in establishing what’s real (truth), even if the process of managing what happens or establishing what’s real is painful. These three distinct ways of wanting to be effective go beyond just wanting pleasure, but there is even more to the story of how motivation works. These ways of wanting to be effective do not function in isolation. Rather, they work together. Indeed, the ways that value, truth, and control work together is the central story of motivation. By understanding how motivation works as an organization of value, truth, and control motives, we can re-think basic motivational issues, such the nature of personality and culture, how the motives of others can be managed effectively, and what is “the good life.”

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The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief, Second Edition

Trigger point therapy is one of the most intriguing and fastest-growing bodywork styles in the world. Medical doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, and massage therapists are all beginning to use this technique to relieve formerly undiagnosable muscle and joint pain—conditions that studies have shown to be the cause of nearly 25 percent of all doctor visits. The technique involves applying short, repeated massage strokes to trigger points, tiny contraction knots in muscle tissue where restricted circulation and lack of oxygen cause referred pain. Trigger points create pain throughout the body in predictable patterns characteristic to each muscle, producing discomfort ranging from mild to severe. Trigger point massage increases circulation and oxygenation in the area and often produces instant relief.

This dynamic technique has made a huge impact among health professionals and the public alike, becoming an overnight classic in the field of pain relief. The book has sold over 220,000 copies since the release of the first edition in 2001. The second edition is a complete update and includes a new chapter specifically for massage professionals, as well as a chapter on systematic muscle relaxation techniques that can reinforce the therapeutic power of trigger point work.The first edition of this workbook is regarded as a classic in its field, and was the first book to introduce trigger point therapy to the general public as a self-care tool for alleviating chronic pain caused by a variety of conditions, including arthritis, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, headache, muscle ache, and repetitive strain injuries. As the author makes clear, all such conditions are related to lack of oxygen in exhausted or injured muscle tissue. Trigger point therapy has been used for decades by doctors, pain specialists, and massage therapists to quickly stimulate the flow of oxygen and promote rapid pain reduction. This book makes the same techniques available to the general public with instructions that are easy to follow, and abetted by an extensive collection of charts and corresponding illustrations.

The author’s interest in trigger point therapy began when he used it to successfully treat his frozen shoulder. Since that time, he has dedicated himself to teaching others the same techniques. That dedication is obvious throughout his writing and the care he takes to make the therapy understandable to the lay public. Also included in this new edition is updated information that should be of great interest to pain specialists and bodyworkers, as well as useful instruction in a variety of relaxation techniques. Overall, this book is an excellent self-care resource for anyone interested in pain relief.–Larry Trivieri Jr.

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Place of Healing: Wrestling With the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God’s Sovereignty

In this eloquent account of her current struggle with physical pain, Joni Eareckson Tada offers her perspective on divine healing, God’s purposes, and what it means to live with joy. Over four decades ago, a diving accident left Joni a quadriplegic. Today, she faces a new battle: unrelenting pain. The ongoing urgency of this season in her life has caused Joni to return to foundational questions about suffering and God’s will. A Place of Healing is not an ivory-tower treatise on suffering. It’s an intimate look into the life of a mature woman of God. Whether readers are enduring physical pain, financial loss, or relational grief, Joni invites them to process their suffering with her. Together, they will navigate the distance between God’s magnificent yes and heartbreaking non and find new hope for thriving in-between.

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Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection

Do you have back, neck, or shoulder pain that keeps recurring or won’t go away? Does back pain keep you from living a full life? If so, you may be suffering from TMS (Tension Myositis Syndrome)—and you don’t have to take it anymore!
Dr. John E. Sarno is a medical pioneer whose mind-body approach has helped patients overcome their back conditions—without drugs or dangerous surgery. After indentifying stress and other psychological factors in back pain, he demonstrates how many of his patients have then gone on to heal themselves without exercise or other physical therapy. With case histories and the results of in-depth mind-body research, Dr. Sarno describes how patients recognize the emotional roots of their TMS and sever the connections between mental and physical pain.
Healing Back Pain promises permanent elimination of back pain without drugs, surgery, or exercise. It should have been titled Understanding TMS Pain, because it discusses one particular cause of back pain–Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS)–and isn’t really a program for self-treatment, with only five pages of action plan (and many more pages telling why conventional methods don’t work). According to John E. Sarno, M.D., TMS is the major cause of pain in the back, neck, shoulders, buttocks, and limbs–and it is caused not by structural abnormalities but by the mind’s effort to repress emotions. He’s not saying that your pain is all in your head; rather, he’s saying that the battle going on in your mind results in a real physical disorder that may affect muscles, nerves, tendons, or ligaments. An injury may have triggered the disorder, but is not the cause of the amount or intensity of the resulting pain. According to Sarno, the mind tricks you into not facing repressed emotion by making you focus on pain in the body. When this realization sinks in (“and it must sink in, for mere intellectual appreciation of the process is not enough”), the trick doesn’t work any more, and there’s no need for the pain. (Healing Back Pain should not be used for self-diagnosis. Always consult a physician for chronic or acute back pain.) –Joan Price

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A Meditation to Help Ease Pain

This audio program combines healing imagery, powerful music and the most current understanding of the mind-body connection to help you manage pain. Forty-four relaxing minutes of Belleruth’s imagery and affirmations are designed to reduce pain by elevating serotonin levels; teaching relaxation skills; refocusing the mind; encouraging feelings of love, gratitude, safety and peace; and marshaling courage and patience. (Running Time: 44 minutes)

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Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief: Guided Practices for Reclaiming Your Body and Your Life

Mindfulness can transform pain. Over the past three decades, Jon Kabat-Zinn has clinically proven it. Now, with Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief, the man who brought mindfulness into mainstream medicine presents for the first time on audio his original practices for using conscious awareness to free us from physical and emotional suffering. This long-awaited two-CD program begins with an overview of how mindfulness changes the way our bodies process pain and stress. Listeners will learn tips and techniques for working with the mind and embracing whatever arises in our lives, however challenging. Then Jon Kabat-Zinn leads us in guided meditations drawn from his pioneering Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) methodology to help us work with and find relief from chronic pain, everyday stress, and emotional challenges, as well as to read and act appropriately in the face of acute pain. “Mindfulness can reveal what is deepest and best in ourselves and bring it to life in very practical and imaginative ways–just when we need it the most,” explains Jon Kabat-Zinn. Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief gives us a ready tool for overcoming even the most extraordinary difficulties.