Why are so many of us living in daily pain?

 “I have had migraines for over 15 years.” “I have had this pain in the neck for 20 years.” “I can’t remember ever not feeling some kind of pain in the back.” “I have this deep-seated feeling of hurt since I was a kid.” “I feel heart-broken and depressed from my divorce and I don’t know what to do about it. The feelings are all-consuming and eating me alive.” “I miss my mom. She died 5 years ago and I don’t know how to move on.” “Every time I am angry my sciatica pain kicks in.” Any of these resonate with you?
 
It’s unbelievable how much emotional and physical pain people are in.  Why are so many of us living with daily pain? Let's use sciatica as a way to examine how emotional and physical pain can possibly be interconnected. Remember, I am not a medical professional but I am an Intuitive Empath and Reiki Energy Healer that feels things in an unexplained way that science is slowly catching up to. ;)
 
In the last couple of months, I have worked with many clients who have sciatica pain. Since I am an Intuitive Empath, I can’t believe how incredibly uncomfortable and truly excruciating this pain feels as it shoots down one or both of the legs. As I am working on a client, I am, often, shocked that this has been almost a daily norm. Many are losing quality of life while being stuck at home, unable to endure the pain to make it outside. So, let’s put our investigator hat to take a whole health look at what possibly could be going on! 
 
What is Sciatic nerve?
The sciatic nerve is the largest single nerve in the body; it runs from each side of the lower spine through deep in the buttock into the back of the thigh and all the way down to the foot. It serves a vital role in connecting the spinal cord with the leg and foot muscles.
 
What does Sciatica pain feel like?
Pain radiating along the sciatic nerve, which runs down one or both legs from lower back is referred as sciatica.
 
Medical cause of Sciatica pain
Sciatica is commonly caused by some type of compression of the spinal nerve in the lower back. There can be many reasons for this compression. According to “What you need to know about Sciatica” by Stephen H. Hoshschuler, MD, “Sciatica (pronounced sigh-at-eh-kah) is not a medical diagnosis in and of itself—it is a symptom of an underlying medical condition. Common lower back problems that can cause sciatica symptoms include a lumbar herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, spondylolisthesis, or spinal stenosis.”
 
Common symptoms of Sciatica
Sciatica symptoms occur when the large sciatic nerve is irritated or compressed at or near its point of origin. Seeing a doctor for sciatica pain is advised, both for learning how to reduce the pain and to check for the possibility of a serious medical issue.”

Making sense of it all: I noticed many of my clients would say I felt so angry/disappointed/frustrated/resentful at so and so then my sciatica started hurting. There seemed to be a situation that triggered a negative feeling, which then would result in this agonizing pain. “Nerves have to do with communication and sensitivity according to “Your Body Speaks your Mind” by Deb Shapiro. Sciatica implies that there are emotional issues affecting the back and legs, and that these are deep, inner issues. These may be issues to do with being able to stand up for yourself. Perhaps something is happening that you cannot take anymore, and it is making you want to go in a different direction. Or perhaps you desperately need more support and cannot cope with everything on your own any longer. Sciatica may indicate doubt or fear about where you are going and your ability to cope with what lies ahead. Are you concerned about where you are going and what is going to happen? What inner emotional pain are you sitting on or holding back? Is someone or something restricting your freedom to move? Are there financial or emotional issues putting pressure on you or weighing you down.”
 
Healing Happens with your Help: Carol Ritberger’s “Healing Happens with your Help” explains, “The metaphor of sciatica is being frozen with fear around manifestation. Struggles with time and money and a fear around survival are significant contributors. A person is usually overburden and feels like they’re carrying the weight of the world on their back and have nobody to help carry the load or to support them. There is deep-seated resentment, survival anxiety, loss of direction, and avoidance to do what they know they need to do. A person is hypercritical, overburdened, overwhelmed, overextended, and overly independent. They don’t ask for help or want help, but get disgusted when no one helps them. Another metaphor for sciatica is a dog chasing its tail, visualize it going in circles and not sure which way to go.”
 
Childhood Trauma: In further researching, I read Ravenstarshealingroom’s “The Metaphysics of Sciatic and Perimpheral Pain” and discovered much of what was shared was similar to what I was seeing and hearing with my clients. Her blog is definitely worth checking out! Here is one of the many excerpts from the blog that I ended up utilizing:

“If you grew up in an emotionally tense environment, areas of the body that keep your feet firmly planted on the earth will be affected.  These can show up as problems with the lower back (lumbar, sacral), pelvis, rectum, hips, legs and feet. The hips and buttocks are the foundation of our physical being: the movement of the hip joint is crucial to our survival – whether in running away from danger, kicking an attacker, or moving in the sexual/reproductive act. Sciatic sufferers can display a lot of rage and anger when they are overly sensitized from being judged critically, verbally abused or punished. In fact they may often punish themselves because they’re afraid of trusting their own judgment. When the hips are out of alignment so too are the liver and gallbladder meridians …these two meridians help us to move forward to begin motioning towards something.  Unbalanced, they can metaphysically be caused by feeling angry/hurt inside, feeling used, unappreciated, let down, alienated. Who or what are you carrying on your hips? What are you taking responsibility for? Who is it you are supporting when you should be supporting yourself? Are you feeling insecure about something? Do you feel controlled by someone?
 
(Other people’s thought forms, projections and hooks can be attached to highly charged areas in your energy field and influence your actions and perceptions. Highly charged areas in your field are where you’ve not integrated emotional issues, like, poor self-esteem, pain, fear, anger and so forth…any part of you that works against your higher path and purpose can become a receptor site for lower energy.)
 
 What we don’t often recognize when our problems stress us out is that, we are locked in old patterns—old beliefs, old ways of thinking and doing things, old wounds, old memories—that unconsciously undermine our conscious desire to be free of suffering.  We are at the mercy of our past history. These deeply imprinted patterns and beliefs slow down our every move.  We feel off balance, reacting out of habit and fear, and rarely in control.
 
Fears create a lack of confidence and when we lack confidence we are affected by other people’s moods... kind of like a leaf flying helplessly in a storm. When we have a low self-worth it prevents us from using our imagination and to find a creative outlet.  Fear also causes us to hold back and repress our emotions, which can cause problems in relationships.
 
Past wounds that don’t heal, deplete and waste our energy. We just keep going around in circles with no escape in sight. Always with the same message, always eliciting the same reaction, every waiting to spring out at us. These reactions are an intrinsic part of your survival mechanism…your physical emergency response. If you were severely traumatized in the past, you may overreact or under-react to situations and relationships for much of your life. It’s possible your mother may have been deeply troubled, psychologically or perhaps physically unavailable; whatever your situation, her negative responses to your needs and feelings, led you to believe that you had no right to have feelings. The hurt or trauma you experienced then may have resulted in a deep-seated decision never to make yourself vulnerable again. “I’d rather die than need you.” Often sciatica signifies an inability to bond with the mother, though a deep inner bond with her exists. This bond exists because you need to hold on to her physically, mainly due to not being nurtured and loved by her.  If your mother didn’t respond to your nonverbal (and verbal) signals, you learned to distrust closeness to other people and failed to develop a healthy degree of trust. Trust is about moving beyond your comfort zone.  With sciatica we are afraid of diving into our feelings and needs because we associate them with attachment to home and family” shares Janice from Ravenstarshealingroom.

How emotions can impact our physical: From what I have seen from my own clients then in researching it seems there is a commonality that many sciatic sufferers may not understand how to show their true feelings to others. (Remember, there could very well be exceptions! And I am not a therapist but I do feel feelings so there is that!)
 
Some of my clients seem to have tried to express themselves time and time again when they were young and as well as an adult but were perhaps quieted or  misunderstood. Being silenced connects to hurt which then can lead into disappointment or anger or…Yet, no matter how loving or caring their parents were or loved one’s are now, they may not have met or are meeting all of their emotional needs.
 
As Ravenstarshealingroom continues with, “Sometimes our parents (and family, friends, co-workers, managers, etc.) didn’t understand what we needed because our own needs were so different from what they needed when they were children.  Sometimes, our parents (family, friends, co-workers, managers, etc.) are unable to give us what we need because they didn’t get their own needs met. When we aren’t able to express our true feelings or fears, we don’t feel safe or secure.  When we don’t feel safe, we either withdraw or get angry.  Either way, our anxieties grow and our self-expression shrinks because we can only access behaviors that are allowed to be seen. We’re unable to be who we are, so we become a characterization of what we think we should be.  If you had to compensate your feelings/emotions to meet the expectations of your parents, teachers or friends, etc.… your feelings/emotions might have become sealed in your sacral/hip area for a long time.
 
Many sciatic sufferers see themselves as chameleons, adapting to the likes and dislikes of the people around them. Most of them fear that their needs and feelings will upset or anger other people. Being uncomfortable with their own feelings, they are also unable to tolerate anybody else’s feelings. As you become familiar with your own needs and feelings, you will learn how to be comfortable with other people’s feelings as well.
 
As long as you are focused on outer solutions—you won’t be able to address the inner pain that drives you away from yourself in the first place. The process of recovery leads you inward to learn who you really are and what you really need.

If you do not care for yourself or listen to and trust your own feelings, you can easily become dependent on others. If you do not trust the messages of your body due to a past traumatic experience, your body becomes numb and shuts off. A wounded heart has a limited capacity to trust and be open to infinite possibilities. Emotional numbness can create codependent relationships; dependency occurs when we lack self-esteem or harbor a poor body image. Sciatic pain can either make you reclusive, shy and retreating in nature OR it can cause you to become aggressive, overbearing and deceitful. When you get angry and really ticked off, you attract people who want to talk about the same problems you’re going through. This is where you have to pay attention to the conversations you’re having every week with others.  How do they embrace your own issues?  Were you able to see solutions to your/their problem. These are also your issues and we all have to embrace our stuff.”
 
Your Body is Telling You: Love Yourself: In Lise Bourbeau’s Your Body is Telling You: Love Yourself she shares, “Sciatica may be experienced if you are insecure about your future or have an unconscious fear of lack of material abundance. I emphasize unconscious because, in my observation, sciatica is especially common in those who are materially and financially comfortable, but would have a difficult time if that were lost. ….Sciatica. therefore, is located in the body at the level of having.  You are probably not consciously aware of your fear of lack because you don’t think of yourself as attached to materials things……attachment makes you feel guilty because you believe it is not spiritual…..guilt however, impedes your progress and prevent you from taking a leap…If you are experiencing sciatica, your body is giving you a signal your way of thinking is a pain and is causing you distress; it’s really getting on your nerves. Pain always indicates guilt; therefore what are you punishing yourself for? What do you feel guilty about?” 
 
Heal Your Body, Heal Your Life: One of my favorite books is by Louise Hay  “Heal Your Body” which describes sciatica as “being hypocritical”, not being straight with yourself. A sciatic issue also relates to ‘fear of money’ and the future”. So, if you suffer from lower-back or hip pain, it’s time to look at your relationship both with yourself and with the people around you. Honestly assess your life and make some changes. Do you get support from your family that you’re not getting elsewhere? Notice where you are getting support and openly acknowledge it and have gratitude for it. Do you tend to always blame others when things go wrong? Try to see the whole picture and see whether you are doing something that might be contributing to the problem. Do you feel out of control when it comes to finances? Look closely at any financial downfall and try to pinpoint where things shifted from good to bad.”
 
Energy Healing Evaluation and Process Explained: Let’s first look at the Root Chakra. From the “The Metaphysics of Sciatic and Peripheral Pain”, “The root chakra’s is linked with the earth’s energy.  Its main function is to build the basic foundation of our identities; it’s here, we build a place called home—it’s a sense of belonging—a vital system that cannot be constructed without an identity.  The root chakra is largely driven through our instincts and premonitions, which help to build our personal and physical identities, which are built from our conditions, upbringings and education. “The Sanskrit name for this chakra is Muladhara, which means, “root support.” From the “Wheels of Life” by Anodea Judith,  “The sciatic nerve, traveling from the sacral plexus down through the legs, is the largest peripheral nerve in the body (about as thick as your thumb) and functions much like a root for the nervous system. The feet and legs, which provide locomotion, enable us to perform tasks necessary to obtain life sustenance from the earth and its environment. Our legs touch the ground below us and connect our nervous system with the earth, our first chakra development. We respond then, kinesthetically to gravity—the basic underlying force of the earth—constantly pulling us downward. This force keeps us connected to our planet, rooted in material existence.”
 
“Early in the healing process, many people have no idea who they really are and what their truth is. Not only have they used addictions and other distractions to hide their true feelings; they have also spent much of their time focusing on other people’s feelings and needs.  Of course, there’s nothing wrong with caring or being concerned about other people.  However, if it is at your own expense, it’s not only unhealthy for you, it’s unhealthy for the person for whom you are sacrificing yourself.”
 
This is important information for a few clients of mine: “You are not responsible for everyone you care about.  If your life is overwhelmed by responsibility, then it’s time to stop doing everything and let someone else share the load”, says Linda Joyce. While Ravenstarshealingroom shares, “Some have said that it’s almost like the bottom has to drop out of your world before you can grasp the significance of this stuff. Listen to your sciatic nerve, what is it trying to tell you? If old wounds surface, it means that the situation you are in now is draining your energy, and will continue to drain your energy until you acknowledge the emotional triggers.  That’s really what your sciatic pain wants, to be acknowledged.”
 
More on how Energy Works: “The sacral or 2nd chakra is connected to the sense of taste, the element of water and the lymphatic glands.  It’s affected by our emotional mood swings and what we love in the sense of our “tastes for life” (fashions, money, relationships, creativity, sexuality). The 2nd chakra interacts well with the 1st.  The 1st chakra connects us with the element of earth, while the 2nd connects us to the element of water.  Earth offers stability; water brings a sense of movement.  Water is also linked to the moon; it connects with time, and tide, fertility, menstruation and ovulation in women and the production of semen in men. Sexuality (sacral chakra) holds our greatest pain and denial.  Every shred of unfinished business and all our emotional issues will keep reappearing until we get in touch with how our body is feeling.  When we open the floodgate of our emotions they will turn our lives upside down.  Anything not in harmony with our Self will come up to be processed and healed.  All your fixed thoughts and ideas will come loose and you will feel as if you are shifting through time.  It will feel as if you are being crushed as your past and future collide. However, this will also free up an enormous amount of energy opening you to your creative juices and your joy.
 
Visualize a water fall over a rocky terrain, imagine looking closer and see how the water has slowly created (carved) the bed-rock of the earth into an expression of beauty; it looks alive, full of the “life-force” created from the power of fluid and motion.  Without water the earth would “dry up” become sluggish, infertile, and lifeless; our bodies need water to stay healthy, young and productive. Therefore water needs the earth to hold and “restrain” its emotional desire to “shape and control the world around it”. This means that the 2nd chakra relates to issues of power in the outer world and your need to control, people, events, and the way things happen.
 
In relationships, we look for someone who will validate, protect and connect with us on an intimate level.  But if we suffer from low self-worth and unable to stand up for our rights, we’ll keep finding relationships that constantly reopen our wounds or traumas.”

Case Study from Reiki teacher and alternative healer, Janice from her Ravenstarshealingroom blog: “Physically, sciatica means pain from a compressed or pinched sciatic nerve which can be felt in the back of the thigh, down the back of the leg, on the outside of the calf, on the side of the foot and in the heel.
 
Wayne contacted her, via email, because he had been suffering on and off from sciatic pain in his left leg (deep buttock/hip socket) area and lumbar for about 5 years.  Each time the sciatica returned, he tried different forms of physical therapy, chiropractor, therapeutic massage, daily stretching as well as anti-inflammatories (ibuprofen and naproxen sodium) all to no avail. Two weeks ago, he again developed sciatica in his left leg that was so intense he couldn’t bend over to put on his socks or shoes and he couldn’t walk because of the pain. An MRI revealed he had bone spurs; two intervertebral disks that had herniated and the doctor scheduled him for surgery in May. Wayne didn’t want surgery. 
 
Wayne gave her a quick run-down of his history and after sending emails back and forth, we scheduled a time that both of us could connect energetically at a distance.  Healing this way, allows a client to actively participate in the healing, either by relaxing, or meditating.  The vibration of a client’s name creates a spiritual link and as they relax, she scanned, listen and make notes of the symbols and messages the client’s body/mind shares with me… distant Reiki is then gently sent to areas (chakra/endocrine glands/organs) where the body needs it most.
 
The Healing: “The hypothalamus in our brains sees everything as world war III so when a memory (young or old) is remembered, our bodies respond to the chemicals. So the body is the one that suffers the pain of being fired, of losing a promotion or being rejected/abandoned by a parent.  The body doesn’t have a clue if the event is currently happening or happened fifteen years ago. Just thinking about previous emotional hurts can cause the body to respond as if those hurts are occurring in that every moment. Remembering emotional hurts causing the muscles to tighten and clamp down upon the adrenals, causing a huge output of adrenaline/cortisone as well as the sexual hormones.  With too much adrenaline, the feeling one gets is of ‘being wired’, electrified—adrenaline interferes with the brains neurotransmitters, leaving you feeling scattered, irritable, confused—physically, the body’s getting ready to fight/flight or freeze.
 
This is what was happening to Wayne. Fear, anxiety and mistrust was having such an adverse effect on his insides, that his aura and body was instinctively pulling in to protect itself, causing his lower back muscles to contract and clamp down on his sciatic nerve, causing reduced mobility and depriving his cells of oxygen and life-force energies.  When this happens toxic thoughts and emotions become trapped inside the body, creating a form of  ‘muscular armor’ in an attempt to feel safer and less vulnerable, but it takes its toll on the adrenals and the body’s natural fluidness.  When this happens the fascia tightens and becomes brittle. Wanting to know why Wayne suffered sciatic pain to his left hip and leg, I posed this question to his mind/body/soul. The left side of the body is linked with the feminine aspect, which is about receiving, being and the inner self. When the left side is unbalanced or blocked it creates a feeling of unrest or a disconnection from the truth about ourselves.  Wayne had literally cut himself off  from his life-force and the left side of his body was telling him to stop denying this feelings.

When we disconnect from the truth of ourselves, we are cutting ourselves off from our very life force, and we are in fact weaker, less … But in the beginning, it is simply the inner self saying, “No more denying these feelings!

Wayne’s mind/body spoke of feeling dissatisfied and confused about the self.  Filled with self-doubt he always feels he has to be more. With the right side having to compensate for the left, there are delusions about oneself and one’s motives. This can cause a person to cling to a fantasy about his or her own identity.  After the healing she asked, “Wayne if his father was estranged from him in some way. He told her his father was seldom at home due to his work in the mines, so essentially Wayne felt abandoned by his dad. The lack of a father, or authority figure, creates poor boundaries in a child and lack of what is normal in the reality of his life. The lack of life-rules can be very disorienting for a child, who will take great pains to hide the real self.
 
Hurting deep inside becomes a stumbling block, you can’t move forward and you can’t move backward.  You hang on to what is ‘familiar’ refusing to let go of a stagnating job, a person or situation that no longer fulfills you.  But you stay because it offers you some sort of security from the constantly changing world. Childhood traumatic events, which are so common, at any young age—jeopardize trust and faith—causing the exuberant wonder of a child’s spirit to falter.
When Wayne and I first made contact and I asked him to write about his life.  He had written a wonderful story, painting a picture that his life was great…except he forgot to mention his father was absent for most of his childhood, that his parents divorced when he was seven and he suffered the loss of his brother five years ago from an accidental drowning. Wayne realized his life was incomplete and that he was seeing only one side of his life; this was why his sciatica kept coming back. He was determined to explore the reality of his life and get to know his inner self.
 
Healing Takes Work: “To heal, we have to make a choice to willingly explore the pain, to put forth the effort to grow or we’ll stay a victim of the pain. But once, we begin to understand it, we can start to grow from it and begin making new choices for ourselves…better choices…choices that allow us to heal.  As we push through the pain and really examine it, we can ask ourselves, “Why is my sciatica resurfacing again and again”? “What thoughts are keeping my sciatica alive? Why did I choose to experience this”?  Relax your body/mind and allow your soul/spirit a chance to speak.”
 
Heal Your Story, Heal Your Life: I wish I could say all that y’all have to do is to figure out “why do I choose to experience this?” then the sciatica pain is gone but honestly this kind of work is intertwined with deep emotional feelings that have been stuck for many, many years or even from past lives so the reality is that you will probably need to learn the lesson more than once before the pain finally is healed. Healing intense pain isn’t always quick like going through a fast-food drive-through. I know we all want insta-heal but sometimes it takes patience, determination and courage to undertake the process of healing. I do leave room for the miracle of God that it can happen with one Reiki session. And Reiki Energy Healing definitely helps to heal the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical but healing sometimes takes the work of a Reiki Energy Healer, the client to take self-responsibility along with the guidance from the Divine Team or energy life-force. I created a 3-month coaching program called “Heal Your Story, Heal Your Life” because along with the Reiki, I saw that my clients needed coaching and encouragement along with weekly Reiki treatments to heal the deep wounds that were causing the pain. In being an Intuitive Empath and Reiki Energy Healer, I, often, get information that could be subconsciously hiding from my client that is brought to light to heal. It’s an amazing process of healing but it does take a willingness to roll up your sleeves to want to have whole health healing.
 
Research & Sharing: I chose to utilize much of Janice from Ravenstarshealingroom’s well-researched blog “The Metaphysics of Sciatic and Perimpheral Pain” and her testimonial of a case study for I have experienced much of what she speaks of with my own clients yet I feel strongly that it’s important to share the abundance of healing that is happening around the world. It’s not only in my experience with my own clients but with other Reiki Energy Healers as well.  Special Thank you to Janice from Ravenstarshealingroom.com. I tried to find your contact info but alas couldn’t find it your your blog. Thank you Janice for the work that you do as a healer. You are truly a gift to the world. Please everyone check out her work! 
 
Much Gratitude and Love,
H